Urban land expansion in Quanzhou City, China, 1995–2010

•Urban land in Quanzhou has increased more than twofold between 1995 and 2010.•Urban land expansion took place in the city districts and around industrial zones in Quanzhou.•Urban land expansion was slower in Quanzhou than Shenzhen and Dongguan.•Quanzhou's reliance on labor-intensive industries has influenced its population growth and urbanization.

With its phenomenal development in recent decades, urbanization in China has been covered in a large number of studies. These studies have focused on large cities, with smaller and lesser known cities largely overlooked. This study analyzed the spatiotemporal changes of land use in Quanzhou, a historical city in Fujian Province, using GIS and remote sensing tools. Based on the land use change indices and spatial metrics, our results showed that built-up (urban) land in Quanzhou increased more than twofold in 1995–2010, at the expense of cultivated land, woodland, and grassland. During the same period, urban land patches increased in both number and size, while becoming more irregular and complex in shape. Most urban land expansion took place in the coastal areas, including the city districts and development and industrial zones. Although urbanization in Quanzhou has been remarkable since 1995, its average rate of urban land expansion has fallen behind Shenzhen and Dongguan in the Pearl River Delta. Geographic location and population growth are two important factors for the difference. Quanzhou is located in a less developed region of China, and its population growth has been slow due to its heavy reliance on labor-intensive, low-technology industries, which do not offer sufficient rural—urban wage differential to attract large inflows of migrant workers. Urbanization in China follows different paths in different cities and regions, as shown in this study by comparing Quanzhou with cities in the Pearl River Delta.