Spatial and temporal characteristics of different types of pollution-intensive industries in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in China by using land use data

Pollution-intensive industries (PIIs) promote regional economic development but also generate environmental pressure; thus, the relocation of such industries has been a popular research issue. PIIs have been usually studied as a whole in previous studies, ignoring the differences among different pollution types. This study attempts to characterize the spatial and temporal characteristics of PIIs in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, which is a world-class megalopolis. This region has water pollution, air pollution, solid pollution and composite pollution types based on newly expanded industrial land use data from 2007 to 2016. The results are as follows. (1) The spatial distribution of newly expanded land for the PIIs was mainly concentrated in the southeastern part of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, first increased and then decreased during the study period. (2) Different PII pollution types exhibited different quantitative and spatial characteristics. Overall, water and composite pollution-intensive industries dominated, in which the air and composite pollution-intensive industries are large in size and are relatively non-concentrated in their location; the newly expanded land for water pollution-intensive industries was characterized as small in size, scattered, and numerous. The aggregation characteristics of solid pollution-intensive industries had the least amount of newly expanded land and the smallest spatial aggregation range, with a trend towards further reductions or even their disappearance in the future. (3) Hebei has become the bearer of incoming PIIs that have relocated from Beijing and Tianjin. The main polluting industry types that are present in different regions display differences. Industrial park clustering will be the mainstream direction of industrial management in the future. Under the constraints of water scarcity in North China, water pollution-intensive industries are the key to future optimization of spatial development patterns and environmental management, providing a theoretical basis for industries to implement corresponding classification and management work.