| Land resources are an integral part of regional economic activity. The availability of resources plays an important role in various economic activities, such as land required for construction, while concurrently maintaining regionally focused development. Land-use changes inevitably results in some adverse effects on the environment, affecting the evolution of regional sustainability. Increasingly, the expansion of urban settlement is driving land-use change, both now and in the future. This urban expansion is mainly determined by strong economic development and increased urbanization. Urban expansion plays an important role in human land-use. Based on a combination of previous land development research and resource economic theory, this study investigated the implications of factors that influenced land development in China. This research developed an evaluation model based on cost/benefit analysis, which incorporated two other evaluation methods, the land development and land balanced development models. This study conducted an empirical investigation on the expansion of construction land-use in China from 1999-2008. The study comprised 5 parts:Part 1:An overview of research which includes the following aspects:(1) land capacity; (2) previous research on the expansion of land required for development, including the form and pattern of expansion, influencing factors and mechanisms driving expansion and the their effects; (3) regulation of land-use zoning and development rights; (4) optimal allocation of land, including land configuration and space optimization. Finally, recommendations are proposed to the future direction of land development research. Additionally, this research gives a comprehensive assessment of regional land-use capacity. This has implications for the realization of regional socio-economic and ecological sustainability, which may regulate and control land-use changes.Part 2:Research on the theory and concept for the degree of land development. The degree of land development was proposed as a new indicator to measure the scale of land-use where construction was occurring. The degree of land development was defined as:(1) breadth, the scale of land where development could occur; (2) depth, the function and benefits of land available for development; (3) limits, the largest development scale limited by social economic and environmental factors. The degree of land development was a tradeoff with social, economic and environmental factors. Nature is the dominant factor that affects land development; population is the direct impact of land development; economics is the pivotal factor and the regimes and policies are decision-making factors for the degree of land development. The theoretical basis for the study of land development degree incorporates theory on human-earth relationship, eco-economics, sustainable development and systems engineering.Part 3:Building a land development assessment model included such aspects as: (1) the assessment model based on cost/benefit analysis for the degree of land development. This model is based on optimizing the land-use for construction so that the marginal benefit gained from construction land is equal to the marginal benefit of the agricultural land.(2) The relative degree of land development using the evaluation model. This is based on the concept of "relative carrying capacity of resources". The threshold of the land area designated for construction was calculated, determined by different factors such as population, resource endowments, economic development and ecological area. (3) The equilibrium degree of land development using the respective evaluation model, defined as the balance of land development among different regions which represent a reasonable relationship between exploitation intensity and the supply capacity of land-based resources. The breadth of land development, population capacity, economic density, and environmental pressure constitute a land development exploitation index. In addition, the model included resource protection, environmental safety and an index on arable land per capita which represent the land supply capacity index. Together these indices characterize the equilibrium degree index to assess the degree of equilibrium in regional land development.Part 4:The empirical research across 31 provinces in mainland China, included the following aspects:(1) the spatial/temporal construction land-use changes in China from 1999-2008. First, social and economic changes in China were analyzed, including the overall trend of land-use change. Since 1999 the demand in China for land-use change for urban construction has significantly increased, with a subsequent decrease in arable land area. Second, changes in the quantity of land used for construction were analyzed. The change in land-use for construction across the 31 provinces showed significant growth, with Eastern China having the greatest increase. Eastern and Southern China showed more benefits and increased efficiency of land-use compared with the other regions. (2) Research on the relative degree of land development. From 1999-2008, the relative degree of land development showed an annual growth of 0.23%. But 2000,2002 and 2006 showed high levels of variation within those three years. Second, the relative degree of land development in 1999 and 2008 were compared, indicating a relative degree of land development associated with strong growth in most provinces from rapid economic growth. Third, a detailed comparison among the five reference areas was conducted to assess the main factors that affected the relative degree of land development. In East China, there were significant differences in provincial populations, resources and environment, resulting in a significant difference in the relative degree of land development. Central China showed a resource constraint, where water restrictions were the most common problem in the western region. Economic issues were the main limiting factor in Northeast China. Beijing and Tianjin were predominantly affected by resource restrictions, with Shanghai limited on land development by environmental factors. (3) Research on the equilibrium degree of land development evaluation. First, the exploitation intensity and supply capacity of land resources were compared. The exploitation intensity index was 0.255 across China, with the highest level in East China and lowest in Northwest China. The land supply capacity index showed an average of 0.284, with the maximum in Southeast China and the minimum in Northwest China. Second, the equilibrium degree assessment model was used to evaluate the balance state of all 31 provinces. The results showed that 23 provinces were in equilibrium accounting for 74.2% of China. Eight provinces (25.8%) were in an imbalanced state. Further analysis for the possible reasons of the imbalance found that 11 provinces (35.5%) showed an imbalance index>1 and belonged to the excessive development type. The remaining 20 provinces (64.5%) with an imbalance index of<1, belonged to the insufficient development type. Spatial autocorrelation was used to analyze the equilibrium degree and the imbalance index of land development. The results did not show any significant geographical spatial correlation. (4) The assessment based on the cost/benefit analysis of the degree of land development change in China. The national average land development limit is 3.97%, with 13 provinces lower than the national average and 18 provinces above the national average. There were relatively large regional differences in land development limits. The minimum occurred in Tibet (0.05%), while the maximum was 25.37% in Shanghai. Second, the breadth and limit of land development during 2008 were compared. Across China, the breadth of the land development in construction was 3.46%; with the limitation of construction at 3.97%, while the remaining space available for development was 0.51%. Except for Hebei and Hainan, all provinces exceed the limitation of construction. In addition, two indices were designed to account for development pressure to clarify and measure the impact on the expansion of land-use required for construction. One index was based on the economic output of both land for construction and agricultural land (ELDP). The second index was based on the economic output of construction and the economic/ecological output of the agricultural land (ECLDP). The indices implied that the demand for land expansion for construction-use was strong, with the indices showing 156 and 83 for ELDP and ECLDP respectively.Part 5:The land regulation and control policies based on the evaluation of the degree of land development. Using foreign land management policies from countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands, the land management mechanisms used the two-way interaction that occurred between the government and market. This included co-ordination mechanisms which coordinated the interests of all parties and regional compensation mechanisms.The final section of this dissertation discusses the study’s findings in the context of the larger body of scientific literature and draws some conclusions. The dissertation finishes discussing possible future directions and research.
|
PDF Full Text Request