Multi-Scale Analysis of the Relationship between Land Subsidence and Buildings: A Case Study in an Eastern Beijing Urban Area Using the PS-InSAR Technique

Beijing is severely affected by land subsidence, and rapid urbanisation and building construction might accelerate the land subsidence process. Based on 39 Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) images acquired between 2003–2010, 55 TerraSAR-X images acquired between 2010–2016, and urban building information, we analysed the relationship between land subsidence and buildings at the regional, block, and building scales. The results show that the surface displacement rate in the Beijing urban area ranged from −109 mm/year to +13 mm/year between 2003–2010, and from −151 mm/year to +19 mm/year between 2010–2016; two subsidence bowls were mainly distributed in the eastern part of the Chaoyang District. The displacement rate agreed well with the levelling measurements, with an average bias of less than six mm/year. At the regional scale, the spatial pattern of land subsidence was mainly controlled by groundwater extraction, compressible layer thickness, and geological faults. Subsidence centres were located in the area around ground water funnels with a compressible layer depth of 50–70 m. The block-scale analysis demonstrated a clear correlation between the block construction age and the spatial unevenness of subsidence. The blocks constructed between 1998–2005 and after 2005 showed considerably more subsidence unevenness and temporal instability than the blocks constructed before 1998 during both time periods. The examination of the new blocks showed that the spatial unevenness increased with building volume variability. For the 16 blocks with a high building volume, variability, and subsidence unevenness, the building-scale analysis showed a positive relationship between building volume and settlement in most blocks, although the R2 was lower than 0.5. The results indicate that intense building construction in urban areas could cause differential settlement at the block scale in Beijing, while the settlement of single buildings could be influenced by the integrated effects of building volume, foundation structures, and the hydrogeological background