Land-Use Changes and Human Driving in and Near the Yangtze River Delta from 1995–2015

We analyzed the characteristics and trends of land-use change in and near the coastal zone of the Yangtze River Delta(YRD) during five periods(1995, 2000 2005, 2010, and 2015) using remotely sensed Landsat imagery. Using automatic supervised classification combined with visual interpretation, we obtained land-use information for five study areas(Nantong, Shanghai, Jiaxing, Ningbo, and Zhoushan). Significant land-use changes have occurred in this area between 1995 and 2015, characterized in particular by large reductions in cultivated land and rapid increases in urbanized land. In addition, land reclamation was very active in this period as an effective supplement to the increased demand for land development: since 1995, 1622 km2of land was reclaimed from near-coastal regions in the study area. This increase in urbanization was jointly driven by population, economic, transportation, and policy factors. Urban areas expanded from the center outward in concentric rings, with infrastructure guiding the radial expansion of development along transportation corridors, thus forming a network of connections. Due to the influence of national land regulation policies, the expansion rate of development in the YRD gradually diminished after 2010. This indicates that the area’s resource and environmental carrying capacity has reached a saturation stage in which urbanization has transitioned from broad and incremental expansion to the intensive use of land resources.