Urban Sprawl and Warming: Research on the Evolution of the Urban Sprawl of Chinese Municipalities and its Relationship with Climate Warming in the Past Three Decades

Abstract

China is experiencing the largest and fastest urbanization process in the world (Kneebone E., 2013). At the same time, its current rapid urbanization process is almost simultaneously accompanied by urban sprawl. Since the 1990s, the sprawl process of Chinese cities has begun to reach a climax (Shan Baoguo, 2018). As the largest developing country in the world, China is also one of the countries most vulnerable to the coercion of climate change. This research takes the four municipalities that are China's urban development orientation as typical representatives, and uses multiple indicators to measure urban sprawl and climate change in them. Finally, models are established to explore the impact of urban sprawl on climate warming. The results showed that all four cities experienced sprawl, but to varying degrees. Shanghai is very compact. Also, the climate warming is definitely, yet urban sprawl doesn't always contribute to its deterioration. The proportion of arable land had the least impact on global warming, but it was the only factor that could improve temperatures, albeit conditionally. Fragmented built-up land heating the climate is most critical.