Change in land use structure in urban China: Does the development of high-speed rail make a difference

•The spatial impact of high-speed rail on urban land use structure is evaluated using a spatial panel regression model.•A detailed data with over 1.5 million record of land transaction records for the period 2007 – 2015 were used.•The impacts were found to differ among various types of cities.•Important implications for land use policies were provided. China has launched an ambitious strategy to develop a national high-speed rail (HSR) system with a total distance of 38,000 km by 2025. The massive development of HSR has not only facilitated the improvement of interregional accessibility, it also substantially stimulated urbanization and urban expansions across various cities. This paper investigates fundamental questions pertaining to change in land use related to HSR in China. First, does the development of HSR play a role in promoting change in urban land use structure? Second, does land use structure change have a spatial dimension related to HSR development? For the first time, the spatial dimension of urban land use as it is related to HSR development is evaluated empirically using a spatial panel regression analysis. The assessment is based on a micro-level land use data covering 285 cities for the period 2007−2015. The research findings reveal that HSR plays a significant role in promoting urban land use structure change in China. The influence of HSR is much larger than that from other types of transportation infrastructure. In addition, impacts were found to vary across different size scales of cities. In particular, the impact of HSR on change in urban land use structure was found significant in Tier 2–3 cities. Conversely, the financial constraint of local government was also confirmed to have a significant influence on land use structure change in medium and small cities (Tier 3–5 cities). Overall, the study provides evidence and implications for policy makers to improve decision-makings on land use policy reforms and guidance for future infrastructure development.