Abstract:

This paper used satellite remote sensing data,analyzed the spatiotemporal pattern, process of urban development in Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) before and after Three Gorge Project construction,revealed the driving forces of urban change,explored population urbanization process with the urban expansion,and performed studies of urban environmental change characteristics.The development cities and towns was not balanced on scale in TGRA.The west developed a large municipality,while small countylevel cities occurred in the east;and towns accounted for only 24% among all cities and towns.In the past 15 years,the cities expanded 172%,that is 72% more than the national urban average.Urban expansion narrowed the gap of scale between the west and the east in TGRA,and Three Gorge Project played an important role in promoting this process.Urban development was based on the cost of highquality cultivated land loss.Cropland occupation accounted for 83% of urban change.Urban expansion and population urbanization were unevenly developed.The cities expansion was quicker than the urbanization process,and the cities and towns attracted less rural population than national urban average.The TGRA urbanization in 2007 was below the national level 13%,and the gap trended to enlarge.Topography and land resources were the limit factor to urban spatial pattern of development.Urban average fractal dimension and the slope gradient in TGRA increased by 12% and 104 degrees,respectively.The spatial integrity of the cities becames worse as urban expansion or relocation closed to the mountain