Spatio-Temporal Patterns and Policy Implications of Urban Land Expansion in Metropolitan Areas: A Case Study of Wuhan Urban Agglomeration, Central China

Relatively little attention has been paid to examining the spatial expansion features of cities at various tiers at the regional level in China, especially those located in central and western regions of the country. Based on Landsat satellite imagery from four years—1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010, this paper investigates the spatio-temporal pattern of urban land expansion and its influencing factors in the Wuhan Urban Agglomeration (WUA) in central China. The research found that the total area of urban land expanded from 203.66 km2 in 1980 to 1370.07 km2 in 2010, and that urban land areas increased by 423.82, 167.42, and 574.93 km2 in the periods 1980–1990, 1990–2000, and 2000–2010 respectively, exhibiting significant fluctuation between the different periods studied. Geographically, this spatial expansion pattern was characterised by conspicuous concentrations and regional imbalances across the overall study period. Whilst these spatio-temporal differences were found to be closely related to industrialisation, urban population growth, land-use policies, urbanisation guidelines (governmental plans and regulations addressing urbanisation), and national development strategy, the dominant mechanisms driving those differences varied over time. In response, the paper presents an urban-rural and regional integration strategy, with the aim of avoiding economic gaps and the inefficient utilisation of various resources in the urban agglomeration areas.