Metropolitan Expansion Pattern and Its Landscape Ecological Pattern Response: A Case Study of Hangzhou, China

Rapid urbanization significantly influences urban renewal and the construction of new spaces in metropolises within developing countries, particularly affecting the ecological patterns and security of urban landscapes. This study conducts an in-depth analysis of landscape ecological change indicators in Hangzhou from 1990 to 2020, summarizing typical driving models and formation mechanisms behind these changes while proposing optimization strategies. The findings indicate that since 1990, driven by urban expansion, Hangzhou's landscape ecological pattern has experienced overall stability alongside localized drastic transformations, revealing three distinctly different stages around West Lake, along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and across the Qiantang River. This evolution is primarily propelled by public service facilities, tourism development, industrial parks, landscape ecological corridors, and other forms of spatial expansion. Such processes reflect a comprehensive interplay among population urbanization dynamics, land use policies for urban areas, adjustments in administrative divisions, as well as the snowball effect stemming from capital-driven growth and wealth accumulation associated with new urban space development. The results presented herein serve as a representative case for understanding both the characteristics and driving forces behind changes in China's urban landscape ecological patterns; they also hold significant implications for predicting and optimizing regulatory frameworks concerning spatial expansion policies in other nations and regions.