The Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy and Urban Land Use Efficiency:A Policy Assessment from China

Against the backdrop of severe global warming, the low-carbon city pilot policy, with carbon emission reduction as its main objective, is an important initiative for China to fulfil its international commitment to carbon emission reduction and promote a green and low-carbon development strategy. However, none of the literature has yet evaluated whether the pilot low-carbon city policy promotes urban land use efficiency as a policy effect. In view of this, this paper measures urban land use efficiency from a low-carbon perspective using a global reference super-efficiency SBM model based on data from 186 prefecture-level cities in China from 2005–2017, and subsequently constructs a difference-in-differences method to test the true impact of low-carbon city pilot policies on urban land use efficiency and carbon emissions, and uses a propensity score matching method to test its robustness. It is found that: (1) the average level of urban land use efficiency in China is low and on a downward trend; (2) overall, cities are predominantly low-efficiency cities, with only the high-efficiency cities in Guangdong Province showing spatial agglomeration; and (3) the low-carbon city pilot policy reduces carbon emissions while also negatively affecting urban land use efficiency. Accordingly, this paper puts forward corresponding policy recommendations

Unveiling the spatial-temporal variation of urban land use efficiency of Yangtze River Economic Belt in China under carbon emission constraints

Under the constraint of carbon emission, measuring and analyzing the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of urban land use efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is the inherent requirement of its ecological protection and sustainable development. In this paper, we calculated the urban land use efficiency of 107 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2006 to 2020 by using the SBM-Undesirable model with unexpected output, and analyzed its temporal evolution trend and spatial correlation relationship by using kernel density and spatial autocorrelation method. The results showed that: except in 2020, the urban land use efficiency was generally low due to the COVID-19 epidemic, and the urban land use efficiency in other years was mostly concentrated in the middle levels, and showed a trend of slow fluctuation and rise year by year. The difference of urban land use efficiency level between regions increased, and the dispersion degree in upstream, midstream and downstream increased with each passing year. Urban land use efficiency spatial imbalance was significant, and the urban land use efficiency level of large and medium-sized cities was generally lower than that of cities with low economic development level. The spatial correlation was weak, and the global spatial autocorrelation was basically insignificant, while the local spatial agglomeration areas were mainly distributed in the upstream and downstream regions, with a small distribution range and weak spatial interaction. The distribution areas of the standard deviation ellipse were gradually flattened, and the center of gravity as a whole shift significantly to the southwest. The research results are helpful to understand the development history and future trend of urban land use efficiency in various regions, and propose that cities should consider the impact of public crisis events in advance, reasonably control the scale of land expansion, and lead coordinated development and other reasonable suggestions when formulating land use policies

Urbanization and urban land use efficiency: Evidence from regional and Addis Ababa satellite cities, Ethiopia

Ethiopia has experienced rapid urbanization over the past three decades. Several cities expanded rapidly and many satellite towns sprung up around the major cities. The high rate of urbanization and urban growth resulted in high demand for urban land, mainly for industrial, commercial, and residential purposes. In order to meet the demand, an enormous amount of land has been made available for urban use, mainly through land conversion. However, we know very little about how efficiently cities use urban land. This paper investigated the urban land use efficiency (ULUE) of sixteen cities in Ethiopia. Remote sensing data (Landsat 7/8) was analysed with ArcGIS to assess spatiotemporal land use changes between 2007 and 2019. Built-up environment footprints were computed from Google Earth imagery. The ratio of land consumption to population growth rate, and the rate of urban infill were assessed. The findings revealed a prevalence of urban land use inefficiencies in all cities. In most cities, the rate of land consumption far exceeds the population growth rate. Densification (urban infill) is low and slow. A considerable part of the converted agricultural land sits idle within the built-up area for many years. Low ULUE is what fuels urban sprawl, fragmentation and informal settlements. This study emphasised the need to implement urban policies and practices aimed at improving ULUE. Improving ULUE is imperative to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals; ensuring sustainable urban land use; addressing land prices and housing shortages; protecting farmland and ecosystems; tackling land hoarding, urban sprawl and informal settlement

Urban Land Use Efficiency Under Resource-Based Economic Transformation—A Case Study of Shanxi Province.

Shanxi, one of China’s provinces, has been approved by the State Council as the only state-level comprehensive reform zone for resource-based economic transformation in 2010. Consequently, the implementation of National Resource-based Cities Sustainable Development Planning (2013–2020) and The State Council on Central and Western Regions Undertaking of Industrial Trans-formation Guide were also introduced. As a result, many agricultural lands were urbanized. The question is whether the transformed land was used efficiently. Existing research is limited re-garding the impact of the government-backed transformation of the resource-based economy, industrial restructuring, and urbanization on land use efficiency. This research investigates urban land use efficiency under the government-backed resource-based economy transformation using the Bootstrap-DEA and Bootstrap-Malmquist methods. The land use efficiency and land produc-tivity indexes were produced. Based on the empirical study of 11 prefectural cities, the results suggest that the level of economic development and industrial upgrading are the main determi-nants of land use efficiency. The total land productivity index declined after the economic reform was initiated. The findings imply that the government must enhance monitoring and auditing during policy implementation and evaluate the policy effects after for further improvement. With the scarcity of land resources and urban expansion in many cities worldwide, this research also provides an approach to determining the main determinants of land use efficiency that could guide our understanding of the impact of the future built environment. Keywords: land use efficiency; land producti

Toward Efficient Urban Form in China

Land efficiency in urban China is examined, using Tianjin as a case study, from the perspective of agricultural land conservation; reduction in energy use, conventional pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions; and human time savings. Issues addressed include increased scatter on the periphery, over-consumption of industrial land, over fiscal dependence on land sales, and loss of valuable agricultural and environmental services land. Policy implications discussed include the need for greater variation in urban densities (leveraging already high densities in urban China – one-third the global median), less broad-brush agricultural land conservation policies, higher floor area ratios near rapid transit stations, etc.China, land conversion, land efficiency, land use policy, urban density

EFISIENSI PEMANFAATAN LAHAN PERKOTAAN MELALUI PENGEMBANGAN PENGISIAN DI YOGYAKARTA (Urban Land Use Efficiency through Infill Housing Development in Yogyakarta)

ABSTRAKPerkembangan perkotaan di lndonesia pada umumnya dicirikan dengan pengembangan perumahan di wilayah pinggiran kota yang berpola sprawl yang menciptakan efek negative antara lain: menjauhkan penduduk dari tempat kerja. polusi. dan konversi lahan pertanian di pinggiran. Pola pengembangan yang baru sangat diperlukan untuk mengarahkan perkembangan kota yang lebih efisien termasuk juga melalui cara infill development. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendokumentasikan dan mengevaluasi pembangunan perumahan melalui model pengisian di Kota Yogyakarta, khususnya menyangkut pola perkembangannya. motivasi pengembangannya. dan pengaruhnya pada perkembangan kota. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa infill development di Yogyakarta mempunyai karakteristik sebagai berikut (1) merupakan perumahan untuk kelas menengah dan mewah. (2) umumnya merupakan rumah dengan 1-2 lantai, (3) berkepadatan sedang.(4) sebagian besar lahan yang dipakai adalah lahan kosong. Penelitian ini menengarai bahwa pemerintah kota tidak secara sadar mendukung model pengembangan ini karena tidak mengetahui manfaatnya. Dengan kata lain, infill development, yang terjadi di lapangan merupakan respon pasar terhadap kebutuhan rurnah. Model ini membawa beberapa manfaat positip antara lain (1) effisiensi lahan. (2) perkembangan kota yang lebih kompak. (3) meningkatkan suplai perumahan, dan (4) meningkatkan aktivitas ekonomi pada wilayah tersebut. ABSTRACTUrban growth in Indonesia is generally characterized by suburban housing development in a sprawling pattern creating negative impacts such as: inefficient use of land, land speculation, conversation of agricultural land, inefficient infrastructures, and travel cost. New pattern of urban growth is needed to direct urban development in a more sustainable ways. In the West, infill development is considered as an alternative  for a more efficient urban development which in turn facilitate sustainable city. This paper documents and evaluates infill housing development pattern in Yogyakarta, focuses on spatial aspects. The paper shows that infill development in Yogyakarta is characterized by (1) luxurious and good housing, (2) mostly 1-2 floor, (3) medium density housing, and (4) most of the site are vacant land. It argues that the government did not recognize this pattern in a supportive way. In other words, infill development happened in the city more as a respond to the housing market. However, this infill pattern brings several positive  impacts including (1) more efficient use of land, (2) more compact urban growth, (3) increasing housing supply, (4) more efficient of urban infrastructures, and (5) increasing economic activity in the area

Total factor productivity of land urbanization under carbon emission constraints: a case study of Chengyu urban agglomeration in China

In consideration of energy and environmental inefficiency brought about by urban construction, sustainable urbanization has become a hot issue in recent years. In the process of land urbanization, the source of economic growth can be attributed to technical progress and efficiency improvement. To explore the driving factors of land urbanization efficiency and its dynamic changes, the total factor productivity (TFP) and its components of land urbanization was introduced. The spatial-temporal variations of land urbanization of Chengyu urban agglomeration in Western China were estimated by using the Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) productivity index with undesirable output in this study. Results demonstrate that: (1) the average TFP of land urbanization (LUTFP) of Chengyu urban agglomeration in China over time with carbon emissions (1.029) is 1.2 percent lower than that without carbon emissions (1.041). Furthermore, the LUTFP with CO2 emissions is lower than the LUTFP without CO2, demonstrating that land urbanization generates social and economic benefits at the cost of resource consumption. (2) LUTFP of Chengyu urban agglomeration under carbon emission constraints presents a generally rising trend in the past ten years and technical progress is the major source of such growth. Efficiency has become a major barrier against the improvement of productivity. (3) LUTFP indexes in Chongqing City and Chengdu plain economic region are generally higher than those of the south and northeast Sichuan economic zones. However, LUTFP of different cities tends to be in equilibrium gradually

Effect of land price distortion on land use efficiency: Evidence from China

Land price distortion will not only lead to a series of economic problems such as widening regional economic gap, local government debt risk and serious ecological deterioration, but also lead to the imbalance of macro allocation of land resources and irrational spatial structure, and the land input-output efficiency will also be affected. This article studies the impact of land price distortion on China’s land use efficiency using a dataset of 103 cities in China during the years 2008–2015. The results show that there exist significant spatiotemporal disparities of land use efficiency. The land use efficiency has significant spatiotemporal differences. Empirical results document that increases in land price distortion leads to significant decreases in land use efficiency. Our findings are robust to alternative measures of land price distortion, different subsamples and instrumental variable estimations

Urban Landscape Fragmentation as an Indicator of Urban Expansion Using Sentinel-2 Imageries

Rapid urbanization in some cities has led to the emergence of numerous subsidiary settlements around their primary cities. Due to this rapid urbanization and growth, there is a great demand for urban land, mostly for commercial, industrial, and residential uses. Urban green spaces and vegetation are at risk due to a large amount of urban land, as seen by a decline in connectivity and increased fragmentation, especially due to land conversion. However, the identification of the spatial and momentary variability in the clustering and fragmentation of vegetation patterns in urban settings has not made full use of local indicators of spatial distribution measurements, such as Baqubah, a city in Iraq. Since it is essential to measure the degree of fragmentation and evaluate urban expansion trajectories consistently, this study proposes a new approach to assessing the anticipated direction of urban extension, using the fragmentation indicator of built-up patterns in urban areas. Sentinel-2 data was used to map the fragmented urban centres and their future extent in the city at a single time point. The proposed method employs indices to capture the initial distribution of spatial patterns of vegetation cover and built-up areas. The main extracted land cover classes, landscape fragmentation performance, and surface density analysis were accomplished in ArcGIS. The results indicate that the entire built-up area in Baqubah has a high degree of fragmentation at 75%, and about 23% of the open space within the urban extent of the city. Two predicted trajectories of urban expansion were also revealed: one may follow the external road direction, while the other is multi-directional, commencing from the edges of the built-up area. The study concludes that the new method is useful for comprehending and assessing urban landscape fragmentation, as well as anticipating its path. This integrated approach to remote sensing and GIS can sufficiently and effectively determine priority urban regions for successful planning and management. In addition, our study's findings highlight the potential of the suggested strategy as a useful spatially explicit method for determining the spatial clustering and fragmentation of urban landscape patterns. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-09-04 Full Text: PD