Elsevier

Habitat International

Volume 35, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 141-149
Habitat International

An evaluation framework for the sustainability of urban land use: A study of capital cities and municipalities in China

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2010.06.006Get rights and content

Abstract

The urban land use involves more severe sustainability challenges than agricultural land use. An effective approach for evaluating urban land use is essential for meeting this challenge to improve efficient land use management. This approach must fit into a coherent conceptual and analytical framework covering different aspects, including social, economic, environmental and rational land use structure. A major problem with this is the lack of the evaluation approach for objectively evaluating the sustainability of urban land use in practice. In this paper, an evaluation system for the sustainability of urban land use (ESULU) is presented aimed at rectifying this situation. This is based on 13 indicators drawn from previous literatures in consultation with a group of experts in this field. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is applied to assist in identifying the major factors for evaluating the sustainability of urban land use. Examination of the results provides a grouping analysis of the capital cities and municipalities, indicating a general disproportion between coastal and interior urban cities in China. The findings lead to further suggestions and recommendations for central and local government to design relevant policy in achieving the sustainable development of urban land use and planning.

Introduction

Sustainable development as a concept has been gaining increasing popularity across various sectors including the land use research area since the publication of Bruntland Commission Report (WCED, 1987). After the Bruntland Report, consequent debates pointed out that economic interests and environmental considerations are not the opposite or conflicting sides of development discourse and in order to secure intergenerational equity, these sides should meet agreed upon mutual interests (Holden, Roseland, Ferguson, & Perl, 2008). The applicability of sustainable development to real settings has been one of the most discussed issues in conferences and the literature. For example, Habitat 1976 officially launched the worldwide dialogue on the topic of urban cities at nation level. The major formal outcome of Habitat II was the Habitat Agenda, a ‘‘global call to action’’ for adequate shelter and sustainable human settlements for all (UN Habitat, 1996). A new sustainability framework, triple bottom line approach (TBL), was first put forward at the corporate level to measure and report corporate performance against economic, social and environmental parameters (Elkington, 1980, Suggett and Goodsir, 2002). After that, the United Nations 2005 World Summit Outcome Document refers to the “interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars” of sustainable development as economic development, social development, and environmental protection (United Nations, 2008).

Urbanization emerges as the result of the increasing number of population moving from rural areas to urban areas. However, rapid urbanization is often at the expense of the loss of agricultural land for satisfying urban demands. Natural and agricultural landscapes have been modified into urban landscapes. This is a tendency that has been rapidly experienced in recent years and is expected to continue and increase during the coming decades (United Nations, 2008). In this context, if the current and future urban areas continue with the same land use conversion practices without regarding the future needs, environmental, social and economic problems are inevitable (Daily, 1997, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2003). Reports by the European Environment Agency (e.g., EEA, 1998, EEA, 1999, EEA, 2000) have highlighted the problematic issues of urban sprawl, brown fields and soil degradation. The most serious problems confronting cities and towns and their inhabitants as enumerated by the Habitat II Agenda (2002) include improper land use and insecure tenure among others. Meanwhile, problems such as the sedimentation of watersheds, urban pollution and crowded population are increasing as urban land becomes bare from overuse (Bai and Imura, 2001, Chen et al., 2008, Jenks et al., 1996, Yeh and Li, 1997). This situation is even more apparent in the urban cities of developing countries, such as China. Together with economic development, China has experienced rapid urbanization over the last two decades and the landscape has changed significantly (Liu, Zhuang, Luo, & Xiao, 2003). In the context of urbanization, large amounts of agricultural land use areas have been changed into built-up or urban land-use areas (Xiao et al., 2006). The landscape changes have exerted great impacts on the environment due to urbanization (Carlson and Traci Arthur, 2000, Shen et al., 2003). As summarized by Xiao et al. (2006), many studies have reported on the urbanization, land use changes and consequential environmental problems of some large urban cities such as Beijing (Gu, 1999, Liu et al., 2000), Guangzhou (Weng, 2002), and Shenzhen (Shi et al., 2000, Sui and Zeng, 2001). Therefore, there is a need for policymakers in the urban land use management area to gauge the sustainability of urban land use in order to identify the problems and the effective strategies to solve them (Olima & Obala, 1998). In this context, studies concerning the sustainability of urban land use are essential not only for sustainable urban land use in large cities but also for benefiting the sustainable development of all urban cities in the long run.

This paper aims to evaluate the sustainability of urban land use by establishing an alternative indicator framework. This is based on 13 indicators drawn from the previous literature and in consultation with a group of experts in the field, and further indicators analysed in 4 groups. The indicator framework can then be used to gauge the extent to which regional differences exist in the sustainability of urban land use in China. The paper is organized into the following sections. First, a review of existing studies is provided concerning the indicators and frameworks for studying the sustainability of urban land use. This is followed by a brief outline of the research methodology and data collection. Then, the study classifies these mega-cities into several groups according to different sustainability levels. Finally, appropriate policy and strategies for promoting sustainable urban land use are suggested in referring to the findings of the study.

Section snippets

Literature review

Sustainable land use has been the subject of much research since the Bruntland report of 1987 on ‘Our Common Future’ (WCED, 1987) and the ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Hart and Sands (1991), for example, have proposed a sustainable land-use systems research (SLUSR) agenda that may provide a starting point. The study focuses on land use as a system, targeting the land management unit, within the context of its biophysical and socioeconomic environments. The Ecological Footprint (

Research method

In order to develop the ESULU, the procedures for demonstrating how the sustainability of urban land use is presented as shown in Fig. 1. In line with Fig. 1, the first task is to identify the indicators that can demonstrate how the implications of urban land use are described and to organise the indicators into an appropriate structure based on principles such as ease of operation and cost effectiveness. This then enables the Principal Component Analysis (PCA)method to be used to extract the

ESULU grouping analysis

The PCA method can be used to group cases by determining the objective weighting of measured variables (Cheng et al., 2000, Jeffers, 1967). In this context, the identification of weighting is critical for evaluating the sustainability of urban land use. A simple but arbitrary rule of thumb, which has proved to be useful in practice, is to take the loadings of principal components to each of the capital cities and municipalities as the criteria for grouping ESULU of cities (Cheng et al., 2000).

Discussion and recommendation

The sustainable urban land use level of the capital cities and municipalities of China demonstrate an unbalanced status quo in its current form. Nanjing and Shanghai are considered as the top. Followed by Guangzhou, Shenyang, Tianjin, Beijing, Chongqing, and Harbin are the second tier. It can be generally concluded that the sustainability level of capital cities and municipalities in China decrease from coastal to inland areas. The findings from ESULU grouping analysis demonstrate that

Conclusion

The evaluation of sustainable urban land use in capital cities and municipalities of China is currently a rather rudimentary, subjective issue while the complexities involved warrant a more sophisticated and objective approach. The sustainability of urban land use indicator framework in this study has involved social, economic and environmental aspects, supplemented by the rationality of urban land use structure indicators. Using the methods of principal component analysis, three principal

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