The interaction between urbanization and the eco-environment is usually viewed as an effect–feedback framework. Its coupling system is composed of urbanization and eco-environment subsystems. In this paper, the coupling degree (CD) and the coupling coordinated degree (CCD) are used to reflect the coupling interaction and coupling coordination between the urbanization subsystem and the eco-environment subsystem.

It is essential to understand how urban plans affect urban growth patterns in order to improve current urban planning and management systems. Few studies have been conducted to analyse urban growth patterns of Shenzhen, an international megacity located in southern China, but none of them revealed the relationships between urban planning and urban growth patterns. This study explores the effects of urban master plans on urban growth patterns in different plan periods in Shenzhen. We first quantified the urban growth patterns comparing pixel- and patch-based methods.

Although research relating to the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon has been significantly increasing in recent years, there is still a lack of a continuous and clear recognition of the potential gradient effect on the UHI—landscape relationship within large urbanized regions. In this study, we chose the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, which is a large scaled urban agglomeration in China, as the case study area.

A method is proposed for forecasting traffic intensity at the border of an agglomeration’s core, using demographic data such as amount (number) and structure of population and housing in the surrounding (suburban) area. Relationships between groups of variables are analyzed by calibrating traffic and demographic models for a selected agglomeration in Poland.

Africa has been experiencing a rapid urbanization process, which may lead to an increase in unsustainable land use and urban poverty. Assessing the spatiotemporal characteristics of urbanization dynamics is especially important and needed for the sustainable development of Africa. Satellite-based nighttime light (NTL) data are widely used to monitor the dynamics of urban growth from global to local scales.

With a rapid surge in urbanization, rural functions and the structure of rural construction land are undergoing profound change. Using the village-level units of Tai’an Prefecture in the North China Plain as the research object, this study employs the land use survey data in 2019, selecting the diversity index, concentration index, land use type, and location index to analyze the spatial pattern of rural construction land structure. Thereafter, a multiple linear regression model is developed to identify the driving factors of spatial differentiation in rural construction land structure.

Informal urbanism has become a widespread form of urbanisation, particularly in the context of the global South. While there is an emerging body of knowledge focusing on the morphologies of informal settlements, the incremental transformations of emerging settlements have remained underexplored. Drawing on a case study of an emerging settlement in Nigeria, we map the emergence and incremental transformation of access networks and buildings. This is an exploratory study focusing on the morphogenesis of emerging settlements to explore how the incremental production of space works.

A number of severe ecological problems, and the altered structure of urban spaces, are ascribed to rapid urbanisation. Hence, an analytical framework for urban spatial structure and functional optimisation is highly beneficial to balance the contradiction between developing urban areas and protecting their ecosystems. In this paper, the proposed analytical framework included three parts. We first delineated the ecological suitability zones (ESZs) of Beijing City by applying the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model.

Encountering the articulation of the strongness of local authorities and market forces in China’s development, attention has been paid to the changing central state which recentralised the regulation capability of localities which has more discretional power on resources utilisation, land for example, in the post-reform era. Yet it is still not clear-cut what drives the state rescaling in terms of land governance and by what ways. After dissecting the evolving policies and practices of construction land supply in China with the focus on the roles of state, we draw two main conclusions.

Achieving tenure security, land and property rights in informal urban settlements remains one of the most persistent, intractable development challenges today. The Secure Tenure in African Cities: Micro Funds for Community Innovation initiative launched by Cities Alliance aimed to address this challenge.

Context and backgroundIn the wake of rapid urbanization and population growth, there is much contestation with the ownership and use of land globally, especially in Africa. It is widely acknowledged that the implementation of sustainable land governance is an antidote to tackling land-related conflicts (mostly as a result of multiple sales of land), engendered land access, among others. However, land governance in Ghana is challenged with inefficiencies and corruption being paramount amidst the implementation of other interventions.