Urban sprawl control in China based on international comparison and strategy selection

In order to select governance strategies for China urban sprawl control, the breakthrough point of this article is the characteristic of urban sprawl in China which is called the three unbalanced lines. According to the logic thread of “Literature Review-Theoretical Analysis-Strategy Selection”, the foundation, premise and key for urban sprawl control were analyzed. The ?results ?show that,?compared with the foreign urban sprawl which has mostly “the market” mark, and pays more attention to the quality enhancement and the ecological environment changes of the city, urban sprawl ?in China mostly reflects the mayor's intention and is more concerned about the urban function ascension and the influence of ?food security. Compared with foreign urban sprawl welfare and deficit, the urban sprawl in China contains sacrifice and loss. For our current conditions and the stages of development, the dissipative sprawl should be avoided firstly in the current urban control. The domestic and international experiences about the strategy selection have the same characteristic which is emphasis on space management. That is to say, urban sprawl situation should be controled through the expanded boundary designation and key resources protection. In China, there are three urban spatial expansion boundaries: ideal, moderate and limit, which are different from that of foreign countries. And moderate boundary becomes a rational and realistic choice for us currently.