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Characteristics, hazards, and control of illegal villa (houses): evidence from the Northern Piedmont of Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi Province, China

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Abstract

Unapproved and illegal buildings have sprawled into the Northern Piedmont of the Qinling Mountains. The problem of illegal villas has aroused widespread public opinion and concern. The ecological environment of the Qinling Mountains has been seriously affected by the resurgence of illegal villas. This paper introduces the characteristics and distribution of illegal villas, analyzes the hazards caused by illegal villas, and describes control measures for illegal villas and land consolidation and ecological remediation in the Northern Piedmont of the Qinling Mountains. The results show that illegal planning and illegal development, as well as local governments’ irregularities, including control, governance, punishment, demolition, and compensation for illegal buildings in the expropriation of premises, have caused the problem of illegal construction of villas in the Northern Piedmont of the Qinling Mountains. Control measures for illegal villas are demolition, land consolidation, and ecological remediation. Policy implications for protection of Qinling Mountains are provided.

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Funding

This study has been supported by Xi’an University of Architectural Science and Technology Talents Science and Technology Foundation (RC1813), Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Project (Z161100001116016), Shaanxi Science and Technology Plan Project (2019ZDLSF06-07), Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education Research Project-Study of the mechanism of collective construction land entering the land market from the perspective of urban and rural integration and National Social Science Fund of China (17BTJ029).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Administration, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, 710055, China

    Chenxi Li

  2. School of Public Administration, Hebei University of Economics and Business, Shijiazhuang, 050061, China

    Xing Gao

  3. School of Economics, Hebei University, Baoding, 071000, China

    Zenglei Xi

  4. Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Zenglei Xi

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  1. Chenxi Li
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  2. Xing Gao
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  3. Zenglei Xi
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Correspondence to Chenxi Li.

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Li, C., Gao, X. & Xi, Z. Characteristics, hazards, and control of illegal villa (houses): evidence from the Northern Piedmont of Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi Province, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 21059–21064 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05515-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05515-1

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