Spatial and Temporal Agglomeration Characteristics and Coupling Relationship of Urban Built-Up Land and Economic Hinterland—A Case Study of the Lower Yellow River, China

Abstract

Clarifying the development relationship between urban built-up land and economic hinterland can provide decision support for regional sustainable development. Using the improved field model, geographic concentration and elasticity coefficient, and taking the lower reaches of the Yellow River as the study area, this study defines the scope of urban economic hinterland in the lower reaches of the Yellow River in China from 2005 to 2017, further analyzes the dynamic process of urban built-up land agglomeration and economic hinterland agglomeration, and reveals the spatial–temporal coupling relationships of urban built-up land expansion and economic hinterland development. The results revealed the following: (1) From 2005 to 2017, the spatial and temporal change pattern of the economic hinterland of each city in the lower reaches of the Yellow River had basically the same trend, showing a low degree of coincidence with the administrative divisions and obvious differences in scope and change; (2) The geographic concentration of built-up land showed a trend of centering on the cities of Zhengzhou and Jinan, spreading to the periphery, and gradually forming a high-value contiguous area in both cities. The spatial distribution patterns of the geographic concentration of economic hinterland are mainly manifested in Zhengzhou and Jinan, showing a circle structure of areas with “highest-low-higher” concentrations of economic hinterland moving away from the urban center; (3) The spatial–temporal coupling between the expansion of urban built-up land and the development of economic hinterland underwent an obvious transformation process. From 2005 to 2011, the coupling mode was mainly growth, and, from 2011 to 2017, it began to shift to extensive and intensive development. The coupling model of urban built-up land and economic hinterland in the lower reaches of the Yellow River has a good trend.