%0 Journal Article %A YANG Jianxin %A GONG Jian %A GAO Jing %A YE Qin %T Stationary and systematic characteristics of land use and land cover change in the national central cities of China using intensity analysis: A case study of Wuhan City %D %R 10.18402/resci.2019.04.08 %J Resources Science %P 701-716 %V 41 %N 4 %X We revised the intensity analysis framework proposed by Aldwaik and then applied it to examine the temporal stationary and systematic characteristics of land use and land cover change (LULCC) patterns in the national central cities of China. This hierarchical framework analyzes LULCC at three levels: time interval, category, and transition, based on land use change confusion matrices. Given the inconvenience of transition level intensity analysis in presenting the detailed pattern of LULCC across multiple time intervals, we put forward a new method termed as land transition pattern confusion table to systematically show all the land conversion processes in one figure so as to help link LULCC process to pattern and clarify their driving mechanisms from a bottom-up perspective. Taking Wuhan City as a case study area, this article analyzes the stationary and systematic characteristics of LULCC patterns from 1996 to 2015 with the improved framework. Also, LULCC patterns in other national central cities in recent years were investigated. The results show that the overall LULCC intensity in Wuhan City increased in recent years. The influx of rural residential land, urban construction land, and farmland intensified. The efflux of farmland, water, and unused land grew as well. Notably, the transition from farmland to urban construction land and to rural residential land is characterized by a stable and systematic change pattern. The LULCC patterns and processes in different national central cities show great similarity. This improved intensity analysis framework can be more intuitive in reflecting the stationary and systemic characteristics of LULCC pattern. The research results can play an important role in illustrating LULCC patterns in the national central cities and facilitate linking processes and mechanisms to these observed patterns. %U https://www.resci.cn/EN/10.18402/resci.2019.04.08