Since 1990s, International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (HDP) have jointly made Land-Use and Land-Cover Change Scientific Research Programme (LUCC) and let LUCC research become the front edge and hot topic of global change research. The special economic transition characteristics of our country makes it undergo land utilization change rarely happening in other places in the world, especially the expansion of construction lands and loss of cultivated land resources. But there are not many land utilization change researches based on economic transition theory.

In view of this, through the funding of key program “spatial organization mechanism and optimization research on Yangtze River Delta regional integration” of Natural Science Foundation of China, general program “construction space allocation and optimization research based on biological-economic suitability evaluation” and the institute’s “135” program, the team led by research fellow Chen Wen of Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology made related researches on land utilization change and urban land expansion in transitional period.

Based on the investigation data of land utilization change in counties and cities of Jiangsu province, the research found that: (1) since 1996, Jiangsu province has undergone rapid urban land expansion, especially the south of Jiangsu province and some other cities with rapidest expansion speed, and the loss of cultivated land showed great spatial correlation with it; (2) as the three important powers for restructuring regional economic pattern at economic transition period, marketization, globalization and decentralization greatly promoted China’s land utilization change, but in different stage they showed dissimilar process; (3)at early stage, the system factors like tax distribution system and local government competition led Jiangsu province’s land utilization change, but with China entering WTO and participating in international trade, the influence of market increased gradually, and during this process the power of globalization was getting stronger.

The thesis-Economic transition and urban land expansion in Provincial China written based on the above-mentioned research results has been accepted and published by Habitat International (ISSN: 0197-3975，doi：10.1016//j.habitatint.2014.09.002). The reviewer thought this research was “a theory summarization and supplement for land utilization change research”.
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