IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v14y2025i3p593-d1610394.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatial Heterogeneity of the Natural, Socio-Economic Characteristics and Vitality Realization of Suburban Areas in China

Author

Listed:
  • Tao Lin

    (Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    Xiamen Key Laboratory of Smart Management on the Urban Environment, Xiamen 361021, China
    Fujian Key Laboratory of Digital Technology for Territorial Space Analysis and Simulation, Fuzhou 350108, China)

  • Zhiwei Zeng

    (Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Hongkai Geng

    (Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    Xiamen Key Laboratory of Smart Management on the Urban Environment, Xiamen 361021, China)

  • Yiyi Huang

    (Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    Xiamen Key Laboratory of Smart Management on the Urban Environment, Xiamen 361021, China)

  • Jiayu Cai

    (Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China
    Fujian Key Laboratory of Digital Technology for Territorial Space Analysis and Simulation, Fuzhou 350108, China
    School of Architecture and Urban-Rural Planing, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China)

  • Xiaotong Wang

    (Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    Xiamen Key Laboratory of Smart Management on the Urban Environment, Xiamen 361021, China
    School of Geographical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham, Ningbo 315100, China)

  • Xin Cao

    (Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    Xiamen Key Laboratory of Smart Management on the Urban Environment, Xiamen 361021, China)

  • Yicheng Zheng

    (Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    Xiamen Key Laboratory of Smart Management on the Urban Environment, Xiamen 361021, China
    School of Geographical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham, Ningbo 315100, China)

Abstract

Suburban areas are the transitional zone between urban and rural areas, serving as key areas for addressing issues related to urban and regional sustainable development. In this study, 294 prefecture-level cities in China were selected as research objects. The spatial heterogeneity of social, economic, and natural characteristics, as well as the vitality realization of suburbs in China, was quantitatively analyzed at a national scale, and the impact of socio-economic and natural factors on the realization of suburban vitality was discussed. The results show that China has large suburban areas, with 431 km 2 of peri-urban, 1816 km 2 of mid-suburban, and 5384 km 2 of outer-suburban areas, respectively. However, the suburban areas in China exhibit significant spatial heterogeneity ( p < 0.001), with larger areas mainly located in the northeast and north. The vitality of the peri-suburban, mid-suburban, and outer-suburban areas exhibits spatial clustering ( p < 0.001), with corresponding global Moran’s I values of 0.292, 0.272, and 0.380, respectively. The suburban areas with high vitality are mainly clusters in the southeast coastal regions, and the farther a suburban area is from the built-up areas, the lower its vitality. Various socio-economic and natural factors have different impacts on suburban vitality. The key negative factors are the proportion of agricultural land and elevation, while the positive factors are the density of points of interest (POIs) and the proportion of built-up areas. Finally, we discuss the causes of spatial heterogeneity of suburban vitality in China and the pathways to enhance it. This study provides a scientific reference for the sustainable development of the urban–rural transition zones in other regions and countries in the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Tao Lin & Zhiwei Zeng & Hongkai Geng & Yiyi Huang & Jiayu Cai & Xiaotong Wang & Xin Cao & Yicheng Zheng, 2025. "Spatial Heterogeneity of the Natural, Socio-Economic Characteristics and Vitality Realization of Suburban Areas in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:3:p:593-:d:1610394
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/593/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/593/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:3:p:593-:d:1610394. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.