Comparison of the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Land Use Changes in Four Municipalities of China Based on Intensity Analysis

Siqin Tong, Gang Bao, Ah Rong, Xiaojun Huang, Yongbin Bao and Yuhai Bao
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Siqin Tong: College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China
Gang Bao: College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China
Ah Rong: College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China
Xiaojun Huang: College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China
Yongbin Bao: School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Yuhai Bao: College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: Land use/cover change (LUCC) is becoming one of the most important and interesting problems in the study of global environmental change. Identifying the spatiotemporal behavior and associated driving forces behind changes in land use is crucial for the regional sustainable utilization of land resources. In this study, we consider the four municipalities of China (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing) and compare their spatiotemporal changes in land use from 1990 to 2015 by employing intensity analysis and barycenter migration models. We then discuss their driving forces. The results show that the largest reduction and increase variations were mainly concentrated in arable and construction land, respectively. The decrement and increment were the largest in Shanghai, followed by Beijing and Tianjin, and the least in Chongqing. Furthermore, the results of the barycenter migration model indicate that in addition to Beijing, the migration distances of construction land were longer than those of arable land in three other cities. Moreover, the application of intensity analysis revealed that the rate of land use change was also the greatest in Shanghai and the slowest in Chongqing during the whole study period, with all of their arable land being mainly transformed into construction land. The driving force analysis results suggest that the spatial and temporal patterns of land use change were the results of the socio-economic development, national policies, and major events. In other words, where there was a high rate of economic and population growth, the intensity of land use change was relatively large.

Keywords: land use/cover change; spatiotemporal changes; intensity analysis; driving forces; municipalities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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