Mapping land use regulation and urban characterisation in territorial spatial planning of Chinese cities

Following the reform of the spatial planning system, China’s national territorial spatial planning (NTSP) has designated constraints on land use and strategic positioning for all provinces and cities across the nation. It has drawn up a consistent blueprint for sustainable future development. This study presents a systematic analysis of China’s NTSP through the text analysis of 42 State Council approval documents. We employed Nightingale rose diagrams to visualise the quantitative characteristics of land use regulation and used symbols to differentiate cities’ strategic positioning and functional roles. The results reveal that urban development boundaries occupy far more land space in the eastern coastal areas, while the northeast region places greater emphasis on the protection of agricultural zones, and the western regions prioritise ecological conservation. This study also visualises the stratification of central cities and their diverse functional roles, revealing a balance between adapting measures to local conditions and seeking regional coordination.