Ghost Cities Analysis Based on Positioning Data in China

BLOCKIN BLOCKIN Real BLOCKIN BLOCKIN estate BLOCKIN BLOCKIN projects BLOCKIN BLOCKIN are BLOCKIN BLOCKIN developed BLOCKIN BLOCKIN excessively BLOCKIN BLOCKIN in BLOCKIN BLOCKIN China BLOCKIN BLOCKIN in BLOCKIN BLOCKIN this BLOCKIN BLOCKIN decade. BLOCKIN BLOCKIN Many BLOCKIN BLOCKIN new housing districts are built, but they far exceed the actual demand in some cities. These cities with a high housing vacancy rate are called "ghost cities. " The real situation of vacant housing areas in China has not been studied in previous research. This study, using Baidu positioning data, presents the spatial distribution of the vacant housing areas in China and classifies cities with a large vacant housing area as cities or tourism sites. To understand the human dynamic in " ghost cities " , we select one city and one tourism sites as cases to analyze the features of human dynamics. This study illustrates the capability of big data in sensing our cities objectively and comprehensively. China has experienced fast development during the past decade. From 1984 to 2010, the urban built-­‐up area has increased from 8,842 km 2 to 41,768 km 2 (Nie & Liu, 2013). The urbanization speed is unprecedented in human history with so many buildings constructed in such a short time (Xue & Tsai, 2013). The amount of concrete used in China in the three years (2011-­‐2013) is more than that used in U.S. in the 20 th century (McCarthy, 2014). The fast urbanization of China has contributed to the high housing vacancy rate in some cities. Many new housing districts are built, but they far exceed the actual demand. In these cities, the population BLOCKIN BLOCKIN density BLOCKIN BLOCKIN is BLOCKIN BLOCKIN very BLOCKIN BLOCKIN low, BLOCKIN BLOCKIN and BLOCKIN BLOCKIN the BLOCKIN BLOCKIN residential BLOCKIN BLOCKIN districts BLOCKIN BLOCKIN are BLOCKIN BLOCKIN dark BLOCKIN BLOCKIN with BLOCKIN BLOCKIN few BLOCKIN BLOCKIN lights BLOCKIN BLOCKIN at BLOCKIN BLOCKIN night. Therefore, they are called " ghost cities. " In Shepard's book " Ghost Cities of China " (Shepard, 2015), he defined " ghost city " as " a new development that is running at severe undercapacity, a place with drastically fewer people and businesses than there is available space for. " The " Ghost city " phenomenon has attracted much attention in recent years. Shepard (2015) said that " China is the world's most populated country without a doubt has the world's largest number of empty …