Built-up land efficiency in urban China: Insights from the General Land Use Plan (2006–2020)

• The built-up land efficiency of most Chinese cities declined from 2006 to 2012.
• In the developed region of China, the built-up land efficiency was relatively low.
• The National General Land Use Plan (2006–2020) failed to promote intensive land use.

The rapid expansion of built-up land has been the major feature of land use changes in China and has led to built-up land vacancy and inefficient land use. This paper used a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to analyze the changes in built-up land efficiency in 336 cities in China from 2005 to 2012 during the implementation of National General Land Use Plan (2006–2020) (NGLUP). The results showed that the built-up land input–output efficiency of most cities declined, and more than half of the cities had excessive inputs of built-up land. Even in the most developed region of China, the built-up land efficiency was relatively low. The paper argues that the NGLUP failed to control the expansion of built-up land and to promote intensive land use. The allocation of built-up land designated by the Plan was not reasonable, and economic development has greatly relied on land inputs, which need to be improved. The paper finally suggests that the built-up land indices should be appropriately directed toward economically underdeveloped regions in central and western China, and the establishment of a withdrawal mechanism for inefficient land would better promote the efficient allocation of built-up land.