Urban expansion is not only reflected in the increase in horizontal urban area, but also in the increase in vertical urban height, that is, the city’s vertical expansion. Exploring the spatiotemporal evolution of urban vertical expansion and its influencing factors is critical for furthering urban expansion research. This paper characterized the degree of urban vertical expansion using the floor area ratio (FAR) of newly added residential land in Jiangsu Province, China, from 2009 to 2018, and discussed the spatiotemporal characteristics, regional differences and influencing factors of urban vertical expansion. The results indicate the following: (1) The degree of urban vertical expansion in Jiangsu Province exhibited an inverted “U” shape that increased and then decreased. Spatially, it presented a pattern of high in the west and low in the east areas, while high in the north and low in the south areas. (2) There were significant α-convergence, β-convergence and club convergence phenomena in Jiangsu Province’s urban vertical expansion. The convergence speed was fast in the north and south areas but slow in the middle. (3) Real estate development investment and slope had a significant positive impact on urban vertical expansion, while urban per capita disposable income and economic structure had a non-linear impact on urban vertical expansion intensity. Finally, this paper highlighted the importance of further investigation into urban expansion from multiple dimensions. The government should strengthen its control over the various land plot ratios to ensure the city’s orderly expansion and healthy development.

Industrial pollution control is a difficult problem in China’s current economic transformation, and the Chinese government has implemented many measures to deal with it. However, little research has focused on the relationship between land policy and industrial pollution. Based on the theoretical discussion of the mechanism influencing the market-oriented reform of industrial land (mainly refer to the marketization of land conveyance price and the openness of land conveyance process) on urban industrial pollution, we constructed an analytical framework by linking land policy with industrial pollution. Then, we constructed an econometric model and chose the statistical data of 104 large- and medium-sized cities in mainland China from 2003 to 2016. The results indicate that with the marketization of the industrial land conveyance price, urban industrial pollution is presenting an inverted U-shaped change trend. For cities in different development stages of industrialization, there is no difference in the impact of industrial land conveyance price on urban industrial pollution. However, the openness of industrial land conveyance promotes and inhibits the urban industrial pollution in the stages of industrialization and post-industrialization, respectively. Finally, this paper puts forward some suggestions on how to control industrial pollution from the perspective of further improving the industrial land conveyance mechanism.

In recent years, China has been experimenting with inclusionary housing to develop affordable housing and promote mixed living in cities. There is thus an urgent need to understand residents’ preferences and public support for inclusionary housing, which is important not only for the design and implementation of inclusionary housing but also for political legitimacy and social stability. This study developed a conceptual framework to understand public support for inclusionary housing. Hypotheses derived from the self-interest, ideology and institutional setup theses were then developed. A two-level mixed effect logit model was also conducted using data from a 2013 survey in Jiangsu Province. Results indicated that most people preferred inclusionary housing to concentrated low-income housing; all three theses were supported to some degree. People of lower socioeconomic status, recipients of housing subsidies, and those living in cities with significant low-income housing coverage rates were more likely to support inclusionary housing. On the other hand, migrants were less likely to support this measure. The effectiveness of inclusionary housing was also discussed and policy recommendations were provided.

In view of the current severe situation of illegal land use in China, it is of great significance to explore the impact of the evolution and promotion of land law enforcement effectiveness, which will improve China’s land law enforcement system and effectively curb illegal land use. This paper explains the changes and enhancements of the effectiveness of land law enforcement since the implementation of China’s National Land Supervision System in terms of the deterrence, difficulty, and strength of land law enforcement, and explores the role of land law enforcement effectiveness in changing illegal land use behaviors from a theoretical level. Then, a corresponding empirical test was carried out using the provincial panel data of Mainland China from 2007 to 2016. The results show that the increase in land law enforcement deterrence and strength will help reduce the number of illegal land use cases, but it will drive the lawbreakers to "commit major cases in desperation", leading to the increase of the degree of illegal land use; and with the decrease of land law enforcement difficulty, the degree of illegal land use will be significantly reduced. At the end of this paper, several policy suggestions are put forward to effectively curb the illegal land use from the perspective of improving the land law enforcement system and enhancing the effectiveness of law enforcement.

Utilizing panel data from 264 prefecture-level cities in mainland China between 2009 and 2017, this study employs a multi-period difference-in-differences model and propensity score matching to assess the effects of county-to-district transformation (CDT) on the scale, proportion, and price of the urban residential land supply. The findings reveal the following details: (1) CDT led to a short-term increase in the overall proportion and price of this land, whereas its influence on the scale of the supply exhibited a time lag; (2) the policy’s impact on residential land supply varied across different types of cities, with a more pronounced effect on the scale, proportion, and price in large cities; and (3) the current implementation of CDT primarily modified the urban land’s supply–demand relationship through the expansion of built-up space, conversion of spatial function, and agglomeration of population and the labor force, consequently affecting the supply of the aforementioned land. Finally, this paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions on how to adjust land supply and effectively regulate the land market during the process of promoting the withdrawal of counties in the future.