Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Extraction of basic trends of urban expansion in China over past 40 years from satellite images

  • Published:
Chinese Geographical Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

If urban sprawl is to be avoided in China in the next ten years, it is not only crucial to understand the overall history, current status, and future trends of urban expansion there, but also these differences, and this is presently lacking. In this study, remotely sensed images with approximately 30 m spatial resolution were used to quantitatively assess the spatial and temporal patterns of urban expansion of 60 Chinese cities (1973–2013). Urban-expansion-process curves of the cities studied were drawn using annual expansion area as an indicator. Curve similarity analysis generated four basic process modes of urban expansion in China. These included cities that: 1) peaked around 2004 and then decelerated; 2) peaked around 2010 and then decelerated; 3) showed sustained acceleration, and 4) showed continued deceleration. Four basic process modes represented cities under different levels of development stage. Geographic location was found to be the most related characteristic to urban expansion process. Regional development policies at the national level in each region also showed highly temporal consistency with fluctuation characteristics of urban expansion process. Urban characteristic such as population size and administrative level were not found to be significantly related to urban expansion-process modes. Understanding the basic process-mode categories well is extremely important for future regional-balance planning and development of macroeconomic policies.

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

  • Batty M, 2008. The size, scale, and shape of cities. Science, 319(5864): 769–771. doi: 10.1126/science.1151419

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom D E, David C, Guenther F, 2008. Urbanization and the wealth of nations. Science, 319(5864): 772–775. doi: 10.1126/science.1153057

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolund P, Hunhammar S, 1999. Ecosystem services in urban areas. Ecological Economics, 29(2): 293–301. doi: 10.1016/S0921-8009(99)00013-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen Benqing, Xu Hanqiu, 2005. Urban expansion and its driving force analysis using remote sensed data-a case of Xiamen City. Economic Geography, 1: 79–83. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen M X, Ye C, Zhou Y, 2014. Comments on Mulligan’s’ Revisiting the urbanization curve’. Cities, 41: S54–S56. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2013.10.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fasulo D. Ananalysis of recent work on clustering algorithms [EB/OL]. Available at: http://citeseer.ist.Psu.edu/fasulo99analysi.html.2001-12-18

  • Green K, Kempka D, Lackey L, 1994. Using remote sensing to detect and monitor land cover and land use change. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 60: 331–337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grimm N B, Faeth S H, Golubiewski N E et al., 2008. Global change and the ecology of cities. Science, 319: 756–760. doi: 10.1126/science.1150195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guneralp B, Seto K C, 2008. Environmental impacts of urban growth from an integrated dynamic perspective: a case study of Shenzhen, South China. Global Environmental Change, 18(4): 720–735. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.07.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haas J, Ban Y, 2014. Urban growth and environmental impacts in Jing-Jin-Ji, the Yangtze, River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 30: 42–55. doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2013.12.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han J, Hayashi Y, Cao X et al., 2009. Evaluating land-use change in rapidly urbanizing China: case study of Shanghai. Journal of Urban Planning and Development, 135(4): 166–171. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9488(2009)135:4(166)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herold M, Goldstein N C, Clarke K C, 2003. The spatiotemporal form of urban growth: measurement, analysis and modeling. Remote Sensing of Environment, 86(3): 286–302. doi: 10.1016/s0034-4257(03)00075-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herold M, Mayaux P, Woodcock C E et al., 2008. Some challenges in global land cover mapping: an assessment of agreement and accuracy in existing 1 km datasets. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112(5): 2538–2556. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2007.11.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopewell K, 2015. Different paths to power: the rise of Brazil, India and China at the World Trade Organization. Review of International Political Economy, 22(2): 311–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howarth P J, Boasson E, 1983. Landsat digital enhancements for change detection in urban environments. Remote Sensing of Environment, 13: 149–160. doi: 10.1016/0034-4257(83)90019-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang F, Liu S H, Yuan H et al., 2007. Measuring urban sprawl in Beijing with geo-spatial indices. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 17(4): 469–478. doi: 10.1007/s11442-007-0469-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwag B S, 2013. Study on the changes of China’s regional development policies’ types. China Research, 15: 67–108. (in Korean)

    Google Scholar 

  • Li F, Wang R S, Paulussen J et al., 2005. Comprehensive concept planning of urban greening based on ecological principles: a case study in Beijing, China. Landscape and Urban Planning, 72(4): 325–336. doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2004.04.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liao Congjian, 2013. Comparison of Remotely Sensed Monitoring Urbanization Effects and Driving Forces on Urban Expansion Among the Eastern, Central and Western in China. Hangzhou: Zhejiang University. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y X, Chen J L, Cheng W Y et al., 2014. Spatiotemporal dynamics of the urban sprawl in a typical urban agglomeration: a case study on southern Jiangsu, China (1983–2007). Frontiers of Earth Science, 8(4): 490–504. doi: 10.1007/s11707-014-0423-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorette A, Descombes X, Zerubia J, 2000. Texture analysis through a Markovian modelling and fuzzy classification: application to urban area extraction from satellite images. International Journal of Computer Vision, 36(3): 221–236. doi: 10.1023/a:1008129103384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu Dadao, Liu Weidong, 2000. Analysis of geo-factors behind regional development and regional policy in China. Scientia Geographica Sinica, 20(6): 487–493. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Luo J, Wei Y H D, 2009. Modeling spatial variations of urban growth patterns in Chinese cities: the case of Nanjing. Landscape and Urban Planning, 91(2): 51–64. doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2008.11.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mertes C M, Schneider A, Sulla-Menashe D et al., 2015. Detecting change in urban areas at continental scales with MODIS data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 158: 331–347. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2014.09.023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MOHURD (Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China), 1999. GB/T 50280-98 City Planning Basic Terminology Standards. Beijing: China Building Industry Press. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • MOHURD (Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China), 2013. China Urban Construction Statistical Yearbook. Beijing: China Planning Press. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulligan G F, 2013. Revisiting the urbanization curve. Cities, 32: 113–122. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2013.03.014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ouyang T P, Kuang Y Q, Hu Z Y et al., 2005. Urbanization in the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, China. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 12(1): 48–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qu W Y, Zhao S Q, Sun Y, 2014. Spatiotemporal patterns of urbanization over the past three decades: a comparison between two large cities in Southwest China. Urban Ecosystems, 17 (3): 723–739. doi: 10.1007/s11252-014-0354-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rajput U K, Ghosh S K, Kumar A, 2014. Multisensor fusion of satellite images for urban information extraction using pseudo-Wigner distribution. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 8(1): 083668. doi: 10.1117/1.jrs.8.083668

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider A, Woodcock C E, 2008. Compact, dispersed, fragmented, extensive? A comparison of urban growth in twentyfive global cities using remotely sensed data, pattern metrics and census information. Urban Studies, 45(3): 659–692. doi: 10.1177/0042098007087340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider A, Mertes C M, 2014. Expansion and growth in Chinese cities, 1978–2010. Environmental Research Letters, 9(2): 024008. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/9/2/024008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seto K C, Fragkias M, Güneralp B et al., 2011. A meta-analysis of global urban land expansion. PLoS ONE, 6(8): e23777. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023777.g001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The State Council, 2014. National New Urbanization Plan. Beijing: People’s Publishing House. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tian G J, Jiang J, Yang Z F et al., 2011. The urban growth, size distribution and spatio-temporal dynamic pattern of the Yangtze River Delta megalopolitan region, China. Ecological Modelling, 222(3): 865–878. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.09.036

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang L, Li C C, Ying Q et al., 2012. China’s urban expansion from 1990 to 2010 determined with satellite remote sensing. Chinese Science Bulletin, 57(22): 2802–2812. doi: 10.1007/s11434-012-5235-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weng Q, 2001. A remote sensing? GIS evaluation of urban expansion and its impact on surface temperature in the Zhujiang Delta, China. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 22(10): 1999–2014. doi: 10.1080/713860788

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu W J, Zhao S Q, Zhu C et al., 2015. A comparative study of urban expansion in Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang over the past three decades. Landscape and Urban Planning, 134: 93–106. doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.10.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin Shoujing, 2010. Research on Land Cover Change Detection Methods Using Time Series NDVI. Wuhan: Wuhan University (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Xueliang, 2014. China’s Regional Economic Development Report: Resources and the Environment Carrying Capacity for Chinese Urban Agglomerations. Beijing: People’s Publishing House. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Xinle, Zhang Shuwen, Li ying et al., 2007. Spatial expansion of urban land use and its driving forces in Harbin City over the past 30 years. Resource Science, 5: 157–163. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Z X, Wang X, Zhao X L et al., 2014. A 2010 update of national land use/cover database of china at 1:100 000 scale using medium spatial resolution satellite images. Remote Sensing of Environment, 149: 142–154. doi: 10.1016/j.rse. 2014.04.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng Z, Bohong Z, 2012. Study on spatial structure of Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration and its effects on urban and rural regions. Journal of Urban Planning and Development, 138(1): 78–89. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000095

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Qingke Wen, Zengxiang Zhang, Lifeng Shi, Xiaoli Zhao, Fang Liu, Jinyong Xu, Ling Yi, Bin Liu, Xiao Wang, Lijun Zuo, Shunguang Hu, Na Li & Minmin Li

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Lifeng Shi, Na Li & Minmin Li

Authors
  1. Qingke Wen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zengxiang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lifeng Shi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Xiaoli Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Fang Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jinyong Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Ling Yi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Bin Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Xiao Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Lijun Zuo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Shunguang Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Na Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Minmin Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lifeng Shi.

Additional information

Foundation item: Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41201443, 41101148), Strategic Planning Program in the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan of Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. Y4SG0100CX)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wen, Q., Zhang, Z., Shi, L. et al. Extraction of basic trends of urban expansion in China over past 40 years from satellite images. Chin. Geogr. Sci. 26, 129–142 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-016-0796-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-016-0796-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation