Measuring residential and industrial land use mix in the peri-urban areas of China

•We develop an index method to measure the mixed degree of residential and industrial land.•The mix of residential and industrial land is common in the peri-urban areas of China.•This mix has its socio-economic and institutional reasons.

While the mix of residential, commercial and recreational use has been desirable for a compact city model, the mix of residential and industrial land use has long been regarded as being negative on the living environment. The peri-urban area of China is characterized by an intermingling of industries with residential land, which poses threats on a sustainable environment. In China, planners tend to criticize the mix of residential and industrial land, but lack a method to quantify the degree to which industrial and residential land is mixed, and are unable to clarify its environmental influence. This research develops an index method (MDI) to measure the mixed degree of residential and industrial land. By taking three peri-urban areas of China as cases, this research explores how this index can be applied to measure the spatial changes of land use mix, and explains the factors leading to this type of mix. It concludes with the implications of environmental impacts of MDI and its inclusion in land use planning and management.