Analysis on coupling relationship of urban scale and intensive use of land in China

• We study the relationship between metropolitan scale expansion and land use intensity.
• The agglomerate effect between land and capital is positive.
• The substitution effect between land and capital is negative.
• The combined effect between urban scale and land-use intensity in China is positive.

The relationship between metropolitan scale expansion and land use intensity has been a hot research topic in Mainland China in the recent years. Even though many scholars have already discussed this topic from a theoretical standpoint, unfortunately, empirical research in this regard has been woefully lacking. In light of this, this study proffers an empirical investigation of 120 major Chinese cities in 2009, by first establishing an urban land use intensity index by means of a principal component analysis, followed by the application of the structural equation model (SEM) to verify said relationship. The findings show that urban land use intensity has both positive and negative effects on urban scale. In particular, while the agglomerate effect of land and capital is positive, the substitution effect between them is negative. The findings of this study particularly address the coupling relationship of urban scale and land use intensity in Mainland China. The results imply that when the levels of non-land factors rise, urban land use intensity will improve. In other words, following the implementation of the new urbanization policy in China, and the ever-growing significance of the dynamic agglomeration effect, there is a positive coupling relationship between urban scale and land use intensity.