scholarly journals Spatial Pattern of the Vitality of Chinese Characteristic Towns: A Perspective from Nighttime Lights

Land ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Yuqing Zhang ◽  
Kun Shang ◽  
Zhipeng Shi ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Xueming Li

Nighttime light images are valuable indicators of regional economic development, and nighttime light data are now widely used in town monitoring and evaluation studies. Using the nighttime light data acquired through Luojia1-01 and the geographic information system spatial analysis method, this study analyzed the spatial vitality pattern of 402 characteristic towns in six geographic divisions of China. The average DN (Digital Number) value of Guzhen, having the highest vitality level, was 0.05665221, whereas that of Xin’an, having the lowest vitality level, was 0.00000186. A total of 89.5% of towns have a low level of vitality. The regional differences were significant; high vitality towns are concentrated in economically developed coastal areas, mainly in two large regions of east China and south central. The average lighting densities of the towns in east China and south central were 0.004838 and 0.003190, respectively. The lighting density of the towns in west central was low, and the vitality intensity was generally low. A spatially significant positive correlation of small-town vitality was observed, and “high–high” agglomeration was primarily distributed in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Fujian coastal areas in east and south China. The towns with high vitality intensity had similarities in their geographical location, convenient transportation conditions, and profound historical heritage or cultural accumulation along with many industrial enterprises. This research empirically demonstrates the feasibility of using the 130-m-high resolution of the nighttime lighting data of Luojia1-01 to evaluate the vitality at the town scale, and the vitality evaluation focuses on the spatial attributes of the town, which is meaningful to guide the development of the town in each region given the vast area of China and the large differences in the development of different regions.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aoshuang Liu ◽  
Ye Wei ◽  
Bailang Yu ◽  
Wei Song

The cargo handling capacity of a port is the most basic and important indicator of port size. Based on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime light data and panel model, this study attempts to estimate the cargo handling capacity of 28 coastal ports in China using satellite remote sensing. The study confirmed that there is a very close correlation between DMSP-OLS nighttime light data and the cargo handling capacity of the ports. Based on this correlation, the panel data model was established for remote sensing-based estimation of cargo handling capacity at the port and port group scales. The test results confirm that the nighttime light data can be used to accurately estimate the cargo handling capacity of Chinese ports, especially for the Yangtze River Delta Port Group, Pearl River Delta Port Group, Southeast Coastal Port Group, and Southwest Coastal Port Group that possess huge cargo handling capacities. The high accuracy of the model reveals that the remote sensing analysis method can make up for the lack of statistical data to a certain extent, which helps to scientifically analyze the spatiotemporal dynamic changes of coastal ports, provides a strong basis for decision-making regarding port development, and more importantly provides a convenient estimation method for areas that have long lacked statistical data on cargo handling capacity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1235
Author(s):  
Min Yu ◽  
Shan Guo ◽  
Yanning Guan ◽  
Danlu Cai ◽  
Chunyan Zhang ◽  
...  

The long-term changes of the relationship between nighttime light and urbanization related built-up areas are explored using nighttime light data obtained from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program/Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS, data before 2013) and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP/VIIRS, data after 2012) and information of the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of urban evolution. This study assimilates two datasets and diagnoses the spatial heterogeneity in administrative city scale based on built-up area tendencies, temporal heterogeneity in pixel scale based on nighttime light intensity tendencies, and GDP associated spatiotemporal variability over the Yangtze River Delta comparing the first two decades of this century (2001–2010 versus 2011–2019). The analysis reveals the following main results: (1) The built-up areas have generally increased in the second period with the center of fast expansion moving southward, including Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Nanjing, and Hefei. (2) Urban development in the original city core has saturated and is spilling over to the suburbs and countryside, leading to nighttime light intensity tendency shift from a “rapid to moderate” and a “moderate to rapid” development (a “hot to cold” and a “cold to hot” spatial clustering distribution). (3) The tendency shifts of built-up area and nighttime light intensity occur most frequently in 2010, after which the urban development is transforming from light intensity growth to built-up area growth, particularly in the developed city cores. The urban agglomeration process with nighttime light intensity reaching saturation prior to the urban development spreading into the surrounding suburbs and countryside, appears to be a suitable model, which provides insights in addressing related environmental problems and contribute to regional sustainable urban planning and management.


Author(s):  
Ivars Orehovs

In a literary heritage with a developed tradition of genres, works whose main purpose is to attract the attention of readers to a selected geographical location, are of particular culture-historical and culture-geographical interest. The most widespread in this respect is travel literature, which is usually written by travellers and consist of impressions portrayed in prose after visits to foreign lands. Another type of literary depiction with an expressed poetic orientation, but a similar goal, is characteristic of dedicatory poetry. The author’s position is usually saturated with emotional expressiveness as well as the artistry of symbols, encouraging the reader or listener to feel the formation of a spontaneous attitude. It is possible to gain confidence in the engagement of the author of the poetry as an individual in the depicted cultural-geographical environment, which can be conceptually expressed by words or pairs of words ‘resident’, ‘native place’, ‘patriot’. With regard to the devotional depictions on the Latvian urban environment, one of the earliest examples known in the history of literature is the dedicatory poem in German by Christian Bornmann to the town Jelgava with its ancient name (Mitau, 1686/1802). The name of Liepāja town in this tradition of the genre has become an embodiment later – in the poetry selection in German, also using the ancient name of the town (Libausche Dichtungen, 1853), but in terms of contemporary literary practice with Imants Kalniņš’ music, there is a convincing dominance of songs with words of poetry. The aim of the article is, looking at the poetry devoted to Liepāja in the 19th century and at the turn of the 20th/21st century in the comparative aspect, to present textually thematic peculiarities as well as to provide the analytical interpretative summary of those.


The Holocene ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1105-1116 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Bellotti ◽  
G. Calderoni ◽  
F. Di Rita ◽  
M. D’Orefice ◽  
C. D’Amico ◽  
...  

Geomorphologic, stratigraphic, faunistic, palynological and carbon isotope analyses were carried out in the area of the Tiber river mouth. The results depict a complex palaeoenvironmental evolution in the area of the Roman town of Ostia, ascertain the changes of the Tiber river delta over the last 6000 years and support a re-interpretation of some archaeologic issues. The wave-dominated Tiber delta evolved through three distinct phases. In the first step (5000–2700 yr BP) a delta cusp was built at the river mouth, which was located north of the present outlet. Subsequently (2700–1900 BP), an abrupt southward migration of the river mouth determined the abandonment of the previous cusp and the progradation of a new one. The third step, which is still in progress, is marked by the appearance of a complex cusp made up of two distributary channels. The transition from the first to the second evolution phase occurred in the seventh century bc and was contemporary to the foundation of Ostia, as suggested by historical accounts. However, the oldest archaeological evidence of the town of Ostia dates to the fourth century bc, when human activity is clearly recorded also by pollen data. We suggest that the first human settlement (seventh century bc) consisted of ephemeral military posts, with the aim of controlling the strategic river mouth and establishing the Ostia saltworks. Only after the fourth century bc the coastal environment was stable enough for the foundation and development of the town of Ostia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2930
Author(s):  
Pengfei Ban ◽  
Wei Zhan ◽  
Qifeng Yuan ◽  
Xiaojian Li

Cities defined mainly from the administrative aspect can create impact and problems especially in the case of China. However, only a few researchers from China have attempted to identify urban areas from the morphology dimension. In addition, previous studies have been mostly based on the national and regional scales or a single prefecture city and have completely ignored cross-boundary cities. Defining urban areas on the basis of a single data type also has limitations. To address these problems, this study integrates point of interest and nighttime light data, applies the breaking point analysis method to determine the physical geographic scope of the Guangzhou–Foshan cross-border city, and then compares this city with Beijing and Shanghai. Results show that Guangzhou–Foshan comprises one core urban area and six suburban counties, among which the core urban area extends across the administrative boundaries of Guangzhou and Foshan. The urban area and average urban radius of Guangzhou–Foshan are larger than those of Beijing and Shanghai, and this finding contradicts the city size measurements based on the administrative division system of China and those published on traditional official statistical yearbooks. In terms of urban density value, Shanghai has the steepest profile followed by Guangzhou–Foshan and Beijing, and the profile line of Guangzhou–Foshan has a bimodal shape.


Cities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 118 ◽  
pp. 103373
Author(s):  
Ying Zhou ◽  
Chenggu Li ◽  
Wensheng Zheng ◽  
Yuefang Rong ◽  
Wei Liu

Author(s):  
Ryusei SAITO ◽  
Chizuko HIRAI ◽  
Chihiro HAGA ◽  
Takanori MATSUI ◽  
Hiroaki SHIRAKAWA ◽  
...  

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