Along with its economic reform, China has experienced a rapid urbanization. This study mapped urban land expansion in China using high-resolution Landsat Thematic Mapper and Enhanced Thematic Mapper data of 1989/1990, 1995/1996 and 1999/2000 and analyzed its expansion modes and the driving forces underlying this process during 1990-2000. Our results show that China's urban land increased by 817...

Urban expansion often occurs on croplands. However, there is little scientific understanding of how global patterns of future urban expansion will affect the world's cultivated areas. Here, we combine spatially explicit projections of urban expansion with datasets on global croplands and crop yields. Our results show that urban expansion will result in a 1.8-2.4% loss of global croplands by 203...

By consistent and clear urbanization process of the territory and the recent federal public policies aimed at the housing sector, the conjuncture formed by the advance of Brazil’s agricultural frontier has sometimes presented exaggerated urban expansion in major cities in the State of Tocantins. The city of Porto Nacional, in turn, is a notorious example of this phenomenon. This urban expansion...

Since the Chinese government carried out the reform and opening up policy, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture has experienced rapid urbanization and dramatic land use change. This research aims at analyzing urban expansion in Xishuangbanna and its impact on the land use pattern using combined methods, including radar graph, the gradient-direction method and landscape metrics. Seven land us...

Urban sprawl has become a significant part of the regional socio-economic progress since the 20th century. The growing demand for urban land brings the issue that urban sprawl caused increasingly prominent. Studies in aboard on urban sprawl are comparatively earlier, mainly including the concept deconstruction in multi-angle, the shape and path of urban sprawl, and the measure of urban sprawl a...

Detailed studies on the spatiotemporal patterns of urban agglomeration in the Middle Yangtze River Basin (MYRB) are rare. This paper analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of urbanization in the MYRB using multi-temporal remote sensing data circa 2000, 2008 and 2016 integrated with geographic information system (GIS) techniques and landscape analysis approaches. A multi-level analysis of the rate...

The human pressure on natural ecosystems and protected areas is steadily increasing. Urban growth is undeniably and irreversibly converting natural habitats as it is constantly expanding with population growth. In this study we analyze the urban expansion of mega city Calcutta over four time-steps (1975, 1990, 2000, 2010) as an example of expansion over time and threat to the surrounding enviro...