Analysis of Land Use Dynamic Change in the Metropolitan Fringe: A Case Study of Pinggu District, Beijing
大都市边缘区土地利用动态变化研究——以北京市平谷区为例

Jointly affected by urban expansion, industrial relocation, and other effects from downtown, land use change in metropolitan fringe areas is marked. Pinggu District is one of the 18 districts in Beijing, functioning as an agricultural supply base. However, as the economy and industry develop, allocation of land resources becomes increasingly complicated. Analyzing land use change during the past years and examining land use trends are of importance to future development. Using land use maps of Pinggu District in 1993 and 2008, land use dynamic change was analyzed in this paper from aspects of quantity, spatial pattern, and transformation. With natural conditions of Pinggu and socio-economic statistics from Statistical Yearbook, some phenomena were explained. Results indicate that the area of arable land decreased rapidly from 1993 throughout 2008, orchard land increased significantly, and the built-up land increased gradually. Based primarily on elevation and slope, the study district was generally partitioned into three township-based landform areas, i.e., the mountainous area in the north and the east, semi-mountainous area in the centre and the west, and plains in the southwest. The land-use pattern and the spatial distribution of land use change varied significantly in different landforms. In mountainous and semi-mountainous areas, due to agricultural structural adjustment and the Sloping Land Conversion Program, arable land decreased greatly, which were mainly transformed into orchard land and woodland. While in the plain area, expansion of built-up land was the major reason for loss of arable land. A large quantity of new construction land appeared in the plain area, particularly in Pinggu town. There was less change taking place in mountainous and semi-mountainous areas. As to transformation of land-use types, only 1/3 arable land in 1993 was preserved from the matrix of land-use change, most of which was transformed into orchard land, woodland, and built-up land. Woodland was transformed into orchard, grass land transformed into woodland. A large part of new build-up land was transformed from agricultural land, especially the arable land. Therefore, it is a significant issue to ease the conflicts between economic development and agricultural land protection, strengthen environmental protection, and to alleviate land degradation, with the ultimate goal to guarantee functions of ecological services of Pinggu District and societal and economic development of Beijing.