ABSTRACT
The dramatic growth of the Chinese economy in recent decades has been accompanied by a rapid urbanization at a speed and scale unprecedented in the recent history of the country. The process of accelerated urbanization has involved not only population migration but also a massive conversion of land from agricultural production into urban and industrial developments. It is widely recognized that urbanization has both direct and indirect impacts on land use transformation. Urban sprawl is one of the most noticeable effects of urbanization on land use. Less obvious but equally important are the distinct lifestyles of an urbanized society which creates a wide range of market demands for land to be taken out of the agricultural stock for the developments of industrial facilities, transportation infrastructure, residential and recreational uses.1 The central location, higher population density, and agglomeration economies that characterize urban settlements also give rise to a land value and land rent significantly higher than that of rural land and lead to an urban-rural differential that is lucrative enough to attract the conversion of land from rural to urban uses. The effect of urbanization on land use has been contingent upon different social, political, and institutional settings, however. Recent phenomenal expansion of construction land in China as a consequence of accelerate urbanization has provided an interesting case to examine not only the inter-relationship between urbanization and land use change but also the ways in which this relationship is influenced by changes in social, political, and institutional conditions.
