Study on the Urban Expansion and Urban Land Changes in Beijing, China

This paper analyzed the spatial patterns of urban population changes and urban land expansion. Studies show that population concentrated into Adjacent Suburb Districts from Central City Districts and Remote Suburb Districts and Counties are the main characteristic of urban population changes of Beijing since 1982. Urban land expansion mainly took place in the central city and the surrounding areas. Starting at the central city, expanding along the main traffic lines and outspreading from a few hot spots are the main characteristics of urban land expansion in 1990s. Along with the fast expansion of urban and rural construction land, cropland and forestland area reduced notably and mainly converted into urban and rural construction land. It is obviously that urban population gathering to Adjacent Suburb Districts constantly caused the sprawling expansion of urban land and the sprawling of central city caused a lot of urban problems.