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Accurate measurement of urban sprawl is vital for urban planning and management. Urban planning-induced internal structure complexity affects the extent of urban sprawl. In addition, urban sprawl is closely linked to economic development. The study attempts to explore the impact of urban sprawl from an economic-dominated perspective. Thus a City-Ring road-County (CRC) scale framework based on top-down administrative divisions for urban sprawl measurement is proposed: 1) the single-index measurement based on economic activity is applied to calculate urban sprawl; 2) the spatiotemporal pattern of urban sprawl is investigated through a case study in 31 economy-dominated provincial capital cities across China from 2005 to 2015; 3) the impact of economy and land on urban sprawl is explored using correlation analysis. The results indicate that the degree of urban sprawl at the city scale shows an "inverted U-shaped" curve from 2005 to 2015, which represents that the phenomenon of urban sprawl was most severe in 2010. It finds that urban sprawl was more severe in the east and central regions relative to the provincial capitals in the western region, with the situation being most severe in the northeast region. Regions that have been transformed from suburban to urban built-up areas need to be given priority attention by the local government, including population movement, land layout, and fiscal policy, to meet the criteria of the urbanization process. Through correlation analysis, we also found that urban sprawl was influenced by the industry structure and the form of built-up area. The outcome of the study suggests that the data scale is sufficiently small in granularity to provide geographic boundaries for systematic analysis of urban sprawl in multiple administrative regions. Thus, the study helps provide a reference for differential planning policy formulation by governments at diverse economic levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban informal settlements (UISs) are densely populated and poorly developed residential areas in urban areas. The mapping of UISs using remote sensing is crucial for urban planning and management. However, the large-scale extraction of UISs is impeded by the labor-intensive task of collecting numerous training samples and the lack of automatic and effective city partition. To overcome these challenges, we proposed a large-scale extraction framework for UISs based on semantic segmentation of highresolution remote sensing images. Utilizing Deeplab V3 Plus as the foundational extraction model, the proposed framework introduces fast sample collection based on GLCM features. Besides, an automatic city partition approach combined with clustering and fine-tuning was proposed to enhance the performance on extracting a specific category of UISs. The results of the case study conducted in 36 major Chinese cities show that the proposed framework achieved good performance, with an overall F1 score of 85.76%. Furthermore, comparative assessments were performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of automatic city partition. The proposed framework offers a practical approach for the largescale extraction of UISs, which holds great significance for sustainable development, poverty estimation, infrastructure construction, and urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unprecedented urbanization in China has dramatically changed the urban spatial structure of cities. With the proliferation of individual-level geospatial big data, previous studies have widely used the network abstraction model to reveal the underlying urban spatial structure. However, the construction of network abstraction models primarily focuses on the topology of the road network without considering individual travel flows along with the road networks. Individual travel flows reflect the urban dynamics, which can further help understand the underlying spatial structure. This study therefore aims to reveal the intra-urban hierarchical spatial structure by integrating the road network abstraction model and individual travel flows. To achieve this goal, we 1) quantify the spatial interaction relatedness of road segments based on the Word2Vec model using large volumes of taxi trip data, then 2) characterize the road abstraction network model according to the identified spatial interaction relatedness, and 3) implement a community detection algorithm to reveal sub-regions of a city. Our results reveal three levels of hierarchical spatial structures in the Wuhan metropolitan area. This study provides a data-driven approach to the investigation of urban spatial structure via identifying traffic interaction patterns on the road network, offering insights to urban planning practice and transportation management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of urban sustainable development around the world, how to coordinate both economic growth and ecological benefits in urban space becomes an important problem. Therefore, this study simulated and predicted the spatiotemporal changes in urban economy and ecosystem service value (E.S.V.) equivalent ratio under the current policies by 2030, and analysed how adjusting planning policies influences economy and ecology. This process was based on the future land use simulation (F.L.U.S.) model of coupled neural network, and on methods assessing the spatial changes in ecosystem services and land economy. This study aims to analyse urban land economy and E.S.V., and assess how China's land spatial planning guides and promotes high-quality urban economic development. Results show that artificial intelligence (A.I.) simulation can forecast the results of spatial planning policies of national lands, to make policy-making more forward-looking. The guidance of planning policies on urban expansion accelerates the increase in economic value of urban residential and commercial lands, thereby promoting the economic growth. However, adjusted planning policies may lead to ecological destruction. So, this study provides model verifications and path guidance to realise coordinated sustainable development between economy and ecology, serving as an important reference to formulating proper policies for urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban population size dynamic adjustment has been widely studied for a long time; however, the dynamic adjustment at the urban hierarchy level remains unknown. This study utilises China's urban population data to investigate the dynamic adjustment. Specifically, we utilise methods of the Gini coefficient, linear regression, and coefficients of Spearman, and Moran's I to explore the dynamic adjustment tendency, adjustment rate and correlation of urban population size distribution of different urban hierarchies and groups of different urban hierarchies. We find that the urban population size spatial distribution is gradually even within the same urban hierarchy. The adjustment rate to be even of Megacity II is the highest, and Megacity I is the bottom. We also find the population size spatial distribution of the whole urban system is gradually uneven. We explore the dynamic process by sorting urban hierarchies into six groups. Furthermore, we find there is a complex correlation between different urban hierarchies and global spatial correlation among China cities. These results are valuable as references for Chinese policy-makers and practitioners and will enable them to adopt sustainable land use and urban population management measures. The study outcomes will also benefit future studies on spatial population size distribution in international communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the structure of polycentric cities can promote a better understanding of urban development and contribute to urban planning. In this study, we identified polycentric cities in China and evaluated the urban centre development level of polycentric cities from new data and method. We used Luojia-1A night-time light (NTL) data, combined with the concept of natural cities (NCs), to identify urban centres and thus identify polycentric cities in China. In addition, we used the urban centre development index (UCDI) to quantify the urban centre development level (UCDL) that represents the overall urban centre development level within a polycentric city. The polycentric cities in China are characterized by the spatial distribution pattern of a larger number in the east and fewer in the west. There are a large number of polycentric cities in eastern China, and the closer to the coastal areas, the more polycentric cities there are. The distribution of UCDL in China's polycentric cities is characterized by significant spatial heterogeneity. UCDLs are generally smaller in polycentric cities in western China. In addition, polycentric cities in northeastern China have smaller UCDL. Polycentric cities with high UCDL are concentrated in the central and coastal regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities play an essential role in promoting the development of the whole national economy. Many scholars have proposed different methods to study this problem, but all have ignored the critical influence of network attention on the economy. Therefore, this study uses big Network data to profoundly analyse the relationship between urban spatial development and economic growth in eastern, central, and western China, further study this issue, and provide theoretical support for urban economic development. This study first divides China into three regions: eastern, central, and western, then selects the indicators of the national economy and urban development from 2014 to 2019, and finally constructs a panel regression model to explore the relationship between urban space elements and national economic development. The results show that China's national economic development is closely related to spatial factors such as urban transportation, environment, science and technology, energy consumption, and housing price. These findings will help to make full use of the natural advantages of each region and guide the rational planning of the urban economy. This study provides references for urban development planning and industrial transfer in various regions of China and offers feasible suggestions for China's overall national economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic population distributions by activity type (e.g. working, shopping or in-home) are vital for resource allocation, urban planning and epidemic containment. Although studies have incorporated individual-level human mobility data to map population distribution by activity type, access to such data is hindered due to privacy issues and they rely on auxiliary data to provide priori activity knowledge. This paper presents a method for generating the population dynamics by activity type. We first introduce more readily available sequential snapshot data to construct the population mixture model, then decompose the population mixture, and finally estimate the dynamic population size for each activity. We test the method in the central districts of Guangzhou city, China, based on real-time Tencent user density data. Correlation analysis and accuracy assessment prove that our method can accurately estimate hourly distributions for populations engaging in working, stay-at-home, and socializing activities. The temporal distribution of the working population reproduces the regular work scenarios and socializing population displays complex spatial patterns. We also find that there is an underlying relationship between a region's function and its dynamic population structure. The presented method has great potential for application and could provide new insight for studying urban dynamic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research and analysis of urban growth and its driving factors are crucial to the long-term sustainable development of cities. Based on the multi-temporal Landsat remote sensing data, this paper extracts urban information by interpreting and supervising classification, and makes a dynamic study on the urban expansion of Harbin in different temporal intervals. By analyzing the spatial determinants of urban growth, we deeply understand the process of urban growth, thus providing important help for urban planning and policy formulation. In this paper, four landscape metrics (total area, aggregation index, landscape shape index, and total edge) were selected to characterize the urban landscape characteristics from two spatial scales (2 and 5 km grid sizes), then the spatial regression model was used to explore the relationship between the urban landscape and its spatial determinants. These changes exhibit significant spatial variations and spatial autocorrelation at two spatial scales. Topography and proximity factors have important effects on urban landscape change. These research results may help us to better understand the process and driving factors of urban development, so as to help the underdeveloped cities in northeast China to formulate scientific and reasonable development plans and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the technology of RS & GIS and the remote sensing images of Jixi City in 1993, 2003 and 2015, this study analyzes quantitatively the temporal and spatial evolution characters of landscape pattern in the downtown area of Jixi City in China in the past 22 years. The research results show that the area of mine land, farmland and construction land increased greatly from 1993 to 2015. As an important part of the urban natural ecosystem, the area of water area, forest and grassland are also decreasing year by year. In the past 22 years, due to the impact of human activities such as coal resources development, the coal mine land in the central urban area is distributed in the agricultural farming area and the edge zone with different landscape types. On the whole, the fragmentation degree and diversity of regional landscape are increasing, and human activities have a significant impact on the urban landscape pattern of Jixi City. This paper attempts to explore the general law of landscape pattern change under the influence of human activities in mining cities and to provide a reference for urban land use planning and scientific decision-making of relevant government departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The special planning for shelters is an integral part of overall city planning and is a key issue in solving the urban security problem. During the planning of earthquake emergency shelters, it is usually necessary to prioritize the designated shelters to avoid wasting resources. However, in previous research initiatives, special attention has been given to the general location-allocation model without prior consideration of the designated shelters. This article presents a multi-objective supplemental location-allocation optimization model for earthquake emergency shelters that addresses the concerns related to the designated shelters. This model is believed to remain more consistent with the knowledge of shelter planners and policy makers by incorporating the uncertainties of the temporal dynamics of population distribution and the spatially heterogeneous distribution of evacuees under various earthquake damage scenarios by using the elliptical attenuation model for seismic intensity into the location-allocation problem. A case study of the central area of Beijing, China is presented. A modified particle swarm optimization algorithm is applied to solve the supplemental location-allocation model and the general location-allocation model, and the solutions obtained from the two models are then compared. The results show that the solutions of the supplemental location-allocation model significantly minimized the shelter area by prioritizing the designated shelters. By contrast, without prior consideration of the designated shelters, the shelter areas significantly increased, which slightly decreased the evacuation distance in the general location-allocation model. The policy makers could select solutions from the obtained minimal-area scheme using the supplemental location-allocation model that ensures acceptable evacuation distances and minimal budgets by prioritizing the designated shelters during the phased planning of shelters in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing shelters is an important part of earthquake disaster management which involves selecting the location of them and assigning the evacuees to them. For this work, selecting suitable objectives and solution is important. Thus, in this paper, a multi-objective mathematical model with four groups of the objectives, allied with a modified particle swarm optimization algorithm, has been developed to solve the location-allocation problem for earthquake shelter. The four objective groups are: total shelter number (TSN) and total evacuation distance (TED), TSN and total weighted evaluation time (TWET), total shelter area (TSA) and TED, and TSA and TWET. The solutions of the model include the determination of the shelters from the candidates and how to allocate population to them. Then the solutions of the model with four objective groups are given and compared using safety, capacity and investment evaluation index with the case of Chaoyang district of Beijing, China. Related to government's preferences and future city planning, the most suitable model solutions can be chosen to help decide where it is suitable to construct shelters and how to allocate the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the pursuit for global competitiveness and economic growth, Chinese cities have recorded massive urban land expansion. This article examines the effects of development policies and economic restructuring on urban land expansion in China through a case study of Nanjing, representing the rapidly growing and globalizing coastal cities in China. Wei investigate the development process and changing contents of government policies, and analyze development zones and key projects as privileged, trait making, and even path-breaking elements of the development process. We highlight the transition and paradox of the Chinese state in the urban development process, and the broad contexts underlying urban land expansion in Chinese cities. We see urban expansion in China as a process largely responding to top-down policy change and economic transition initiated by the central government. We hold that the role of the state has to be analyzed to understand urban transformation and land expansion, moving beyond local factors of accessibility and feasibility. Development-zone and project fevers, and lagging administrative reforms, however, have made Chinese cities heavy with debt and led to wasteful development, corruption, and social unrest in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In geographical analysis, spatial simulation and optimization are usually separate processes tackling different problems. It is, however, increasingly necessary to integrate them. Particularly in a fast developing area, the development to be simulated is seldom inertial (i.e., strictly following the historical trend); instead, it is likely to be interfered by new planning measures. Meanwhile, in such an area an optimization plan might not be even meaningful if it only addresses a snapshot of a highly dynamic landscape. In this study, we explored the possibility of integrating cellular automata (CA), a widely used method for simulating urban development and land use changes, and ant colony optimization (ACO), an advanced technique for solving complex path optimization problems. We named the resulting integrated system the geographical simulation and optimization system (GeoSOS) and applied it to a case study concerning finding the optimal path for a planned expressway in Dongguan, a fast-growing city in one of the most economically active regions of China. In the case study, the CA component of the GeoSOS generated simulations of the industrial land use changes for some years in the next decade. The ACO component of the GeoSOS, which had been revised from the conventional ACO to work on raster surfaces, took the simulations as input and completed raster-based path optimizations. In terms of the cumulative utility, a measurement used to evaluate the performance of the optimization, the coupling method surpasses the noncoupling method by 10.3 percent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the transition towards a more market-oriented economy and entrepreneurial governance, local authorities have attempted to create new cross-jurisdiction regional entities to enhance their competitiveness through making city-region plans or regional strategic plans in China. This article analyses the process of region building in China through a case study of Nanjing city-region. We argue that region building is a state-led regional project in China, not a spontaneous process. City-region planning has played a legitimacy-seeking role in the construction of new regions. Based on the discourse provided by the city-region plan, associated city networks are being created as a mechanism for plan implementation and regional coordination. This signals that regional planning is entering the stage of regional institution building. By assessing the capacity of regional institutions, we argue that the newly-emerged regional institutions or urban networks have facilitated regionalization in terms of the increasing involvement of non-state actors, the formation of regional coherence and identity and the enhanced inter-city co-operation. However, it is still difficult to establish effective regional governance due to competing local governments, the arbitrary political leadership and the fragmented planning functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread use of Western classical forms in China’s recent building boom demonstrates that the process of formalizing and ennobling a locally and spontaneously created building form can also be inverted, wherein a high architecture is appropriated and vernacularized into a mainstream architecture in a different cultural setting. In this article, I examined the recent popularity of Western classical architecture in China and its historical, social, and cultural conditions. Focusing on the ideological implications of the style, I also investigated the dynamic application of the classical forms and their iconographical effects on China’s constructed landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research, built work and design seminar entitled “The Politics of the Object: Transformative Public and Cultural Landscapes” examined the critical history of a 150-year old open air market in a dense urban area of Hong Kong. This culminated in a series of built installations that used light as a critical design medium to engage the public on urban renewal issues and questions of rapid development in Hong Kong. This ongoing educational initiative aimed to encourage debate about the issues of planned development and the neighborhood’s preservation of cultural values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the reasons behind Beijing's dual central business district. Background on China's transitional economy; Emergence of a real estate market; Suggested locations for a central business district; Spatial separation of domestic and internationally oriented activities; Locational choices of organizations.

Examines the economic and administrative changes in Lijin County and Lijin Zhen during the period of economic reform in China. Town planning; Population growth; Sectoral planning; Comprehensive development; Construction of the trade center in 1992; Urban development of Lijin Zhen; Open market in 1994.

Examines the effects of recent urban planning, of industrial, commercial, and transportation development, and of housing construction on the morphology of the city of Beijing, China. Transformation of Beijing from socialist city of undifferentiated low-rise districts to a high-rise metropolis; Elements of change; Blend of urban-planning ideals with traditional and socialist Chinese urbanism.

Urban clusters were the dominant form of cities along the Middle Niger (West Africa) from the inception of urbanism in the first centuries B. C. Many discrete habitation mounds, in close proximity, were occupied simultaneously and together functioned as home to a heterogeneous population that provided diverse services to a wider hinterland. Remarkably similar settlement processes characterized late Neolithic and early Bronze Age China. An examination of why the urban character of these cities was for so long nearly invisible to archaeologists serves to reveal the value-laden nature of our theories about urbanization. A brief review of traditional social thought about the role of early cities illustrates the ways in which the character of urban clusters deviate from scholars' traditional expectations of the physical plan of cities. Such expectations of the underlying social dynamics of early cities presumed the imposition of a coercive state apparatus forcing a heterogeneous population to crowd together, facilitating central control. This article illustrates other mechanisms by which the potential for conflict between corporate groups could have been reduced. The ambiguity of membership had to be resolved and prevented from growing intolerable as former villages became increasingly pluralistic. The elements of urban clusters served as symbols communicating a sense of corporate belonging and, by resolving ambiguities, contributed to the success of early urbanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]