Spatial Evolution of an Oil City: A Case Study of Karamay, Northwest China

This study investigates how Karamay, a typical mining city in Northwest China, has expanded and evolved over the last three decades (1994–2021) with a special study area of the oil production “townships” which fully expressed the characteristics of the scattered spatial pattern of oil cities, by using remote sensing (RS) images and geographical information system (GIS) spatial analyses. The expansion rate and urbanization development index, spatial orientation, and urban compactness are used to discuss the expansion features. The results indicate that Karamay city has continued to expand in the past 30 years, and there were two stages of urban expansion regarding expansion orientation. During the expansion, there was a trend toward more urban compactness. Karamay’s urban space has gradually evolved from the original scattered distribution of townships to functionally concentrated urban areas. Socioeconomic factors and multilevel policies were the main factors influencing urban expansion. Suggested strategies for the future development of oil cities in China were given accordingly. Two main innovative points are presented in this paper. First, a unique perspective was given on spatial changes in oil townships to better capture how industrial activities influence the urban expansion of oil cities, which has not been found in other studies. Second, this study is the first to combine the urban expansion process with the changing of scattered spatial characteristics of cities, which has reference significance for the sustainable development of these types of cities and contributes to the diversity of case backgrounds for discussing the possibility of compact urban growth.