Urban land system change: Spatial heterogeneity and driving factors of land use intensity in Wuhan, China

The direct impacts of urban expansion on ecosystems' sustainability has been discussed extensively, however, our understanding of the changes, consequences and drivers of land use intensity (LUI) in urbanizing areas remains inadequate, especially when LUI changes while land type maintains. We construct a framework coupling land cover and socioeconomic systems to examine spatial-temporal characteristics and drivers of the LUI in Wuhan City, China from 2000 to 2020. We find that the growth of LUI of Human-settlement Systems (HS) lags far behind the rate of its area expansion, showing low-density sprawl. The LUI of Cropland Systems (CS) was found to increase with the distance from city center unexpectedly for urbanization and planning reasons. The Forest Systems (FS) and Wetland Systems (WS) remain relatively stable. For the same land type, the locational factors, especially the distance from the city center, is a key determinant of land use intensity heterogeneity. This study provides insights into intensity rather than merely investigating the type change of land use, renders policy suggestions for efficient land use of each subsystem as well.