Administrative hierarchy and urban land expansion in transitional China

In a growing body of literature on urbanization in China, scholars have emphasized the proactive role of the Chinese local state in urban land expansion. Drawing upon official land use change data from 1998 to 2008, this study investigates the relationship between the hierarchical structure of the Chinese urban administrative system and urban land expansion. We find that urban land expansion coincides with administrative hierarchy, and cities with higher administrative levels (ranked by central government) tend to expand more rapidly while controlling for other economic and demographic drivers of urban expansion. Spatial regime models reveal that economic and demographic drivers of urban growth are also sensitive to a city's administrative rank. By quantifying the link between a city's rank and urban land expansion, we conclude that considering the hierarchical structure of the Chinese cities will result in a fuller understanding of the rapid urban growth in China. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.