Urban land expansion and regional inequality in transitional China

- Urban land expansion in China is highly uneven.
- Inequalities are much higher in the Western region.
- Provincial-level development policies tend to increase urban land expansion and economic development gaps across prefectures.
- Urban land expansion tends to converge within prefectures.
- The core-periphery pattern of urban land expansion intensifies economic gaps across prefectures and provinces in China.

Rising inequality and spatial concentration in China have drawn considerable scholarly interest and social concern. However, sources of spatial inequality in China remain under-studied. This article analyzes spatial patterns and dynamics of urban land expansion in China to better understand the role of institutions and urbanization in spatial inequality. We find that urban land expansion in China is highly uneven at both intra-provincial and intra-prefectural levels, and inequalities are much higher in the Western region than the Eastern region. We also find that provincial-level development policies tend to increase urban land expansion and economic development gaps across prefectures, while urban land expansion tends to converge within prefectures. Such core-periphery growth patterns have intensified economic gaps across prefectures and provinces in China.