Landuse change and driving factors in the Xi'an-Xianyang urban areas,Northwest China

Urbanization has significant effects in densely populated China.The increasing extent of urban built-up areas and the associated land-use and land-cover change(LULCC) are among major factors in considerations for resources and environmental management,in particular in ecologically fragile regions such as the western China.To better understand the urbanization process of the Xi'an-Xianyang urban areas,we documented land cover changes between 1988,1995,and 2006 using Landsat remote sensing data,identified the socioeconomic factors driving the changes,and revealed the spatial pattern of change between the two cities.The research indicates that LULCC between the three time periods involved major transitions of land from agriculture to urban classes.Urban land cover of the Xi'an-Xianyang region increased during 1988～2006,while the agriculture and forest lands decreased.Analyses of socioeconomic data suggest that the change of household size,such as reduced number of occupants per household,has been a significant factor that affected urban land expansion.This involves the increased demands of the amount of land and materials and promoted the urbanization process.