Regional Solutions to Urban-Rural Coordinated Development in the Megacity Regions

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 33627

Special Issue Editors

1. Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
2. China Regional Coordinated Development and Rural Construction Institute, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Interests: public participation and community planning; rural construction and planning; urban form and spatial structure
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Interests: real estate; housing; land and planning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
2. China Regional Coordinated Development and Rural Construction Institute, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Interests: regional planning; community participatory planning; urban and rural human settlements construction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite researchers from different disciplines, such as urban planning, human geography, social sciences, economics, environmental sciences, and other related disciplines, to submit papers to this Special Issue on “Regional Solutions to Urban-Rural Coordinated Development in the Megacity Regions”. Multidisciplinary research that addresses multiple social-environmental–economical facets, with regard to transitional urban-rural development from regional perspectives, is particularly welcome. This Special Issue will shed light on the development of megacity regions across countries as a spatial form of urban-rural integrated development, which plays a crucial role in regional economic development.

The U.N. Habitat has acknowledged that strengthening urban-rural linkages is vital for achieving sustainable urbanization in human settlements of all sizes. This has been reaffirmed by recent inter-governmental debates, with the strengthening of urban-rural linkages included both as a sustainable development target and a vital issue in regional development. A megacity region comprises a cluster of highly networked urban settlements anchored by large cities (Yeh and Chen, 2019). Substantial studies were conducted as early as the 1920s and included terms such as megalopolis, metropolitan area (region), urban agglomeration, metropolitan coordinating region, city group, and city cluster (Fang and Yu, 2017). The complex and dynamic nature of urban-rural interactions tests the capacity of existing governance structures to address pressing regional challenges (Dabson, 2019).

Policymakers are increasingly paying attention to how urbanization will transform regions. However, less attention is currently being paid to the complex rural-to-urban and urban-to-rural interactions within megacity areas. The urban-rural linkages are among the most critical dimensions through which urban and regional systems are reconstructed and integrated. A truly integrated approach to urban-rural coordination development must go beyond intra-city policy coordination and traditional rural issues. However, with growing concerns regarding urban-rural dissonance and divides, regional governance, collaboration, and policies to address urban-rural disparities are less considered. Therefore, policies and planning are required in response to these challenges and the emerging megacity regions in the new wave of urban-rural transition and integration.

Against this background, this Special Issue aims to analyze regional planning practices for towns/cities and rural areas to successfully develop urban-rural integration and promote multilevel and regional governance. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • The historical evolution of issues and challenges of megacity regional development;
  • The diverse influences of urban agglomeration and metropolitan coordinated regions;
  • The analysis and evaluation of urban-rural development within megacity regions;
  • Regional solutions seeking to alleviate urban-rural challenges;
  • The spatial consequences of regional planning for urban-rural integrated development;
  • Strategies to address rural revitalization challenges in metropolitan areas;
  • Cohesion policies to strengthen urban-rural linkages through megacity regions;
  • Approaches to strengthening cross-functional regional systems toward an urban-rural balance through regional policymaking.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Wei Lang
Dr. Tingting Chen
Prof. Dr. Eddie C.M. Hui
Prof. Dr. Xun Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • megacity regions
  • metropolitan coordinating region
  • urban agglomeration
  • urban-rural systems
  • coordinated regional development
  • regional planning and governance
  • integrated urban-rural development
  • structures and networks
  • rural construction and evaluation
  • human settlement environment improvement

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Related Special Issues

Published Papers (12 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

24 pages, 4211 KiB  
Article
Exploring the Coordinated Evolution Mechanism of Regional Sustainable Development and Tourism in China’s “Beautiful China” Initiative
by Xiaoyu Wang, Minyi Zhang, Siying Jie, Mu Zhang and Zhan Zhang
Land 2023, 12(5), 1003; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12051003 - 3 May 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1989
Abstract
As the world’s largest developing country, China first proposed the construction of a Beautiful China initiative in 2012, with the aim of exploring Chinese solutions for sustainable regional development. The construction of a beautiful China is based on the guiding ideology of the [...] Read more.
As the world’s largest developing country, China first proposed the construction of a Beautiful China initiative in 2012, with the aim of exploring Chinese solutions for sustainable regional development. The construction of a beautiful China is based on the guiding ideology of the Five-sphere Integrated Plan in China, that is, the overall plan for building socialism with Chinese characteristics, including economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction and ecological civilization construction. This paper aims to understand the coupling relationship, as well as the spatial and temporal changes, between China’s sustainable development under the Beautiful China initiative and tourism. Using data from the China Statistical Yearbook database, we constructed an evaluation index system to measure both the construction of beautiful China and tourism development using a literature review, statistical analysis, the entropy method and GIS-based spatial analysis methods. Furthermore, using the 31 Chinese provinces as the research subject, we further analyzed the state of Beautiful China construction and tourism development, as well as their coupling relationships of the two systems. Our results show that firstly, the economic “hard power” plays the most prominent role in the process of building a beautiful China under the sustainable development regime, while the status of cultural “soft power” has also been well reflected. Secondly, the weight ranking of tourism evaluation indicators and the spatial distribution of tourism development levels both reflect the central and fundamental role of tourism market demand in tourism development. Third, the weight ranking of tourism evaluation indicators ranks the highest in the mean value of the coupling coordination degree of society, ecology and tourism in the Beautiful China subsystem, which reflects the harmony between society and ecology and the significant livelihood function of tourism as a happiness industry in the new era. Fourth, the spatial and temporal relationship between the coupled and coordinated development of the Beautiful China and tourism systems varies, indicating that there is a regional imbalance in China’s sustainable development. This further indicates the need to adapt to local conditions, and to build on strengths and avoid weaknesses to achieve regional sustainable development. The study highlights China’s contribution to global sustainable development. It also provides theoretical and practical guidance for the promotion of the coordinated development of both Beautiful China and tourism. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 9994 KiB  
Article
Regional Coordinated Development in the Megacity Regions: Spatial Pattern and Driving Forces of the Guangzhou-Foshan Cross-Border Area in China
by Yan Huang, Wei Lang, Tingting Chen and Jiemin Wu
Land 2023, 12(4), 753; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12040753 - 27 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3349
Abstract
With globalization and informatization, cross-border areas have become increasingly critical interactive spaces, experiencing rapid development and extensive changes in residents’ cross-border travel, constantly changing the spatial patterns of neighboring cities. However, existing studies lack in-depth discussions of the new spatiotemporal characteristics of human [...] Read more.
With globalization and informatization, cross-border areas have become increasingly critical interactive spaces, experiencing rapid development and extensive changes in residents’ cross-border travel, constantly changing the spatial patterns of neighboring cities. However, existing studies lack in-depth discussions of the new spatiotemporal characteristics of human activities, spatial pattern evolution, and the driving factors behind them. Therefore, taking the Guangzhou-Foshan metropolitan area as a case, this paper focus on the analysis of the cross-city travel of residents in these border areas in 2019, and investigated the evolution of spatial patterns and the driving forces in the border area during 1985–2020. We found that, instead of the previous one-way attraction pattern caused by the spread of residence, a large number of cross-city trips for leisure and entertainment purposes emerged, and the one-way unbalanced flow, “Foshan to Guangzhou”, changed to two-way circulation. We also explore the scenario in which the travel behavior of urban dwellers in these two cities considerably interacts with the effect of urban structure to produce the observed mobility patterns. Second, we determined the spatial pattern of the Guangzhou-Foshan region from 1985 to 2020 to be on of spreading expansion, with Liwan District as the central core, connecting to several sub-centers. The cross-border area in the Guangzhou-Foshan region represented a compact, extremely high degree of integration and a well-matched functional space. Third, driven by the forces stemming from the planning guidelines and the improving transportation network construction in the border area, the growth points of the two cities continued to expand toward the borderline regarding integrated development, while the growth axis was mainly in the direction of the city border, urban arterial roads, and subway lines. We concluded with development suggestions for increasing travel interactions and optimizing spatial patterns to build a common vision of the whole Guangzhou-Foshan pattern of integration. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 106186 KiB  
Article
Energy-Saving Potential in Planning Urban Functional Areas: The Case of Bialystok (Poland)
by Kęstutis Zaleckis and Bartosz Czarnecki
Land 2023, 12(2), 380; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020380 - 31 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1442
Abstract
Mobility is one of the basic needs for modern people. The transport system is one of the largest consumers of energy. The largest dimension of mobility activity is concentrated in metropolitan areas, which also shows energy consumption by transport. The research looked at [...] Read more.
Mobility is one of the basic needs for modern people. The transport system is one of the largest consumers of energy. The largest dimension of mobility activity is concentrated in metropolitan areas, which also shows energy consumption by transport. The research looked at the potential for improving the energy efficiency of a functional and spatial structure, using the example of a medium-sized city and its functional area. The study refers to the idea of the pervasiveness of spatial structure and to the criteria of New Urbanism, as a multifunctional and sustainable urban form. The gravity fields concept was also used. This article presents simulation modeling that has made it possible to model the potential for optimizing an urbanized area towards a reduction in energy consumption in the mobility sphere and to compare the scale of the potential in this respect of its segments in relation to the movement relationships of the destinations (residence, services, workplaces, and leisure). Results show the greatest energy-saving potential located in the peripheral areas with longer distances from centers and the worst equipment of services and infrastructure. The analytic model presented in the article, based on the concept of pervasiveness, could be used for the evaluation of the multifunctionality and sustainability of urban structures. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

26 pages, 6113 KiB  
Article
The Rise of Specialized and Innovative Little Giant Enterprises under China’s ‘Dual Circulation’ Development Pattern: An Analysis of Spatial Patterns and Determinants
by Huasheng Zhu, Ruobin Liu and Bo Chen
Land 2023, 12(1), 259; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010259 - 15 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4146
Abstract
As potential ‘hidden champion’ companies originating from Germany, specialized and innovative ‘little giant’ enterprises (LGEs) have become role models for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China and have been considered important actors in the strategy of ‘strengthening and supplementing national supply chains’. [...] Read more.
As potential ‘hidden champion’ companies originating from Germany, specialized and innovative ‘little giant’ enterprises (LGEs) have become role models for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China and have been considered important actors in the strategy of ‘strengthening and supplementing national supply chains’. Based on the exogenous growth theory of the firm, this article takes the perspective of the ‘dual circulation’ new development pattern of China and analyses the spatial patterns and their determinants of LGEs using the data of national-level LGEs from 2019 to 2021 and the geographical weighted regression method. The following results were obtained: (1) the national-level LGEs show the spatial distribution pattern of ‘east–central–west’ decline and are highly concentrated in the high administrative levels of the cities, especially in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Cross–Strait urban agglomeration. (2) The domestic and international circulations jointly affect the spatial distribution of LGEs. Local institutional thickness has the largest and widest impact, followed by local industrial synergy. The impact of global linkage is relatively stable. (3) The impacts of the main determinants have spatial heterogeneity. The positive impact of local government support shows a decreasing differentiation law from east to west, and local industrial synergy is mainly significant in the east area of Northeast China, Bohai Rim, Shandong Peninsula, and Huang-Huai-hai Plain. The spatial heterogeneity of the effect of international circulation comes from the difference in marginal effects among regions and the influence of the Belt and Road Initiative. The positive impact of FDI is mainly concentrated in the northeast and southwest regions. This article highlights the importance of the domestic value chain in the strategy of Innovative China, and proves that varying global-local nexus of cities creates ‘soils’ with varying fertility in which LGEs thrives as well. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 8456 KiB  
Article
Jointly Creating Sustainable Rural Communities through Participatory Planning: A Case Study of Fengqing County, China
by Jialing Yan, Yan Huang, Shuying Tan, Wei Lang and Tingting Chen
Land 2023, 12(1), 187; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010187 - 6 Jan 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3522
Abstract
Rural communities have long been overlooked since globalization and urbanization struck traditional rural values. Building a sustainable rural community has become a contested issue in academia, especially after implementing the Rural Revival Strategy. This research attempted to establish a participatory planning approach, which [...] Read more.
Rural communities have long been overlooked since globalization and urbanization struck traditional rural values. Building a sustainable rural community has become a contested issue in academia, especially after implementing the Rural Revival Strategy. This research attempted to establish a participatory planning approach, which considers rural planners as the external impetus and local villagers as an internal driving force, to promote the sustainability of rural communities. Carrying on the theoretical framework of public participation, the researchers carried out a pilot practice in Hongtang Village, Yunan Province, China, where planners tried to reestablish the social relationship in a village by designing and building a rural yard. We do not solely finish the design, but also advocate, communicate, and work with villagers to activate the vitality of the village. The research argues that the focus of rural planning and construction in China is to develop a participatory planning approach, which is human-oriented and place-based. Planners, acting as an external impetus, advocate public participation in the whole planning process, including mapping, designing, constructing, and managing. We try to empower villagers themselves rather than impose. During this participatory planning process, villagers improve the quality of their settlements through continuous dialogue and cooperation, and the social relationships among them become enhanced. Thus, rural communities are restructuring in both environmental and social dimensions to promote rural sustainability. Additionally, participatory planning in rural areas is constantly correcting itself to be more local, scientific, and rational and become a more powerful protector and promoter of public interests in this process. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 4738 KiB  
Article
Interlinkages among County-Level Construction Indicators and Related Sustainable Development Goals in China
by Jiawei Zhong and Xun Li
Land 2022, 11(11), 2008; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11112008 - 10 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1531
Abstract
Counties are the fundamental platforms of urban–rural integration in China. Indicators at the county level, however, are insufficiently investigated for their interlinkage with each other. This study focuses on the indicators in the China Statistical Yearbook (county level) and China County Seat Construction [...] Read more.
Counties are the fundamental platforms of urban–rural integration in China. Indicators at the county level, however, are insufficiently investigated for their interlinkage with each other. This study focuses on the indicators in the China Statistical Yearbook (county level) and China County Seat Construction Statistical Yearbook based on the classification of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Average weighted degree and modularity are adopted to reveal the indicators with high connections to others, as well as the trends of indicator connections and network divisions as the total index increases. Construction indicators regarding green space, water supply and wastewater treatment are found to be most influential in the indicator correlation network. The inverted U curve of modularity indicates that a county may encounter a bottleneck when the total index is at the middle level, as the indicators become more isolated. This study also compares the results with those in the Sustainable Development Report 2020 and Rural Construction Evaluation Report 2020 to verify the findings at the county/county-seat level. Additional indicators regarding public services and environment protection are required in further statistics to track the comprehensive performance of SDGs at this level. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 2882 KiB  
Article
Restructuring Urban Outskirts Industrial Areas from the Industrial Clustering Perspective: A Case Study in Shunde, China
by Minsheng Li, Lejie Li and Xun Li
Land 2022, 11(11), 2004; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11112004 - 9 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1954
Abstract
Large numbers of industrial zones have emerged in the urban outskirts of developing countries. Generally, these zones become economically efficient and environmentally unfriendly due to a lack of regulation and poor planning. Therefore, a restructuring of underperforming industrial areas is urgently needed. However, [...] Read more.
Large numbers of industrial zones have emerged in the urban outskirts of developing countries. Generally, these zones become economically efficient and environmentally unfriendly due to a lack of regulation and poor planning. Therefore, a restructuring of underperforming industrial areas is urgently needed. However, most restructuring processes lead to economic and social issues, such as deindustrialization and unemployment. Therefore, this study proposed a restructuring framework specific to the industrial areas in the urban outskirts and tested it in a case study in Shunde, China. In the framework, securing the existing industrial cluster is given sufficient attention, and the retained firms are relocated to dedicated resettlement sites before the demolition begins. As a result, the industrial clusters were successfully maintained after the restructuring. Moreover, the introduction of vertical factories allows for additional land supply and improves the environment to a great extent. Consequently, one world-class high-tech firm was added to the restructured areas. The restructuring framework and the case study should shed light on other restructuring projects occurring in developing countries. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 1021 KiB  
Article
Productivism and Post-Productivism: An Analysis of Functional Mixtures in Rural China
by Yaofu Huang, Luan Chen and Xun Li
Land 2022, 11(9), 1490; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11091490 - 5 Sep 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1983
Abstract
Existing studies have attempted to explain the transformation of rural China from a single productive or post-productive perspective. However, regarding the two development paradigms as binary opposites brings contradictions: Is China’s countryside evolving towards productivism or post-productivism? To answer this question, we transcend [...] Read more.
Existing studies have attempted to explain the transformation of rural China from a single productive or post-productive perspective. However, regarding the two development paradigms as binary opposites brings contradictions: Is China’s countryside evolving towards productivism or post-productivism? To answer this question, we transcend the binary opposition and instead propose an analytical framework based on rural value, driving actors, and rural land-use functions. Based on the location quotient analysis method, we measure the functional hybridity of rural areas using 7345 POIs (points of interest) representing the land-use types of productive and post-productive activities. We discuss the formation mechanism of functional hybridity considering two typical spaces: modern agriculture demonstration districts and “Tesecun”. We find that the government, the market, and villagers collectively promote the formation of functional hybridity in rural China. The government prefers to strengthen productivity in order to ensure state food security, while villagers prefer to make their villages more multi-functional in order to attract citizens. This study can be seen as a contribution supplementing research issues associated with rural China from the novel dualistic perspective of productivism and post-productivism. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

36 pages, 10772 KiB  
Article
Assessment on the Spatial Distribution Suitability of Ethnic Minority Villages in Fujian Province Based on GeoDetector and AHP Method
by Xiang Xu and Paolo Vincenzo Genovese
Land 2022, 11(9), 1486; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11091486 - 5 Sep 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2216
Abstract
Ethnic minority villages are important resources for the economy and social development of ethnic minority areas because they preserve ethnic minorities’ culture. With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization in China, the factors affecting the development of villages have changed. With the [...] Read more.
Ethnic minority villages are important resources for the economy and social development of ethnic minority areas because they preserve ethnic minorities’ culture. With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization in China, the factors affecting the development of villages have changed. With the help and guidance of the government, the gap between villages has increased. According to the development conditions of ethnic minority villages at the present stage, the suitability of their spatial distribution has been studied, the existing problems in the current development have been explored, and the development laws and future development trends have been found. To make the evaluation results more scientific and objective, Geographical Detector (Geodetector) and Absorbent Hygiene Product (AHP) methods are used to establish the evaluation model. Taking 567 ethnic minority villages in Fujian Province as the research object, 13 factors are selected from the aspects of natural geographical, socio-economy and cultural life to construct the evaluation indicator system of Fujian ethnic minority villages, and the spatial distribution suitability of Fujian ethnic minority villages is quantitatively evaluated. The findings indicated the following: (1) The per capita income of villages has the most important impact on the suitability of spatial distribution of Fujian minority villages. Through comprehensive evaluation, the impact of cultural life indicators on the suitability of the spatial distribution of the village is greater than that of socio-economic indicators and natural geographical indicators. The intensity relationship is 9:7:10. (2) The high suitability value is concentrated in Fujian Province’s southeast coastal and central areas, gradually decreasing from east to west. In Fujian Province, 82.84%of the land is suitable for the development of ethnic minority villages, with 89% of ethnic minority villages. The unsuitable areas are mostly in Fujian’s north and west. (3) The most suitable cities for the number of ethnic minority villages are Ningde City and Quanzhou City because ethnic minority villages in these two cities are mostly distributed in areas relatively close to the central urban area, with good economic conditions, flat terrain, and easy transportation. The cities of Nanping and Sanming are the least suitable for many ethnic minority villages, which are primarily limited by topographic conditions, have a backward economy, a sparse road network, and have experienced significant population loss. In the context of urbanization, the evaluation results can provide a reference for the precise development and protection of minority villages. Governments at all levels in Fujian Province can adjust and optimize the development strategies of minority villages according to the evaluation results. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 4886 KiB  
Article
The Governance Path of Urban–Rural Integration in Changing Urban–Rural Relationships in the Metropolitan Area: A Case Study of Wuhan, China
by Youxu Zheng, Jiangdi Tan, Yaping Huang and Zhiyong Wang
Land 2022, 11(8), 1334; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11081334 - 17 Aug 2022
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4363
Abstract
Since the founding of the country, China’s urban–rural relations have experienced four stages: differentiation, opposition, coordination, and equivalence. The scope of rural research has expanded from individual villages to group relations, and the research content also tends to the urban–rural integration trend of [...] Read more.
Since the founding of the country, China’s urban–rural relations have experienced four stages: differentiation, opposition, coordination, and equivalence. The scope of rural research has expanded from individual villages to group relations, and the research content also tends to the urban–rural integration trend of factor flow. In the context of New Urbanization and the Rural Revitalization Strategies, urban–rural integration is an important starting point to solve urban–rural contradictions, and the metropolitan area is an important spatial carrier to achieving urban–rural integration. Based on investigating the key issues of urban–rural integration and metropolitan governance, this paper constructs a “place function” cognitive framework of urban–rural space in the metropolitan area, and takes Wuhan metropolitan area with its dense rural distribution as an example to recognize the urban–rural spatial characteristics of the metropolitan area scale from six dimensions: spatial structure, land use, settlement distribution, scenic spots, agricultural enterprises, and service facilities. Then, it proposes a spatial development model of the Wuhan metropolitan area of the “point axis structure-, functional area-, resilient network”, and further explores the urban–rural integration path of “planning guidance, policy promotion, and spatial support”. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 2733 KiB  
Article
Simulation and Prediction of Evolution of Specialized Villages Agglomeration Based on System Dynamics
by Yuling Ma, Jiajun Qiao and Dong Han
Land 2022, 11(8), 1177; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11081177 - 28 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1736
Abstract
Rural recession is a worldwide problem, and rural revitalization will increasingly become an important global issue. The development of specialized villages is the engine of rural revitalization, so the research on it is of great significance for guiding the sustainable development of the [...] Read more.
Rural recession is a worldwide problem, and rural revitalization will increasingly become an important global issue. The development of specialized villages is the engine of rural revitalization, so the research on it is of great significance for guiding the sustainable development of the rural economy. In this study, by analyzing the evolutionary mechanism of the specialized villages agglomeration (SVA) from the perspective of system theory, we simulated and predicted the evolution of specialized villages agglomeration at the foot of the Taihang Mountains in Henan Province, China. We based this work on the general process of establishing a system dynamics model, and made the following conclusions: (1) According to the boundary suitability, dimensional consistency, structural evaluation, and sensitivity tests, we considered that the model could simulate the evolution of SVA at the foot of the Taihang Mountains and we explored the corresponding evolutionary mechanism; (2) The SVA effect was an “S-shaped” curve, which we divided into three periods: the formation period (0–8 years), the growth period (9–20 years), and the maturation period (21–30 years); (3) The contribution of capital to the agglomeration effect was most significant in the formation period; during the growth period, the contribution of laborers and technologies to the agglomeration effect increased rapidly; and in the maturation period, the contribution of laborers to the agglomeration effect gradually declined, whereas the contribution of technology and capital to the agglomeration effect still increased. The research results provide a theoretical reference for the sustainable development of specialized villages. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 1472 KiB  
Article
To Settle Down, or Not? Evaluating the Policy Effects of Talent Housing in Shanghai, China
by Li Tao, Xiaoyan Lei, Wentan Guo, Victor Jing Li and Min Cheng
Land 2022, 11(8), 1145; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11081145 - 25 Jul 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3652
Abstract
Housing has become pivotal in attracting and retaining talent in first-tier cities. Although numerous cities are actively promoting the provision of talent housing in China, little is known about the talent’s evaluations of talent housing policies or the effect on their urban settlement [...] Read more.
Housing has become pivotal in attracting and retaining talent in first-tier cities. Although numerous cities are actively promoting the provision of talent housing in China, little is known about the talent’s evaluations of talent housing policies or the effect on their urban settlement intention. This paper aims to investigate whether talent housing alleviates the housing difficulties of talent and its role in retaining talent. A questionnaire was conducted face-to-face in talent housing in Shanghai. Binary logistic regression was employed to analyse the factors significantly contributing to the settlement intentions of the talent. Talent housing was confirmed to alleviate the talent’s housing pressures and further increase their urban settlement intention. The local hukou was determined to be crucial in accelerating the willingness of talent to settle in Shanghai. However, housing affordability (including school district housing) may jeopardise such positive effects. It is crucial to provide more choices of talent housing and increase the coverage of good-quality educational resources. In the long run, more talent can be attracted and retained in the locality under a broader coverage of the talent housing scheme. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop