The Pearl River Delta Economic Zone (PRDEZ) is one of the most vigorous economic
regions in China, and even in the world. Since the economic reform and opening up to
the outside world, PRDEZ has been undergoing rapid urban expansion. based on a large
number of investigative data, three indices (expansion coefficient of urban land, harmonious
coefficient between population and cropland, and benefit coefficient of urban
land) were designed and used to discuss the interrelationships between urbanization,
economy and land use. The results suggest that urbanization is not the main reason for
a reduction in cropland in the study area. In contrast, urbanization has the following
advantages: 1) Urbanization of the rural population favours the release of land from rural
residential area; 2) Urbanization can help to improve the city’s agglomeration effect in
terms of both population and economy; 3) Urbanization can contribute to improving the
degree of intensification of land use; and 4) Urbanization can help to improve land-use
efficiency. Therefore, urbanization may be an effective way to solve the contradiction
between ‘more population and much less land’ in the study area.