{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T08:58:18Z","timestamp":1771577898296,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":72,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,20]],"date-time":"2023-12-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1703030400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["41871192"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41871192"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["41730647"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41730647"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["2021194"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021194"]}]},{"name":"Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS","award":["41871192"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41871192"]}]},{"name":"Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS","award":["41730647"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41730647"]}]},{"name":"Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS","award":["2021194"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021194"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Accurate and timely urban boundaries can effectively quantify the spatial characteristics of urban evolution and are essential for understanding the impacts of urbanization processes and land-use changes on the environment and biodiversity. Currently, there is a lack of long time-series, high-resolution, nationally consistent Chinese urban boundary data for urban research. In this study, the city clustering algorithm was used to generate urban settlement boundaries in China based on the local density, size, and spatial relationships of impervious surfaces. The results showed that both the area and the number of urban settlements in China revealed an upward trend from 1985 to 2020, with East China (EC) being much higher than other regions and South China showing the most significant growth rate. The average area ratio of urban green space in China was 41.68%, with the average area ratio in EC being higher than in other regions. Meanwhile, Zipf\u2019s law was used to verify the universality of urban settlement rank\u2013size; the changes in the Zipf index from 1985 to 2020 also revealed that China\u2019s urban size tended to be concentrated, and the development of large urban settlements was relatively prominent. The urban definition method we propose in this study can divide urban boundaries efficiently and accurately, identify urban expansion hotspots, and promote research on farmland loss and ecological land degradation, further exploring the impacts of urbanization on food security, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. By coupling big data such as economy, energy, and population with urban evolution patterns, urban managers can analyze current and future problems in urban development, thereby providing scientific decision-making for urban sustainability.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs16010019","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,20]],"date-time":"2023-12-20T07:20:31Z","timestamp":1703056831000},"page":"19","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Spatiotemporal Evolution and Rank\u2013Size Pattern of Chinese Urban Settlements"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Jing","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Geography and Environment, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250300, China"},{"name":"CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1987-7174","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chunlin","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China"},{"name":"E\u2019erguna Wetland Ecosystem National Research Station, Hulunbuir 022250, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8866-6728","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Baolei","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Geography and Environment, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250300, China"}]},{"given":"Yuanman","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China"},{"name":"E\u2019erguna Wetland Ecosystem National Research Station, Hulunbuir 022250, China"}]},{"given":"Hao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Piesat Information Technology Company Limited, Beijing 100195, China"}]},{"given":"Zhenxing","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Architecture and Urban planning, Shenyang Jianzhu University, Shenyang 110168, China"}]},{"given":"Qian","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Geography and Environment, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250300, China"},{"name":"CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"UN-Habitat (2020). 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