Specific changes in land use can, and often do, occur when any social economic system moves from one form to another. When traditional societies transit from traditional land uses to philosophically determined land uses, as in the case of the introduction of socialism or the transition from system of planned economy to a market system, such changes seem concentrated and perhaps exacerbated. Certainly, such circumstances provide the opportunity to see the process of social philosophy and its impact upon land use in a telescoped fashion, The discovery and explanation of these elements might provide some insight into basic human behavior, and its relationship to social control and how people organize space both with and without control. This paper presents the results of observations of changes in land use as they have occurred during the course of transitional economic development in Beijing, China for the past decade. It suggests three new generic categories that can be applied to any culture or society.