Spatiotemporal Pattern and Driving Factors of Urban Sprawl in China

Urban sprawl is a complex phenomenon related to abnormal urbanization, and it has become a key issue of global concern. This study aimed to measure urban sprawl in China and explore its spatiotemporal patterns and driving factors. Based on 343 Chinese cities at the prefecture level and above, remote sensing-derived data from 2000 to 2017 were used to calculate the urban sprawl index (USI). The evolutionary trend and spatiotemporal pattern of urban sprawl in China were then analyzed using trend analysis and exploratory spatiotemporal data analysis, and Geodetector was applied to investigate the factors driving the changes. The results show the following. ? Moderate or high urban sprawl development occurred in China from 2000 to 2017. In terms of spatial distribution, the USI was high in northwest China and low in southeast China. ? The local spatial stability of the USI gradually decreased from southeast to northwest and northeast. USI had strong spatial dependence. No significant spatiotemporal transitions in urban sprawl were observed, and the spatial pattern was stable with strong spatial cohesion. ? The gross regional product (GRP) of the tertiary industry, the total GRP, and investment in real estate development have been the most important factors affecting sprawl in cities at the prefecture level and above in China.