Earth Surface Processes
XIAO Jie ying, GE Jing feng, SHEN Yan jun, CHANG Chun ping, LIANG Yan qing
In this paper, the multi temporal maps of Shijiazhuang city in 1934, 1947, 1981, 1991, and 2001 are inputted into the GIS software, MapInfo5 0, to analyze the temporal and spatial distribution of urban sprawl during the last 67 years It is found, temporally, that the course of land use sprawl of Shijiazhuang can be divided into 4 stages, i.e.,slow growing stage (1934-1950), rapid developing stage (1950-1955), crawling increase stage (1955-1981),and speedy rising up stage (1981-2001) Spatially, urban sprawl can be categorized into 3 typical patterns: the pattern of urban sprawl by special purpose in special times, such as war period during 1934-1947; the pattern of urban sprawl intervened violently by political factors, such as in the years of cultural revolution; and the pattern of normal growth in recent two decades In different development stages, the maximum annual relative sprawl rate for the griding unit of 1km×1km varies in a large range of 2 95-10 1% During 1934-1947, the mean annual relative sprawl rate is 1 9%, with the maximum of 7 2% distributed in the west of the city for military use; during 1947-1981, the mean value is just 1 32%, with the maximum of 2 95%, and distributed mainly in the northeast as industrial area and the west side as administration use; during 1981-1991, however, the mean sprawl rate is 3%, and the maximum rises up to 9 75%, mainly distributed in the southeast of the city and the northern part of Shijiazhuang Taiyuan Railway; in the latest decade, 1991-2001, the mean sprawl rate suddenly increased to 7 81%, and the maximum also reached 10 1%, the sprawl areas with a high speed of more than 6 8% are mainly distributed in the northwest and southwest for residential use and the so called high tech developing zone at the east The main driving factors of urban sprawl are population, transportation, social and economic circumstance, and so on The population and transportation conditions are the most important factors The urban environment was affected by the rapid urban land use change;it will be an important problem in the future