Land Use Change and Its Driving Factors in the Rural–Urban Fringe of Beijing: A Production–Living–Ecological Perspective

Abstract

Production–Living–Ecological Space (PLES) is a useful tool to identify land use status patterns and optimize land resource allocation. In this study, the spatial econometric model was chosen to analyze the driving factors of land use change in Chaoyang District, part of the rural–urban fringe in Beijing, from the perspective of PLES evolution, from 2005 to 2020. The results showed the following: (1) Production Space (PS) to Living-Non-Farm Production Space (LNPS) has been the most significant conversion process of PLES since 2005, making LNPS the PLES type with the highest proportion in the study area. (2) With the spatial order from near-to-far from the city center, the scale of PS was reduced and concentrated, Ecological Space (ES) was formed in a green belt at the periphery of Beijing, Eco-Agricultural Production Space (EAPS) and Living-Agricultural Production Space were rapidly reduced, and LNPS was rapidly expanded in the point-line-plane order. (3) The PS to LNPS conversion was mainly driven by economic development and industrial structure upgrades, while the PS to ES conversion was mainly due to the distribution of population density and also industrial structures. The conversion of EAPS to LNPS was driven by the increase of the urbanization rate and economic growth. This study confirmed the policy-driven effect of the conversion from PS to ES. Due to the “Concentric Circle” spatial structure of Beijing, the conversion of PLES is generally related to the distance from the city center.