Geovisualizing evolving population and built-up area in China, 2010–20

Abstract

ABSTRACTChina's population and development land have changed dramatically over the last decade. Yet, our understanding of the spatial distribution patterns of the population and built-up areas remains limited. To fill this gap, we employ China's Population Census and GlobeLand30 remote sensing data from 2010 to 2020 at the county level to geovisualize the evolution of the population and built-up area. We find an increasing correlation between built-up areas and population as a result of the urbanization of rural areas, but the rapid expansion of built-up areas has not fundamentally changed concentration of China's population over the period 2010–20.

Keywords

• built-up area
• population
• misallocation
• China
• cartogram