The Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Urban Construction Land Expansion in Wuhan, Central China

Abstract

Data of construction land in Wuhan city were obtained from remote sensing image in different periods. Based on the spatial analysis function of GIS, the characteristics of construction land expansion were identified by several methods to analyse the spatial-temporal features of Wuhan city area from 1995 to 2015, which included expansion speed, expansion elasticity, contribution rate of expansion, centre-ofgravity shift, and quadrant orientation. The results showed that the construction land area increased gradually from 1995 to 2015 in Wuhan city, and the expansion speed first increased and then decreased. The direction of construction land expansion in Wuhan city was expanded to the southwest significantly. The construction land expansion can’t meet the needs of population growth. Jiangxia district contributed most to the expansion of Wuhan city.