A Novel Model for Detecting Urban Fringe and Its Expanding Patterns: An Application in Harbin City, China

Yuan Wang, Yilong Han, Lijie Pu, Bo Jiang, Shaofeng Yuan and Yan Xu
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Yuan Wang: School of Public Administration, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Yilong Han: College of Geodesy and Geomatics, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China
Lijie Pu: Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Exploitation and Protection, Ministry of Natural Resources, Nanjing 210023, China
Bo Jiang: School of Public Administration and Law, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Shaofeng Yuan: School of Public Administration, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Yan Xu: School of Geography Science and Geomatics Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: Urban fringe is an active expanding belt, indicating urban-rural interaction processes. Previous studies have attempted to define urban fringe as the transitional area between urban and rural areas, but there is a lack of quantitative analysis of the periphery boundaries. We developed a novel, the Spatial Segmentation Model (SSM), to detect the extent of urban fringe via calculating the share of the built-up land. Within the urban fringe, we statistically compared the number of built-up patches in each direction and described four urban expanding patterns (stable, sprawling, leaping, and mixing patterns) indicated by the empirical analysis. The results show that this model can reliably detect the urban fringe and could reveal urban growth characteristics. We find the spatial territory changes are highly relative with transport infrastructures in Harbin. Meanwhile, the roads density in the urban core are higher than in the urban fringe. Especially for city roads, roads density in the urban core is more than 4 times higher than in the urban fringe. The growth of the urban fringe is closely related to the development of social economies as well as the space policies and development plans designed by governments. Similar to the post-industry cities worldwide, Harbin should take action to address population decline. Effective land-use and suitable urban growth strategies play an important role in alleviating urban shrinkage. Thus, understanding the dynamics, urban expanding patterns, and driving factors in the urban fringe can help us form a basis for future urban development.

Keywords: urban fringe; landscape fragmentation; urban expansion; Harbin City (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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