The objective of the preparatory work (literature review) and the field work (interviews, excursions) was the identification of characteristic settlement structures and determinants and trends of urban and regional development in order to adequately consider these for the development of the CA model (cellular automaton, CA).
Conclusions: In the first project phase it was important to understand land-use dynamics and their determinants in the Yellow River Delta or Dongying region, respectively. As a result of this first phase, the initial hypothesis was confirmed that