Identification of Urban High-Intensity Development Areas Based on Oriented Region Growth-Case Study of Shenzhen City in China

To achieve effective coordination among planning, operation, and service in urban management, and based on the fundamental characteristic of urban spatial development expanding from points to areas, this paper proposes an approach for identifying high-intensity urban development zones based on seed grid growth. First, seed grids are selected using the Getis–Ord $G_i^{*}$ of grid floor area ratios as the criterion. Second, drawing on relevant image recognition methods, high-intensity development zones are derived through seed-grid-based zone growth, as well as zone merging and segmentation. Furthermore, the rationality of the geometric morphology and the independence of the spatial relationships of the identified zones are evaluated. Meanwhile, the utilization efficiency of these zones is assessed from the perspectives of population carrying capacity and industrial agglomeration, using data on population, digital brightness of nighttime lights, and points of interest (POI). Finally, the proposed identification and utilization efficiency assessment method is verified through a case study of Shenzhen City.