Sprawling urban form and expanding living space: A study on the relationship of residential space development and urban built-up area expansion in Nanjing, China

Abstract

Within the context of high-speed urbanization and significant housing commercialization development in China, this research investigated the expansion of urban spatial form and the formation process of residential space, with a focus on the relationship between these concepts over the past 60 years. Nanjing, an important Chinese city in the Yangtze River Delta, is taken as the object of study. In this research, Arc GIS data analysis technology was used to construct and analyze a database. Moreover, the kernel density estimation method was introduced in the research on urban form. Through quantitative and superposed contrast analyses, this research aimed to determine the facts and objective laws behind the data and to prove the interaction between the urban area expansion and residential space formation through a precise example.