Mapping Suburbs Based on Spatial Interactions and Effect Analysis on Ecological Landscape Change: A Case Study of Jiangsu Province from 1998 to 2018, Eastern China

Abstract

As the transitional area between urban and rural areas, land-use change in suburbs is drastic, which generates negative effects on the ecological environment. However, the identification of the suburbs remains controversial. Usually, the density of the population and residential land is referenced, and the close spatial interactions between urban areas and suburbs are generally neglected. To fill this research gap, this study adopts a case study method to map the suburbs of Jiangsu based on estimating the spatial interactions. First, a regression model is built to estimate the population distribution. Second, a radiation model is utilized to evaluate the spatial interaction at a grid level. After the main urban area is identified based on the high density of the population and construction land, the interaction strength between the main urban grid and other grid areas is calculated, and the grids that share high values of interaction strength with urban grids are identified as suburban areas. Finally, the suburbs of Jiangsu in 1998 and 2018 are mapped, and the ecological landscape pattern metrics are used to verify the effects of suburban expansion. As a result, the suburban expansion of Jiangsu over the 20 years was significant, and the effects of suburban expansion on ecological land fragmentation were evident. On the basis of the results, the enlightenment of mapping suburbs on ecological landscape planning is discussed.