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Rapid urbanization in a mountainous landscape: patterns, drivers, and planning implications

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Abstract

Context

Understanding patterns and drivers of urbanization is essential for urban sustainability, but such understanding is lacking for mountainous regions.

Objectives

This study had three objectives: (1) to quantify the spatiotemporal patterns of urban expansion in Chongqing, the largest mountainous metropolitan area in China, during 1990–2015; (2) to explore major drivers for the observed urbanization patterns; and (3) to identify the spatial signatures of Chongqing’s urbanization which differ from those of topographically flat urban regions for sustainable urban planning in mountainous regions.

Methods

We used multiple metrics to characterize urbanization patterns and expansion modes. Pearson correlation analysis and Classification and Regression Trees (CART) were used to identify potential drivers.

Results

The built-up area of Chongqing increased five times during 1990–2015 with regional variations. Three growth modes—leapfrog, edge-expansion, and infilling, took place concurrently, but their relative dominance varied in time and space with leapfrog as the dominant mode in recent years. The major drivers of built-up area expansion changed from demography to economy, with topographic constraints attenuating over time. Compared to flat urban regions in China, the spatial signatures of Chongqing’s urbanization were characterized by greater dominance of leapfrog expansion mode with smaller and more regularly-shaped patches.

Conclusions

The unique patterns and drivers of urban expansion in Chongqing provide new insights of urbanization in mountainous regions for sustainable urban planning. We have proposed a conceptual urban planning framework for mountainous cities based on landscape sustainability science, GeoDesign, and regional landscape characteristics.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript of this paper. We also thank Prof. Jianguo Wu for his suggestions on the manuscript. This research was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41730642, 51578085, 31700406, and 51608064). It was also supported by First Class of Disciplines-B of Zhejiang Province (Civil Engineering).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Liuyao Jia & Chunlan Du

  2. School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, 200234, China

    Qun Ma

  3. Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China

    Guang Hu

  4. Center for Human-Environment System Sustainability (CHESS), State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (ESPRE), Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Chenwei Shang

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  1. Liuyao Jia
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Jia, L., Ma, Q., Du, C. et al. Rapid urbanization in a mountainous landscape: patterns, drivers, and planning implications. Landscape Ecol 35, 2449–2469 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01056-y

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