Spatio-temporal differentiation of land consolidation investment in China from 2006 to 2012

Abstract: As the basis for realizing the objectives and tasks of land consolidation, land consolidation projects investment is not only the precondition for implementing the land consolidation projects, it is also an important standard to measure the development level of regional land consolidation. Studies of the spatio-temporal differentiation of land consolidation investment have revealed important theoretical and practical significance in grasping its investment intensity, spatial pattern, and development trend, effectively increasing capital input and output efficiency. Based on the data acquired from the dataset of a consolidation project from 2006 to 2012 by the Ministry of Land and Resources, this paper first analyzes the development trend of land consolidation from investment intensity and regional structure to the type of investment in China. Then, by combining a gravity center model with a spatial autocorrelation model, ArcGIS and Geoda software was used to analyze the gravity center and spatial correlation of land consolidation and produced a LISA cluster map. The results showed that: 1) In terms of spatial distribution, land consolidation investment at the county level in the southeast coastal area ranks higher than that of the Chinese inland, developed areas rank higher than less developed regions, low latitudes areas rank higher than their counterparts, and the investment is mainly focused in the eastern and central region of China, where is an active area of socio-economic development. 2) In terms of investment types, the percentage of the county that is defined as land development investment was in a dominant position and fluctuated inconspicuously year after year. To be more specific, in the counties that are defined as land development, the arrangement or reclamation investment type has remarkable characteristics of spatial agglomeration. However, the counties which are defined as land comprehensive investment type is not obvious in the spatial agglomeration, but is considerably scattered throughout the counties. 3) When it comes to the shift of gravity center, the focus of land consolidation investment at the county level mainly is partial to the eastern coast of China; its latitude did not change significantly from 2006 to 2012. Nevertheless, its longitude shows a trend transferring to the center and west, inland from the eastern coast of China. This shift, to some extent, shows that urbanization and urban land expansion in the central and western regions during the study period is occupying a large amount of farmland, and pressure to protect arable land is increasing continuously. 4) Land consolidation investment at the county level has a clear positive correlation with spatial allocation, namely, developed regions near the eastern coast and key areas of land development are high-high areas, whereas less developed areas in central and western China which was poor concerning natural conditions and regional resource reserves are low-low areas. Specifically, the Yangtze River, the Dongting Lake Plain, and the eastern side of the Sichuan Basin are high - high concentrating areas of investment; the South of Qinghai province, Tibet, the west of Sichuan province, the south of Yunnan, and eastern Inner Mongolia province are low - low concentrating areas. Our findings suggest that the guiding role of national land consolidation planning should be strengthened to standardize the provincial land consolidation project. Coupled with the key land consolidation and readjustment projects, land consolidation investment should be optimized per the spatial pattern and structure of investment type.