Research on the Coordination of Urban Expansion Based on Night Lights and Socio-economic Data

In recent years, the coordination of rapid urbanization has become an important factor that may restrict urban development. This study selected the night lighting data and socio-economic data of 72 county-level administration units in Jiangsu Province in 2015 and 2019. The spatial autocorrelation model and quaternary coordination model were selected to analyze the spatial agglomeration status of urban population, GDP, night lights, and construction land, which revealed the coordination status of urban expansion in Jiangsu Province. The results show that: (1) Urban population, secondary and tertiary industries, construction land and night lights showed obvious spatial agglomeration characteristics, and the main agglomeration area is in southern Jiangsu; (2) Land urbanization was faster than population urbanization in 90% of the area of Jiangsu Province, only 10% of the area with land urbanization slower than population urbanization. Meanwhile, about 30% of the regional land urbanization was faster than the economic growth, and about 70% of the regional land urbanization was slower than the economic growth. (3) From the perspective of the coordination degree of economy, population, night lighting and construction land, 95% of the regions were in the coordinated development in 2015 and 2019. Comparing these two periods, 40% of the regional coordination degree of Jiangsu Province was increasing, and the remaining 60% was decreasing. These results can provide optimized ideas for urban expansion of Jiangsu Province in the future, promote the healthy, coordinated and sustainable development of the region, and provide references for coordinated urban expansion in other provinces.