IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i15p9747-d882826.html

Spatial-Temporal Pattern Evolution of Xi’an Metropolitan Area Using DMSP/OLS and NPP/VIIRS Nighttime Light Data

Author

Listed:
  • Shangzhi Li

    (School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710000, China)

  • Xuxiang Li

    (School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710000, China)

  • Meng Zhang

    (School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710000, China)

Abstract

A metropolitan area provides valuable space for economic development, and it is the home on which human beings depend for their survival. However, metropolitan areas are often faced with prominent problems caused by the natural environment and city layout. Therefore, understanding metropolitan areas’ spatial-temporal pattern evolution is of vital significance for medium-to-long-term city growth. This study uses the nighttime light data to monitor the urban pattern evolution of the Xi’an Metropolitan Area (XMA) over the past 30 years. The study results suggest that the continuity correction and consistency correction used in this study can construct a stable long-term, multi-source nighttime light dataset and, at the same time, accurately reflect the changes in the urban pattern. The determination coefficient between gross domestic product (GDP) and total nighttime light (TNL) reached 0.90; the nighttime light index (NLI) of the XMA is characterized by high spatial heterogeneity. The NLI of the core areas has been saturated before 2004, while the CNLI value of the peripheral Chang’an District was 0.31 by 2021. Urban land expanded in all directions, with an average expansion rate of 12.9% and an expansion intensity of 2.6%. The nighttime light gravity center generally shifted towards southwest, from (108.915° E, 34.355° N) in 1992 to (108.922° E, 34.343° N) in 2021. The urban pattern of the metropolitan area is influenced by the natural environment, and the southwest and northeast directions will be the primary development directions in the future. The local development policy is a crucial driving factor in the urban pattern evolution, which significantly affects the location and intensity of urban expansion; the center of gravity of the XMA has different migration directions in different periods, meaning that the development of the metropolitan area tends to be balanced.

Suggested Citation

  • Shangzhi Li & Xuxiang Li & Meng Zhang, 2022. "Spatial-Temporal Pattern Evolution of Xi’an Metropolitan Area Using DMSP/OLS and NPP/VIIRS Nighttime Light Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-20, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9747-:d:882826
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9747/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9747/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lewis Dijkstra & Hugo Poelman & Paolo Veneri, 2019. "The EU-OECD definition of a functional urban area," OECD Regional Development Working Papers 2019/11, OECD Publishing.
    2. Chao Bao & Dongmei He, 2019. "Scenario Modeling of Urbanization Development and Water Scarcity Based on System Dynamics: A Case Study of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Agglomeration, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-19, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jaewon Lim & Daeyoung Kwon & Soo Jung Ha, 2025. "Revisiting the growth poles: regional disparity and population redistribution policy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 74(1), pages 1-27, March.
    2. Hoekman, Jarno & Rake, Bastian, 2024. "Geography of authorship: How geography shapes authorship attribution in big team science," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(2).
    3. Vivien Lefebvre, 2021. "Business group affiliation in rural contexts: Do small firms grow faster through working capital management?," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 2453-2476, December.
    4. Luis Bauluz & Sebastien Breau & Pawel Bukowski & Mark Fransham & Annie Seong Lee & Neil Lee & Margarita Lopez Forero & Clement Malgouyres & Filip Novokmet & Moritz Schularick & Gregory Verdugo, 2023. "Spatial wage inequality in North America and Western Europe: changes between and within local labour markets 1975-2019," CEP Discussion Papers dp1941, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    5. repec:plo:pone00:0243621 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Vanda Almeida & Claire Hoffmann & Sebastian Königs & Ana I. Moreno-Monroy & Mauricio Salazar-Lozada & Javier Terrero-Dávila, 2024. "Geographic inequalities in accessibility of essential services," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 307, OECD Publishing.
    7. Dijkstra, Lewis & Florczyk, Aneta J. & Freire, Sergio & Kemper, Thomas & Melchiorri, Michele & Pesaresi, Martino & Schiavina, Marcello, 2021. "Applying the Degree of Urbanisation to the globe: A new harmonised definition reveals a different picture of global urbanisation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    8. Hermes, Henning & Lergetporer, Philipp & Mierisch, Fabian & Peter, Frauke & Wiederhold, Simon, 2023. "Discrimination in Universal Social Programs? A Nationwide Field Experiment on Access to Child Care," CEPR Discussion Papers 18113, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    9. A. G. Makhrova & T. G. Nefedova & A.I. Treivish, 2023. "Moscow Oblast: Territorial Structure of Post-Soviet Transformations," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 25-39, December.
    10. Theodor F. Cojoianu & Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Xi Hu & Moustafa Ramadan & Paolo Veneri & Dariusz Wójcik, 2024. "Are cities venturing green? A global analysis of the impact of green entrepreneurship on city air pollution," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 523-540, February.
    11. Maximilian v. Ehrlich & Henry G. Overman, 2020. "Place-Based Policies and Spatial Disparities across European Cities," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 128-149, Summer.
    12. Niccolò Morelli, 2025. "Beyond the Rhetoric of Revanchism Towards the Metropolitan Core: An Analysis of Symbolic Representations of Milan From Its Peripheries," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 30(1), pages 116-135, March.
    13. Agnieszka Dawidowicz & Małgorzata Dudzińska, 2022. "The Potential of GIS Tools for Diagnosing the SFS of Multi-Family Housing towards Friendly Cities—A Case Study of the EU Member State of Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-31, May.
    14. Dawid Kudas & Agnieszka Wnęk & Ľubica Hudecová & Robert Fencik, 2024. "Spatial Diversity Changes in Land Use and Land Cover Mix in Central European Capitals and Their Commuting Zones from 2006 to 2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-16, March.
    15. Francesca Froy, 2023. "Learning from architectural theory about how cities work as complex and evolving spatial systems," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 495-510.
    16. Moreno-Monroy, Ana I. & Schiavina, Marcello & Veneri, Paolo, 2021. "Metropolitan areas in the world. Delineation and population trends," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    17. A. G. Makhrova & R. A. Babkin, 2020. "Methodological Approaches to the Delimitation of the Boundaries of the Moscow Agglomeration Based on Data from Mobile Network Operators," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 373-380, July.
    18. Liotta, Charlotte, 2025. "What drives inequalities in Low Emission Zones’ impacts on job accessibility?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 29-41.
    19. repec:bav:wpaper:225_hermesetal is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Fox, Sean & Wolf, Levi John, 2022. "What makes a place urban?," SocArXiv qfvry, Center for Open Science.
    21. Patrik Vanek & Ludek Kouba & Eleanor Doyle, 2024. "Re-examining global urban hierarchy of corporate geography: The rise of Pacific Rim cities and shifting command-and-control," MENDELU Working Papers in Business and Economics 2024-96, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    22. Nikolaos Gavanas & Konstantina Anastasiadou & Eftihia Nathanail & Socrates Basbas, 2024. "Transport Policy Pathways for Autonomous Road Vehicles to Promote Sustainable Urban Development in the European Union: A Multicriteria Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-24, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9747-:d:882826. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.