With the rapid development of urbanization, it is necessary to understand the evolution of land resource carrying capacity (LRCC), so as to avoid irreversible damage to the land resources system in a specific region. Therefore, this paper aims to study the evolution of LRCC by four carrying status intervals of land resources. LRCC based on an evolutionary perspective can help the government manage land resources dynamically and rationally. This study defines LRCC from a carrier–load perspective and considers a higher or lower LRCC when facing the unbalanced relationship between socio-economic development and the supply capacity of land resources. Then, boxplots are used to investigate the LRCC in 35 major cities in China at different time points from 2012 to 2017. The results indicate that there was an increase in the number of cities with LRCC values in the unbalanced interval, with socio-economic development higher than the supply capacity of land resources. Shijiazhuang, Dalian, Harbin, Fuzhou, Chongqing, Kunming, and Taiyuan had LRCC values leaning towards an unbalanced situation. The main drivers that cause the phenomena mentioned above include policy, socio-economic development, and land use change. This study not only improves the understanding of the relationship between socio-economic development and the supply capacity of land resources and identifies the main drivers, but also provides a basis for control of LRCC according to the identifications of the main drivers@en

If land resources are forced to withstand greater populations than they are able to withstand, irreversible damage to the land resources system will happen in a specific region. This challenge highlights the urgency of appropriately evaluating the land resources carrying capacity (LRCC). A proper level of the capacity can ensure that land resources demands imposed by human activities are at a reasonable level. There is a need for a proper evaluation method for assessing LRCC. This study presents a new evaluation method from a load-carrier perspective for assessing LRCC by examining the relationships between the pressure caused by human activities and the supply capacity of land resources. In developing this method, a land resources system is determined by two primary components, namely carrier and load. The compositions of carrier and load are determined by applying the theory of multifunctional land use. A case demonstration is conducted to show the application of the method. The main findings can be drawn from this study as follows. Firstly, a “load-carrier” perspective method is requested for evaluating the regional LRCC, and it is effective in obtaining the value of LRCC in the demonstration case. Secondly, the composition of land resources carriers and loads embodied in the load-carrier perspective method is determined by using the theory of multifunctional land use. Thirdly, the case results suggest that seven regions are overloaded in LRCC and the other two regions are approaching the limitation of LRCC among nine county-level administration regions in Chongqing. This study contributes to the development of literature in the field of LRCC. The application of the “load-carrier” perspective method can help local governments in the case study regions make policies to ensure that land resources demands imposed by human activities are under control at a reasonable level. @en