  Urban land growth presents a major sustainability challenge, yet its growth
patterns and dynamics remain unclear. We quantified urban land evolution by
analyzing its statistical distribution in 14 regions and countries over 29
years. The results show a converging temporal trend in urban land expansion
from sub-country to global scales, characterized by a coherent shift of urban
area distributions from initial power law to exponential distributions, with
the consequences of reduced system stability and resilience, and increased
exposure of urban populations to extreme heat and air pollution. These changes
are attributed to the increased influence from external economies of scale
associated with globalization and are predicted to intensify in the future. The
findings will advance urban science and direct current land urbanization
practices toward sustainable development, especially in developing regions and
medium-size cities.
