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Since the 1980s, the rapid, extensive, and dispersed urban expansion in the Pearl River Delta megalopolis (PRDM) has led to landscape fragmentation and the inefficient use of construction land. Like other developed regions in China that are subject to the dual challenges of shortages of construction land and deterioration of the ecological environment, it is becoming increasingly important in the PRDM to improve the land-use efficiency of urban construction. However, current methods for assessing land-use efficiency do not meet the emerging needs of land-use planning and policymaking. Therefore, using the American Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)/Operational Linescan System (OLS) nighttime light imagery and Landsat TM data, this study aims to develop a timely and efficient approach to model the high-resolution economic efficiency of construction land (EECL). With this approach, we mapped the reliable EECL of the PRDM at township level and with a one-kilometer grid. Next, the study compared the temporal changes and revealed the spatial-temporal dynamics in order to provide a scientific reference for informed land-use planning and policymaking. The results show that since 1998, the economic efficiency of construction land in the PRDM increased in general but varied significantly throughout the area. Further, these disparities widened from 1998 to 2012 between the PRDM’s inner and peripheral circles. Only one-fifth of the towns and subdistricts were categorized as fast-growth or ultrafast-growth, with the majority located in the most developed areas of the PRDM’s inner circle. In order to improve the efficiency of construction land in the PRDM and realize sustainable development, differentiated land-use policies for the inner and peripheral circles were proposed. The inner circle should focus on promoting the efficiency of existing construction land and encourage urban renewal, while the peripheral circle should enhance the control of new construction land and improve its efficiency. Full article

This study is about the urban economic service function characteristics and the regional economic contact from the perspectives of region and industries. This paper analyzes the location quotient (LQ), urban external function capability (UEFC), and the characteristics and distribution of urban economic flow intensity (UEFI) of cities in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of Guangdong Province, China. Results show: (1) the proportion of the UEFI of Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the PRD region decreased while the one of Foshan and Dongguan increased from 2005 to 2013; (2) the UEFI of Foshan gained the largest increase (532%) and Zhuhai showed the smallest increase (76%) from 2005 to 2013; (3) LQs of manufacturing in all cities were greater than one, indicating the overall external service capability of this sector was strong in the PRD region; (4) the numbers of cities whose LQs of tertiary sectors were greater than one reduced from 2005 to 2013, reflecting the urban external service capabilities of the tertiary sectors tended to be concentrated to fewer cities. Full article