How Does Urban Shrinkage Affect Land Use Efficiency?A Case Study of Shrinking Cities in Northeast China

The effect of urban shrinkage has gradually become a new topic.Theoretically,urban shrinkage may exert great influence on land use efficiency(LUE)through various urban subsystems,but there is currently limited research examining these pathways.Using the Super-SBM-Undesirable model and the Structural Equation Model(SEM),this study calculates the LUE of shrinking cities in Northeast China and simulates the process of urban shrinkage affecting LUE.To quantify the process of urban shrinkage affecting LUE,three mediation variables,namely the economy,public services,and innovation,are used as latent variables to apply SEM.The results show that urban shrinkage will affect LUE through a direct path and indirect paths.In the direct path,urban shrinkage leads to an improvement in LUE.In the indirect paths,the economy and innovation will transmit the negative effect of urban shrinkage on LUE,while public services will reverse this effect.An important contribution of this study is that it quantifies the paths of urban shrinkage affecting LUE,thereby expanding the understanding of urban shrinkage effect and laying a foundation for the sustainable development of shrinking cities.

Spatially Heterogeneous Response of Carbon Storage to Land Use Changes in Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration, China

Carbon storage of terrestrial ecosystems plays a vital role in advancing carbon neutrality. Better understanding of how land use changes affect carbon storage in urban agglomeration will provide valuable guidance for policymakers in developing effective regional conservation policies. Taking the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration(PRDUA) in China as an example, we examined the heterogeneous response of carbon storage to land use changes in 1990–2018 from a combined view of administrative units and physical entities. The results indicate that the primary change in land use was due to the expansion of construction land(5897.16 km2). The carbon storage in PRDUA decreased from 767.34 Tg C in 1990 to 725.42 Tg C in 2018 with a spatial pattern of high wings and the low middle. The carbon storage loss was largely attributed to construction land expansion(55.74%), followed by forest degradation(54.81%). Changes in carbon storage showed significant divergences in different sized cities and hierarchical boundaries. The coefficients of geographically weighted regression(GWR) reveal that the alteration in carbon storage in Guangzhou City was more responsive to changes in construction land(-0.11) compared to other cities, while that in Shenzhen was mainly affected by the dynamics of forest land(8.32). The change in carbon storage was primarily influenced by the conversion of farmland within urban extent(5.05) and the degradation of forest land in rural areas(5.82). Carbon storage changes were less sensitive to the expansion of construction land in the urban center, urban built-up area, and ex-urban built-up area, with the corresponding GWR coefficients of 0.19, 0.04, and 0.02. This study necessitates the differentiated protection strategies of carbon storage in urban agglomerations.

A dispersed vegetative cover contributes to urban biodiversity:plant diversity across land use types and scale in an Asian city

Urbanization provides both challenges and opportunities for biodiversity conservation,but patterns of urban plant diversity across land uses,especially in Asian countries,remains unclear.To determine these patterns of diversity,woody plants in 174 sample quadrats across various land use types in Kyoto City were investigated.Richness,abundance,and evenness were evaluated at city,land use,and quadrat scales,and biodiversity of different land use types was compared.At the city level,223 species in 77 families were recorded.At the land use level,residential areas had the highest total biological richness,with moderate to low evenness,while commercial areas exhibited low richness.At the quadrat level,the low-rise residential area had higher species richness than the other land uses.Species abundance and evenness in quadrats were significantly different across land use types for the canopy layer but not for the understory.The results provide insights into urban biodiversity design and management by identifying prior land uses for biodiversity improvement and by highlighting the contribution of residential private yards.Urban heterogeneity,scale,and multidimensionality should be considered when measuring urban biodiversity.

Peri-urban Development:Discussion with Land Use Zoning,Statutory Provision,and Issues inside Katahari Rural Municipality,Nepal

The peri-urban area is a transitional zone between the city and its hinterlands characterized by mixed land use and intensive flows of resources,people,goods,and services from and to the city center.These zones are generally misguided and haphazardly developed without a proper planning framework.The peri-urban area at present will be the urban area in the future;therefore,it needs planning intervention in its initial stage of growth.Katahari,a peri-urban area of Biratnagar metropolitan city,is developing a spontaneous lack of land use plans.Recently,the Government of Nepal has encouraged the local government to implement land use plans in the provided framework,policy,and guidelines.This study,in this context,attempts to analyze and identify land use issues and potential zones for Katahari rural municipality that also supports planning urban development in the future.The study is based on primary and secondary data and information supported by maps and figures.It is concluded that Katahari has been developed as a multi-function center adjoining the Biratnagar metropolitan city,and future expansion of the city will cover a wide range of rural municipalities.The postal highway that passes through it has attracted a wide range of urban functions.Agriculture,residential,commercial,and industrial are the main land use category at present and needs development control through providing land use zoning and related planning instruments through the increasing role of the stakeholder and the government agencies in the decision-making processes and implementation of spatial development frameworks to regulate peri-urban development in the area which will guide the future planning for liability,economic viability,social inclusion,and environmental sustainability in the area.Spill-over development activities of Biratnagar,have increased the number of economic activities,population growth,and mixed-use development.

Temporal and spatial differences in human activities performed in Urban Green Spaces of Vilnius(Lithuania)

Urban green spaces(UGS)are relevant to city well-being,as recognized by the United Nations’Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).However,few studies have studied the temporal use of UGS.This work assessed the seasonal,weekly,and daily use of three urban green spaces(Vingis Park,Bernardino Garden,and Jomantas Park)in Vilnius(Lithuania).The study is based on an on-site observation-based survey,which recorded users’characteristics,activities,and weather conditions during summer and winter.The results showed that UGS’s seasonal,weekly,and daily use differed according to park and users’characteristics.Parks with a higher diversity of facilities had a high seasonal difference in the number of observed activities.User numbers were higher in the summer for activities with children,social activities,sports,and water activities than in the winter.Jomantas Park had the lowest variability in user characteristics.Weather variables were linked to changes in users’activities.Higher precipitation and lower temperature were associated with reducing the number of users and the diversity of registered activities.Most of the stationary activities were observed during summer.The diversity of the observed activities was associated with the available facilities rather than the park size.The distribution of stationary activities was spatially correlated with facility/equipment(benches,playgrounds,sports,and fitness equipment)and proximity to water features.The results of this study are relevant for UGS design,planning,and management.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of land use/land cover(LULC)changes and its impact on land surface temperature:A case study in New Town Kolkata,eastern India

Rapid urbanization creates complexity,results in dynamic changes in land and environment,and influences the land surface temperature(LST)in fast-developing cities.In this study,we examined the impact of land use/land cover(LULC)changes on LST and determined the intensity of urban heat island(UHI)in New Town Kolkata(a smart city),eastern India,from 1991 to 2021 at 10-a intervals using various series of Landsat multi-spectral and thermal bands.This study used the maximum likelihood algorithm for image classification and other methods like the correlation analysis and hotspot analysis(Getis–Ord Gi^(*) method)to examine the impact of LULC changes on urban thermal environment.This study noticed that the area percentage of built-up land increased rapidly from 21.91%to 45.63%during 1991–2021,with a maximum positive change in built-up land and a maximum negative change in sparse vegetation.The mean temperature significantly increased during the study period(1991–2021),from 16.31℃to 22.48℃in winter,29.18℃to 34.61℃in summer,and 19.18℃to 27.11℃in autumn.The result showed that impervious surfaces contribute to higher LST,whereas vegetation helps decrease it.Poor ecological status has been found in built-up land,and excellent ecological status has been found in vegetation and water body.The hot spot and cold spot areas shifted their locations every decade due to random LULC changes.Even after New Town Kolkata became a smart city,high LST has been observed.Overall,this study indicated that urbanization and changes in LULC patterns can influence the urban thermal environment,and appropriate planning is needed to reduce LST.This study can help policy-makers create sustainable smart cities.

Study of Urban Sprawl and Its Impact on Vegetation, Land Surface Temperature and Air Pollution Using Remote Sensing and GIS in Kathmandu Valley from 2015 to 2020

The Kathmandu Valley has seen substantial urbanization over the past decades while being the nation’s economic centre. Built-up areas have expanded quickly along with the population, having a significantly negative influence on the environment. Recently, Kathmandu was named as the most polluted city in Asia. Urban sprawl has had a negative influence on Kathmandu’s residents in several ways. The state of urban sprawl and the effects it has had on the Kathmandu Valley have been examined using land sat imagery. In this study, IDW was used in GIS to analyze the pollution status using data of PM 2.5 and PM 10 obtained from various monitoring sites. A supervised classification was used to create a LULC map of Kathmandu for the years 2015, 2018, and 2020. To assess the state of the vegetation and determine whether the Kathmandu Valley is being affected by urban heat, NDVI and Land sat temperature calculations were also made. The study’s results were obtained using remote sensing and GIS technology. The built-up area in Kathmandu Valley has grown by 20% over the past five years, impacting land use patterns and deteriorating vegetation cover. Due to the rise of built-up area, which is a good heat absorber, the temperature in the Kathmandu Valley is rising along with the degradation of the vegetation cover. The pollution in the Kathmandu Valley is at its worst, and residents are compelled to breathe air that is significantly more polluted than the prescribed limit.

Spatial patterns of urban land use growth in Beijing

By using digitized land use maps of Beijing in 1982, 1992 and 1997 and employing GIS spatial analysis techniques, this paper conducts an empirical study on the spatial differentiation and spatial patterns of urban land use growth in Beijing in the period of 1982–1997. It is observed that urban land use growth in Beijing went beyond the control of urban planning, in terms of the extraordinary high growth rate and undesired spatial pattern. The rate of urban expansion after 1982, which was predominated by growth of industrial land, was extraordinary high compared to its historical period. While its growth centers have been actively shifting toward the northern part, rather than toward the southern and eastern parts as designated by the latest General Plan (1991–2010) of Beijing, its spatial pattern of urban land use growth in general was in distinct concentric sprawl, which seriously violated the General Plan of Beijing.

THE BENCHMARK LAND PRICE SYSTEM AND URBANLAND USE EFFICIENCY IN CHINA

ABSTRACT: China began to introduce market principles and establish price mechanism to better manage land and improve land use efficiency in the late 1980s. Since then, land markets begin to emerge. A benchmark land price system, providing guidelines for land use rights selling and transferring, was established in order to overcome lack of market data and experiences in land transaction. The benchmark prices of land use rights are determined by land use, land use density (floor-land ratio), land grades, land improvement, and tenant resettlement costs. This paper first conducts a formal analysis based on modern urban economic theory. The formal model provides a theoretical foundation in which the benchmark land price system is assessed and evaluated in terms of land use and urban development. The paper then concludes that the benchmark price system has two theoretical problems. One is associated with the fact that floor-land ratio plays an important role in land price determination whereas the theory suggests the other way around. That is, floor-land ratio depends on land prices. The other problem is that the benchmark land price system does not provide adequate room for the substitution between land and capital inputs. The substitution is a key in achieving land use efficiency in land markets and urban development process. It is concluded that the practice of the benchmark land price system is at odd with reforms that aim to introduce market principles and mechanism to guide resource uses. Therefore, it is recommended that further land policy reform should be taken.

Analyzing land use characteristics of rural settlements on the urban fringe of Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing, China

The objective of this paper is to analyze land use characteristics of rural settlements in urban fringe so as to provide references for optimizing the regional distribution of rural settlements, consolidating rural settlements, and coordinating urban-rural integrated development. The methods of spatial statistical analysis, buffer analysis, Ripley's K function, kernel density analysis based on GIS(Geographic Information System) were used to analyze the characteristics of scale, spatial differentiation and spatial patterns of the rural settlements in Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing Municipality of China. The fractal dimension formula was also developed to reflect fractal feature of the rural settlements. The results show that, the scale of rural settlements in Liangjang New Area takes on distinct characteristics of spatial differentiation along with changes in elevation, gradient, location, geohazards distribution, and the like. The fractal characteristic of rural settlements has obvious regional variations subject to the 6 factors of location in the Liangjiang New Area. Overall, the worse the terrain conditions are, the larger the fractal dimension values become. The better the locationconditions, the larger the fractal dimension values are. The spatial pattern in the township scale presents three kinds of distribution as being aggregated, uniform and random. In contract, the spatial pattern in the plaque scale displays a banding distribution from a general view with several aggregation zones centering on each town center. From the results, we can see that the characteristics of rural settlements in urban fringe are more complicated. For such kind of rural settlements in special regions, in the rural land consolidation more attention should be paid to improve the rural living environments and public services, as well as to promote the harmonious relationship between the urban and rural areas.

Study on Ecological Risk of Land Use in Urbanization Watershed Based on RS and GIS:A Case Study of Songhua River Watershed in Harbin Section

By using RS and GIS technology,the ecological risk index ( ERI) was constructed based on the analysis of land use change and structural characteristics in urbanization watershed of Songhua River in Harbin section. Afterwards,the spatial distribution and change characteristics maps of ERI obtained by using block Kriging were analyzed to reveal the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics,change rules and formation mechanisms of ecological risk based on land use under the background of urbanization,and to minimize land use risk during urbanization process. The results showed that during the past 18 years,moderate ecological risk level was major,while proportion of high ecological risk was the lowest,and the area of higher and lower ecological risk region changed most greatly; high and higher ecological risk were focused on urban region and the transition zone from urban to suburban region,while low and lower ecological risk mainly distributed in forestland with higher vegetation coverage,water bodies,grassland,shrub land and so on. Meanwhile,the transition zone from high to low ecological risk was very obvious. In addition,ecological risk became slightly worse in some region due to the transformation from cropland to residential and urban land,while it became slightly better in other regions because of the transformation from cropland to forestland; the center of gravity in lower ecological risk region shifted most greatly,while the shift was the smallest in high ecological risk region,namely 12. 31 and 0. 57 km respectively.

Impact of Land Use Change on Vegetation Carbon Storage During Rapid Urbanization:A Case Study of Hangzhou,China

Land use changes have significant impacts on the carbon balance in an urban ecosystem.When there is rapid development in urbanizing regions,land use changes have a dramatic effect on vegetation carbon storage(VCS).This study investigates the impact of land use change on VCS in a period of rapid urbanization in Hangzhou,China.The results show that:1)from 2000 to 2015,land use in Hangzhou underwent huge changes,mainly reflected in decrease in cropland and wetland and the increased settlement.More than 34.58%of the land was transformed,and the land use changes are primarily characterized by a significant decrease in cropland due to the occupation by settlement.2)over the 15 years,changes in land use led to a decrease of 3.93×10^(5) t of VCS in the urban ecosystem.The large-scale transformation of cropland and wetland,which have a comparatively high carbon density,into land for settlement exerted a negative impact on VCS.3)The central city,which with the Circle-E/I/O mode,had the lowest comprehensive land use dynamic degree,leading to moderate land use change and an increase in VCS;Yuhang and Xiaoshan,which with Multicore-E/O/I mode and Fan-E/O/I modes,had a higher comprehensive land use dynamic degree,drastic changes in land use,and a decrease in VCS.This study proposes a reliable method of estimating changes in VCS,clarifies the relationship between land use change and VCS during rapid urbanization,and provides recommendations for sustainable urban development.

Exploring Smart Growth Boundaries of Urban Agglomeration with Land Use Spatial Optimization:A Case Study of Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan City Group,China

Urban agglomeration is the main spatial organization mode used by the Chinese government to promote the policy of new urbanization strategy.Hence,a better understanding of the urban growth boundary(UGB)has profound theoretical and practical significance regarding sustainable urban development.This study devised a raster-based land use spatial optimization(LUSO)framework,and utilized ant colony optimization(ACO)algorithm to delimit the smart growth boundaries of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan city group(CZTCG)in China.The aim of this study is to design a LUSO model to explore an optimal pattern of urban agglomeration for sustainable growth.Multi growth scenario including a single development center,multipolar development and balanced development patterns are generated by the LUSO model for the year of 2050,and the optimum spatial pattern is chosen based on objectives comparison and the present stage of economic and social development in CZTCG.The main results are listed as the following.1)It is feasible to identify the growth boundaries of the urban agglomeration using the land use spatial optimization model,and the optimal form of the spatial pattern can be defined.2)With the growth trend of the urban agglomeration gradually spreads from a single center to multi-centers and even small towns,the total optimization target performance gradually increases,which means that the traditional pie-shaped development does not meet the maximum comprehensive benefit of the city group.3)Subject to the regional social and economic development stage,absolute fair development or simply developing the central city is not conducive to promoting the coordinated development of the urban agglomeration.Gradient equalization and gradual advancement are the best choice for UGB delineation of urban agglomeration.The findings of this study would be useful to identify the UGB in CZTCG for more sustainable urban development in the future.

The spatial-temporal differentiation of green land use in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration

As the space carrier of the construction of ecological civilization, land's green and efficient utilization is an important guarantee for realizing national sustainable development. Based on traditional land evaluation, this paper scientifically defines the green land use, puts land as one of the production factors, and brings energy consumption, environmental pollution, etc. into the input-output system to measure the green land utilization efficiency of the urban construction land of Beijing-TianjinHebei Urban Agglomeration from 2006 to 2016. The study shows that the overall efficiency variation of the urban agglomeration is related with the land and environment policies. Efficiency of 2016 is higher than that of 2006, and energy and environment are the principal factors affecting the green land use. The efficiency of each city is positively correlated with its economic development, negatively correlated with the construction land expansion. Efficiency gaps in different cities are expanding.There is positive correlation with overall weak space between cities, and the partial spatial agglomeration phenomenon appears. Therefore, the green land use efficiency could be improved by improving land utilization efficiency, coordinating economic growth of construction land utilization with environmental protection and taking feasible ways to transregional renovation of the stock ecological land utilization, etc.

Analysis and Modeling on the Spatial Structure of Urban Land Use: A Case of Jinan, China

Based on the data of urban land use obtained by remote sensing interpretation from aero images in 1986 and 2004, the spatial structure of Jinan is studied in this paper with the method of Geographic Information System (GIS). According to the proportion of land for residence, industry and commerce, the urban district can be distinguished into three rings. Compared with the traditional theory of the ring structure in Western coun- tries, they have many distinctive characteristics. The main func- tions of the inner ring include residence, business and banking, but the proportion of residential land (more than 50%) is considerably higher than that of the cities in Western countries. The land proportion for residence and industry in the intermediate ring is equal on the whole. The main land of the outside ring is for industrial use. From 1986 to 2004, great changes have taken place on the land proportion of different types of use. In the inner ring, the land for residential and industrial use has shrunk much while the land for commercial use has increased. In the intermediate ring, the changes of the three types of land use were not very much and the temporal variation was relatively stable. On the contrary, the structure in the outside ring varies acutely. Though most of it is also for industrial use, the proportion of residential land has in- creased much. The three rings can also be divided into several sectors respectively, according to the function of land use clusters. New trends and mechanisms of the changes of land use impacting the urban structure were proposed in the end of the paper.

System Dynamics-and its Use in Understanding Urban and Regional Development

System dynamics shows how the structure and policies in a system produce change through time. System dynamics deals with the internal processes that produce good and bad behavior in social, economic, and environmental systems. In a system dynamics study, one builds a computer model that acts out the behavior of the real system being represented. The computer model is then used to

Analysis of Urban Land Use and Its Effects on Air Environment in Chengdu, Western China from 1992 to 2008

Large-scale development of urban land use has led to change of a variety of natural processes and ecological processes, resulting in complex eco-environmental consequences. The objective of this study was to analyze the urban land use and its impact on air environment effect in Chengdu, western China from 1992 to 2008 following the RS (Remote Sensing) and GIS technique. The environmental effects data of urban land use was extracted and analyzed by overlaying layers of urban land use and the density of nitrogen dioxide and total suspended particulate matter in sampling points data concerning to the air quality of the environment in Chengdu based on GIS spatial analysis method. The results show that the main feature of urban land use change was substantial reduction of cultivated land and construction land and forest land increased significantly within the study area from1992 to 2008. The temporal-spatial change was notable in study period time. Land use has a significant impact on urban air environment, the chroma change of nitrogen dioxide derived from forest land was obvious, the area occupied by different nitrogen dioxide chroma was the largest. The urban land use impact on the highest class chroma of total suspended particulate matter was notable and its area was the greatest. The results show also the spatial distribution of nitrogen dioxide chroma and total suspended particulate matter chroma in study area is reduced following from Qingbaijiang District-Xindu District-downtown to both sides. The spatial distribution of industry, mining and traffic land is basically the same chroma spatial distribution. Therefore, the results of this study provide a scientific basis for improvement air environment quality, the urban sustainable development and a scientific response for decisions from the municipal governments.

An iterative approach to an integrated land use and transportation planning tool for small urban areas

There has been increasing interests in developing land use models for small urban areas for various planning applications such as air quality conformity analysis. The output of a land use model can serve as a major input to a transportation model; conversely, transportation model output can provide a critical input to a land use model. The connection between the two models can be achieved by an accessibility measure. This paper presents an iterative approach to solving a regression-based land use model and a transportation model with combined trip distribution- assignment. A case study using data from a small urban area is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed modeling framework. Tests show that the procedures can converge, and the modeling framework can be a valuable tool for planners and decision-makers in evaluating land use policies and transportation investment strategies.

Dynamic changes and driving factors of land use under new-type urbanization: A case of Guiyang

With the continuous progress of new-type urbanization in Karst mountain area, how to correctly deal with the relationship between urban economy and land use are attracting much attention. Based on the land-use change data, this paper analyzes the characteristics of land use change and its driving factors in Guiyang with the method of land-use dynamic analysis, land utilization and factor correlation analysis. We get the following results:(1) the change of land use was obvious during 2004 and 2012. The area of arable land and other land were decreased, the rate of decrease are 3.89% and 8.24%. In the meantime, a series of construction land and forest area increased a lot, the rate of increase are 3.89% and 8.24%.(2) The integrated land use dynamic degree of two research stages(2004-2009 and 2009-2012) were decreased from 2.12% to 0.34%, this suggests dynamic changes of land tend to be stable.(3) Four kinds of Land use class have a great contribution to the index of land use degree respectively. The composite index of land use degree rose from 229.58 to 247.19 during 2004 and 2012; the land use is still in the development stage.(4) Economy, population, transportation and policy guidance are the main drivers of land use change.

The Use of GIS, Remote Sensing and Shannon’s Entropy Statistical Techniques to Analyze and Monitor the Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Urbanization and Sprawl in Zarqa City, Jordan

The aim of this study is to understand and quantify the urban growth and trend in Zarqa city during the period 1990 to 2014 and to produce land use and cover map for the studied area through the use of the GIS and remote sensing techniques with Shannon’s Entropy statistical method. For this purpose, three Landsat images were used for land use classification by using supervised maximum likelihood classification techniques to extract and assess the changes of urban lands. The results indicated that the urban areas in Zarqa city increased by 22.15% in the period from 1990 to 2005 and 14.86% from 2005 to 2014, with a rate of expansion of 0.96 and by 1.31 km2/ year for the two time periods respectively. The entropy value increased from 1.20 in the first period to 1.38 in the second, while the entropy value for the NE, NW, SE and SW zones showed high values, which confirmed that urban expansion and sprawling had existed in the past twenty four years in the study area. Urban expansion and sprawl cause different impacts on the natural, economic, and aesthetic aspects of the city which lead and guide government officials and planners to understand and monitor current growth and visualize future growth.