Developing a 3D cadastre for the administration of urban land use: A case study of Shenzhen, China

Fast economic growth and rapid urbanization present a challenge to the limited urban land resources of China. Specifically, they encourage a shift in the concentration on the surface of land parcels to the space above and below them. Recent development in land utilization in developed cities has broken the traditional frame of the parcel-based or 2D cadastre. The three-dimensional (3D) cadastre is now accepted by researchers as an effective technical means to support the administration of space. Taking Shenzhen, a quite developed city in China as a case study, this paper presents an ad hoc paradigm to develop a 3D cadastral system for the management of land space use in it. The demand for a 3D cadastre is shown through two actual instances of land space exploitation. Relying on current legislation, administration, and 3D technology, we design a full 3D cadastral system and embed it in the current cadastral system so that the administration of land space can be realized without an alteration in the frame of cadastral data or in current administrative procedures. Presenting an application example, we demonstrate the easy implementation and practicability of our 3D cadastral system. We find, however, that current institutions require some but not excessive modification when fully implementing it for land administration. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.