Urban residential land expansion and agglomeration in China: a spatial analysis approach

As China has undergone rapid urbanization, the share of land dedicated to urban residential use has increased and changed in space accordingly. The rate at which cities expand their urban footprints, however, is not simply a function of population growth, but rather influenced by a number of factors. This study investigated the spatial pattern of urban residential land (URL) in China and factors that drive the expansion of URL on a national scale. Taking a sample from 345 cities, the study applied spatial autocorrelation and spatial regression analysis for discovering China’s URL changes from 2000 to 2016. The study indicated a continuous growth and obvious spatial agglomeration of URL. These were particularly significant in Eastern regions of China, where the highly agglomerated areas were gradually concentrating and expanding in the Yangtze River Delta region, and the coastal area along Shandong and Hebei provinces over time. This contrasted with a spatial de-agglomeration of URL in Northeastern cities. The study also revealed that the effects of economic agglomeration, residential investment, public infrastructure development and government-planned actions by means of urban construction land planning also play significant roles in influencing URL expansion. Despite complexity of these impacts, policy decision making might look to transform growth-oriented development while promoting sustainable land use and livable residential environment beyond the scale of a city.