The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) has experienced rapid economic growth and urbanization. However, few studies have paid attention to urban land use dynamics, especially spatiotemporal patterns of urban expansion and land use change, in this region. This research aimed to conduct a comprehensive study of urban land use change in Xishuangbanna, Yangon, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City, from 1990 to 2015. The analysis was based on land use maps derived from Landsat satellite products and employed urban expansion intensity, sector analysis, gradient-direction analysis, and landscape metrics. The results show Xishuangbanna, Yangon, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City all experienced dramatic urban expansion and land use change since 1990, with urban expansion intensities of 15.01, 5.26, 9.15, 1.56, 11.88 and 11.91, respectively. The landscape metrics analysis indicated that urban areas were always aggregated and self-connected, while other land use types showed trends of disaggregation and fragmentation. In the process of urban expansion, paddy and natural land use types were commonly transformed to built up area. The results further reveal several common issues in urban land use, e.g., land fragmentation and loss of natural land use types. Finally, the discussion on the relationship between government policy and land use change for these cities shows land reform and attitude toward foreign direct investments played important roles in urban land use change in GMS.

This paper proposes a cost-benefit framework to address the role of parcel and neighborhood conditions, as well as government policies, and investigates the spatial determinants of urban land expansion in Nanjing, one of the sub-centers of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). Using spatial regression models, we find the significance of the economy of scale, agglomeration, accessibility, and government policies in Nanjing’s urban growth. In the earlier stage, urban expansion in Nanjing was mainly driven by the development of infrastructure. Since entering the 21st century, the emerging commercial and industrial sub-centers have become the major centers of growth, which has changed Nanjing’s spatial structure from compact monocentric to a polycentric one. We also highlight the importance of government policies that have been strengthened by various national strategies, including the “New-type Urbanization” and “Beautiful China” strategies. Different from cities in the Pearl River Delta, Nanjing has a more significant top-down process in its development, which indicates that the municipal government of Nanjing is playing a more important role in urban growth.