Comparison on Urban Landse Change in China’s Three Terrain Ladders

Comparison on Urban Land Use Change in China’sThree Terrain LaddersBin Quan,Xianzhao Liu, Shi Lei, Tao Guo, Hui Song, Jinning XieNational-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Geo-spatial Information TechnologyHunan University of Science and TechnologyXiangtan, ChinaEmail: quanbin308@Abstract—A comparative study is conducted on the change of urban land use in China’s 3 terrain ladders, in order to seek the differentiation and commonality of land use change in different regions. This paper establishes a spatiotemporal mathematical modeling for multi-phase LANDSAT TM images of Changsha, Quanzhou, Xiamen and Guyuan Area from 1988 to 2010 through remote sensing and GIS integration technologies, in order to analyze and compare these spatiotemporal characteristics. Results show that the areas of cropland, forest and orchard in the eastern and central regions such as Xiamen, Quanzhou and Changsha decrease continuously, while there is a continuously increasing trend in the areas of construction land and open water, with an especially prominent increase in construction land use. However, Guyuan Area in the western region of China is mainly featured by a decrease in orchard and grassland as well as an increase in cropland, with a slow and unremarkable increase in construction land. In terms of land use degree and development degree, it is the highest in the eastern region, medium in the central region and the lowest in the west. The eastern region is in an advanced stage of land use, with its economic growth pattern turning from basic industries into high-tech and service industries, relatively high urbanization and land intensification levels. The western region is in a low stage in terms of land use, where the industrial growth is slow and the urbanization degree is low, with agriculture as its major production sector, agriculture and crop farming as its major production structures through extensive management of land; the central region is in a medium stage.Keywords—Urban Sprawl; Land Use/Cover Change (LUCC);Regional Comparison; Remote Sensing; GISI.I NTRODUCTIONWith the deepening and development of global change study, scientists from various countries have increasingly felt the influence of human activities on climate change. Land development and utilization generated from human survival and development and, along with them, land cover change are especially considered an important part of and a main reason for global environmental change. Land use/cover change (LUCC) has risen as a scientific problem. Urban LUCC which epitomizes by human activities and the living environment is naturally an important aspect of LUCC, while the urban evolution will also have an extremely great influence on the inhabited urban ecological environment; therefore, urban development and urban LUCC have become a focus of research. In 2007, the Urban Environment Monitoring Project (UEM) was conducted worldwide by Arizona State University of the USA in 2007, and it was also known as "100 Cities Project" [1]. In the last 2 decades, people at home and abroad have conducted more research on regional and urban land use change[2-4], but there was little comparative study on urban LUCC[5]. China is divided into 3 terrain ladders based on different landforms, which we usually refer to as the East, the Middle and the West; they are greatly different in physical geography and economy, which will naturally have an influence on their local urban LUCC; but there was hardly any previous study on the differences and commonalities in representative urban LUCC and how to quantify. Therefore, this study aims to compare the urban sprawl of different cities in the East, the Middle and the West during the same period of different times under the support of remote-sensing images and geographic information systems (GIS) for the quantitative analysis of their evolution characteristics and differences. This study is of some significance for further understanding of the differences in landscape evolution among different regions.II.S URVEY OF REGIONGuyuan Area, located in the south of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, i.e. the eastern part of Northwest China, belongs to the Loess Hilly Region in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River. It consists of Guyuan City (Guyuan, Jingyuan, Pengyang , Xiji and Longde) and Haiyuan County of Zhongwei City, i.e. 6 counties in total, including Liupan Mountain National Natural Reserve with a geographic coordinate of 105°09’ ~106°58’E and 35°14’~37°04’N. Xiamen City, located in the southeast of Fujian Province in coastal Southeast China, is to the Taiwan Strait. It belongs to the subtropical marine monsoon climate, with an average annual temperature of 20.8 and annual rainfall of 1,143.5 mm. Changsha, south of the Yangtse River in central China, is a core city of the “Two-oriented Society” Test Area in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan City Groups in the north-eastern part of Hunan. Changsha is located in the transition zone between the south of Dongting Lake Plain and the central Hunan hilly basin, with about 230 km from east to west and 88km from north to south. Located in an important development area of China's eastern coastal region,Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 14JJ2098 and 14JJ4042)southeastern Fujian and West-Straits Economic Zone, Quanzhou is one of three central cities in Fujian Province, with an area of about 11,015 km2. It is located between 117°25'-119°05'E and 24°30'-25°56'N, with an annual average temperature of 18-20 , an annual rainfall of 1,000-1,800 mm.III.M ATERIALS A ND M ETHODS3.1 Data Source, Data Process and Land ClassificationA comparative data source is used in this study, including the Landsat TM remote-sensing images or GIS vector data of Changsha in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005, as well as those of Quanzhou in 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010. The vector data in 1990, 1995 and 2000 are from Chinese Resources and Environment Database, the accuracy of whose Grade I classification is as high as above 90%. The eCognition Developer 8 software is used to interpret the images according to their classifications; land use vector data of 1:100,000 is formed in the ArcGIS 9.3 software. Upon examination, the Grade I land classification accuracy obtained from the interpretation of the remote-sensing data of Changsha in 2005 and those of Quanzhou in 2010 is above 90%, in line with the accuracy requirements of the study. To facilitate the spatial overlay analysis of vector data, all vector data consistently adopt the WGS_1984 coordinate system and Mercator projection. In the Land Cover Classification System which is established with reference to the classification criteria of remote-sensing land cover by Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, land use types are classified into seven Grades including arable land, forests, orchards, grassland, urban construction land, water body and unused land. The data used in Guyuan and Xiamen, from Chinese Resources and Environment Database, are land use data of 1:100,000 through visual interpretation based on the Landsat TM/ETM of 1990, 1995 and 2000. The qualitative accuracy error of the interpretation for these three remote-sensing data is controlled at the level of 90% respectively. These data are unified into a unified coordinate system and a unified projection. ALBERS projection is used, as well as a unified central meridian and double standard parallels.3.2 Land use Intensity Comprehensive Index Model Regional difference in the land use intensity comprehensive index were calculated using the mathematical expression given by the following relationship[6-8]:Ι= 100 × ∑=×niiiCG1)((1) Where I is the land use intensity comprehensive index; G i is the Gradation value of the i th ranking land use type; C i is the area percentage of the i th ranking land use intensity; and n is the number of land use grade. The land use degree change parameter (∆Ιβ−α) that presents the change in the intensity index of land use was given by:∆Ιβ−α = Ιβ－ Ια (2) Where Ια and Ια are the regional land use intensity comprehensive index at time point b and a, respectively. If the ∆Ιβ−α is a positive value, it indicates that the land use in this region is in a development stage, while a negative value indicates that the land use in this region is regressing. The models above reflect the breadth and depth of land use, i.e. land use degree change, through the comprehensive results of the change in various land use types. This article classifies land use into four grades with reference to the land use degree gradation criteria proposed by Liu (Table 1)T ABLE 1T HE GRADATION INDEX SYSTEM OF LAND RESOURCELand Use Type Unused Land (GradeI) Forest, Grassland and Water(Grade II)Arable land (GradeIII)Urban, Residential, Industrial and MiningGrade IV)Gradation Index 1 2 3 4 IV.R ESULTS4.1 Comparison between Changsha and QuanzhouThe area of forests in Changsha from 1995 to 2020 accounts for about 60% of the total area, and so does that of Quanzhou from 1995 to 2020; in addition, a smaller and more stable amplitude in variation indicates a similar change trend in forest quantitative structure of these two cities during the study period. The study focuses on the comparative analysis of arable land and construction land in terms of quantitative structure change, as is shown in Fig. 1: (1) the area of arable land in Changsha account for about 30% of the total area during all periods, much greater than the proportion of arable land in Quanzhou; by 2020, the proportion of arable land in Changsha will be about twice that of arable land in Quanzhou;(2) there is certain growth in construction land in both of the two study regions, but the proportion of construction land in Quanzhou during each period is greater than that in Changsha; from 2010 to 2020, this difference will further be widened; (3) the overall trend reflects that the proportions of arable land and construction land in the total area of Changsha during various periods present no obvious change, relatively stable, and that the change trends of arable land and construction land of Quanzhou are relatively obvious, with a relatively great change in quantitative structures. The study results further reflect that human social activities in Quanzhou have a relatively great influence on land use change, and that the expansion of construction land is quite rapid.Arable land of Changsha(Data Source: Land Use Data in Changsha City from 1995 to 2020, Quoted from Literature[9])Fig. 1 Quantitative Structure Change in Changsha and Quanzhou from 1995 to 2020It can be directly seen from Table 2 that the comprehensive land use intensity presents a continuously uprising trend; from 1995 to 2020, the land-use intensity comprehensive index of Changsha is always greater than that of Quanzhou; however, the variation amplitude of the comprehensive intensity index is more obvious than that of Changsha. It can be seen from the calculations of Table 2 that: (1) from 1995 to 2020, the land use intensity comprehensive index in Changsha City increases from 373.54 in 1995 to 378.25, with an increase amplitude of less than 5, while there is a larger change in Quanzhou, with an increase amplitude of about 20 from 351.51 to 370.8. (2) ∆I b-a, the change amplitude of land use intensity in both Changsha and Quanzhou is greater than 0, which indicates that the two study regions are both in the development stage during all periods; (3) the change in Quanzhou is far greater than that of Changsha; from 1995 to 2020, the intensity change in Changsha is about 4.71, while that of Quanzhou reaches 19.27, representing a significant difference; (4) from 1995 to 2020, the change rate in Changsha is 0.0126, far lower than 0.0548 of Quanzhou. Study results also show that the land use structure in Changsha is relatively stable during the study period; its land use intensity comprehensive index is relatively great mainly because the areas of arable land and construction land account for a larger proportion than that of the lands with higher gradations. However, the increasing trend of land use intensity index in Quanzhou is more obvious than that of Changsha, mainly because the area of construction land in Quanzhou is continuously expanding, resulting in a relatively great increase in land use intensity comprehensive index and more obvious change and change rate of land use than those of Changsha.T ABLE 2C HANGE OF L AND USE I NTENSITY C OMPREHENSIVE I NDEX IN C HANGSHA AND Q UANZHOUYear 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020I aChangsha 373.54 374.58 375.53 376.53 377.45 378.25 Quanzhou 351.53 361.60 365.52 369.12 369.54 370.80 Time interval 1995-2000 2000-2005 2005-2010 2010-2015 2015-2020 1995-2020∆I b-a Changsha 1.04 0.95 1.00 0.92 0.80 4.71 Quanzhou 10.07 3.92 3.60 0.42 1.26 19.27The change of land use in Guanyuan Area and Xiamen in 1990, 1995 and 2000 (Table 3) shows that the area of arable land in Guyuan area has the greatest growth during this decade; in this period, the arable land in Xiamen decreases the most; the annual growth rate of arable land in Guyuan area is 0.62%, while that of Xiamen is -0.61%. The area of forests presents an increasing trend in Guyuan Area, with most of the other land types also increasing, while that of Xiamen decreases by 382.09 ha. The urban and rural residential, industrial and mining land in Guyuan Area increases by a small amount, and even presents a negative growth trend of stagnation and declining in early stages, indicating a slower process of urbanization; Xiamen is on the contrary, with a great increase of urban and rural residential, industrial and mining land, up to 3841.63 ha, and an annual change rate of 2.15%.The arable land and urban residential, industrial and mining land in Guyuan Area all increase, indicating the intensifying of human activities; the grassland and water bodies that can protect the ecological environment of Guyuan Area are also continuously destroyed, directly reflecting the deteriorating of ecological environment. The increase of forests indicates the increase of people's forest protection awareness, on which the local policy of “returning the grain plots to forestry” has certain effects. The decrease of arable land and forests in Xiamen and the increase of urban residential, industrial and mining land use reflect a more and more profound transformation of the nature by humans. In summary, the land use quantitative change in Guanyuan Area basically presents an opposite trend to that of Xiamen.T ABLE 3C OMPARISON OF LAND USE CHANGE BETWEEN G UYUAN A REA AND X IAMEN C ITY U NIT: HALand Use Types* Guyuan Area Xiamen City1990 1995 2000 Annual Change (%) 1990 1995 2000 Annual Change (%)1 708260 753207 752446 0.62 66477 63160 62396 -0.612 80750 87778 89751 1.11 47389 48155 47007 -0.083 851464 800224 797439 -0.63 15093 14348 15270 0.124 13714 12924 12979 -0.54 14886 15293 15366 0.325 21353 21223 22903 0.73 17832 20755 21673 2.156 579 766 603 0.41 34 0 0 -10The matrix of the land use transition in Guyuan Area and Xiamen from 1990 to 2000 is shown in Table 4 and Table 5. In the reduction of arable land in Guyuan Area, most is transformed into forests and grassland, while another small part is transformed into construction land; it can be seen that during these ten years, in addition to slow urbanization, there is mainly returning the grain plots to forestry and grassland. For Xiamen, most of the reduced arable land is transformed into construction land and water bodies, with a transition ratio of 71.3% and 24.8% respectively, which shows that in addition to rapid urbanization, water bodies expand with the great development of aquaculture industry driven by comparative economic benefits; part of the land transformed from mud flats is transformed into fish ponds due to the economic benefits. In the reduced forests in Guyuan Area, 66% of the lost forestland is transformed into arable land; the reduction of grassland is 54025.23ha, which accounts for 6.3% of the total area of grassland in 1990, reflecting that a large area of grassland is reclaimed by arable land .T ABLE 4T RANSFORMATION OF LAND USE TYPES IN G UYUAN A REA FROM 1990 TO 2000U NIT: HA20001990 Arable Land Forests Grassland Water Body Construction Land Unused Land Total Arable Land 698838 5171 26998 238 12916 24 708260 Forests 162 80501 88 0.00 0.00 0 80750 Grassland 52605 4066 794198 335 259 0 851464 Water Body 841 13 454 12405 0.00 0 13714 Construction Land 0 0 0 0 21353 0 21352.78 Unused Land 0 0 0 0 0.00 579 579.46 Total 752446 89751 797439 12979 22903 603 1676121 T ABLE5T RANSFORMATION OF LAND USE TYPES IN X IAMEN C ITY FROM 1990 TO 2000U NIT: HA20001990 Arable Land Forests Grassland Water Body Construction Land Unused Land Total Arable Land 62023 123 49 1107 3176 0 66477 Forests 96 46788 186 1.8 318 0 47389 Grassland 36 2.96 15035 20 0 0 15093 Water Body 198 59 0 14237 392 0 14886 Construction Land 44 0 0 0.00 17788 0 17832 Unused Land 0.00 34 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 34 Total 62396 47007 15270 15366 21673 0 161712It can be seen from Table 6 that the land use degree change and change rate in Guyuan Area are 2.82% and 1.15% respectively, both of which are above 0. The analysis of land use degree change process in Guyuan Area shows that the change in this region is mainly about the change in the proportions of grassland, arable land as well as urban industrial and mining land. The proportion of grassland in Grade II reduces, while those of arable land as well as urban industrial and mining land in Grade III and Grade IV rise; the degrees of development and utilization of land resources by human beings become great. Pasture land, arable land and forests are still main land types, although urban industrial and mining land presents a growing trend, but with a small growth rate, so that the land use degree change rate is small, which reflects that there is a small overall change and that land use is still in slow change. Compared with Guyuan Area, the land use degree change in Xiamen is 2.25, with a change rate of 0.86%, both of which are less than those of Guyuan. The reason is that in the land use change of Xiamen, although a lot of arable land in Grade III is transformed into the urban construction land in Grade IV, the unused land and grassland in Grade I and Grade II have a small area with no great change, resulting in a small overall change; but it is worth noting that the land use degree values (I a and I b) of Xiamen City in 2000 and 1990 are much larger than those of Guyuan Area, which fully demonstrates that the land use degree of Xiamen is greater than that of Guyuan Area on a whole, with a much higher level of economic development than that ofGuyuan area. Since it is relatively more difficult for an already high land use degree value to be further increased, the land use change value or incremental value in Xiamen is smaller than those of Guyuan Area.T ABLE 6C OMPARISON OF L AND USE I NTENSITY C OMPREHENSIVE I NDEX AND I TS C HANGE B ETWEEN G UYUAN A REA ANDX IAMEN C ITY FROM 1990 TO 2000Region Land use Intensity Change of Land use Intensity∆I b-a Change Rate of Land use IntensityR (%)1990 (I a) 2000(I b)Guyuan Area 244.77 247.59 2.82 1.15 Xiamen City 263.14 265.39 2.25 0.86V.D ISCUSSION AND C ONCLUSIONIt can be seen from the comparison of land use in typical cities in the east, middle and west of China that there is rapid urbanization in the cities of the east; for example, Xiamen and Quanzhou, both with an urbanization rate of above 70%, are in an advanced stage of urbanization and land use change, which is reflected in the rapid expansion of urban construction land, the high degree of land use and land use intensity change, the high dynamic degree of land use, as well as great reductions in arable land, forests and garden plots. The middle part of China, for example, Changsha, with an urbanization rate between 30% to 70%, is in an intermediate stage of urbanization and land use change, which is shown in the relatively great expansion of urban construction land, a medium change of land use degree and a medium dynamic degree of land use, as well as certain reductions in arable land, forests and garden plots. The west of China, for example, Guyuan Area in the south of Ningxia, with an urbanization rate below 30% and a relatively low degree of land use, is in a primary stage of urbanization and land use change, which is reflected in a small increase of urban construction land, a relatively low degree of land use and a low dynamic degree of land use, an increase of arable land, as well as great reductions in forests and grassland.Thus, Guyuan Area, Changsha, and Xiamen and Quanzhou are located in the west, middle and eastern coastal areas of China respectively, with relatively great differences in social economic development degree and city expansion scale; compared with the middle and the east, the west has lagging economic development and city expansion. Natural factors, social economic development and national policies are the main driving forces of the change differences in the quantitative structure and land use degree of construction land and arable land. In recent years, with the rapid development of the society and economy in the middle and the east, there has obviously been a rapid urbanization process and a more rapid expansion of construction land than in the west. However, with the speeding up of urbanization and the improvement of development and utilization, there has been a phenomenon of a great deal of arable land being occupied by construction land, resulting in serious loss of arable land, a declining quality and more fierce contradiction of a big population with little land. In addition, the ecosystem of coastal cities is facing grave environmental problems under growing pressure from the nature as well as human activities. 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