Study On The Structural Efficiency Of Land Use In The Metropolitan Area

At the end of 2007, Wuhan "1+8" Metropolitan Area, including Wuhan, Ezhou, Huanggang, Huangshi, Xianning, Xiantao, Tianmen and Xiaogan, has been approved to be the comprehensive reform experimental area of the "Two-Oriented Society" by Chinese government, which means the Metropolitan Area has been gradually set up in the central region of China and the development of the Metropolitan Area has been regarded as the important economic growth engine to China. However, the rapid growth of Chinese economy would definitely lead to the huge demand of the resources, of which the land as the important one cannot meet the demand in increasing quantity resulting from the development of the Metropolitan Area. Thus, today it is the strategic issue for China to improve the land structural efficiency of the metropolitan area, instead of the traditional extensive land use.In the theoretical analysis part, this paper defined the concept of structural efficiency of land-use based on previous studies about the theories of metropolitan area development and land use structure. Then the paper analysed problems concerning structural efficiency of land-use, including the interactive relationship between metropolitan area development and land use, the formation mechanism of land use structure from the view of rent theory, policy effect and agglomeration theory, the influential factors of structural efficient, the role of structural efficient evaluation in land use management of metropolitan area and the key factors should be considered in the evaluation. Base on above analysis, an assessment model for the land structural efficiency in the metropolitan area is established, which would fulfill the required characteristics including the systematicness of the metropolitan area, internal homogeneity, evolutionary complexity and the significance of land policy within the metropolitan area.In the empirical part, an overview of Wuhan Metropolitan Area was introduced. The methods which combined static analysis and dynamic analysis were used to describe the situation of land use change in Wuhan Metropolitan Area. Then the structure efficient of land use in Wuhan Metropolitan Area was measured by Data Envelopment Analysis with constraint condition. From aspects of measuring results, results comparison, the efficient change variations and structure adjustment, the structure efficient of land use in Wuhan Metropolitan Area was analysed. The results show that, the land structural efficiency of the Wuhan Metropolitan Area has not achieved the optimal point but remains a great potential room to explore. As the core of cities, Wuhan's dynamic degree of comprehensive land use, the degree of land use and land structural efficiency is obviously higher than other cities. Moreover, the discrepancy of land structural efficiency among the cities within this metropolitan area has been decreased gradually and the land structural evolution in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area has been on the reasonable way of development.Finally, based on both the theoretical analysis and the empirical study of the land structural efficiency in the metropolitan area, this thesis comes up with the policy implications to improve the land structural efficiency in the metropolitan area as following four aspects:a) enhance the land use and planning, b) follow closely the guidance of goals of the "Two-oriented Society" program, c) enhance the innovative development of the metropolitan area and the industrial links between cities, and d) promote the integrated traffic in the metropolitan area.