Land Use Spatial and Temporal Dynamics in Weihai City due to Urbanization

From the 1980s through 2000,and especially from 1987 when the city was upgraded from county-level to prefecture-level,the economy of Weihai developed very quickly,with a rapid increase in population and dramatic changes in land use patterns.Using remote sensing interpretation and social and economic data, we illustrate the spatial position and range of the main types of land use conversion.We calculated the conversion matrix,rate of change and dynamic degree of land use,and analyzed the law and drivers of land use changes.The study results showed that from the 1980s until 1995,the area of land converted from farmland to urban land((2 999.77)hm~2) was far more than other conversion types. The next largest conversion types were farmland to rural residential land(655.01hm~2),forest land to other construction land(633.84hm~2),forest land to farmland(483.08hm~2),grassland to farmland(443.05hm~2),and rural residential land to urban land(417.67hm~2).During 1995～2000,the area of land converted from other construction land to forest land(633.72hm~2) was the largest of all conversion types,followed by farmland to urban land((2 999.77)hm~2),farmland to forest land(483.01 hm~2),farmland to grassland(443.02 hm~2),and water area to farmland(330.81 hm~2).From the 1980s to 1995,the area of farmland,forest land and grassland decreased markedly(by a rate of 14.84%,12.76%,and 9.59% respectively),while urban land increased significantly(by 168.92%),and other construction land also increased(by 72.78%).During 1995～2000,the area of other construction land,farmland,water area and rural residential land decreased markedly(by 40.49%,27.83%,4.64%,and 3.34% respectively),while forest land,urban land and grassland increased(by 14.27%,9.13%,and 8.94% respectively).From the 1980s to 1995,the annual rate of decrease in farmland(-1.48%) was the largest of all land use types,while the annual rate of increase of urban land(16.89%) was the largest increase,followed by other construction land(7.28%).During 1995～2000,the annual rate of decrease of other construction land(-8.10%) was the largest of all land use types,followed by water area(-5.57%).Farmland also decreased continuously(-0.93%),but the annual rate of decline slowed.The annual rate of increase of forest land(2.85%) is the largest among all land use types.The area of urban land increased continuously(1.83%),but the annual rate of increase slowed, and rural residential land decreased in this period(-0.67%) although it had increased(0.59%) in the previous period(1980s～1995).From this,we can see that the land use pattern in Jiaodong region changed dramatically.Overall,the annual rate and total quantity of increase in urban land were all much larger than for other types,but farmland decreased markedly.Urban expansion mainly occupied farmland,and mostly took place near the northwestern and southeastern part of the original city of the 1980s.These changes were mainly driven by terrain,site location(especially distance to sea),and policy.In nearly 15 years,urbanization was the most important driver of land use change in Weihai city.