Economic development, urban expansion, and sustainable development in Shanghai

Studies of urbanization effects in Chinese cities from the aspect of the coupled development of economy and environment are rare due to data limitations. This paper studied Shanghai’s fast urban expansion and examined the dynamic relationship between economic growth and environment consequences at the district level. We extracted data on urban built-up area and land surface temperature from remote sensing images. We analyzed the patterns of urban expansion and land use change and explained the dynamic relationship between economic development and environment conditions. We attributed the uneven economic development and environmental change in districts of Shanghai to four main institutional factors: (1) the role of the government, (2) the multi-level urban planning system, (3) land market reform, and (4) the economic restructuring.