Research on the evolution characteristics and its driving mechanism of central urban area in Hunan Province

This study is selected central urban areas(CUA) of Hunan Province as the research object.The land use data and socioeconomic data were used in this study to analyze the evolution characteristics and its drving mechanism of the CUA of Hunan province during 1990-2020 at the macro and micro levels.The research methodology includes the development of the spatial database, construction of the grid system, Geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model and building of the peak map model PMM).Analyze the coupling relationship between expansion characteristics and core driving factors based on the actual development and land use situation of each CUA. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) From 1990 to 2020, urban land area in the central areas of Hunan Province showed an increasing trend, with high-speed expansion predominantly occurring in the eastern regions, and spatial development becoming increasingly uneven over time. (2) The expansion areas of the central areas of Hunan Province evolved from a centralized single-point distribution to a balanced distribution, undergoing three stages: "low-speed imbalance," "high-speed imbalance," and "medium-speed balance." The internal development coordination and overall coordination gradually improved. (3) From 1990 to 2010, the expansion pattern in the central areas primarily followed an "edge-remote" evolution pattern. However, after 2010, due to differences in the relationship between average urban expansion and cluster dispersion distance, expansion patterns began to diverge. The fact that clusters were too distant from the central core was an important reason for the loose spatial structure and slow development of central and western central areas. (4) The expansion of each central urban area is driven by various factors. Industrialization, policies, transportation, people's livelihoods, and cultural and educational factors being the main factors, but there are differences in their impact on the extent and morphology of expansion.