Since the industrial revolution, human activities have both expanded and intensified across the globe resulting in accelerated land use change. Land use change driven by China’s development has put pressure on the limited arable land resources, which has affected grain production. Competing land use interests are a potential threat to food security in China. Therefore, studying arable land use changes is critical for ensuring future food security and maintaining the sustainable development of arable land. Based on data from several major sources, we analyzed the spatio-temporal differences of arable land among different agricultural regions in China from 2000 to 2010 and identified the drivers of arable land expansion and loss. The results revealed that arable land decreased by 5.92 million ha or 3.31%. Arable land increased in the north and decreased in the south of China. Urbanization and ecological restoration programs were the main drivers of arable land loss, while the reclamation of other land cover types (e.g., forest, grassland, and wetland) was the primary source of the increased arable land. The majority of arable land expansion occurred in the Northwest, but the centroid for grain production moved to northeast, which indicated that new arable land was of poor quality and did not significantly contribute to the grain production capacity. When combined with the current ‘Red Line of Arable Land Policy’ (RAL) and ‘Ecological Redline Policy’ (EPR), this study can provide effective information for arable land policymaking and help guide the sustainable development of arable land.

Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China, has experienced severe soil erosion following a period of rapid economic development and urbanization. To investigate how urbanization has influenced the extent of soil erosion in Inner Mongolia, we used urbanization and soil erosion data from 2000 through 2010 to determine the relationship between urbanization and soil erosion patterns. Two empirical equations—the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ)—were used to estimate the intensity of soil erosion, and we performed backward linear regression to model how it changed with greater urbanization. There was an apparent increase in the rate of urbanization and a decrease in the area affected by soil erosion in 2010 compared to the corresponding values for 2000. The urban population stood at 11.32 million in 2010, which represented a 16.47% increase over that in 2000. The area affected by soil erosion in 2000 totaled 704,817 km2, yet it had decreased to 674,135 km2 by 2010. However, a path of modest urban development (rural–urban mitigation) and reasonable industrial structuring (the development of GDP-2) may partially reduce urbanization’s ecological pressure and thus indirectly reduce the threat of soil erosion to human security. Therefore, to better control soil erosion in Inner Mongolia during the process of urbanization, the current model of economic development should be modified to improve the eco-efficiency of urbanization, while also promoting new modes of urbanization that are environmentally sustainable, cost-effective, and conserve limited resources.

This study aims to support sustainable urban and environmental planning by using urban growth simulation models, in which environmental quality is employed as one of the inputs. We proposed an extended SLEUTH urban growth model (UGM) for the regions threatened by environmental quality degradation caused by uncontrolled urban expansion. In this model, habitat quality is assessed by the InVEST model and is used to represent environmental quality, which is utilized in urban growth simulation. The habitat quality map is used to replace the slope layer as input for the SLEUTH model's urban growth simulation for cities where relatively flat topography makes this layer of minimal explanatory value. The extended SLEUTH UGM was calibrated using data for Changzhou city, China in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2014. The best value of the Optimal SLEUTH Metric (OSM) was calculated for both the standard SLEUTH UGM and the extended SLEUTH UGM independently. The OSM value for the latter model was much higher than that of the former model, which indicated that the extended model provided a better explanation of urban growth in the study area. The calibrated extended SLEUTH UGM was applied to predict growth in Changzhou city from 2014 to 2030. The result showed that the urban area is expected to expand about 626 km2 by 2030. Comparison with the prediction result by using standard SLEUTH UGM showed that the area with high habitat quality could be reserved and the urban expansion could be limited by using our model. The findings demonstrate that the extended SLEUTH UGM could be a valuable tool for sustainable urban and environmental planning and management in developing regions where environmental protection should be considered as one of the major land-use objectives in their rapid urbanization process.

The delineation of permanent basic farmland will safeguard the production baseline of China's agricultural development by securing easily appropriated, high-quality farmland surrounding urban areas, thereby strictly controlling the use of farmland (especially high-quality farmland surrounding urban areas) facing accelerated urban expansion. This study researched the delineation of permanent basic farmland in a typical region undergoing rapid urbanization. By constructing a systematic classification model, farmland was classified into matrix, edge, and island farmlands in order to analyze farmland contiguity and fragmentation. Based on the indicator requirements of various plans related to farmland, an evaluation indicator system was constructed in order to develop an evaluation model for comprehensive farmland productivity. From the perspective of farmland spatial contiguity and highly efficient productivity, a delineation model for permanent basic farmland was proposed to delimit the permanent protection and utilization boundaries for high-quality farmland around urban areas. The results show the following: (1) matrix and edge farmlands can intuitively display farmland contiguity characteristics; (2) comprehensive farmland productivity was closely related to farmland spatial patterns, supporting infrastructure, and policy management and protection; and (3) there was a high degree of spatial overlap between contiguous and highly productive farmland. The model took both comprehensive farmland productivity and spatial clustering into consideration in order to delineate permanent basic farmland, which is a beneficial factor in protecting farmland quality and safeguarding sustainable farmland utilization. It can also be used as a control line to limit urban sprawl, guide urban cluster development, and improve economical and intensive urban land use. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Based on constraining the spatial extent of urban expansion, the urban development boundary concept provides guidance on resource constraints and policy development for urban areas and aims to meet the new demands of urban development under the background of a new type of urbanization in China. We applied remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) techniques, along with the slope, land use, exclusion, urban extent, transportation, and hill shade (SLEUTH) model, to identify urban growth boundaries in Changzhou City, China. We then comprehensively considered various land use regulation policies and the carrying capacity of land resources to construct an urban development boundary model. This model was tested using empirical data on the delineation of flexible and rigid urban development boundaries. We argue that China's position as the largest developing country in the world has resulted in significant uncertainties in its socioeconomic development; therefore, the construction of Chinese cities requires both flexible controls and a rigid management structure. The model developed in this study successfully meets the construction needs of China's urban development, particularly as it contains an optimal degree of generalizability.

With increasing urbanization, the populations in China’s cities are growing, and the cities themselves are gradually expanding. Competition for access to the national territory’s resources is also growing. Thus, the quality of national territory use is worsening. Quality assessments on national territory use can provide a basis for solving this issue. By combining the implications of new urbanization in China, we established an assessment index system relating to the quality of national territory use, from the perspective of harmoniously developing spaces for production, living and ecology. A subjective and objective integrated weighting method was developed based on principal component analysis and planning review. Then, a comprehensive discriminative model was established to assess the quality of national territory use. The evaluation results showed that harmonious development of spaces for production, living and ecology did not occur in either the ecology-oriented or production-oriented regions. The integrated quality of national territory use in the production-oriented region had a significant advantage over that of the ecology-oriented region. The integrated quality of national territory use was highest in Changzhou’s city center and vicinity. The results can support the implementation of China’s new urbanization strategy and provide evidence to improve the criteria for the intensive use of national territorial resources.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of farmland loss and fragmentation and to explore factors that may influence that loss and fragmentation. The study examined changes to farmland in a context of rapid urbanization in Changzhou City, China. It also examined farmland changes in the suburban areas outside the city and in the exurban regions. Time series data from 2004 to 2011 were used to conduct spatial analysis using landscape indices and to perform a redundancy analysis. The results found that farmland was steadily declining during the study period. Farmland also became increasingly fragmented and it moved from low elevation and a gentle slope terrain to higher elevation and a steep slope terrain while its center of gravity generally moved northward. China's farmland protection policy, agricultural production level, and terrain conditions contributed most to farmland loss and fragmentation in the city. Farmland loss and fragmentation in the suburb and exurbs were influenced mostly by prime farmland area, total population, and per capita net income of rural residents. To control farmland loss and fragmentation, laws regarding its conversion to built-up environments,should be enforced. China's overall land-use plan and laws of farmland protection are presently the best ways to effectively protect farmland loss and fragmentation. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.