Study on Land Utilization during the Process of China’s Urbanization since 1978
This paper primarily reviews institutional background, present status, and contentious issues on land use in China’s urbanization process. Most of our focus on land use concerns typical characteristics of land use pattern and its effects on urbanization under the new land management reform. To answer this question, we conduct some empirical work and comparative study based on statistical data since 1978 and GIS technology. Of all mentioned problems in this paper, the primary problem of land use is that agricultural land protection, as a guarantee of economic growth and warning limit of arable land, has fallen into theoretical and practical dilemma in China, even if there indeed exist conflict between rapid urbanization process and arable land protection. We also find that due to dualistic feature of China’s land institution, under administrative interference conducted by the government agricultural land price is usually undervalued, and the government’s behavior of expropriating the land would aggravate urban sprawl. Results from practical problem analysis are consistent with findings from institutional and theoretical analysis, suggesting that detailed mechanism on land management still needs to explore. In addition, we propose that further reform of land system should be planned to balance urban and rural development as well as to perfect land management system, of which the key point is how to realize the same land with the same price and the same rights between the rural collective construction land and the stateowned construction land.