Spatio-Temporal Evolution Dynamic, Effect and Governance Policy of Construction Land Use in Urban Agglomeration: Case Study of Yangtze River Delta, China

The urban construction land change is the most obvious and complex spatial phenomenon in urban agglomerations which has attracted extensive attention of scholars in different fields. Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration is the most mature urban agglomeration in China, a typical representative in both China and the world. This paper analyzes the evolution dynamic, effect and governance policy of urban construction land in Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration 2011–2020 using a combination of BCG model, decoupling model and GIS tools. The findings are as follows. (1) There are large intercity differences in urban construction land in urban agglomerations, but the spatial heterogeneity is gradually decreasing. (2) The change trends and evolution patterns of urban construction land in urban agglomerations are increasingly diversified, with emergence of a variety of types such as rapid growth, slow growth, inverted U-shape, stars, cows, question and dogs. (3) The population growth, economic development and income improvement corresponding to the change of urban construction land in urban agglomerations have no desirable effect, with most cities in the expansive negative decoupling state. (4) The decoupling types show increasingly complex changes, in evolution, degeneration and unchanged states. Affected by economic transformation and the outbreak of COVID-19, an increasing number of cities are in strong negative decoupling and degeneration states, threatening the sustainable development of urban agglomerations. (5) Based on the division of urban agglomerations into three policy areas of Transformation Leading, Land Dependent, and Land Reduction, the response strategies for each are proposed, and a differentiated land use zoning management system is established