Quantifying land use change in Zhejiang coastal region, China using multi-temporal landsat TM/ETM plus images

Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images in 1985, 1986, 1993, 1994 and 2001 were used to quantify the land use and land cover changes (LUCC) in the Zhejiang coastal region with a stratified unsupervised classification technique in conjunction with visual interpretation and to attempt an identification of the socioeconomic driving forces. In level I an overall accurate classification was achieved using a modified Anderson's I/II/III-level classification scheme. The overall accuracy of the land use classification at Anderson level I were 89.7% (1985), 91.6% (1993), and 90.4% (2001). The most rapid land use change was a dramatic increase in urban or built-up areas, which quadrupled from 1985 to 2001. Over 90% of this newly expanded built-up area was originally paddy fields or other croplands. In different parts of the Zhejiang coastal region, urban land expansion was spatially uneven. Temporally, land use development did not stabilized, and the two study periods of time (1985-1993 and 1993-2001) had different transition styles. Socioeconomic factors, such as gross domestic product, total population, and financial expenditure, were all highly correlated with the expansion of urban or built-up areas. Based on the degree of urban sprawl and socioeconomic factors, cities and towns were further divided into six subgroups, which may help decision makers improve land use for the region.