The Current Situation Of Urban Sprawl In China And Its Impact On Carbon Dioxide Emissions

The agglomeration of population and industry makes it possible for the city to be born, at the same time, the process of urbanization further promote population and industrial agglomeration. Dual action of the government and the market causes the rapid expansion of city scale and the dramatic reconstruction of spatial structure. In different conditions, countries more or less appear to a certain degree of urban sprawl. If we say that the urban sprawl of Europe and the United States is driven by market self-organization process, so the formation of domestic urban sprawl is dominated by the government. Low starting point and fast speed is the most distinctive feature of Chinese urbanization, since the reform and opening-up. In this process, the urbanization is further accelerated and the urban space expands rapidly. The resulting carbon emissions have been widely concerned,therefore,it is meaningful to study the effect of urban sprawl on carbon dioxide emissions and its mechanism. And it is also helpful to built low-carbon city in China.In this paper, based on the understanding of urban sprawl, referring to the measure method of foreign scholars, we introduce DMSP / OLS nighttime light data, construct urban sprawl measure model suitable for China’s national conditions,and make urban sprawl index more spatial meaning, so as to enhance the reliability of the measure results. According to the measurement results of the Chinese 35 large and medium-sized cities, we analyze the current situation of urban sprawl in China from the angles of the whole, region and cluster, then we make an empirical analysis of the impact of urban sprawl on carbon emissions. The results show that there is a widespread urban sprawl in China, and the extent of the sprawl is closely related to the economic development, urban program and government policies. Among them, the sprawl extent of the North-east region is the most serious, followed by the Central and Western area, while the economically developed Eastern region is relatively low. Through the empirical analysis, it is proved that the urban sprawl is positively related to the carbon dioxide emissions, and low density urban sprawl is often accompanied by higher carbon emissions. So, this paper argues that on the future path of urbanization,our country should emphasize human urbanization,effectively improve the quality of urbanization, give full play to the intrinsic capacity of existing space, advocate compact form, and built compact city. So as to ensure the economic growth at the same time,to achieve fast and good low-carbon development.