Urban sprawl and evolution of accessibility profiles in Chinese cities

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how public transportation development influences urban sprawl and accessibility in China's largest cities from 2000 to 2030, highlighting improvements in transit access and urban balance.

Contribution

It introduces a radial profile methodology to compare population distribution and accessibility evolution, demonstrating the effectiveness of transit-oriented development in Chinese megacities.

Findings

Rebalancing of access over time

Transport network growth improves accessibility

Transit-oriented development mitigates urban sprawl

Abstract

The development of public transportation networks and associated transit oriented development policies are efficient tools to mitigate urban sprawl and its negative environmental impacts, especially in terms of commuting emissions. We study in this paper the trajectories in terms of sprawl and public transport accessibility of the nine largest Chinese megacities, from 2000 to 2030 with projected transportation networks and populations. Using the radial profile methodology, we compare the evolution of population distribution with the evolution of accessibility profiles. We show a rebalancing of access in time, suggesting the efficiency of transport network growth regarding transit-oriented development objectives.