%0 Journal Article %1 SHI2020103822 %A Shi, Lifeng %A Wurm, Michael %A Huang, Xianjin %A Zhong, Taiyang %A Leichtle, Tobias %A Taubenböck, Hannes %D 2020 %J Landscape and Urban Planning %K article lsfe taubenboeck %P 103822 %R https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103822 %T Urbanization that hides in the dark – Spotting China’s “ghost neighborhoods” from space %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204619314185 %V 200 %X The excessive planning and construction of new cities and towns as well the massive expansion of planned settlement areas in China reveals a surprising phenomenon: extensive newly constructed areas that are characterized by severe under capacity. This phenomenon is described as “ghost city” and usually appears at the intra-urban scale. However, current data and methods are inappropriate to detect this phenomenon at this intra-urban scale for entire China. Besides, most studies neglect the usual immigration period of newly built areas. In this study, we suggest a new term, the “ghost neighborhood”, which refers to a new residential neighborhood that still runs at severe under capacity after a typical immigration period of five to six years. Based on this conceptual baseline, we identify “ghost neighborhoods” across China by developing a methodology to gradually exclude the “non-ghost areas” by predominantly relying on night-light emissions. The process is based on LJ1-01 night-light data, TanDEM-X data and Global Urban Footprint data, which feature evident advantages in spatial resolutions while being available for entire China. The main results are as follows: 1) we identify 1048 “ghost neighborhoods” across the urban landscapes of China with a total coverage area of 353.64 km2; they are estimated to have the capacity to house 13.6 million people; 2) the identified “ghost neighborhoods” are particularly frequent and large in the dynamically urbanizing regions, such as the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the entire Shandong province.

@article{SHI2020103822, abstract = {The excessive planning and construction of new cities and towns as well the massive expansion of planned settlement areas in China reveals a surprising phenomenon: extensive newly constructed areas that are characterized by severe under capacity. This phenomenon is described as “ghost city” and usually appears at the intra-urban scale. However, current data and methods are inappropriate to detect this phenomenon at this intra-urban scale for entire China. Besides, most studies neglect the usual immigration period of newly built areas. In this study, we suggest a new term, the “ghost neighborhood”, which refers to a new residential neighborhood that still runs at severe under capacity after a typical immigration period of five to six years. Based on this conceptual baseline, we identify “ghost neighborhoods” across China by developing a methodology to gradually exclude the “non-ghost areas” by predominantly relying on night-light emissions. The process is based on LJ1-01 night-light data, TanDEM-X data and Global Urban Footprint data, which feature evident advantages in spatial resolutions while being available for entire China. The main results are as follows: 1) we identify 1048 “ghost neighborhoods” across the urban landscapes of China with a total coverage area of 353.64 km2; they are estimated to have the capacity to house 13.6 million people; 2) the identified “ghost neighborhoods” are particularly frequent and large in the dynamically urbanizing regions, such as the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the entire Shandong province.}, added-at = {2020-11-27T10:30:47.000+0100}, author = {Shi, Lifeng and Wurm, Michael and Huang, Xianjin and Zhong, Taiyang and Leichtle, Tobias and Taubenböck, Hannes}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2f57b4db579a548613917dd2d23c2ec3a/earthobs_uniwue}, description = {Urbanization that hides in the dark – Spotting China’s “ghost neighborhoods” from space - ScienceDirect}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103822}, interhash = {f6befc3faece54841c4ab8483175525a}, intrahash = {f57b4db579a548613917dd2d23c2ec3a}, issn = {0169-2046}, journal = {Landscape and Urban Planning}, keywords = {article lsfe taubenboeck}, pages = 103822, timestamp = {2020-11-27T10:30:47.000+0100}, title = {Urbanization that hides in the dark – Spotting China’s “ghost neighborhoods” from space}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204619314185}, volume = 200, year = 2020 }