This study analyzed data from 1995, 2005, and 2015 using mathematical calculations, spatial analysis, and a geographically weighted regression model. The results showed that from 1995 to 2015, the comprehensive regional development degree (RDD) of urban agglomeration in the middle of Jilin Province increased overall, with the average RDD increasing from 0.250 in 1995 to 0.323 in 2015. Especially in Changchun, a sub-provincial city, the RDD increased by nearly one-third, and the gap between this and other cities has been increasing. However, the ecosystem service value (ESV) decreased overall, with the average ESV decreasing from 108.3 in 1995 to 105.4 in 2015, and showed a strong spatial correlation. The maximum quantile in southeast–northwest direction was 1.712, with good homogeneity. The spatial influence coefficient of the RDD on the ESV showed a trend from positive to negative in the northwest–southeast direction. This value decreased continuously while the negative agglomeration area was gradually expanding, corresponding to the stressful effects of the RDD on ESV. The results of this study can provide a reference for urban planning and development as well as encourage reasonable regional spatial planning to ensure the sustainable development of urban agglomerations.

Urban shrinkage has received extensive attention from scholars, planners, and urban policy makers. Residents’ life satisfaction and migration intention are an important basis for predicting the future development trends of shrinking cities. This study takes Yichun, a typical shrinking city in China, as an example. Based on the satisfaction and migration intention data obtained from questionnaires and in-depth interviews, the authors use factor analysis and logistic regression models to explore the impact of urban shrinkage on residents’ life satisfaction and migration intention, and the relationship between life satisfaction and migration intention. The results show that the overall life satisfaction of residents in Yichun City did not decline significantly due to urban shrinkage. The improvement of the environment and the reduction of life pressure brought about by urban shrinkage contributed to the improvement of life satisfaction, while the lack of employment opportunities, the decline of landscape, and the decline in the level of livability had negative effects on life satisfaction. Residents with low life satisfaction were more willing to move, but the personal attributes of residents also affected their migration intention.

Compact development and efficient land use are effective ways to address the development dilemma and boost the vitality of shrinking cities. Moreover, it is critical to investigate the relationship between compactness and land-use efficiency in order to healthily and sustainably develop shrinking cities. This study developed an analytical framework to study the coordinated interaction between urban compactness and land-use efficiency in the context of city shrinkage. Fifteen typical shrinking cities in Northeast China were taken as an example of the phenomenon and the entropy value method and super-slack-based measure model were used to quantitatively measure the compactness and land-use efficiency. Furthermore, the coordinated development level and the coordinated relationship between the two were explored with the help of the coupled coordination degree model as well as the quadrant diagram method. The results of the study show that: (1) The overall level of compactness of 15 shrinking cities in Northeast China was low and the improvement of land-use efficiency was not obvious, while the differences of compactness and land-use efficiency between shrinking cities were significant. (2) The coordination between compactness and land-use efficiency was limited; however, the overall coordination remained intermediate, with significant spatial differences and a tendency to further expand. The problem of lagged development of land-use efficiency in shrinking cities could be characterized as serious. (3) Economic development and population size promote the coordinated development of urban compactness and land-use efficiency, whereas science and technology development, industrial structure, as well as government regulation inhibited the coordinated development of urban compactness and land-use efficiency.

As populations continue to be concentrated in cities, the world will become entirely urbanized, and urban space is undergoing a drastic evolution. Understanding the spatial pattern of conversion and expansion of functional urban land, in the context of rapid urbanization, helps us to grasp the trajectories of urban spatial evolution in greater depth from a theoretical and practical level. Using the ESRI ArcGIS 9.3 software platform, methods, such as overlay analysis, transition matrix, and kernel density estimation, were used in order to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of different types of functional urban land conversion and expansion in the central city of Changchun. The results show that different types of functional urban land were often expanded and replaced, and the urban spatial structure was constantly evolving. The conversion and expansion of functional urban land show similar characteristics to concentric zone and sector modes and show dynamic changes in different concentric circles and directions at different periods. Our method can accurately identify the different types of functional urban land, and also explore the evolutionary trajectory of urban spatial structure. This study will help to coordinate the development of different functional urban spaces and to optimize the urban spatial structure in the future.