Research Of Developments In Urban Residential Land Use

China is a country with comparatively limited land resources. The amount of available land is in severe contradiction with the demands of both agriculture and other uses in the course of building modern cities. The fact of increasing population and decreasing cultivated area is one of the basic patterns of China's contradiction of population with land resources now, and will continue to be in the several decades to come. The lager the population, the steadily rapid growth of the national economy, and the transformation of people's living standards from moderately well off to middle class would enlarge resource-consumption and resource-demand, which would make the imbalance between the supply of land and the demand for it more intense. In the foreseeable future, lack of land will always be a main factor that restricts the developments of China's urban economy and urban construction.For a long time, the theory of urban planning and the practice of urban construction have paid little attention on the national condition of China's land shortage. City planners and researchers often follow the examples of advanced countries unrealistically without consideration of our own national condition. The 1980's and 1990's saw the rapid expansion of non-agricultural land use, which has caused a big decrease of cultivated area, the loss of land-assets, and the waste of land resources. This has been followed closely by researchers with wide interests both at home and abroad.In view of this situation, we think that it is of urgency and great significance for us to examine and study the developments and criteria of all kinds of land use. Composed of eight chapters, this dissertation conducts a study of the developments in urban residential land use in cities in Jiangsu province.1. After clarifying the reason of the study and its significance, the first chapter makes a logical preparation for the study by limiting its scope, defining the important concepts, giving the prerequisite and hypothesis, and explaining the research methods and use of basic materials. This chapter then introduces the framework and the contents of the dissertation.2. Focusing the discussion on land resources and the level of the social economy, the second chapter analyses the national conditions and the background of the developments in residential land in Nanjing and in other cities in Jiangsu province. The chapter also examines how to study China and other countries by analogy from the angle of the relationship between population and land resources. The above mentioned information provides a starting point and a yardstick for the analyzing, judging, making points and estimations in the following chapters.3. The third chapter examines the developments in residential land in Nanjing City and other cities in Jiangsu province from different angles and on different levels. With regards to the correlating national codes and standards, this chapter analyses the history and current situation of cities of different scale respectively, and points out some issues worthy of discussion in the developments in residential land use. These are forerunners for the study on development of urban residential land in the future.4. The fourth chapter comprehensively analyses and discusses how the urban residential levelwas, is and will be in the future. On the basis of surmising how big the average floor area per resident will be and how the urban residential model will be, mis chapter introduces proposed index for residential land use in the future.5. In the fifth chapter, a discussion is made on the development of personal car ownership, which is a crucial factor that influences the land use required for roads in urban housing areas. In view of the important status of cars in urban passenger transportation, the motorization of modern cities, and the transformation of urban lifestyles into an affluent one, we analyze the inevitability of personal motorcars entering the urban framework. After estimating the future motor vehicle ownership of urban residents, we work out the index of land required for roads in urban housing areas.6. The sixth chapter analyses the requirements for residential open space in the aging society and in the upgraded residential environment On the basis of reviewing available open space in existing housing areas and comparing it with the demand of existing codes and standards, mis chapter discusses the index of the land required for open space in the future.7. From different angles, the seventh chapter makes a comprehensive analysis of the land required for educational institutions, medical establishments, cultural and recreational facilities, commercial establishments, financial establishments, and other necessary infrastructure. This chapter also examines the reality of land required for public facilities in urban housing areas and then puts forward the index for the land required for these public facilities.8. After summarizing the data and inferences made in chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, the eighth chapter estimates the index for urban residential land use in Jiangsu province. This chapter men puts forward specific and concrete comments for the existing national codes and standards, and suggestions on the development of urban residential land in cities of different scale in Jiangsu province in the future.