Spatial and temporal dynamics of urban sprawl along two urban–rural transects: A case study of Guangzhou, China

Accelerated restructuring in rural China fueled by ‘increasing vs. decreasing balance’ land-use policy for dealing with hollowed villages

“…1 However, as the agricultural land area had already fallen to only 1.826 billion mu (121.7 million ha) by 2007, the target leaves little room for further loss of farmland, particularly as the trends of urbanization and industrialization show no signs of abating. The pressure on farmland comes both from urban expansion (Wang and Scott, 2008;Yu and Ng, 2007), and from the changing use of land in rural communities . According to the statistical data of the Ministry of Land and Resources of China (MLRC), 'Rural construction land' (that is, land in rural areas occupied by housing and other nonagricultural buildings) in China amounted to 16.56 million ha in 2006, or just over half of all built-up land in China.…”

“…The traditional centrally planned economy has been transformed into a market based economy, with accompanying processes of industrialization and urbanization. These processes have impacted on the social, economic and environmental landscape of both urban and rural China, with key trends including mass migration from rural to urban areas and the development of 'villages-in-the-city' (chengzhongcun) of rural migrant workers (Chan, 2010;Chung, 2010;Liang et al, 2002;Song et al, 2008); the growth of urban sprawl and the loss of agricultural land in peri-urban districts (Lin, 2006;Liu et al, 2010b;Wang and Scott, 2008;Wei and Zhao, 2009;Yu and Ng, 2007); and rural industrialization, especially in districts close to cities with highly liberalized economies (Peng, 2007).…”

Quantifying different types of urban growth and the change dynamic in Guangzhou using multi-temporal remote sensing data

“…In Guangzhou, most regions surrounding the urban areas are used for agriculture. After the implementation of economic reform and opening-up policy in 1979, several new development districts of various types such as Special economic development zones, and High-tech industry zones were established to attract foreign investment (Seto and Fragkias, 2005;Yu and Ng, 2007). These new development industrial zones were constructed in rural areas, usually on agricultural land because of a low developing cost.…”

Land fragmentation under rapid urbanization: A cross-site analysis of Southwestern cities

“…To analyze urban growth patterns and their spatial heterogeneity, we weighed the benefits of using a full coverage moving windows analysis (Riitters et al 2002) and a transect analysis (Luck and Wu 2002;Yu and Ng 2007). The transect methodology was selected due to the linear form of many of the sites and our wish to detect directionality of urbanization patterns.…”