Assessing the role of high-speed rail in shaping the spatial patterns of urban and rural development: a case of the middle reaches of the Yangtze river, China

Zhang, Guanshi; Zheng, Duo; Wu, Hongjuan; Wang, Jiaoe; Li, Sen. 2020 Assessing the role of high-speed rail in shaping the spatial patterns of urban and rural development: a case of the middle reaches of the Yangtze river, China. Science of the Total Environment, 704, 135399. 11, pp. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135399

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135399

Abstract/Summary

China has experienced rapid residential land expansion in both urban and rural areas over the past three decades, causing complex ecological and environmental challenges. Much research attention has been paid on urbanisation, yet little is known about rural development. In this study, we analysed and compared the changes in a selected number of landscape indices describing the spatial patterns of both urban and rural area in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River in central China from 2005 to 2015 and explored how these changes could be associated with the development of high-speed rail (HSR) using spatial error models. We found a partial synchronised spatial development pattern between urban and rural areas in central China, with an increasingly fragmented pattern for both urban and rural areas, albeit rural areas were expanded in a less contiguous but more complex and dispersed fashion. The impacts of the provision of HSR services on the region’s spatial development were found to be multi-level. It was associated with greater urban expansion and dispersion at the county/district level and amplified rural patch size and complexity at the patch level. The departure frequency of HSR trains and proximity to HSR station were found to have affected the magnitude of the impact of HSR service provision on regional spatial development. Our results shed lights on the spatio-temporal evolution of an ecologically important region, add new evidence into the expanding fields of urban and rural morphological studies in China, and provide valuable decision support information for integrated spatial planning of transportation and land use.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135399
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	UKCEH Fellows
ISSN:	0048-9697
Additional Keywords:	urban and rural development, land use change, landscape index, high-speed rail, the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze river
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Date made live:	13 Jan 2020 15:38 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526415

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135399

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

UKCEH Fellows

ISSN:

0048-9697

Additional Keywords:

urban and rural development, land use change, landscape index, high-speed rail, the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze river

NORA Subject Terms:

Ecology and Environment