Characteristics and Driving Mechanism of Urban Construction Land Expansion along with Rapid Urbanization and Carbon Neutrality in Beijing, China

Abstract

Escalating urban issues in Beijing call for comprehensive exploration of urban construction land expansion towards the goal of carbon neutrality. Firstly, urban construction land in Beijing during the period 2005–2020 was accurately detected using Landsat images and impervious surface data, and then its expansion characteristics were revealed. Finally, the driving mechanism of urban construction land expansion was explored using geographically and temporally weighted regression from the input–output perspective. The results showed that the expansion speed and intensity of urban construction land in Beijing showed an overall tendency to slow down, and the center of urban expansion shifted to the new urban development zone and ecological function conservation zone. Urban construction land expansion in the central urban area was first scattered and then compact, while that in the new urban development zone and ecological function conservation zone primarily followed an outward pattern. The permanent population, per capita GDP, and per capita retail sales of social consumer goods were the primary driving factors of urban construction land expansion in Beijing, the impacts of which varied significantly among different districts of Beijing. All these results can provide a solid foundation for improving land use policies towards the goal of carbon neutrality in highly urbanized areas.

Land Use Carbon Emissions or Sink: Research Characteristics, Hotspots and Future Perspectives

“…Currently, there are many academic publications on land use carbon emission or sink (LUCES). Some studies focus on the current research status [8][9][10][11][12][13], whereas others focus on research methods from carbon emissions [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] or carbon sink [22][23][24][25][26][27]. Moreover, some research noticed the determinants and future carbon emission reduction measures [28][29][30][31].…”

“…Moreover, some research noticed the determinants and future carbon emission reduction measures [28][29][30][31]. For example, scholars have explored the relationship between highquality urbanization and energy transition in connecting land use, carbon emissions, and carbon sink [9,17]. However, related LUCES research reviews are relatively rare, which would otherwise be a great asset for understanding research progress and the further prospects.…”

“…Secondly, as presented above in Figure 10, it was generalized from the angle of elevation method. From the angle of land-use carbon emissions, the mainstream evaluation methods included IPCC's Reference Approach (IPCC-RA, which was also known as IPCC's inventory method) [14,15], input-output method (IOM) [16,17], material flow analysis (MFA) [18,19] and life cycle assessment (LCA) [20,21] (Figure 10). It could be directly assessing carbon emissions from agricultural and construction land using IPCC-RA [14].…”