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Assessment of coastal land use structure and efficiency based on multi-source data: From the perspective of sea-land gradient
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  • Published: 03 March 2026

Assessment of coastal land use structure and efficiency based on multi-source data: From the perspective of sea-land gradient

  • Yifei Pei1,
  • Jianfeng Zhu1,2,3,
  • Jiake Zhou1,
  • Guangshun Sun1 &
  • …
  • Shiru Tang1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Environmental sciences
  • Environmental social sciences
  • Geography

Abstract

The economic evaluation of urban land depends critically on two aspects: land use structure and land use efficiency(LUE). Understanding how land use structure and efficiency change in response to urban development is critical. Geographically, coastal regions have higher population densities. However, it is unclear from the current study how changes in land use efficiency and structure relate to distance from the coast. Thus, the land use structure of Jinpu New Area from 2015 to 2020 is evaluated in this paper using the location entropy, Lorenz curve, and Gini coefficient methods. The land use efficiency is assessed using the comprehensive index method of multi-source data fusion, and the coupling analysis is carried out in conjunction with the sea-land gradient to thoroughly examine the space–time variation law of the land use structure and efficiency. The results demonstrate that: (1) The land use structure in Jinpu New Area exhibits distinct gradient differentiation. Within the [0,2] km range, land use types are evenly distributed, with an average Gini coefficient of 0.088. The [14,max] km range shows significant disparities in land use distribution, most notably in railway land (locational entropy > 11) and urban land (Gini coefficient > 0.7); (2) Based on land use intensity and land use efficiency, it is concluded that the coupling efficiency of land use in 2015 and 2020 both showed an obvious land-sea gradient: coastal regions had a higher share of inefficient land use with an average coupling efficiency of 0.170 (CI > 0); inland areas had a larger proportion of overloaded land use with an average coupling efficiency of -1.04 (CI < 0); and the land-sea transition zones demonstrated favorable coupling efficiency, with the coupling index being approximately zero. (3) Land use structure correlates with land use efficiency. Land use efficiency exhibits a significant positive correlation with urban land use(p < 0.05) and a significant negative correlation with railway land use(p < 0.1). In contrast, inland regions are often underdeveloped in terms of land use intensity, and railway land use may serve as a useful indicator of potential for future development.

Data availability

Data will be made available on request.

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Funding

This research has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant Number 42101257.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, Liaoning, China

    Yifei Pei, Jianfeng Zhu, Jiake Zhou, Guangshun Sun & Shiru Tang

  2. Physical Geography and Geomatics, Liaoning Key Laboratory, DalianLiaoning, 116029, China

    Jianfeng Zhu

  3. Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education, Institute of Marine Sustainable Development, Liaoning Normal University, DalianLiaoning, 116029, China

    Jianfeng Zhu

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  1. Yifei Pei
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  2. Jianfeng Zhu
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Contributions

Conceptualization, YFP, Jianfeng Zhu, and Jiake Zhou; Formal analysis, Jianfeng Zhu; Funding acquisition, Jianfeng Zhu; Investigation, SRT, Jiake Zhou, and GSS; Methodology, YFP, Jiake Zhou, and GSS; Project administration, Jianfeng Zhu; Software, YFP; Visualization, YFP and SRT; Writing original draft, YFP; Writing review & editing, Jianfeng Zhu. The authors applied the SDC approach for the sequence of authors. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jianfeng Zhu.

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Pei, Y., Zhu, J., Zhou, J. et al. Assessment of coastal land use structure and efficiency based on multi-source data: From the perspective of sea-land gradient. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-40256-5

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  • Received: 30 October 2025

  • Accepted: 11 February 2026

  • Published: 03 March 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-40256-5

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Keywords

  • Land use structure
  • Land use efficiency
  • Sea-land gradient
  • Lorenz curve
  • Gini coefficient
  • Multi-source data fusion
  • Jinpu new area
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