Urban landscape and environment change during the economic transition in Mongolian Plateau: A comparative study of Hohhot and Ulaanbaator, 1990-2010

Peilei Fan, Michigan State University, fanpeile@msu.edu (Presenter)
Jiquan Chen, Michigan State University, jqchen@msu.edu
Ranjeet John, Michigan State University, ranjeetj@msu.edu

Driven by the drastic socio-economic changes due to the economic transition in China and Mongolia, urbanization, as a crucial element in coupled human-natural system, has become one of the most significant driving forces for distinguished transformations of the Mongolian Plateau in the past 30 years. Past researches on urban landscape and environment changes in Mongolia Plateau tend to on one particular aspect, such as analyzing urban land use change through RS/GIS, evaluating a certain aspect of environment change, and/or the consequences on health of urban residents, thus lacking an integrated assessment of urbanization reflected by increasing rural-urban migration and urban landscape changes and the consequent impact on urban environment. Using Hohhot and Ulaanbaator as cases, this paper developed a holistic approach to examine the socio-economic and natural driving forces for urbanization in Mongolia Plateau, reflected by both changes of the urban landscape and urban population, and to investigate the impact on urban environment of the case cities and their hinter lands.

The specific research questions addressed in this paper include (1) what are the spatio-temporal change of the urban population, urban landscape, and urban environment in Ulaanbaator and Hohhot? (2) How has these three aspects co-evolved and driven and constrained by both socio-economic factors, such as economic/industrial development, and globalization, as well as by natural factors such as climate change and the inherent geophysical conditions of the region? (3) In particular, what are the similarity and differences in urbanization, and how has different institutional regulations/policies resulted different urbanization patterns and affected urban environment distinctly in Hohhot and Ulaanbaator? We used a multidisciplinary approach and relied on a variety of data sources to assess the changed urban landscape and environment of our case cities, including RS/GIS on satellite images for processing spatial land use data and spatial air pollution data, analysis on secondary statistical data from the respective bureaus of the local/national governments, as well as qualitative research methods of first hand observation and interview with local experts, etc.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Theme 4: Human influence on global ecosystems   (Mon 4:30 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Chen, Jiquan: Interactive Changes of Ecosystems and Societies on the Mongolian Plateau: From Coupled Regulations of Land Use and Changing Climate to Adaptation ...details
• Chen, Jiquan: LCLUC Synthesis: Ecosystem-Society Interactions on a Changing Mongolian Plateau ...details
• Fan, Peilei: China's urbanization and its sustainability under future climate change ...details

Poster Location ID: 59