Impact of Land Use on Coastline Change of Island Cities: A Case of Zhoushan Island, China

Anthropogenic activities have an important effect on the natural coastlines of island cities as a result of urbanization and population agglomeration in developing countries. In order to identify the relationships between land use and coastline changes in the typical island city, this study used land use data, remote sensing technology, and geographic information system (GIS) technology to analyze the land use situation and coastline changes in the coastal zone of Zhoushan Island in China. The results show that, from 2012 to 2017, the coastal land area of Zhoushan Island increased from 121.54 km2 to 126.00 km2. New agricultural land accounted for the highest proportion of total land use growth (46.86%), followed by residential land, land for street, and transportation and industrial land. The length of the coastline increased from 137.98 km to 142.7 km. The indicators of agricultural land, industrial land, land price, and production coastline had a significant positive impact on the rate of coastline changes. Moreover, the coastline was more than just a natural coastline but also had 336 multiple functions in terms of production, daily living, leisure, and transportation. The study found that the rapid growth of tideland reclamation-based, land reclamation-based aquaculture, and the harbour/port construction-based logistics industry are the main reasons for the continuous changes in coastlines.