Urban Sprawl and Changes in Land-Use Efficiency in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China from 2000 to 2020: A Spatiotemporal Analysis Using Earth Observation Data

Abstract

Sustainable development in urban areas is at the core of the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Analysis of SDG indicator 11.3.1—Land-use efficiency based on functional urban boundaries—provides a globally harmonized avenue for tracking changes in urban settlements in different areas. In this study, a methodology was developed to map built-up areas using time-series of Landsat imagery on the Google Earth Engine cloud platform. By fusing the mapping results with four available land-cover products—GlobeLand30, GHS-Built, GAIA and GLC_FCS-2020—a new built-up area product (BTH_BU) was generated for the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region, China for the time period 2000–2020. Using the BTH_BU product, functional urban boundaries were created, and changes in the size of the urban areas and their form were analyzed for the 13 cities in the BTH region from 2000 to 2020. Finally, the spatiotemporal dynamics of SDG 11.3.1 indicators were analyzed for these cities. The results showed that the urban built-up area could be extracted effectively using the BTH_BU method, giving an overall accuracy and kappa coefficient of 0.93 and 0.85, respectively. The overall ratio of the land consumption rate to population growth rate (LCRPGR) in the BTH region fluctuated from 1.142 in 2000–2005 to 0.946 in 2005–2010, 2.232 in 2010–2015 and 1.538 in 2015–2020. Diverged changing trends of LCRPGR values in cities with different population sizes in the study area. Apart from the megacities of Beijing and Tianjin, after 2010, the LCRPGR values were greater than 2 in all the cities in the region. The cities classed as either small or very small had the highest LCRPGR values; however, some of these cities, such as Chengde and Hengshui, experienced population loss in 2005–2010. To mitigate the negative impacts of low-density sprawl on environment and resources, local decision makers should optimize the utilization of land resources and improve land-use efficiency in cities, especially in the small cities in the BTH region.