Over the past three decades, transitional economies have experienced dramatic urbanization in response to changes in the human and natural environments, resulting from economic transitions, industrial restructures, institutional reforms, and climate variability. However, our knowledge of the causes and processes of urbanization in transitional economies remains limited. Here, I used the Mongolian Plateau (MGP), including Inner Mongolia in China (IM) and Mongolia (MG), as a testbed for studying the processes and causes of urbanization. I also investigated urban challenges and the policy implications of those issues. The dissertation is set to three research objectives: (1) understanding the processes of urbanization in the MGP, (2) analyzing the driving forces of rural-to-urban migration, and (3) identifying urban challenges and proposing policy solutions. For the first objective, I analyzed the spatial characteristics of urbanization in six cities (Hohhot, Baotou, and Ulanqab in IM, and Ulaanbaatar, Erdenet, and Darkhan in MG) using remote sensing analyses, computed the urban growth rates, population density, and discontiguity (i.e., leap-frogging index) of each city from 1990 through 2015, and applied structural equation models. I found divergent spatial patterns of urbanization in IM and MG and the differential institutional supports and industrial structures contributing to these disparities.For the second objective, I used household surveys to analyze the forces driving rural-to-urban migration, complemented with remote sensing tools to estimate the actual environmental conditions of respondents’ former residences. I found that social and economic factors were the most significant motivators of migration. The statistical models demonstrated that the importance of environmental factors as mediators of economic factors and highlighted remaining gaps between scientific research and policy implementation.For the third objective, I analyze developmental processes and spatial patterns of the informal settlements, Ger districts, through remote sensing analysis and semi-structured interviews with residents. I identified three different stages of Ger districts’ growth: infancy, consolidation, and maturity and Ger districts experienced dramatic growth (588%) and evolution from infancy into consolidation or maturity between 1990 and 2013. These results indicate that to successfully develop future policies, Ger districts must be viewed as heterogeneous and evolving assemblages.The key contributions of my dissertation are: (1) designing multi-scale and multi-dimensional analyses to understand complex mechanisms of urbanization; (2) identifying unique patterns and drivers of urbanization in transitional economies, with particular consideration of socioeconomic and biophysical changes; (3) adopting interdisciplinary approaches, e.g., qualitative interviews, geospatial analyses, and statistical modeling, to address complex research questions; and (4) providing evidence-based policy suggestions.
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