Spatiotemporal effects of administrative division adjustment on urban expansion in China

Abstract Administrative division adjustment (ADA), as an important policy tool for spatial management, has a far-reaching impact on China's urban expansion. However, research in this aspect remains largely unknown. Using the urban expansion about 337 cities above county level in China from 2013 to 2017 as study cases, this research aims to fill this gap. Spatial statistical methods, named the geographical detector and geographical and temporal weighted regression were used to investigate the spatiotemporal effects of ADA on urban expansion. Results show that ADA had a significant influence on the expansion of Chinese cities, and its effects showed the spatial pattern of core-edge, east-central-west and north-south. On the national scale, ADA had 5.78 % explanatory power to urban expansion, which was 7.65 %, 3.14 % and 6.9 % respectively in the eastern, central, and western regions. The magnitude and direction of the explanatory power of ADA types on urban expansion varies significantly across regions due to differences in socio-economic development stages. In the east, Merger of Administrative Unit (MAU) and Revoke County to County-level city (CTPC) promoted 11.04 % and 3.33 % of urban expansion through resource reorganization and integration, and increased development vitality. The use of Revoke County to Urban District (CTD) and Revoke County-level city to Urban District (CLTD) improved the radiation-led capacity and socio-economic agglomeration of central region cities, increasing urban expansion by 16.17 % and 26.76 %. In the west, CTD had the strongest effect, promoting 10.20 % of urban expansion. Split of Administrative Unit (SAU) created “spatial faults” and “economic barriers” between cities in a short period, showing a negative effect (less than 5 %) on urban expansion. Except for SAU, there was a “U-shaped” relationship between ADA’s urbanization effect and the urban development stage, which is helpful for decision-makers to adopt differentiated land use and ADA policies.

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