Research on urban form for Beijing based on GIS

The three classic theories of urban morphology are the concentric zone theory,the sector theory and the multiple nuclei theory.Using the land use map of Beijing in 2002,the authors analyzed the concentric and directional characteristics of land use pattern based on GIS.The results indicate that the land use in Beijing has distinctly concentric characteristics,and the distribution of land use in different direction was strongly affected by rivers,main roads and industries.Beijing has not formed the multiple nuclei urban distribution,ratio of the first green belt is not higher obviously than other areas,which had lost the function of isolation between the major center city and the edge group urban areas.The spatial form of metropolitan area in Beijing is totally the integration of concentric zone and the sector zone,and the urban morphology of Beijing is the combination of these two theories.