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Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World

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A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2023) | Viewed by 37952

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Tomasz Noszczyk

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying, Department of Land Management and Landscape Architecture, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Balicka 253c, 30-149 Kraków, Poland
Interests: land change science; land use/cover change; land use modelling; statistical approaches; cadastre; environmental analysis; urban analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Abreham Berta Aneseyee

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Guest Editor

Center of Environmental Science, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, P.O. Box 1176, Ethiopia
Interests: land use/land cover change analysis; ecosystem service modeling and valuation; land resource conservation option; land ecology; ecosystem function, rehabilitation and restoration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Land use/cover change stems from the multifaceted interaction of social, ecological, and geophysical processes. It is the leading cause of global environmental change. Political, technological, human, and biophysical factors (urbanization, agricultural expansion, population growth, and deforestation) and other driving forces have been reported as the causes of the rapid land use/cover changes over the past decades. It is essential to understand land use/cover change and describe its drivers to provide effective support for land planning and land management regulation.

Authors are requested to submit papers on applying socioeconomic, environmental, and political aspects to rational land management and land use/cover around the world. The integration of remote sensing, GIS, and modelling can provide valuable support for management and decision-making. These various factors, including policies, GDP, accessibility, and neighborhood factors behind land conversion, vary worldwide. Moreover, public participation at every step, proper economic policy, and political stability help to achieve sustainable development goals.

We will welcome contributions where various socioeconomic, environmental, and political aspects are combined with other factors and applied in various disciplines such as land management, land use/cover change, land surveying, environmental engineering, and landscape architecture.

The following list provides some examples of topics of interest, to ensure the consistency of the papers in this Special Issue:

The integration of socioeconomic, environmental, and political aspects for rational land management and land use/cover;
Best practices in rational land management—case studies from around the world;
The impact of political decisions on land management and land use/cover;
Legal and administrative regulations contributing to determining the directions of spatial policy;
The main problems that hinder rational land management in the world and propositions of relevant solutions;
Remote sensing, GIS, or UAV data for the mapping of land use/cover processes;
The modelling and visualization of spatial land use/cover changes;
Landscape metrics.

To handle all these challenges, scientific solutions, smooth political decisions (such as the implementation of policy and international agreements), the applicability of socially driven solutions, and sustainable economy-friendly solutions are required.

Papers incorporating novel and interesting techniques for studying these aspects and some interesting applications will be considered. Well-prepared review papers are also welcomed.

We invite all prospective authors to share their research.

Dr. Tomasz Noszczyk
Dr. Abreham Berta Aneseyee
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Spatiotemporal analysis
Land change science
Urban analysis
Spatial modelling
Spatial policy
Land management
Spatial analysis
Landscape metrics
Spatial planning
Natural resources
Land degradation
Land rehabilitation/restoration

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4192 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Dynamics of Mountain Urbanisation: Evidence from the Trans-Himalayan Town of Kargil, Ladakh, India

by Altaf Hussain, Susanne Schmidt and Marcus Nüsser

Land 2023, 12(4), 920; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land12040920 - 20 Apr 2023

Viewed by 4296

Abstract

Small and medium-sized towns in the high mountain regions of South Asia are characterised by rapid and mostly unplanned urbanisation processes, regularly resulting in an increased risk of urban agglomerations being exposed to natural hazards. After the administrative capital of Leh, Kargil town is the second-largest urban centre in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. This article discusses the development and dynamics of the Trans-Himalayan town in terms of its historical development, expansion and population; land use and land cover (LULC) change; and the specific role of tourism. Based on a multi-temporal approach using high-resolution satellite images, statistical data and field surveys, the urban landscape dynamics of Kargil town are analysed. The total population of this town increased almost tenfold from 1681 in 1961 to 16,338 in 2011, which resulted in an increase in the urban population from 3.7% to 11.6%, while the population of the entire Kargil district only tripled from 45,064 to 140,802 over the same period. Migration from rural villages to Kargil town has been a major cause for the construction and growth of new residential colonies and settlements. The built-up area increased more than ninefold from 0.25 km² (1.3%) to 2.30 km² (11.7%) between 1965 and 2020. During the same period, irrigated land and hygrophilous vegetation increased considerably from 4.51 km² (23.0%) to 8.56 km² (43.6%) due to the construction of new water channels. Similarly, the barren area decreased significantly from 14.88 km² (75.8%) to 8.78 km² (44.7%) between 1965 and 2020. Moreover, the massive increase in tourist arrivals has led to the construction of more hotels, guesthouses and travel agencies. These key factors play a significant role in the emergence, growth and development of this high-mountain town. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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22 pages, 4129 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing Changes in Land Use/Land Cover and Ecological Risk to Conserve Protected Areas in Urban–Rural Contexts

by Isabelle D. Wolf, Parvaneh Sobhani and Hassan Esmaeilzadeh

Land 2023, 12(1), 231; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land12010231 - 11 Jan 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2409

Abstract

Land use/land cover (LULC) changes in response to natural factors and human activities constitute a pressing issue for the conservation of Protected Areas in urban–rural landscapes. The present study investigated LULC changes in the Jajrud Protected Area (JPA) and the Kavdeh Wildlife Refuge (KWR) in the Tehran province, Iran, between 1989 and 2019. To inform ecological conservation measures for the JPA and KWR, LULC changes were identified and monitored using Landsat imagery from between 1989 and 2019. In addition, the landscape ecological risk (ER) was evaluated by conducting a landscape pattern index analysis. Then, the importance of different indicators affected by ER in these two PAs was assessed using the Delphi method, and expert opinions were solicited through a questionnaire. As for LULC changes in the JPA, high-density pasture declined the most over 1989–2019, from 38.6% (29,241 ha) to 37.7% (28,540 ha). In contrast, built-up areas increased the most, from 10.4% (7895 ha) in 1989 to 11.9% (9048 ha) in 2019. Water bodies also increased, from 0.88% (676 ha) in 1989 to 0.94% (715 ha) in 2019. In the KWR, cropland and gardens increased the most, from 2.14% (1647 ha) in 1989 to 3.4% (2606 ha) in 2019. Built-up areas also increased, from 0.05% (45 ha) in 1989 to 0.09% (75 ha) in 2019. Water bodies increased from 0.69% (538 ha) in 1989 to 0.71% (552 ha) in 2019. Finally, high-density pasture decreased the most, from 29.4% (22,603 ha) in 1989 to 28.5% (21,955 ha) in 2019. At the same time, the high and very high ER classes increased, more so in the JPA compared to the KWR. Finally, considering both LULC and ER changes, the Delphi method demonstrated that the greatest impacts occurred in the JPA. Various illegal economic and physical activities have created LULC changes and caused extensive destruction of ecosystems, posing a high ER in the study areas. The intensity of ER differs between the two PAs because of the varying distance from the metropolis, varying degrees of human activities, LULC changes, along with differences in legal restrictions of use. Aligned with the management plans of these areas, our research shows that it is necessary to develop land only within the designated zones to minimize the amount of ER. Various models of LULC changes have been presented, and a comparison of these models relating to the methodology and model effectiveness can help increase their accuracy and power of interpretation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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17 pages, 32409 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Object-Based Informal Settlement Mapping in Google Earth Engine Using the Integration of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and PlanetScope Satellite Data

by Dadirai Matarira, Onisimo Mutanga, Maheshvari Naidu and Marco Vizzari

Land 2023, 12(1), 99; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land12010099 - 28 Dec 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3121

Abstract

Mapping informal settlements’ diverse morphological patterns remains intricate due to the unavailability and huge costs of high-resolution data, as well as the spatial heterogeneity of urban environments. The accessibility to high-spatial-resolution PlanetScope imagery, coupled with the convenience of simple non-iterative clustering (SNIC) algorithm within the Google Earth Engine (GEE), presents the potential for Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) to map the spatial morphology of deprivation pockets in a complex built-up environment of Durban. Such advances in multi-sensor satellite image inventories on GEE also afford the possibility to integrate data from sensors with different spectral characteristics and spatial resolutions for effective abstraction of informal settlement diversity. The main objective is to exploit Sentinel-1 radar data, Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope optical data fusion for more accurate and precise localization of informal settlements using GEOBIA, within GEE. The findings reveal that the Random Forests classification model achieved informal settlement identification accuracy of 87% (F-score) and overall accuracy of 96%. An assessment of agreement between observed informal settlement extents and ground truth dimensions was conducted through regression analysis, yielding root mean square log error (RMSLE) = 0.69 and mean absolute percent error (MAPE) = 0.28. The results demonstrate reliability of the classification model in capturing variability of spatial characteristics of informal settlements. The research findings confirm efficacy of combined advantages of GEOBIA within GEE, and integrated datasets for more precise capturing of characteristic morphologic informal settlement features. The outcomes suggest a shift from standard static conventional approaches towards more dynamic, on-demand informal settlement mapping through cloud computing, a powerful analysis platform that simplifies access to and the processing of voluminous data. The study has important implications for identifying the most effective ways to map informal settlements in a complex urban landscape, thus providing a benchmark for other regions with significant landscape heterogeneity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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19 pages, 3296 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial-Temporal Evolution and Its Influencing Factors on Urban Land Use Efficiency in China’s Yangtze River Economic Belt

by Liguo Zhang, Luchen Huang, Jinglin Xia and Kaifeng Duan

Land 2023, 12(1), 76; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land12010076 - 26 Dec 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1437

Abstract

Improving urban land use efficiency is a feasible way to realize sustainable development and alleviate urban land pressure on the city. The main purpose of this article is to measure the urban land use efficiency of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and explore its evolutionary trends and influencing factors, so as to provide references for policy formulation to promote efficient land use and sustainable development. Therefore, we calculated the value of urban land use efficiency in the Yangtze River economic belt from 2004 to 2019, based on the super efficiency SBM model, including unexpected output. Further, we analyzed the spatial-temporal evolution, and spatial correlation and its influencing factors. The main results are as follows: Firstly, urban land use efficiency in the Yangtze River economic belt continues to improve as a whole, but it is higher in the east and lower in the west. In the kernel density evolution map, the development trend is steep at first and then slows, and the gap tends to decrease. Secondly, the spatial correlation of urban land use efficiency in the Yangtze River economic belt increases year by year, showing a positive correlation overall. The high-high agglomeration shifts to the east, low-low agglomeration shifts to the west, and low-high and high-low agglomeration show scattered distribution. The hot and cold spots are distributed regionally and have a diffusion trend. Thirdly, the results of the spatial Dubbin model show that the urbanization level, government expenditure and industrial instruction transformation can promote the improvement of urban land use efficiency, and people density and land use scale can inhibit its improvement. Additionally, there is remarkable heterogeneity in the effect of these influencing factors. On the whole, the effect of non-resource-based cities is better, and it is more so in the cities of the eastern region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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23 pages, 2474 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identifying the Relationship between Livelihoods and Land Ecosystem Services Using a Coupled Model: A Case Study in the “One River and Two Tributaries” Region of Tibet

by Hejie Wei, Jiaxin Zheng, Dong Xue, Xiaobin Dong, Mengxue Liu and Yali Zhang

Land 2022, 11(9), 1377; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land11091377 - 23 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1662

Abstract

In fragile and impoverished areas, identifying the interrelationship between livelihoods and ecosystem services can help protect the ecological environment and improve human well-being. This study selected the “One River and Two Tributaries” region (ORTTR) in Tibet with a fragile, sensitive ecological environment as the study area. With the years 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 as the research time points, a coupled evaluation model of residents’ livelihood and land ecosystem services was constructed to study the relationship between the two. Results showed that from 2000 to 2020, the coupling degree and coupling coordination degree between the two continued to increase because of the improvement in residents’ livelihood and ecosystem services. The level of coupling coordination gradually changed from a reluctant coordination stage to a moderate coordination stage. The coupling coordination degree showed more revealing results than the coupling degree in time scale. The relative development type between the two was mainly of the type lagging residents’ livelihood. By considering the physical geography and socio-economic characteristics and the relative development types, the counties and districts in the ORTTR are divided into ecological conservation areas, ecological restoration areas, and ecological reconstruction areas. The coupled model can evaluate the relationship between livelihoods and ecosystem services from a systematic integration perspective and provide scientific support for the improvement of regional human well-being. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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13 pages, 1752 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Climate Change, Agriculture, and Biodiversity: How Does Shifting Agriculture Affect Habitat Availability?

by Mary Ann Cunningham

Land 2022, 11(8), 1257; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land11081257 - 06 Aug 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4244

Abstract

Models show that climate change is likely to push agricultural production in the US region known as the Corn Belt northward in coming decades. The economic and social impacts of this northward shift have received extensive attention, but its environmental impacts, such as effects on biodiversity, have received less focus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent and distribution of grassland-type habitat that is vulnerable to a northward-shifting Corn Belt. To analyze this question, geographic shifts in suitable climate conditions for the dominant crop, corn (Zea mays), were modelled. The amount and distribution of uncultivated (potential habitat) land cover classes was then calculated and mapped in current and future (2050) regions suitable for corn. In currently-suitable areas, the degree of climate suitability positively predicted the dominance of corn in the landscape and negatively predicted grasslands. Areas likely to become climatically suited for corn production contained modest amounts of grassland and herbaceous wetland, most of it privately held and lacking protected status. If economic incentives for corn remain strong, pressure to further simplify the landscape and further reduce habitat resources will likely increase in the coming decades. While global concern for biodiversity and habitat conservation is growing, this study raises the question of how wealthy countries are taking action, or not, to reduce further land conversion and habitat losses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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20 pages, 1816 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“It Is a Total Drama”: Land Use Conflicts in Local Land Use Actors’ Experience

by Meike Fienitz and Rosemarie Siebert

Land 2022, 11(5), 602; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land11050602 - 20 Apr 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3321

Abstract

As land is limited, conflicts between land uses, and, consequently, conflicts between land users about land use inevitably arise. However, how these land use conflicts affect local land use actors has remained underexplored. The objective of this paper is to provide a broad, cross-sectoral overview of land use conflicts as perceived by local land use actors and to explore the actors’ experiences with these conflicts. We conducted 32 semistructured interviews with key land use actors (mayors, local agencies, interest groups, local boards, businesses) in the urban-rural fringe region of Schwerin, Germany. We then applied a qualitative text analysis to identify the region’s most relevant conflicts across all land use sectors (agriculture, settlement, infrastructure, forestry, conservation, tourism, industry, etc.) and their impacts on local actors’ daily experiences. The results show that local actors are aware of many diverse land use conflicts, most frequently regarding land uses for housing, environmental/species conservation, and traffic. Moreover, local actors report these conflicts as relevant to their daily work, and many perceive the conflicts as a strain. Conflicts impede land management processes; they tie up resources, are often perceived as complex, and can be experienced as highly stressful—as summed up in an interviewee’s conclusion: “It is a total drama”. Thus, land use conflicts play an important and mostly negative role in the experiences of land use actors. These findings fill current gaps in the literature on land use conflicts regarding the types of conflicts about which actors are aware and the consequences of these conflicts. The results also underline the relevance of addressing conflicts in land use planning and governance, the need for appropriate conflict management, and the necessity of providing local actors with sufficient resources to deal with land use conflicts. The paper further identifies some starting points so conflicts can enhance rather than impede communal life in rural areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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16 pages, 31865 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modelling the Impact of Land Cover Changes on Carbon Storage and Sequestration in the Central Zagros Region, Iran Using Ecosystem Services Approach

by Mohsen Japelaghi, Fariba Hajian, Mehdi Gholamalifard, Biswajeet Pradhan, Khairul Nizam Abdul Maulud and Hyuck-Jin Park

Land 2022, 11(3), 423; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land11030423 - 14 Mar 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2855

Abstract

Central Zagros region in Iran is a major hotspot of carbon storage and sequestration which has experienced severe land cover change in recent decades that has led to carbon emission. In this research, using temporal Landsat images, land cover maps were produced and used in Land Change Modeler to predict land cover changes in 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050 using Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network and Markov Chain techniques. Next, resultant maps were used as inputs to Ecosystem Services Modeler. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report data was used to extract carbon data. Results show that between 1989–2013 about half of forests have been destroyed. Prediction results show that by 2050 about 75% of existing forests will be lost and between 2013–2020 about 157,000 Mg carbon and by 2050 about 565,000 Mg carbon will be lost with more than US$1.9 million to 2020 and AU$3.2 million by 2050 economic compensation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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18 pages, 4368 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Can Carbon Finance Optimize Land Use Efficiency? The Example of China’s Carbon Emissions Trading Policy

by Bin Duan and Xuanming Ji

Land 2021, 10(9), 953; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land10090953 - 08 Sep 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2284

Abstract

Land resources have become one of the major factors limiting urban development in China. In the context of sustainable development, how to improve land use efficiency (LUE) has become a major challenge on the road to sustainable development in China. Carbon finance provides a new idea for sustainable development. With the help of carbon emissions trading policy (CETP), this paper aims to investigate whether carbon finance can optimize LUE in terms of economic effects and environmental effects. Based on the data of 158 prefectural-level cities in China from 2010 to 2017, this paper uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to investigate these issues. Specifically, this paper measures the land use efficiency from economic effects (LUE_Eco) and environmental effects (LUE_Env) using the entropy method, and visualizes the data to obtain information on their spatio-temporal evolution patterns. Furthermore, this paper verifies the causal relationship between policy implementation and LUE_Eco and LUE_Env by using the difference in differences (DID) method. The conclusions show that: (1) the levels of LUE_Eco and LUE_Env in the pilot regions generally increase after the implementation of the CETP, but only the increase of LUE_Env is due to the policy implementation; (2) the CETP not only effectively reduces CO₂ emissions, but also promotes the reduction of industrial ‘three wastes’ emissions. Accordingly, this paper has gained insights on how to improve LUE in China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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22 pages, 2074 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unpacking Decades of Multi-Scale Events and Environment-Based Development in the Senegalese Sahel: Lessons and Perspectives for the Future

by Hugo Mazzero, Arthur Perrotton, Abdou Ka and Deborah Goffner

Land 2021, 10(7), 755; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land10070755 - 19 Jul 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2716

Abstract

A major challenge faced by human societies is to promote development that truly makes difference for people without jeopardizing their environment. This is particularly urgent in developing countries where, despite decades of development programs, local populations often live under poverty thresholds. With this study, we participate in the ongoing debate about the necessary global revision of development theory and practice in the rural Sahel. We retrace the development trajectories in the Ferlo, the northern silvopastoral zone of Senegal. We highlight how development has evolved from the 1940s to the present, from centralized development action programs focused on hydraulic infrastructure to current polycentric development with growing environmental concerns. We highlight multi-scale events that have influenced the successive development paradigms in the area. Focusing on the past thirty years, we analyzed twenty-five environment and natural resource management-oriented projects, describing the evolution of their objectives and actions over time and identifying recurring flaws: redundancy, lack of synergy, and questionable relevance to local needs We put forth that a more resilient thinking-based development paradigm is necessary to guide the growing number of environment-oriented development actions, including the African Great Green Wall, for which massive investments are ongoing throughout Ferlo and across the Sahel. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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19 pages, 4615 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment and Spatial-Temporal Evolution Analysis of Urban Land Use Efficiency under Green Development Orientation: Case of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations

by Yingkai Tang, Kun Wang, Xuanming Ji, He Xu and Yangqing Xiao

Land 2021, 10(7), 715; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land10070715 - 06 Jul 2021

Cited by 49 | Viewed by 3922

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has provided a strong impetus for the economic growth of China, but it has also caused many problems such as inefficient urban land use and environmental pollution. With the popularization of the concept of green and sustainable development, the Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) assessment concept is widely accepted. The government and residents are paying more and more attention to environmental issues in urban development, and environmental protection has formed an important part of urban development. In this context, this study takes 26 cities in the Yangtze River Delta as examples to build an evaluation system for urban land-use efficiency under green development orientation. The evaluation system takes into account the inputs of land, capital, labor, and energy factors in the process of urban development. Based on emphasizing economic output, the social benefits and undesired outputs brought about by urban development are taken into account. This paper measures urban land use efficiency by the super-efficiency SBM model, and on this basis, analyses the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of urban land-use efficiency. Further, this paper measures urban land use efficiency without considering undesired outputs and compares the two evaluation methods. Again, the comparison illustrates the rationality of urban land use efficiency evaluation system under green development orientation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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21 pages, 5938 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Differentiation and Driving Factor Analysis of Urban Construction Land Change in County-Level City of Guangxi, China

by Dong Ouyang, Xigang Zhu, Xingguang Liu, Renfei He and Qian Wan

Land 2021, 10(7), 691; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land10070691 - 30 Jun 2021

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 2816

Abstract

The change of urban construction land is most obvious and intuitive in the change of global land use in the new era. The supply and allocation of construction land is an important policy tool for the government to carry out macro-control and spatial governance, which has received widespread attention from political circles, academia, and the public. An empirical study on the change of construction land and its driving factors in 70 county-level cities in Guangxi, China based on the GeoDetector method reveals the driving mechanism of the construction land change in county-level cities and provides more detailed information and a more accurate basis for county-level city policy makers and decision makers. The study shows a significant heterogeneity in the action intensity and interaction between construction land change and its driving factors in county-level cities, where population and GDP size, transportation, and industrial structure are determining factors. Besides, the factors of fiscal revenue, social consumption, utility investment, and real economy have a very weak action force individually, but they can achieve significant synergistic enhancement effects when coupled with other factors. In the end, urban construction land change at different scales and their driving mechanisms are somewhat different, and it is recommended to design differentiated and precise construction land control and spatial governance policies according to local conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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