Coastal cities have been experiencing tremendous land use changes worldwide. Studies on the consequences of land use change in coastal cities have provided helpful information for spatial regulations and have attracted increased attention. Changes in forests and water bodies, however, have rarely been investigated, challenging the formation of a holistic pattern of land use change. In this study, we selected Ningbo, China, as a case study area and analyzed its land use change from 1990 to 2016. Random forest (RF) classification was employed to derive land use information from Landsat images. Transition matrices and a distribution index (DI) were applied to identify the major types of land use transitions and their spatial variations by site-specific attributes. The results showed that the entire time period could be divided into two stages, based on the manifestations of land use change in Ningbo: 1990–2005 and 2005–2016. During 1990–2005, construction land expanded rapidly, mainly through the occupation of agricultural land and forest, while during 2005–2016, the main change trajectory turned out to be a small net change in construction land and a net increase in agricultural land sourced from construction land, forests, and water bodies. In terms of land use change by site-specific attributes, the rapid expansion of construction land around the municipal city center during 1990–2005 was restrained, and similar amounts of land conversion between construction and agricultural use occurred during 2005–2016. During the study period, areas undergoing land use change also showed trends of moving outward from the municipal city center and the county centers located adjacent to roads and the coastline and of moving up to hilly areas with steeper slopes and higher elevations. Protecting reclaimed agricultural land, improving the efficiency of construction land, and controlling forest conversion in hilly areas are suggested as spatial regulations in Ningbo city.

As a major coastal economic province in the east of China, it is of great significance to clarify the temporal and spatial patterns of regional development in Shandong Province in recent years to support regional high-quality development. Nightlight remote sensing data can reveal the spatio-temporal patterns of social and economic activities on a fine pixel scale. We based the nighttime light patterns at three spatial scales in three geographical regions on monthly nighttime light remote sensing data and social statistics. Different cities and different counties in Shandong Province in the last 10 years were studied by using the methods of trend analysis, stability analysis and correlation analysis. The results show that: (1) The nighttime light pattern was generally consistent with the spatial pattern of construction land. The nighttime light intensity of most urban, built-up areas showed an increasing trend, while the old urban areas of Qingdao and Yantai showed a weakening trend. (2) At the geographical unit scale, the total nighttime light in south-central Shandong was significantly higher than that in eastern and northwest Shandong, while the nighttime light growth rate in northwest Shandong was significantly highest. At the urban scale, Liaocheng had the highest nighttime light growth rate. At the county scale, the nighttime light growth rate of counties with a better economy was lower, while that of counties with a backward economy was higher. (3) The nighttime light growth was significantly correlated with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and population growth, indicating that regional economic development and population growth were the main causes of nighttime light change.

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