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Although a major region with strong urbanization, there is not yet a systematic and comprehensive understanding of urban expansion during the last 20 years for China's coastal zone. In this paper, based on remote sensing techniques, and using indicators such as new urban land proportion, annual urban increase, and annual growth rate, as well as a landscape expansion index reflecting the urban expansion type (e.g., edge-expansion, infilling, and outlying), we measured the dynamic expansion of urban land in China's coastal zone since 2000. The results indicated that: (1) China's coastal zone experienced rapid urbanization from 2000 to 2020, with the new urban land and annual urban growth rate at 17,979.72 km2 and 4.83%, respectively. The new urban land was mainly concentrated in economically advanced regions, such as Bohai Rim, Shandong Peninsula, the Yangtze River delta, and the Pearl River delta. (2) The urban growth rates of coastal cities in Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, southeast Fujian, and Taiwan became slower over time, with a sharp decline during 2015–2020. In the mid and south of China's coastal zone, such as coastal cities in Jiangsu, Guangxi, and Hainan, there was slow urbanization before 2015, and urban land expanded dramatically during 2015–2020. (3) The urban expansion of China's coastal zone was dominated by edge-expansion after 2000, but it went through a low-speed and intensive development stage during 2010–2015, with an increase in urban land less than 50% of that in the other three five-year periods, and the most significant filling of urban space compared with the other three five-year periods, which was probably caused by the global financial crisis. (4) The spatial-temporal differences in the urbanization process in China's coastal zone were largely consequent on national economic development strategies and regional development plans implemented in China's coastal zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-speed railway (HSR) promote the efficient flow of the population and materials between cities and have profoundly affected urban economic development in China. However, there is currently limited research about how HSR influences urban expansion, especially related to the variable impacts on different urban agglomerations, different size cities, and the conversion of non-urban land to urban land. In this study, from two levels of regional heterogeneity and type heterogeneity, a multi-stage difference-in-differences (multi-stage DID) model and land use remote sensing data are used to investigate these research areas. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The first opening of HSR had a more significant role in promoting urban expansion than HSR frequency, but several years after opening, HSR no longer promotes urban expansion. (2) The opening of HSR only played a significant role in promoting urban expansion in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei. HSR frequency had a significant role in promoting urban expansion in the Yangtze River Delta. (3) The opening of HSR had no significant impact on urban expansion for different size cities, and HSR frequency only had a significant negative impact on urban expansion of small cities. (4) The first opening of HSR led to urban expansion dominated by the occupation of cultivated land. Cities in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia mainly converted barren land and vegetation cover to urban land after the first opening of HSR. In northeast China, the first opening of HSR made the conversion of vegetation cover and cultivated land to urban land roughly equivalent in size. The results of this study are helpful to understand the impact of the first opening of HSR and the scale of conversion of different types of non-urban land into urban land on urban expansion. In the era of HSR, these findings provide a valuable reference for regional planning and preventing the disorderly expansion of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, much attention has been given to the current situation and trend regarding economic development in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), of which urbanization is an important indicator. In the present study, (i) the urbanized area is estimated using DMSP/OLS and NPP/VIIRS, (ii) the current spatial pattern and the change characteristics of typical cities are revealed, and (iii) the scale and developmental stage of major cities in the DPRK are judged through comparison. Although the DPRK is relatively closed, the financial crisis in 2008 indirectly affected its economic development, and a large gap remains between the urbanization level of the DPRK and that of China and the Republic of Korea. The large cities in the DPRK are located mainly in its eastern coastal areas and western plains, and there has been no significant expansion in Pyongyang, Chungjin, and Hamhung in the past 28 years. Although economic construction has begun again recently in the DPRK, further reform and opening are required. As the DPRK's relations with its neighbors and countries around the world improve, its economic development and urban construction will present a new pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's resource-based cities have made tremendous contributions to national and local economic growth and urban development over the last seven decades. Recently, such cities have been in transition from resource-centered development towards human-oriented urbanization to meet the requirements of long-term sustainability for the natural environment and human society. A good understanding of urban expansion and evolution as a consequence of urbanization has important implications for future urban and regional planning. Using a series of remote sensing (RS) images and geographical information system (GIS)-based spatial analyses, this research explores how a typical resource-based mining city, Datong, has expanded and evolved over the last two decades (2000–2018), with a reflection on the role of urban planning and development policies in driving the spatial transformation of Datong. The RS images were provided and processed by the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Spatial cluster analysis approaches were employed to examine the spatial patterns of urban expansion. The results indicate that the area of urban construction land increased by 132.6% during the study period, mainly along with the Chengqu District, the Mining Area, and in the southeast of the Nanjiao District, where most new towns are located. Reflection on the factors that influence urban expansion shows that terrain, urban planning policies, and social economy are driving Datong's urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use change is an important way for human activities to affect ecosystems. Based on the land use demands and policies, the simulation of future land use changes under different scenarios can test the rationality of socio-economic and policy-oriented land use changes. In this study, we set three scenarios of regular growth, ecological protection, and ecotourism development in 2030 for the Beibu Gulf area, China. We simulated the spatial distribution and evolution characteristics of the future landscape pattern using the Scenario Generator Rule Based Module of InVEST. Meanwhile, the ecosystem service value (ESV) was estimated by the improved unit area value equivalent method to reveal the trend of ESVs under different regional development models. The results indicated that the land use changes in the Beibu Gulf during 1999–2014 showed significant spatial heterogeneity. The farmland was mainly distributed in Beihai, the forestland was located in Fangchenggang, while the orchard was concentrated on Qinzhou. Due to economic construction and urban expansion, construction land and aquaculture land were gradually growing, while farmland and mud flat continued to decrease. Between 2014 and 2030, the total ESV decreased in the regular growth scenario and gradually increased in the ecological protection scenario and ecotourism development scenario. In addition, by comparing the three scenarios, the ecotourism development scenario is a more reasonable model for Guangxi Beibu Gulf area, which realized the trade-off between tourism development and resource conservation. Therefore, regional planners should not only consider maximizing ESVs when planning for ecosystem services, but also strive to maintain a reasonable structure of ecosystem services. Some suggestions were provided in this paper at the macro level and the local development model level respectively, which offered some references for the rational allocation of land resources, ecological environmental protection and ecotourism development in the coastal area of Beibu Gulf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A country can be well-comprehended through its core cities. Similarly, we can learn about a city from its hotspots, as they manifest the concentration of urban infrastructures and human activities. Following this philosophy, this paper studies the intra-urban form and function from a complexity science perspective by exploring the power law distribution of hotspot sizes and related socio-economic attributes. To detect hotspots, we rely on spatial clustering of geospatial big data sets, including street data from OpenStreetMap platform and nighttime light (NTL) data from the visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS) imagery. Unlike conventional spatial units, which are imposed by governments or authorities (such as census block), the delineation of hotspots is done in a totally bottom-up manner and, more importantly, can help us examine precisely the scaling pattern of urban morphological and functional aspects. This results in two types of urban hotspots—street-based and NTL-based hotspots—being generated across 20 major cities in China. We find that Zipf's law of hotspot sizes (both types) holds remarkably well for each city, as do the city-size distributions at the country level, indicating a statistically self-similar structure of geographic space. We further find that the urban scaling law can be effectively detected when using NTL-based hotspots as basic units. Furthermore, the comparison between two types of hotspots enables us to gain in-depth insights of urban planning and urban economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the urban growth dynamics of urban regions. The study area was the Marmara Region, one of the most densely populated and ecologically diverse areas in Turkey. Using CORINE land cover data for 2006, 2012, and 2018, the study utilized multiple correspondence analyses and cluster analyses, to analyze land cover changes. The resulting maps, visualized in GIS, revealed the rapid urban transformation of the regional structure, formerly comprised of four distinct areas, into a more complex structure, in which densification and sprawl occur simultaneously. Our findings demonstrated a dissonance between the spatial dynamics of the Marmara Region during the study period, and the capacity and scope of the simultaneously initiated regional policies and mega-projects. This uncoordinated approach has endangered the region's sustainable development. The paper, therefore, discusses the importance of land use planning and transboundary collaboration for sustainable regional development. Beyond the local case, the results contribute to critical theories in regional planning by linking theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]