Ecological safety pattern of spatial extension in Shenyang City
沈阳市城市空间扩展的生态安全格局

Based on the change patterns of 6-period urban configuration in Shenyang City from 1956 to 2004 and their cause analysis, 6 ecological factors including geomorphology, land sinking, water body (river system and paddy field), forestland, basic farmland, and soil pollution were selected to divide the spatial extension of Shenyang City into preferred, suitable, confined, and strictly prohibited classes. The ecological safety pattern of Shenyang City was established to decide the direction and trend of urban growth with ecological safety. The results showed that Shenyang City was continuously extended from 1956 to 2004. Before 2000, the city was mainly extended to both northeast and southwest along Hunhe River, while the growth direction focused on the south, and the Hunnan New Strict was exploited from 2001 to 2004. During the early period of city development, the spatial pattern of Shenyang City was almost formed by industrial productivity distribution, with politic and economic factors as dominant ones and got to 291 km2 in 2004. Thereafter, ecological factors became the restricting factor in the city extension. The ecological safety pattern showed that the east and west of Shenyang were the restricting directions, while the north and south, as well as the southwest, had more spaces available. The south could be the main extension area of Shenyang City.