2000-2020 年印度城市扩张的时空分异及影响因素分析

As the world's most populous country and the fifth-largest economy, India is undergoing rapid urbanization while facing significant challenges in urban expansion. Current studies on urban expansion are primarily focused on developed countries, with relatively less attention on developing nations. Using physical urban areas as urban space extracted from impervious surface data from 2000 to 2020, we characterize the spatio-temporal patterns of India's urban expansion and analyze the influencing factors from the perspectives of city size and regional differences. The results show: ①The intensity of India's urban expansion exhibits a phased trend, first increasing and then decreasing, with large cities being the main contributors. Since 2010, the overall expansion intensity of small and medium-sized cities has surpassed that of large cities, indicating a gradual shift toward balanced urban development. The spatial pattern of urban expansion has shifted from "higher in the south and lower in the north" to "lower in the south and higher in the north. " Cities with rapid expansion show a distinct coastal and transportation-oriented pattern, shifting from coastal areas to inland transportation corridors. ②In large cities, compact expansion is more prevalent, concentrated in the southern and western regions of India, while small and medium-sized cities exhibit sprawling expansion, predominantly in the central, northern, and eastern regions. ③Elevation is the primary influencing factor for India's urban expansion, especially for medium-sized cities, followed by large cities. Regionally, the impact is most significant in the southern region, followed by the central region. In contrast, population density has only a localized impact on the central and eastern regions.