Modeling on Urban Land Use Characteristics and Urban System of the Traditional Chinese Era (1930s) Based on the Historical Military Topographic Map

The quantitative urban system structure in historical periods and the long time-scale urban land area grid dataset with spatial attributes are important for land use and land cover change (LUCC) research. In this study, we aimed to measure the area of county level and above cities in mainland China...

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Main Authors: Zhiwei Wan, Hongqi Wu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-01-01
Series:Land
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/1/244
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author Zhiwei Wan
Hongqi Wu
author_facet Zhiwei Wan
Hongqi Wu
author_sort Zhiwei Wan
collection DOAJ
description The quantitative urban system structure in historical periods and the long time-scale urban land area grid dataset with spatial attributes are important for land use and land cover change (LUCC) research. In this study, we aimed to measure the area of county level and above cities in mainland China in the 1930s, also known as the traditional Chinese era (TCE), using a geographic information system (GIS) model and 1:50,000 military topographic maps. Furthermore, we aimed to identify the structure and characteristics of the urban system in the TCE according to the administrative area division using methods such as the rank size law. The results of this study revealed that 1265 county level and above cities existed in the TCE, including 25 provincial level or above cities, 179 prefectural level cities, and 1061 county level cities. The total land area of all of the cities was 1396.48 km<sup>2</sup>, with a mean value of 1.1 km<sup>2</sup> and a standard deviation of 2.37 km<sup>2</sup>. The rank-size analysis indicated that the urban system in TCE was characterized by large cities with insignificant development (<i>q</i> = 0.829 < 1, R<sup>2</sup> = 0.905). The results of the Lorenz curve and Moran analyses showed that the spatial distribution of the urban systems in China during the traditional period exhibited nonuniform agglomeration. Large-scale military topographic maps of historical periods have proven to be a good source for land use reconstruction. The 1° × 1° grid urban land area dataset constructed based on a GIS model in the TCE is important for future research on historical LUCC and can provide basic data for climate change models, urban economic history, and other disciplines.
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spelling doaj.art-78c9b03e1e1c4857ba0e4340916d7fd82023-11-30T23:06:20ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2023-01-0112124410.3390/land12010244Modeling on Urban Land Use Characteristics and Urban System of the Traditional Chinese Era (1930s) Based on the Historical Military Topographic MapZhiwei Wan0Hongqi Wu1Department of History, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaDepartment of History, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaThe quantitative urban system structure in historical periods and the long time-scale urban land area grid dataset with spatial attributes are important for land use and land cover change (LUCC) research. In this study, we aimed to measure the area of county level and above cities in mainland China in the 1930s, also known as the traditional Chinese era (TCE), using a geographic information system (GIS) model and 1:50,000 military topographic maps. Furthermore, we aimed to identify the structure and characteristics of the urban system in the TCE according to the administrative area division using methods such as the rank size law. The results of this study revealed that 1265 county level and above cities existed in the TCE, including 25 provincial level or above cities, 179 prefectural level cities, and 1061 county level cities. The total land area of all of the cities was 1396.48 km<sup>2</sup>, with a mean value of 1.1 km<sup>2</sup> and a standard deviation of 2.37 km<sup>2</sup>. The rank-size analysis indicated that the urban system in TCE was characterized by large cities with insignificant development (<i>q</i> = 0.829 < 1, R<sup>2</sup> = 0.905). The results of the Lorenz curve and Moran analyses showed that the spatial distribution of the urban systems in China during the traditional period exhibited nonuniform agglomeration. Large-scale military topographic maps of historical periods have proven to be a good source for land use reconstruction. The 1° × 1° grid urban land area dataset constructed based on a GIS model in the TCE is important for future research on historical LUCC and can provide basic data for climate change models, urban economic history, and other disciplines.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/1/244historic land usetraditional Chinese eraurban systemsurban land usehistoric topographic map
spellingShingle Zhiwei Wan
Hongqi Wu
Modeling on Urban Land Use Characteristics and Urban System of the Traditional Chinese Era (1930s) Based on the Historical Military Topographic Map
Land
historic land use
traditional Chinese era
urban systems
urban land use
historic topographic map
title Modeling on Urban Land Use Characteristics and Urban System of the Traditional Chinese Era (1930s) Based on the Historical Military Topographic Map
title_full Modeling on Urban Land Use Characteristics and Urban System of the Traditional Chinese Era (1930s) Based on the Historical Military Topographic Map
title_fullStr Modeling on Urban Land Use Characteristics and Urban System of the Traditional Chinese Era (1930s) Based on the Historical Military Topographic Map
title_full_unstemmed Modeling on Urban Land Use Characteristics and Urban System of the Traditional Chinese Era (1930s) Based on the Historical Military Topographic Map
title_short Modeling on Urban Land Use Characteristics and Urban System of the Traditional Chinese Era (1930s) Based on the Historical Military Topographic Map
title_sort modeling on urban land use characteristics and urban system of the traditional chinese era 1930s based on the historical military topographic map
topic historic land use
traditional Chinese era
urban systems
urban land use
historic topographic map
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/1/244
work_keys_str_mv AT zhiweiwan modelingonurbanlandusecharacteristicsandurbansystemofthetraditionalchineseera1930sbasedonthehistoricalmilitarytopographicmap
AT hongqiwu modelingonurbanlandusecharacteristicsandurbansystemofthetraditionalchineseera1930sbasedonthehistoricalmilitarytopographicmap