2005 Volume 78 Issue 12 Pages 727-752
The author examines China's urban developments such as housing developments for the purpose of understanding land use changes and their driving forces in urban areas of China. Economic growth and the increase of the urban population in China have influenced urban development, especially in terms of housing; urban developed areas have rapidly increased in the latter half of the 1990s. Private real estate development enterprises have had an important role in such urban development. Such enterprises are functioning actively in metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai, which are economically advanced areas, and in provinces along the coast. Residential developments promote the land-use change in the built-up area and also promote the spatial expansion of the built-up area in Changchun City.
