**Sustainable Urbanization in the China‐Indochinese Peninsula Economic Corridor**

Dong Jiang, Jingying Fu and Gang Lin

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/62554

#### **Abstract**

Countries in the China‐Indochinese Peninsula are home to rich human and natural resource endowments and have the potential to be one of the world's fastest growing areas. Sustainable urbanization in the China‐Indochinese Peninsula Economic Corridor is important for the regional economic development and prosperity. Taking the advantages of the remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies, this chapter is first presents a general overview of urbanization procession in this region and monitors the spatiotemporal dynamics of the urban environment; the second objective is to present the multiple driving force factor analysis for urban development in countries of the China‐ Indochinese Peninsula Economic Corridor using statistical models. The results indicated that the China‐Indochinese Peninsula Economic Corridor has experienced a rapid urbanization process during the past 15 years both in terms of urban areas and urban population (UP). In addition to socioeconomic factors, there is also a noticeable correlation between foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade and urban development in the China‐Indochinese Peninsula Economic Corridor. Active participation in international trade and attracting foreign investment are helpful for the regional urbanization. As a neighboring country, China's economic and trade activity also has a significant impact on the urbanization in countries of the China‐Indochinese Peninsula Economic Corridor. Furthermore, as the launch of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the China‐Indochinese Peninsula Economic Corridor will witness a more rapid urbanization progress in the next decade. This study has its characteristics in focusing on the region of the Indochinese Peninsula in which the most rapid urbanization is occurring, presenting the state‐of‐the‐art techniques for monitoring urban expansion and probing into the driving factors of the urban expansion in the China‐Indochinese Peninsula Economic Corridor by multiple principles and multiple‐level data. It is expected to benefit policymakers in urban development

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and also provide a basis for further studies of sustainable urbanization in the China‐Indochinese Peninsula Economic Corridor.

**Keywords:** sustainable urbanization, China‐Indochinese Peninsula Economic Corridor, remote sensing, GIS, driving force analysis
