Urban Growth in China

This is the urban century. For the first time, more people live in cities than any other form of human settlement. Correspondingly, the Earth’s surface is becoming increasingly urban. While urban expansion is a global phenomenon, it is particularly dynamic in China, where there have been unprecented rates of urban development over the last two decades. Our work in China focuses on three themes: 1) monitoring and forecasting the growth of urban areas; 2) understanding the policy and institutional drivers behind current patterns of urban development; and 3) assessing the environmental impacts of rapid urban expansion.