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In Kenya's dynamic renewable energy landscape, characterized by complex policy frameworks, complex land tenure regimes, and diverse community dynamics, this qualitative research investigates the mechanisms and motivations guiding community decision-making when trading land for electricity access within the context of renewable energy projects. Through the lens of the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, particularly the rules in use, this study unravels the complexities of rural communities' trade-offs inherent in both large-scale and small-scale renewable energy projects. Data was collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observations in rural communities engaged in these projects. The findings offer new insights into communities' decision-making processes and institutional dynamics in shaping outcomes, with a focus on land rights and land use implications. The analysis highlights the relational nature of the trade-offs, influenced by factors such as land tenure systems, project scale, electricity access, traditional knowledge, and local context, supporting the importance of understanding communities' diverse roles and positions, power dynamics, and governance structures. Overall, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding land-electricity trade-offs in renewable energy projects in rural areas, emphasizing the need for adaptable strategies to address evolving community needs and challenges. Article highlights: Large and small renewable energy projects present unique trade-offs in rural areas, influencing land use decisions and community dynamics. Land tenure systems shape rural communities' decision-making and benefit distribution, influencing their trust, support and involvement in renewable energy development. Strategic planning is essential to balance immediate energy needs with long-term rural communities' development and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural solid waste (RSW) exhibits distinct characteristics compared to municipal solid waste (MSW), such as dispersed distribution, long governance chains, and low recycling value, making it unsuitable to apply the same management measures as MSW. Government-led RSW management results in excessive administrative costs, and the inherent characteristics of RSW reduce market enthusiasm for its management. To address these issues, this paper integrates the " multi-subject governance " model with RSW management and establishes a systematic evaluation index system for RSW governance. Utilizing the Best-Worst Method (BWM), key factors were identified. Utilizing the VIKOR method, representative provinces in China were used as case studies to validate the scientific nature of the evaluation indices. The research findings indicate that the multi-subject governance model is an effective approach for RSW management. Key factors influencing RSW management effectiveness include various governmental measures, waste sorting, and a long-term multi-subject governance mechanism. Case analysis reveals a strong correlation between the level of economic development and the effectiveness of RSW management. However, constructing a government-led, multi-subject collaborative urban-rural interconnected RSW management model can effectively address RSW management issues in economically underdeveloped areas. This research provides innovative solutions for RSW management, contributing to high-quality and sustainable development in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of China's evolving rural tourism policies on the advancement of rural tourism within the nation. The analysis spans the period from 2006 to 2022 and encompasses several crucial aspects: The entities accountable for policy formulation, frequently utilized keywords, and the establishment of an analytical framework termed "policy instrument-policy target". The findings revealed that China's rural tourism policies derive influence from a multitude of departments, highlighting a polycentric approach. Leading contributors include the State Council, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, as well as other policy-formulating bodies, which have gradually attained heightened levels of coordination. Furthermore, the prevalent keywords prevalent in China's rural tourism policies have undergone evolution, initially focusing on rural infrastructure development, rural services, leisure, and rural culture. Notably, incentive-based strategies and capacity-building tools hold significant importance among the frequently employed approaches. The deployed policy instruments have highlighted adaptability, effectively catering to the diverse stages of rural tourism development. Aligned with China's quintet of targets for rural revitalization, the primary objective in advancing rural tourism remains the cultivation of thriving businesses and overall prosperity. It is found that aspects such as social etiquette, effective governance, and civility have progressively gained prominence in the evolutionary trajectory of rural tourism offering valuable insights into the development of rural tourism in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of rural territorial formations is an actual direction of agro-economic science and an essential component of the state and society functioning. An unprecedented aggravation characterizes the modern context of agrarian economic development. The study aims to apply foresight to design target indicators reflecting the socio-economic development of rural territorial entities. The research actualizes the importance of foresight technologies used as an instrument for forming strategic priorities for developing rural territorial entities. The methodological features of the foresight technologies application are revealed, and the extreme values of target rural development indicators are designed using cluster displaying. Step-by-step algorithm for foresight research of rural development involved seven stages. Clustering of twenty-two rural territories was carried out according to five or six target indicators of economic development with the allocation of four clusters. The research results can be practically used for strategic planning and forecasting of the development of rural territorial formations. The main research results include the clarification of methodological provisions on foresight forecasting of the development of territorial entities at the regional level and the design of critical indicators and parameters reflecting the socio-economic development of rural territories. The paper shows that foresight application in the management practice of strategic planning contributes to improving the processes of making, implementing, and controlling decisions aimed at the harmonious and balanced economic and social development of rural territorial entities. A distinctive feature of foresight is the active interaction between experts, government, business and the population to coordinate actions and develop a common vision for the future development of rural territorial entities. The paper summarizes that the conclusions of foresight forecasting determine the "mainstream" directions for rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With so much confusion around use case modeling, software developers may be reluctant to apply it. However, use cases are easy to apply and have great benefits even in research settings with nonprofessional software developers involved. We report on our experience on this within an innovative tourist information system developed in a research setting of an ongoing Horizon 2020 project named Promotion of Rural Museums and Heritage Sites in the Vicinity of European Pilgrimage Routes (rurAllure). The resulting use case model comprises forty use cases supported by class diagrams, use case diagrams, sequence diagrams, as well as by the domain model and dictionary. Three quarters of use cases have been implemented at least to some extent. Writing use cases provoked intense communication, which helped consolidate the system architecture. The use cases helped validate and better understand the GUI form wireframes designed beforehand and get quickly to a consistent implementation of the system that can be experimented with further in different ways. Finally, the forthcoming extensive system and user experience testing will be guided by the use case model. The paper also exposes the domain model and dictionary along with selected use cases and the hierarchy of user and system actors, which may be useful as such or as a stimulus for the development of other innovative tourist information systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of promoting green, low-carbon, and high-quality development, this paper aims to promote efficient recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in rural China. In this paper, considering the integrated development of urban and rural areas and the standardization of industrial recycling system, under the joint action of the extension of producer responsibility and "dual regulation" of supply and marketing cooperatives, the evolutionary game model and system dynamics model of three-level recycling network of farmers, supply and marketing cooperatives and retailers are established. The mechanism of the participants to promote the recycling of WEEE in rural areas is discussed and the strategic choices and interactive relationships of various entities in the evolutionary process were used to analyze through the evolutionary game method. Meanwhile, using the theory of system dynamics, the main influencing factors of different evolution stages and the dynamic change process of the system are analyzed. The results show that: (1) supply and marketing cooperatives, retailers, and farmers can initially tend to participate in and supervise the recycling of WEEE; however, (2) they can finally achieve strong supervision, actively undertake and participate in the recycling and stabilization stable strategy of rural WEEE depends on their benefits and cost of expenditure expenditures are reasonable. (3) The strategic choice of supply and marketing cooperatives has the most significant impact on the strategic choice of retailers and the strategic choice of retailers has the most significant impact on the strategic choice of farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singlehood has received increasing attention from academic researchers in recent decades. However, when it comes to understanding the lives and experiences of single women in small rural communities, research is sorely lacking. In such communities, singles may have limited opportunities for finding companionship. These tight settings create the perfect environment for social control through gossip. This has damaging effects on young women who find their social lives and sexual activities under the microscope, as well as their expressions of sexuality. Drawing on interviews conducted with young women in small fishing villages in Iceland, this paper examines the lives of single women in small Icelandic communities, particularly when it comes to their social space, love life, and sexual activities as well as gossip about them. The findings reveal patterns of social exclusion against single women in these communities. Moreover, the study uncovers gendered slut-shaming practices and power dynamics that emerge between local and non-local inhabitants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable livestock management plays a crucial role in food production, climate change mitigation, and cultural preservation. Our study aimed to identify and analyse the diversity of social–ecological conditions that characterize extensive livestock systems in southern Patagonia. We integrated data collected from interviews and secondary sources and analysed data using hierarchical cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling to identify distinct ranching types. A qualitative analysis of key informant interviews identified key social–ecological changes for each type. The results emphasize the impact of administration, production, and biophysical factors on shaping different livestock ranching schemes. Further, we identified three significant social–ecological changes driving the dynamics of these systems, including shifts from (1) sheep to cattle ranching, (2) domestic to feral cattle ranching, and (3) landowners to tenant land managers. These findings have implications for policymakers seeking to develop strategies tailored to diverse realities, ensuring the sustainability of livestock systems in Tierra del Fuego. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the AMO theory framework, this study employs structural equation modeling to empirically analyze 226 questionnaires collected from three villages in Guizhou Province: Zhaoxing Dong Village, Xijiang Miao Village, and Basha Miao Village. The study investigates the influence of digital penetration on villagers' entrepreneurial behavior tendencies in tourism and specifically discusses the mediating effects of digital literacy, entrepreneurial passion, and social network relationships. The results indicate that (1) digital penetration has a direct positive impact on villagers' entrepreneurial behavior tendencies in tourism, and (2) digital literacy, entrepreneurial passion, and social network relationships serve as positive mediators in the relationship between digital penetration and villagers' entrepreneurial behavior tendencies in tourism, functioning as capability, motivation, and opportunity factors, respectively. Based on these findings, this study proposes an implementation path to stimulate villagers' entrepreneurial vitality in the context of digital rural strategies. Suggestions include improving rural basic network infrastructure, actively conducting skills training, inspiring villagers' entrepreneurial enthusiasm, and guiding them to establish social network relationships. The aim is to promote rural economic development, facilitate rural revitalization, and create employment opportunities through entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of life in rural housing settlements is at the heart of territorial cohesion concerns across Europe and the United Nations' sustainable development goals. However, the gap between urban and rural developments remains substantial, stressing the need to adopt integrated approaches for rural territories. These approaches should include heritage preservation strategies as a priority. Vernacular constructions integrate rural built heritage and comprise a sustainable response of communities in territories, stressing the pertinence of its rehabilitation. The aim of this paper is to raise awareness of this issue through a scoping review since it lacks general frameworks that may contribute towards perceiving rural territories and their constructions as catalysts of territorial cohesion and sustainable development. As a main goal, we provide insights on sustainable development and its importance in the global and European contexts, as well as the role of building rehabilitation towards its three dimensions—environmental, social, and economic. Additionally, the impact of rural settlements on territorial cohesion and global sustainability is stressed, and vernacular construction is highlighted as a component of rural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the various fundamental causes of rural poverty in China and justifies its eradication within the framework of a new rural renewal strategy. The main objective of this research lies in conducting a multidimensional analysis of the causes of rural poverty in China, examining the trends in its evolution, and substantiating the prospects for the development of rural territories within the country. The primary research methods are multidimensional quantitative and qualitative analyses of rural development in China and poverty and its causes. According to the study, rural households' economic well-being is still very low in Central and Western China's 22 provinces and other comparable administrative units. In 2022, per capita disposable income of rural households was 40.9% of the income of urban households nationwide. Compared to the year 2000, the average Engel Coefficient has decreased from 48.3%, indicating a moderately prosperous standard of living, to 33%, an excellent qualitative indicator of a certain improvement in rural living standards. The research uncovered a direct relationship between the income of rural households and regional gross domestic product, exports, budgetary expenditures, and the proportion of secondary and tertiary industries in the local economy. A dynamic econometric model has been proposed to elucidate the interdependence between exogenous and endogenous factors influencing the genesis of multidimensional poverty in rural regions. Given the global significance of China's rural strategies, the incorporation of these research findings makes an additional contribution to the global discourse on the development of rural areas and their prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Abandonment of cultural landscape practices has had a notable impact on grasslands and domestic livestock that depend on them. This affects the prerequisites for sustainable transitions of cultural landscapes, which combine traditional livelihoods and novel ones like tourism. Objectives: The aims of this study were to explore (1) the long-term temporal dynamics of grassland and livestock in a regional gradient from coastal to inland landscapes in Norway and (2) the temporal development of tourism types among regions. Methods: Using three regions as case studies, with 62 municipalities, we analyzed (1) the temporal dynamics of grassland and livestock using agricultural census data from 1918 to 1999 and (2) two tourism types. Kruskal–Wallis and ANOVA were used to examine whether the relative changes in grassland areas and livestock units, respectively, differed significantly among regions. A PCA was conducted to explore relationships between grassland and livestock types. The proportions of tourist categories were compared. Results: The grassland area and thematic resolution of census data declined over time. Grassland areas correlated with domestic livestock units. Multivariate analysis explained 68% of the variation in grassland and livestock types among municipalities. There was a notable increase in the number of tourists, with summer tourism dominating where the cultural landscape was well conserved. Conclusions: Our study underscores the importance of integrating regional historical trajectories for the conservation and use of valuable cultural landscapes, thereby providing sustainable transitions that combine traditional livelihoods and new types as tourism. Additional in-depth studies are needed to understand the detailed drivers of these changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Rural entrepreneurship has become a popular research topic in the last few years. Recent studies use a variety of qualitative, multivariate, and descriptive techniques. Several literature reviews and bibliometric studies have been conducted to present and analyze the current literature. These bibliometric studies have primarily concentrated on citation analysis, country analysis, journal analysis, and the identification of themes related to rural entrepreneurship. However, those findings offered no clear direction for future research in this field and were ambiguous about the topics on which future research could be conducted. This study attempts a bibliometric study and presents potential scope. Methodology: The Scopus database was used to locate relevant articles published in scientific journals. This study includes 220 articles published between 2002 and 2022. Bibliometric was carried out using biblioshiny of the R software. The study was focused on performance analysis, scientific mapping, and network approach. Thematic analysis was used to determine the significant research themes and major rural entrepreneurship clusters for future research. Findings: The results of this study focused on displaying most pertinent authors, articles, and titles in the field of rural entrepreneurship. The thematic analysis results showed the key areas falling in four different quadrants, i.e., niche, motor, emerging/declining, and basic themes. Implications for theory and practice: This study will help in capturing the present research areas as well as the prospective research paths for researchers and practitioners interested in the topic of rural entrepreneurship. It also includes comparative study between other nations and industries, multidisciplinary approaches, research gaps, emerging trends, and policy implications. Originality and value: This study examines the evolution of rural entrepreneurship and their mainstream research fields and frontiers in the twenty-first century. The results of this study may be considered unique in identifying current trends in rural entrepreneurship research and recommending a directive for future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livelihood initiatives are common within marine protected areas (MPAs) aiming for poverty alleviation or higher income opportunities. However, results can be mixed in reality, as well as change over time. Furthermore, who benefits is a key consideration, as results can vary based on inequalities, including gender. Here, the monetary outcomes of different livelihood strategies were investigated across three MPA regions in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Using a quantitative approach, the results show that livelihoods have shifted in a six-year period, with livelihood strategies differing in poverty incidence and income. Livelihood initiatives, namely seaweed farming and tourism, did not provide significantly higher monetary returns compared to long-standing livelihoods, such as fisheries. Seaweed farming showed income stability but a high poverty incidence predominantly within women-headed households. During the study period, men primarily remained in fisheries, whilst women shifted to small-scale businesses and fisheries, largely exiting seaweed farming. This underscores a need for adaptive, gender sensitive management within fast changing coastal contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Networked (neoendogenous) development is a prescriptive of rural development that merges the positive aspects of exogenous and endogenous approaches by integrating bottom-up demands and top-down planning, internal and external resources and networks, and vertical political-administrative and interterritorial contexts. The current paper opted for a multicase analysis approach and used a tailored networked rural development institutional analysis and development (NRD-IAD) framework to analyse four organizational aspect changes, namely, institutional characteristics, configuration and structure, actions and activities, and outcomes and evaluation, among four case studies; two studies came from the EU LEADER (links between actions for the development of the rural economy), and the other two came from China's resident work team in poor villages (RWTIPV). The research questions are as follows: What is the difference and common principle between these two approaches, and to what extent can they engage in exchange and be mutually learned from? Primary data were collected through involvement, observation, and open-ended interviews with actors in rural regions of China. Secondary data consisted of the resident cadre's job log, resident work team ledger, minutes of the meeting, village's work reports, government regulations, guidelines for poverty-alleviation planning in China's RWTIPV cases, and published journals and internet sources in EU LEADER cases. In terms of difference, we identified the LEADER system mainly as a regulation-based network with relationships as supplementary information, while the RWTIPV system was mainly found to be a relationship-based network with regulations as supplementary information. Although the two systems seem different, the underlying logic is the same, that is, to engage with a collective reflexivity and action agency (CRAA), embedded in the locality and representing much of the local resource base, and to obtain a sufficient level of relational capacity to create the necessary conditions for integrated rural development. These common principles enable exchange and mutual learning to occur between the LEADER and RWTIPV systems through the unified idea (theory) of CRAA. The current findings contribute to the emergence of a new rural development paradigm mechanism and the role of institutional work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to develop an effective methodology that allows for an actual assessment of the sustainable development of rural areas in the realities of the modern economy. To achieve the goal of the research, a multi-stage multi-country research project was developed and implemented, tested on the example of rural areas of Serbia, Hungary, and the Russian Federation. The informational basis of the study was the primary information obtained as a result of the field phase of research. The proposed methodology is based on a combination of general scientific and specialized knowledge acquisition methods, including correlation and structural analysis, as well as graphical data representation. The outcome of the research is an author-developed methodology for assessing sustainable development in rural areas, which does not require specialized software and enables monitoring studies of sustainable development at the municipal level. The results of this study will enable municipal and government specialists to objectively evaluate the dynamics of rural area development to ensure their sustainable development in line with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, the findings of this research can be valuable to academic researchers, including the formation of prospective directions for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural tourism is an important way to promote sustainable economic development and boost the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside. The key to promoting rural tourism development lies in solving the development path problem. In this paper, we extracted high-frequency keywords from the text of 2021 World Tourism Alliance—Case of Tourism Contributing to Rural Revitalization through the text mining tool ROST-CM6, generated a common word matrix, and then used Stata17 for cluster analysis, combined with the case in a deep analysis of similar keywords. The results show that the tourism path to realizing rural revitalization is diversified, and there are four paths: ecological development type, industry-driven type, cultural integration type and multiple governance type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study focuses on groundwater quality in rural areas of Tanzania, addressing the literature gap on water quality data for sustainable rural development. Most rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa depend on groundwater for their domestic use. Despite this importance of groundwater for rural community development, limited research has been conducted on the physicochemical and heavy metal content, creating a significant knowledge gap. The absence of such information raises concerns about water quality in rural areas of Africa, posing potential challenges to public health and community well-being due to the risk of groundwater contamination. To bridge this gap, a comprehensive study was conducted to assess groundwater quality in a selected district, focussing on physicochemical and heavy metal content in 19 boreholes across various villages. The Water Quality Index (WQI) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were employed for providing a detailed evaluation of groundwater quality. Results revealed a widespread acidity, iron, and manganese in most boreholes, with 6 exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) and Tanzania Bureau standards (TBS) for Pb in rainy and dry seasons. Additionally, total dissolved solids, chloride, and hardness surpassed WHO and TBS limits in a single borehole. One-way ANOVA and paired t-tests confirmed significant differences (p < 0.01) among boreholes and across seasons. Pearson's correlation test found strongly significant dependences between pH and iron, as well as hardness and manganese. Approximately 73.68% of water samples were classified as poor and polluted water, rendering them unsuitable for drinking. Elevated heavy metals could be attributed to the region's geological features and mining activities. The study underscores the need for pragmatic monitoring and treatment measures to address identified issues and ensure safe drinking water for the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With economic development and urbanization in China, the rural settlements have experienced great change. To explore the evolution process of rural settlements in terms of land, population and industry can reveal the development law of rural spatial distribution, population structure and industrial economy in different stages and regions. Studying the development status and evolution characteristics of villages in the upper Tuojiang River basin in Southwest China in the past 20 years are of significant value. The upper Tuojiang River basin includes the main types of terrain found in the Southwest region: mountainous, plains, and hills, exhibiting a certain typicality of geographical characteristics. This study took towns and townships at the town-level scale as the basic unit of research, and constructed an evaluation system for village evolution based on' land, population, and industry'. It employed Criteria Importance Through Inter-Criteria Correlation (CRITIC) analysis to examine the characteristics of village evolution in the area from 2000 to 2020, and used geographic detector analysis to identify the leading factors affecting village evolution. The results show that: (1) From 2000 to 2010, villages in the upper Tuojiang River basin experienced significant changes, and the pace of these transformations slowed from 2010 to 2020. (2) From a comprehensive perspective, from 2000 to 2020, villages in hilly areas show a decline, while villages in plain areas near the city center show a positive urbanization development. (3) Road accessibility and distance from the city center are the main factors that explain the spatial differentiation of village evolution degree in the study area. This study elucidates the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of villages in the upper Tuojiang River basin and identifies the primary factors contributing to their changes, which will provide a reference for investigating the development of rural areas in different terrains of Southwest China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of out-shopping (i.e., buying food outside local area) on food expensiveness in remote areas in Scotland, contributing to the literature on social factors affecting food security and food affordability in remote rural areas worldwide. It identifies out-shopping as a factor explaining why existing studies observing food prices at local stores in remote areas find much higher prices than at urban stores, while studies observing actual purchases of household in remote areas find small differences in food expensiveness with urban households. To investigate this difference, a food expensiveness index was constructed using home scanner data measuring households' actual purchases. Data from the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, when travel restriction limited out-shopping, were compared with the same period in 2019 when such restrictions were not in place. The results find that the premium paid in remote rural areas was small overall, but a statistically significant increase during lockdown was found for those households that lost access to discount stores because of movement restrictions. This result indicates that out-shopping is an important factor limiting food expensiveness in remote areas of Scotland and thus ensuring food affordability. Data suggest that approximately 42 percent of households in Scotland remote areas rely on out-shopping for obtaining affordable food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Devising effective strategies to retard the negative impacts of extreme climatic events on water security in general and environmental water balance in specific is imperative, especially in semi-arid rural-Western-India, where climate change has markedly increased water scarcity in domestic and agricultural sectors. This exploratory research thus aimed at investigating the water budget against mismanagement of available water resources for remote-marginalized villages in rural-Nashik (West-India). Investigation entailed visual interpretation of LULC analysis (2008–2017) using fine-scale Google Earth imageries, rainfall-runoff analysis using SCS-CN method, determining the supply-demand potential of water storage structures using field-experimentations and PRA tools, and estimation of season-wise water-budget using hydrological (water-balance) equations. Results identified agriculture as the major land-use (~ 78%) followed by hilly regions (~ 16%) and water bodies (~ 3%). Surface runoff was found as the dominating hydrological phenomenon (33–89% of monsoonal rainfall) followed by surface storage (6–36% of annual rainfall) and groundwater flow (4–82% of annual rainfall). Deforestation over hills for firewood, which reduced forest cover by 52%, was observed as the primary concern for soil erosion, thereby siltation of water bodies and higher runoff against percolation. Erratic rainfall patterns (departure range − 42 to 83% during 1998–2017) coupled with sub-graded irrigational systems confined the agricultural practices to one season [South–West monsoon (June–September)]. High unmet drinking water demand (73% to 98%) forced women communities to fetch water by walking 4.5 ± 1.5 km. Considering the urgent response to collectively combat water-budget imbalance, integrated water security plans were proposed using decentralized participatory watershed development approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability has become an extensive concern in biological and social research. As for urban–rural development, narrowing the disparities between urban and rural areas and leading to urban–rural integration is a tendency of urban–rural development worldwide and an inevitable way to create a sustainable human society. China is in a critical stage of significant challenges and opportunities with a scale and pace unique in history. Although some studies have begun to focus on sustainable urban and rural development, they have often neglected to assess issues related to rural areas. China has undergone the adjustment of rural structure and development policies, and the sustainable development of rural areas should be given enough attention. This study constructs a system of indicators related to rural public resources, aiming to assess whether there are distributional inequalities in spatial allocation. The calculations show that: (1) China's rural public resources allocation coefficient is stable at 0.2 to 0.3 at the national level. (2) Even under policy support, a significant decline rate change still occurs. (3) Western education resources are allocated relatively compared with eastern provinces, but resources are rarely in medical and social security. China has implemented a firm macro-control policy regarding resource allocation in rural areas. Furthermore, the government should continue to increase investment in human resources and public facilities to adjust regional differences. This paper analyzes the allocation structure of rural resources based on China's new policy theory. It has opened a new path in sustainable rural development governance and public resource allocation to provide constructive suggestions for sustainable rural development in China and other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the social, economic, and environmental benefits of village development during the construction and operation of a pumped-storage power station (PSPS) in China. This paper provides an innovative perspective on new energy development in the context of rural revitalization. A four-party evolutionary game model was established that included the central government, local governments, PSPSs, and villagers. The evolution and stabilization strategies used in the development process of the rural revitalization were analyzed. The results show the following: (1) The greater the strength or amount of fines and penalties, the lower the cost of supervision, making it more conducive to the central government's evolution towards strict supervision. (2) The greater the tax revenues, the more likely local governments are to evolve towards active implementation. (3) The greater the social benefits, the more likely PSPSs are to evolve toward active participation. (4) The greater the resettlement compensation fees, wages, and donations, the more likely villagers are to evolve toward positive cooperation. We then provide appropriate suggestions on how PSPSs contribute to rural revitalization. This paper is important for improving the investment decision plan of PSPSs for rural revitalization and promoting China's sustainable new energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural resource degradation poses a major challenge to the sustainable livelihoods of farmers in developing countries, hindering progress toward achieving sustainable rural development. Watershed development and management practices (WDMPs) are powerful tools for enhancing sustainable rural development in developing countries. These practices have been shown to significantly improve livelihoods and food security. This research examined how WDM programs help achieve sustainable development in rural areas, focusing on examples from Ethiopia. This study used a systematic literature review (SLR) approach following a PRISMA review protocol. The research question was formulated using the CIMO (context, intervention, mechanisms, and outcomes) approach: "Does the watershed development and management (WDM) initiative lead to sustainable rural livelihoods?" Considering this research question, the findings indicated that WDM contributes to the socioeconomic and environmental sustainability of rural communities. It does this by enhancing households' livelihood in terms of income generation, employment opportunities, agricultural productivity, and improvements in social services and infrastructure, as evidenced by numerous studies, thereby leading to better livelihoods and food security. This research also emphasizes the importance of community participation and supportive policies and legal frameworks for successful WDM. Overall, the systematic literature review highlights the potential of WDMPs in promoting sustainable rural development in developing countries such as Ethiopia while also highlighting the need for a supportive policy and institutional environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural landscapes, as products of the interaction between humans and nature, not only reflect the history and culture of rural areas but also symbolize economic and social progress. This study proposes a deep learning-based model for Weibo data analysis aimed at exploring the development direction of rural landscapes from the perspective of the Chinese public. The research reveals that the Chinese public's attention to rural landscapes has significantly increased with the evolution of government governance concepts. Most people express a high level of satisfaction and happiness with the existing rural landscapes, while a minority harbor negative emotions towards unreasonable new rural construction. Through the analysis of public opinion regarding rural landscapes, this study will assist decision-makers in understanding the mechanisms of public discourse on social media. It will also aid relevant scholars and designers in providing targeted solutions, which hold significant importance for policy formulation and the exploration of specific development patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural communities across the United States experience increased risk and prevalence of chronic diseases associated with both individual and community-based factors. Thus, there is a need for rural capacity development for chronic disease prevention. Traditional health promotion and intervention approaches often focus on diet-related health disparities from a positivist, evidence-based paradigm. To counter positivist bias within health promotion research, a hybridized approach is proposed using a critical-constructivist paradigm incorporating dialectical thinking, appreciative inquiry, and dialectical inquiry to address cultural and structural barriers, as well as community-based social norms, through evaluation of community-based health promotion interventions. Three dialectical models were identified through interviews with community coalition members: social ties, infrastructure, and worldviews, examining underlying assumptions and counter assumptions. By revealing the dialectic assumptions and counter assumptions within project implementation, practitioners can engage in constructive dialogue with communities to determine more effective and culturally responsive pathways for project development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is an important way to realize rural revitalization and sustainable development to guide rural settlement transition (RST) in an appropriate way. This paper uses actor network theory (ANT) to construct a theoretical framework for the study of RST. Taking two typical villages with different transition paths in rural areas of North China Plain as examples, this paper reveals the mechanism of RST and makes a comparative analysis. The results show that: 1) after identifying problems and obligatory passage point, key actors recruit heterogeneous actors into the actor network by entrusting them with common interests, and realize RST under the system operation. 2) Rural settlements under different transition paths have similarities in the problems to be solved, collective actions and policy factors, but there are differences in the transition process, mechanism and effect. The actor network and mechanism of RST through the path of new rural community construction are more complex and the transition effect is more thorough. In contrast, the degree of RST of retention development path is limited if there is no resource and location advantage. 3) Based on the applicable conditions of different paths, this paper designs a logical framework of 'Situation-Structure-Behavior-Result' to scientifically guide the identification of RST paths under the background of rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specialized households serve as the primary units within specialized villages in China, and their capacity to withstand risks and external influences significantly shapes the future trajectory of specialized villages and the overall vitality of the rural economy. In this study, we established a measurement indicator system based on the definition of specialized households' resilience, elucidating the logical connection between specialized households' resilience and rural industrial development in China. The musical instrument industry in Lankao County, Henan Province of China, was employed as a case; survey data, the entropy method, and an obstacle diagnosis model were used to examine how instrument production specialized households responded to the challenges posed by Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the tightening of national environmental protection policies, yielding the following key findings: 1) there exists substantial variation in the comprehensive resilience levels among different specialized households; 2) the ability to learn and adapt is the most significant contributor to the overall resilience level of specialized households; 3) technological proficiency and access to skilled talent emerge as pivotal factors influencing specialized households' resilience; 4) the positioning of specialized households within the industrial supply chain and the stability of their income have a direct bearing on their resilience level. The influence of specialized households' resilience on industrial development primarily manifests in the following ways: stronger resilience correlates with increased stability in production and sales, fostering a more proactive approach to future actions. However, heightened exposure to the external macroeconomic environment can lead to a higher rate of export reduction. To enhance the development resilience of entities like specialized households and family farms, and to invigorate rural economic development, escalating investments in rural science and technology and prioritizing the training of technical talent become imperative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on the connection between education, development, and social capital through the example of a specific type of rural school called Family Education Alternating Cycle Centers (CEFFA, the acronym for Centros Educativos Familiares de Formación en Alternancia). CEFFA schools are based on the concept of a cycle that alternates between learning periods spent in the socio-professional environment of the students and periods spent in school. Driven by family-run associations and other local actors, these schools pursue personal and local development, with a bottom-up approach based on the protagonism of the beneficiaries, especially in rural areas. To achieve this development through education, the schools provide young people with a comprehensive education associated with vocational training and introduce the needs of the territorial context into the curriculum. In this way, they ensure the relevance of learning. This article examines how these schools maintain a strong associative life that is strengthened by the social capital created around them. After defining the school associations, we describe their specific characteristics and some requirements for their adequate functioning. The CEFFA results suggest that we can reimagine a more people-centered education in which families and other community actors are committed to sustainable local development and transformative learning through the use of the power of social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of the bioeconomy holds great promise for promoting green growth and competitiveness across Europe through the use of renewable biological resources, such as plant and animal biomass, while adhering to the principles of circularity. Despite its introduction by the European Commission in 2015, little effort has been made to define or describe what exactly a circular bioeconomy entails. In the case of Greece in particular, however, the survival of the region of Western Macedonia appears to be highly dependent on sustaining its agricultural activity by incorporating elements related to this crucial sector of the economy. In order for this agricultural transformation to be effective, bio-economic practices relevant to crop production and appropriate alternative management practices must be universally implemented at all levels. To achieve this, it was necessary to collect questionnaires from 412 farmers in the region for analysis purposes, and to classify their responses based on k-means cluster analysis, which later formed these systematic groups: modernists, early adopters and latecomers. Evaluation of these categories revealed a variety of factors, such as age and income, that significantly influenced their attitudes towards adopting bioeconomy farming practices and related circularity principles. Overall, understanding these challenges opens the door for policy decisions aimed at supporting the development of sustainable rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 15 years, the examination of homestay tourism has expanded significantly, integrating with a number of academic disciplines including marketing, management, and economics. Throughout the past fifteen years, studies on homestay tourism have increased significantly, intertwining with numerous disciplines of study such as marketing, management, and economics. The present paper provides an outline of the growth of the homestay tourism literature released in 134 peer-reviewed papers during the previous 15 years (2005–2023). We realized the presence of six research clusters focusing on the following main areas of study using bibliometric analysis: host–guest relationship and roles, rural community development and empowerment, challenges of the homestay program, contribution and perceived impacts of homestay, motivations of homestay tourists, and authenticity in tourism establishments. We chose and assessed the most significant contributions in every domain and highlighted developing philosophical concepts and standards of excellence. Furthermore, the study has assisted researchers in identifying prospective study subjects that have received less attention. As a consequence, we developed multiple study initiatives for filling up the current voids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional gender analysis of development policy does not adequately explain the slow progress towards gender equality. Our research analyses the gender discourses embedded in agricultural and rural development policies in Myanmar and Nepal. We find that both countries focus on increasing women's participation in development activities as a core gender equality policy objective. This creates a binary categorisation of participating versus non-participating women and identifies women as responsible for improving their position. At the same time, gender (in)equality is defined exclusively as a women's concern. Such discourses, as constitutive practices, produce specific knowledge about rural women and new subjectivities that prescribe and govern them solely as subjects of development. Our research suggests that such a limited discursive practice invisiblises gendered power relations and structural and institutional issues, ultimately slowing progress towards gender equality. We demonstrate the importance of studying policy as discourse, beyond the effectiveness of policies or mainstreaming tools, and call for empirical evidence on the impact of these discourses on women's subjectivities and lived experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With better access to e-commerce and its adoption in rural China, farmer entrepreneurship has thrived and released renewed vigor and vitality in rural areas, serving as a reference for global poverty reduction and rural entrepreneurship. This paper probes into the relationship between e-commerce adoption, social networks, and farmer entrepreneurship to find a mechanism of e-commerce to promote farmer entrepreneurship. This research uses household survey data from the Chinese General Social Survey of 2017. The cross-sectional research method with a sample size of 1306 was adopted in this study to establish links between various constructs. This study used secondary data that had already been collected on the subject. In this research, the quantitative secondary data analysis method was applied to numeric data arithmetically analyzed. The findings indicate that, first, e-commerce has significantly boosted farmer entrepreneurship, particularly in less-developed regions, where the effect is slightly more robust (the central and western regions). Second, the size and heterogeneity of social networks partially mediate the relationship between e-commerce adoption and farmers' entrepreneurial decision-making at the state level. In addition, the current data analysis has not verified the logical relationship between e-commerce adoption, the strength of ties, and farmer entrepreneurship. Thirdly, social network size and heterogeneity have a greater mediation effect than the regional subsample study results. This paper adds to the current theoretical approach about farmer entrepreneurship, e-commerce adoption, their relationship with social network size, heterogeneity, and strength of ties based on the Chinese General Social Survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The entrepreneurship of women in rural areas can provide economic versatility for families and help protect the social structure. Women have different reasons and motivations for engaging in entrepreneurship activities in different societies. The present research aimed to find the reasons for and obstacles to the creation and development of business and entrepreneurship activities using the interview method. The research population who were interviewed was fourteen exemplary female entrepreneurs in Khorasan Razavi province, Iran, who were introduced to us by the Office of Women's Affairs and the Family of the Khorasan Razavi Governor. The results of the interview were encoded and analyzed with the MaxQda software. The results showed that the most important reasons and motivations of women for entrepreneurship activities included economic, social, humane, personal, cultural, and environmental. Economic reasons were the strongest ones. The most important obstacles for women in creating and expanding entrepreneurial activities included bureaucratic, economic, family-oriented, psychological, infrastructure, policy-making, sociocultural, and technical. The study gives new insight into what obstacles women entrepreneurs are faced to create small rural businesses in rural areas and how they are motivated to develop their businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-scale aquaculture is a major source of food in Myanmar. Beyond its importance for food security and nutrition, small-scale aquaculture contributes to the livelihoods of many rural households and is a potentially valuable strategy for rural development. However, small-scale aquaculture producers have limited access to improved production technologies and information, which hampers the productivity and socioeconomic performance of small-scale aquaculture systems. In this study we assessed the impact of the adoption of better management practices and exposure to nutrition-sensitive training by 379 small-scale aquaculture producers in the Sagaing and Shan regions of Myanmar. We focused on whether and how the exposure to these interventions affected household food security through improvements in productivity and livelihoods. We used Propensity Score Matching to compare the performance of groups that were exposed to the intervention for one or two years, for seven impact variables. Exposure to the intervention had a positive effect for most impact variables, with differentiated effects among variables, group comparisons and regions. In terms of food security, beneficiaries had significantly higher dietary diversity (measured as the Food Consumption Score, FCS), but there were no significant differences for fish self-consumption (measured in kg/week). Longer exposure to the interventions produced significantly higher positive effects across most impact variables for the 2-year beneficiaries compared to 1-year beneficiaries and control groups. Our study suggests that the length of exposure to such interventions can be important in mediating the actual impact of small-scale aquaculture systems on household food security and livelihoods. Sustained help to small-scale producers should be considered in initiatives and development projects seeking to enhance the food security and rural development of small-scale aquaculture systems in Myanmar, and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of rural in-migration is emerging as a significant trend in various global hotspots, playing a crucial role in reshaping these rural areas from social and spatial perspectives. The decision-making process for rural in-migrants regarding settlement is complex. Although previous studies have acknowledged that settlement intentions are influenced by social and environmental factors, such as the economy, natural environment, and public service facilities, many have relied on a stated-preference approach to measure migrants' settlement intentions. This method may overlook the inherent complexity and fluidity of the decision-making process. Drawing upon the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this paper formulates questions aligned with the three stages of decision-making to examine the settlement intentions of rural in-migrants. Employing multiple linear regression analysis, the study assesses the impact of social and environmental factors on the settlement decisions of rural in-migrants in four villages surrounding Dali, a renowned rural destination in southwest China that attracts a diverse range of migrants. The findings highlight the pivotal role of public service facilities' quality in rural villages in the decision-making process, particularly among those who have already formulated settlement plans. Additionally, the research reveals that female in-migrants place a heightened emphasis on the quality of these facilities. Furthermore, a higher level of education correlates with a broader diversity of influencing factors. As migrants age, a wider range of considerations comes into play, with the natural environment emerging as a key factor for older in-migrants. This article emphasizes the equal importance of continuously improving public service facilities, strengthening economic vitality, and protecting rural natural landscapes to support the development of rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rural reform is reliant on farmers' cooperatives as a key organization vehicle. It plays an important role in promoting rural revitalization. Such as, realizing the organic connection between small farmers and agricultural modernization. This study used the nearest neighbor index and kernel density estimation to analyze the spatial distribution and structural characteristics of farmer cooperatives in Hunan Province. It revealed the spatial differentiation law of cooperatives. Also using geographical detectors to figure out the main factors that affect the spatial distribution. The results show that: ① Hunan Farmers Cooperatives show significant spatial agglomeration. The overall spatial distribution shows the spatial characteristics of "one core, one circle, and multiple points". And the spatial distribution pattern of "large agglomeration, finger-shaped radiation distribution". Among them, the distribution of provincial demonstration cooperatives is relatively balanced. ② Cooperatives in six types of industries, such as planting, forestry, and feeding, showed agglomeration distribution. Different industrial cooperatives spread out in different ways, such as in an anti-"L" shape, a dual-core shape, or a one-center area. ③ The 24 influence factors selected from the five dimensions of the natural environment, social economic basis, production basis, output capacity, and facility basis have high, general, and weak influence on cooperatives' spatial distribution. The development and distribution of cooperatives mainly depend on resource endowment, social and economic development level, and market dependence. The spatial distribution heterogeneity of different professional cooperatives is mainly affected by slope, per capita disposable income of rural residents, road density, and other factors. ④ The progression of farmer cooperatives in Hunan Province should prioritize high-quality development, emphasizing the need for innovative approaches and transformative strategies within rural industrial organizations. It is imperative to optimize the spatial distribution of cooperatives, strategically contributing to the establishment of a novel framework for modern agricultural development in Hunan Province. Additionally, there is a critical emphasis on spearheading collaborative initiatives among cooperatives of varied industrial types, aimed at fostering the integrated development of rural primary, secondary, and tertiary industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interplay between urban centers and peri-urban villages plays a pivotal role in rural development, particularly in the economic dimension. Analyzing these relationships and their influence on the progress and prosperity of peri-urban villages, coupled with capacity building, empowerment, and the integration of urban-rural management, is essential to reduce disparities and promote spatial justice, aligning with the sustainable development of rural areas. This study aims to assess the effects of Zanjan city's economic drivers on the livability quality of Do Asb and Payin Kouh, two peri-urban villages situated in Zanjan city. Employing a descriptive-analytical and practical approach, the study's statistical population comprises the aforementioned villages in Zanjan city. A sample of 219 households was selected from among the sample population based on Cochran's formula. Data collection involved both library research and fieldwork, including the use of questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics (multivariate regression) were employed for data analysis, along with descriptive statistics (averages) and geographic information systems to analyze land use changes. The research findings unveiled a robust correlation (0.87) between the quality of life in peri-urban villages and the economic drivers of Zanjan city. This indicates a significant and positive relationship between Zanjan city's economic drivers (independent variable) and the quality of life in peri-urban villages (dependent variable). Among the examined variables, communication flow for purchases, with a coefficient of 0.28, contributed most to the variance analysis of the quality of life in peri-urban villages. In contrast, the investment flow of urban residents in village economic activities and the flow of money exchange had relatively lower coefficients of 0.13 and 0.14, respectively. Thus, the research underscores the considerable impact of Zanjan's economic drivers on enhancing the quality of life in peri-urban villages and highlights the pivotal role of rural-urban links in fostering sustainable rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to transform rural development, the implementation of disaster resettlement projects should not only reduce environmental hazards, but also improve the sustainability of natural resources and household well-being. This article assesses sustainable household well-being (SHWB) and natural resource dependence using a quantitative survey of rural China. It identifies four classes of relationship between SHWB and natural resource dependence and explores the impact of disaster resettlement on these classes. The result shows that rural households that participate in disaster resettlement as well as in voluntary relocation, centralized relocation, and new-stage relocation are more likely to achieve "high well-being and low dependence." However, the overall SHWB level of the relocated households is lower than that of the non-relocated households, and disaster resettlement also has a significant positive impact on the "low well-being and low dependence" class. It is recommended that governments implement measures to address these issues. The findings in this article could shed light on the impact of resettlement programs on rural households elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drier conditions have been observed in Northern Patagonia, Argentina, in the last decades, affecting the pastoralism production system. In this context, two laws were promoted to foster goat and sheep production. This research investigated the hydro-climatic changes and the governmental initiatives, within these two laws, that follow them with special emphasis on climate hazard responses and their relationship with coping or adaptation strategies. A climatic shift was found as a tipping point in the climatic regime to drier conditions in 2006/7. This is observed in the annual mean streamflow of the Neuquén river which presented a 40% drop. Governmental funds were mostly oriented to tackle water-bonded problems given the lack of water and the remaining budget was mainly destined to infrastructure. This was done under the belief of drought events rather than a climatic shift. Distinguishing between them is a key factor for risk management stakeholders, since a drought must be mitigated with coping strategies, whereas a climate shift implies a long-lasting adaptation to a new reality. Even though they were not initially designed with consideration for climate change, some of these measures favor the adaptation process to this new drier scenario. Thus, many of the measures aimed to mitigate the structural vulnerabilities of the pastoral system in the region. This new scenario has triggered the need for a compulsory broad change in the socio-productive pastoral system, which might take more time than the assimilation of the negative impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quest to eradicate poverty, central to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), poses a significant global challenge. Advancement in sustainable rural development is critical to this effort, requiring the seamless integration of environmental, economic, and governmental elements. Previous research often omits the complex interactions among these factors. Addressing this gap, this study evaluates sustainable rural development in China by examining the interconnection between agricultural production and government-led poverty reduction, with annual rainfall considered an influential factor of climate change impacts on these sectors and overall sustainability. Utilizing a Meta-frontier entropy network dynamic Directional Distance Function (DDF) within an exogenous Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, we categorize China's 27 provinces into southern and northern regions according to the Qinling-Huaihe line for a comparative study of environmental, economic, and governmental efficiency. This innovative approach overcomes the limitations of previous static analyses. The findings reveal: (1) Rainfall, as an exogenous variable, significantly affects agricultural production efficiency. (2) The overall efficiency in both southern and northern regions increases when accounting for rainfall. (3) Government effectiveness in poverty reduction is comparatively lower in the northern region than in the southern region when rainfall is considered. These insights underscore the importance of including climatic variables in sustainable development policies and emphasize the need for region-specific strategies to bolster resilience against climatic challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying the spatiotemporal characteristics of government support for rural development is crucial for accurately optimizing or formulating policies for rural development, but research identifying government support for rural development at the geospatial scale has not yet emerged. This paper used Hubei Province, China, as the study area and constructed indicators of government support for rural development based on the intensity of support, the spatial direction of support, and the spatial agglomeration of support based on the characteristics of legal rural construction land allocation. Panel data regression was used to quantify the direction of rural development that requires the allocation of rural construction land based on government support. The results showed that government support for rural development through legal rural construction land allocation has strong spatiotemporal characteristics: From 2009 to 2018, the intensity of support grew, the spatial direction of support was regular, and government support was increasingly manifested as local agglomeration. The orientations of government support through legal rural construction land allocation for rural development include farmers' production, farmers' livelihoods and social security. This research provides a reference for quantifying government support through legal rural construction land allocation for rural development and the direction of government support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important livelihoods for rural households in Colombia is the cultivation of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) to produce panela. We analyzed livelihood strategies associated with sugarcane cultivation for panela production and their impacts on rural households' wellbeing in Caquetá, southern Colombia. We selected 81 rural households to gather data to calculate correlations between capitals and identify community capital indicators. Our results identified three types of producers: Avant-garde, Traditionalists, and Diversifiers, each with specific characteristics that need to be taken into consideration when designing sustainable development policies for rural communities. We recommend increased input from panela producers into such policy making strategies to address their specific needs and strengthen their wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to maintain the balanced stability and resilient development of rural systems is an important issue that needs urgent attention in the field of sustainable rural development at present. In this paper, the entropy method, spatial autocorrelation model, and Geodetector were used to explore the rural resilience level, spatial distribution characteristics, and driving factors of 31 cities in the urban agglomerations in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (UAMRYR), and to put forward corresponding policy suggestions. The results are as follows: (1) From 2005 to 2020, rural resilience in the UAMRYR showed an upward trend with an average annual growth rate of 8.26%. The ranking of the three major urban agglomerations is Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomerations > Wuhan urban agglomerations > Poyang Lake urban agglomerations. (2) During the study period, the spatial distribution of rural resilience gradually developed from a negative correlation to a strong positive correlation and generally showed the characteristics of high in the west and low in the east. (3) The urbanization rate, the size and structure of the economy, the difference in consumption and income between urban and rural areas, the local fiscal revenue, and the number of village committees are the key factors affecting the level of rural resilience. On this basis, we proposed policy recommendations to improve the economic, social, and ecological resilience of rural areas in the UAMRYR. The findings of this paper are expected to provide insights into the policy formulation of China's rural revitalization strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional aim in transportation planning is to maximise gains associated with vehicular travel distances or times, indirectly prioritising populations that live near existing or proposed roads—remote populations that first require hours of walking to reach roads are overlooked. In this paper, rural roads optimisation is performed using a new model that estimates proposed roads' accessibility gains, considering reductions in vehicular travel time and reductions in walking time required by remote populations to reach them. This ensures that even the most remote populations that may benefit from new roads are included in their evaluation. When presented with a large number of proposed roads and the requirement of determining a plan within a suitable budget, it is often infeasible to construct all proposed roads. In such instances, subsets of well-performing road-combinations that are evaluated with respect to multiple objectives need to be identified for analysis and comparison–for which multi-objective optimisation approaches can be employed. Traditional optimisation approaches return a small number of road-combination plans only, limited to user-specified budget levels and objective weight sets. This paper presents an innovative heuristic solution approach that overcomes such limitations by returning thousands of well-performing solutions scattered across a budget span, and not limited in number to user-specified objective weight sets at fixed budget levels. The heuristic is employed along with a more traditional weighted-sum integer-linear programming approach to determine high-quality road-combination plans selected from 92 roads recently proposed for construction in Nepal's remote Karnali province. Using these two approaches with inputs from the new multi-modal accessibility model, it is illustrated how rural roads planning can be performed to the benefit of rural populations regardless of their proximity to roads. New planning and analysis benefits of the heuristic are demonstrated by comparing its solutions to those determined by the weighted-sum approach, providing a level of detail and sophistication not previously possible for rural roads planning and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The convergence of agricultural sustainability and energy transition is a powerful force that can completely reshape socioeconomic environments, and rural development is at the center of this transformation. With the goal of clarifying their combined influence on rural areas, this brief study investigates the linked dynamics between adopting sustainable farming methods and switching to clean energy sources. This study takes an innovative and dynamic approach to investigate the fundamental effects of farmers’ creative entrepreneurship on agricultural and rural economic performance in China. Panel data covering thirty provinces between 2015 and 2020 are used in the research, and various geographical matrices of weight are systematically taken into account. According to the empirical results, low urbanization is visible in the geographical distribution of innovative rural businesses, and there are also apparent positive regional spillover and radiation-driving effects. These effects are particularly noticeable in areas with comparable degrees of urbanization. Furthermore, various locations with varying patterns of grain production and family income levels are shown to have varied impacts. In the end, the study highlights the importance of closely tying farmers’ creativity and business skills together and offers empirical proof for the requirement of implementing unique and targeted incentive programs for rural entrepreneurship in the context of the shifting economic landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural areas in developing countries often grapple with energy shortages, low energy efficiency, and significant environmental pollution, all of which are interconnected with the issues of rural poverty. Policies geared toward rural green development are closely linked to energy transformation and economic growth. China's “Beautiful Countryside Construction” initiative prioritizes the enhancement of rural living conditions, the promotion of rural economic progress, energy transformation, and environmental amelioration through rural–urban integration. This study utilizes panel data encompassing 1,787 Chinese counties spanning from 2008 to 2015, employing the difference-in-difference (DID) method to analyze the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the “Beautiful Countryside Construction” program. The findings indicate that this initiative has contributed to the enhancement of the rural environment, the promotion of environmentally friendly economic development, and the advancement of rural energy transformation. These outcomes hold significant implications for how developing nations can design policies that achieve a harmonious balance between economic advancement and environmental preservation, fostering sustainable economic growth worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid urbanization process, the space of traditional villages in China is undergoing significant changes. Studying the spatial evolution of traditional villages is significant in promoting rural spatial transformation and realizing rural revitalization and sustainable rural development. Based on the traceability analysis of spatial production theory, this paper constructed an analytical framework for the spatial production evolution of traditional villages, analyzed the spatial evolution process and characteristics of traditional villages by using buffer analysis, spatial syntax, and other research methods, and revealed the characteristics of the spatial production evolution of traditional villages and the driving mechanism. The results show that: (1) The village spatial formation and development follow the village life cycle theory and usually develop from embryonic villages to diversified and integrated villages; (2) The evolution of village spatial production is characterized by the diversity of material space, the sublimation of daily life space, and the integration of social system space and generalization of emotional space; (3) The evolution of village spatial production from backward and poor village to ecologically well-off village is influenced by a combination of factors; (4) The village has formed a spatial structure of "people-land-scape-culture-industry", realized comprehensive reconstruction and spatial reproduction. The study results reflect the spatial evolution characteristics of traditional villages in mountainous areas in a more comprehensive way, which helps to promote the protection and development of traditional villages in mountainous areas and, to a certain extent, provides a reference for the development of rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the countryside, where intensive rural development and rising property values have been observed since the late 1970s, the preservation and meaning of traditional dwellings have emerged as crucial considerations in shaping Hong Kong's countryside conservation policy. The focus of this paper is on the conservation of temples, as we are drawn to these structures not only for their architectural merit but also for their role as public buildings within the countryside. Consequently, their cultural significance is heavily influenced by the stakeholders they are associated with, distinguishing them from other types of dwellings. This paper examines the coastal landscape of South Lantau, which includes several villages with distinct traditions that have undergone significant transformations since the 1960s. Located at the southwest edge of Hong Kong, Lantau Island had a rural lifestyle that was relatively undisturbed before WWII because of the difficulty in accessing the island. However, in response to the large people influx from China's mainland after 1949, the Hong Kong government introduced the Lantau Development Plan in 1953, mainly to open up new sources of freshwater resources for Hong Kong Island. The construction of South Lantau Road in 1955 and Shek Pik Reservoir in 1957 gradually led to the decline of agricultural activities in South Lantau and the population exodus of local villagers, resulting in a rupture to regional traditions. In multilineage communities such as the villages on South Lantau, worship of a common deity provides a vital source of social bonding, particularly for an area long beset by typhoons, piracy and banditry. Local people pray for safety and prosperity through collective rituals and celebratory activities. Therefore, temples are not only religious establishments but also embody the sense of social solidarity among villagers on South Lantau. Through the case study of three rural villages on South Lantau, this paper examines how temples play an important role in the continuity of the communal network amid repercussions from the postwar disruption of traditional rural life. Significantly, this pilot study also draws attention to the functions of temples in their historical context. It emphasises the importance of recognising and re-evaluating these buildings for cultural enhancement as part of community engagement. This study provides valuable insights for future conservation efforts for religious buildings in the countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]