Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Urbanization, urban land expansion and environmental change in China

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

China’s economic reforms and unprecedented growth have generated many fascinating issues for scholarly research. An understanding of urbanization and land use change in China is required for appropriate strategies and policies to facilitate future sustainable development. This paper reviews the literature on urbanization, land use and sustainable development in China with a focus on land use change. We argue that land use and environmental research are embedded in the complex economic-geographical processes and multiple trajectories of development and urbanization in China. This paper highlights the important role of space–time modeling in a multi-disciplinary setting in the study of urbanization, land use and sustainable development. It also points out potential areas for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bai XM, Chen J, Shi PJ (2012) Landscape urbanization and economic growth in China: positive feedbacks and sustainability dilemmas. Environ Sci Technol 46(1):132–139

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brajer V, Mead RW, Xiao F (2010) Adjusting Chinese income inequality for environmental equity. Environ Dev Econ 15(3):341–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandt L, Rawski GT (2008) China’s great transformation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cao K, Ye XY (2012) Coarse-grained parallel genetic algorithm applied to a vector based land use allocation optimization problem: the case study of Tongzhou Newtown, Beijing, China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess. doi:10.1007/s00477-012-0649-y

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen MX, Liu WD, Tao XL (2013) Evolution and assessment on China’s urbanization 1960–2010: under-urbanization or over-urbanization? Habitat Int 38(4):25–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng J, Masser I (2003) Urban growth pattern modeling: a case study of Wuhan City, China. Landsc Urban Plan 62(4):199–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis W (2002) For a global declaration of interdependence. In: González RJ (ed) Anthropologists in the public sphere. University of Texas Press, Austin, pp 165–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Démurger S (2001) Infrastructure development and economic growth: an explanation for regional disparities in China? J Comp Econ 29(1):95–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ding C, Lichtenberg E (2011) Land and urban economic growth in China. J Reg Sci 51(2):299–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He XQ, Wang LX (2008) Empirical analysis on spatial linkages in FDI across China. Econ Res J 11:137–150

    Google Scholar 

  • He CF, Huang ZJ, Ye XY (2014) Spatial heterogeneity of economic development and industrial pollution in urban China. Stoch Env Res Risk Assess. doi:10.1007/s00477-013-0736-8

    Google Scholar 

  • LeBlanc RT, Brown RD, FitzGibbon JE (1997) Modeling the effects of land use change on the water temperature in unregulated urban streams. J Environ Manage 49(4):445–469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li LH, Li X (2007) Land readjustment: an innovative urban experiment in China. Urban Stud 44(1):81–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li YR, Wei YHD (2010) The spatial-temporal hierarchy of regional inequality of China. Appl Geogr 30(3):303–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Q, Song JP, Wang E, Hu H, Zhang JH, Wang YY (2014a) Economic growth and pollutant emissions in China: a spatial econometric analysis. Stoch Env Res Risk Assess. doi:10.1007/s00477-013-0762-6

    Google Scholar 

  • Li WL, Wu CS, Zang SY (2014b) Modeling urban land use conversion of Daqing City, China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess. doi:10.1007/s00477-012-0671-0

    Google Scholar 

  • Liao FHF, Wei YHD (2014) Modeling determinants of urban growth in Dongguan, China: a spatial logistic approach. Stoch Env Res Risk Assess. doi:10.1007/s00477-012-620-y

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin GCS (2007) Reproducing spaces of Chinese urbanization. Urban Stud 44(9):1827–1855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu D, Feng ZM, Yan YZ, You Z (2011a) Spatial patterns of ecological carrying capacity supply-demand balance in China at county level. J Geogr Sci 21(5):833–844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y, Yue W, Fan P (2011b) Spatial determinants of urban land conversion in large Chinese cities: a case of Hangzhou. Environ Plan 38(4):706–725

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long H, Zou J, Pyket J, Li Y (2011) Analysis of rural transformation development in China since the turn of the new millennium. Appl Geogr 31(3):1094–1105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo J, Wei YHD (2009) Modeling spatial variations of urban growth patterns in Chinese cities. Landsc Urban Plan 91(2):51–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma LJC (2002) Urban transformation in China, 1949–2000. Environ Plan A 34(9):1545–1569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Makse HA, Havlin S, Stanley HE (1995) Modelling urban growth pattern. Nature 377(6550):608–612

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Niu J, Sivakumar B (2014) Study of runoff response to land use change in the East River basin in South China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess. doi:10.1007/s00477-013-0690-5

  • Qi ZF, Ye XY, Zhang H, Yu ZL (2014) Land fragmentation and variation of ecosystem services in the context of rapid urbanization: the case of Taizhou city, China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess. doi:10.1007/s00477-013-0721-2

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider A, Seto KC, Webster DR (2005) Urban growth in Chengdu, western China: application of remote sensing to assess planning and policy outcomes. Environ Plan Plan Des 32(3):323–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seto KC, Kaufmann RK (2003) Modeling the drivers of urban land use change in the Pearl River Delta, China: integrating remote sensing with socioeconomic data. Land Econ 79(1):106–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seto KC, Satterthwaite D (2010) Interactions between urbanization and global environmental change. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 2:127–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shen J, Wong K, Feng Z (2002) State-sponsored and spontaneous urbanization in the Pearl River Delta of South China, 1980–1998. Urban Geogr 23(7):674–694

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sit VFS, Yang C (1997) Foreign-investment-induced exo-urbanisation in the Pearl River Delta, China. Urban Stud 34(4):647–677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan R, Beckmann V, VandenBerg L, Qu F (2009) Governing farmland conversion. Land Use Policy 26(4):961–974

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veldkamp A, Verburg PH (2004) Modelling land use change and environmental impact. J Environ Manag 72(1–2):1–3

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang YP, Wang YL, Wu JS (2009) Urbanization and informal development in China: urban villages in Shenzhen. Int J Urban Reg Res 33(4):957–973

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Chen Y, Shao X, Zhang Y, Cao Y (2012) Land-use changes and policy dimension driving forces in China: present, trend and future. Land Use Policy 29(4):737–749

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wei YHD (2005) Planning Chinese cities: the limits of transitional institutions. Urban Geogr 26(3):200–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei YHD (2007) Regional development in China: transitional institutions, embedded globalization, and hybrid economies. Eurasian Geogr Econ 48(1):16–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei YHD (2012) Restructuring for growth in urban China: transitional institutions, urban development, and spatial transformation. Habitat Int 36(3):396–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei YHD, Liefner I (2012) Globalization, industrial restructuring, and regional development in China. Appl Geogr 32(1):102–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei YHD, Ye XY (2009) Beyond convergence: space, scale, and regional inequality in China. Tijdschrift Voor Economische En Sociale Geografie 100(1):59–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei YHD, Leung CK, Luo J (2006) Globalizing Shanghai: foreign investment and urban restructuring. Habitat Int 30(2):231–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei YHD, Yuan F, Liao FH (2013) Spatial mismatch and determinants of foreign and domestic ICT firms in China. Prof Geogr 65(2):247–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weng QH (2002) Land use change analysis in the Zhujiang Delta of China using satellite remote sensing, GIS and stochastic modeling. J Environ Manag 64(3):273–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Q, Li HQ, Wang RS, Paulussen J, He Y, Wang M, Wang BH, Wang Z (2006) Monitoring and predicting land use change in Beijing using remote sensing and GIS. Landsc Urban Plan 78(4):322–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu D, Liu J, Wang S, Wang R (2010) Simulating urban expansion by coupling a stochastic cellular automata model and socioeconomic indicators. Stoch Env Res Risk Assess 24(2):235–245

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wu K, Ye XY, Fang Z, Zhang H (2012) Impacts of land use/land cover change and socioeconomic development on regional ecosystem services: the case of the fast-growing Hangzhou metropolitan area, China. Cities 31:276–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie YC, Fan SY (2014) Multi-city sustainable regional urban growth simulation-MSRUGS: a case study along the mid-section of Silk Road of China. Stoch Env Res Risk Assess. doi:10.1007/s00477-012-0680-z

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie YC, Yu M, Tian GJ, Xing XR (2005) Socio-economic driving forces of arable land conversion: a case study of Wuxian city, China. Glob Environ Change 15(3):238–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu J, Yeh A, Wu F (2009) Land commodification: new land development and politics in China since the late 1990s. Int J Urban Reg Res 33(4):890–913

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu W, Khoshroo N, Bjornlund H, Yin YY (2014) Effects of “Grain for Green” reforestation program on rural sustainability in China. Stoch Env Res Risk Assess. doi:10.1007/s00477-012-0592-y

    Google Scholar 

  • Ye XY, Wei YHD (2005) Geospatial analysis of regional development in China: the case of Zhejiang Province and the Wenzhou Model. Eurasian Geogr Econ 46(6):445–464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ye XY, Wei YHD (2012) Regional development, disparities and polices in globalizing Asia. Reg Sci Policy Pract 4(3):179–182

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ye XY, Xie YC (2012) Re-examination of Zipf’s Law and urban dynamic in China: a regional approach. Ann Reg Sci 49(1):135–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeh AGO, Li X (1998) Sustainable land development model for rapid growth areas using GIS. Int J Geogr Inf Sci 12(2):169–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yue W, Liu Y, Fan P (2010) Polycentric urban development: the case of Hangzhou. Environ Plan A 42(3):563–577

    Google Scholar 

  • Yue WZ, Fan PL, Wei YHD, Qi JG (2014) Economic development, urban expansion, and sustainable development in Shanghai. Stoch Env Res Risk Assess. doi:10.1007/s00477-012-0623-8

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao M, Pitman AJ, Chase T (2001) The impact of land cover change on the atmospheric circulation. Clim Dyn 17(5–6):467–477

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou YX, Ma LJC (2000) Economic restructuring and suburbanization in China. Urban Geogr 21(3):205–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Y, Sun YF, Wei YHD, Lin GCS (2011) De-centering “spatial fix”-Patterns of territorialization and regional technological dynamism of ICT hubs in China. J Econ Geogr 11(1):119–150

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge the funding from the Natural Science Foundation of China (41329001), Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (CYW012213) and Chinese Ministry of Education (13JJD790008).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Institute of Public and International Affairs, University of Utah, 260 S. Central Campus Dr. Rm. 270, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112-9155, USA

    Yehua Dennis Wei

  2. Department of Geography and Computational Social Science Lab, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 44242, USA

    Xinyue Ye

Authors
  1. Yehua Dennis Wei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xinyue Ye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yehua Dennis Wei.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wei, Y.D., Ye, X. Urbanization, urban land expansion and environmental change in China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 28, 757–765 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-013-0840-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-013-0840-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation