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Small towns, the nodes connecting cities and villages, play an important role in urbanization and rural development. However, it is generally believed that small towns lack economic efficiency therefore are excluded from main-stream urbanization of China. Based on the socio-economic statistics of 109 towns in 7 counties of Jiangsu province, this paper evaluates the DEA efficiency of small towns with different classifications, and compares the DEA efficiency of small towns with 21 county-towns, then analyzes the economic density of small towns and 283 prefecture-level cities with different scales. The results show that: (1) There are significant differences in the efficiency characteristics of different types of towns. Approximately 80% of the sampled towns could improve their efficiency by intensive resource-use and production scale expansion; (2) Although county-towns obtained more resources, their efficiency is not significantly superior than other types of towns (P > 0.05); (3) Small towns perform well in terms of economic density, which is not significantly different from small and medium-sized cities, but significantly lower than large cities with population of municipal district > 1 million. These findings challenge the stereotypes of towns in driving urbanization. The authors argue that the economic development level, input-output efficiency and economic density of small towns can also be high, shaping their important role in integrating urban and rural development, accelerating new-type urbanization and promoting rural vitalization strategy. • DEA was employed to evaluate the efficiency of 109 sampled small towns. • There are significant differences in the efficiency characteristics of different types of towns. • The economic density of small towns is significantly lower than that of big cities, but no significant difference with small and medium-sized cities. • More attention should be paid to incubate some key towns as growth poles of rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas in China have expanded rapidly in recent decades, which mainly resulted in the conversion of fertile cropland. As the growth of urban areas is likely to continue in the next decades, there is a need for detailed assessments of urbanization impacts on food production. However, most land use models cannot simulate different types of urban change trajectories, such as expansion and densification, which constrains their capacity to inform such assessments with sufficient detail on the patterns of urbanization. In this paper, we present a land use model that represents multiple types of settlements, which allows to simulate multiple different urban change trajectories. We applied this model to Jiangsu Province, China, and assess the impact of projected urban development between 2015 and 2030 on cropland area and crop production. Results show that population growth is accommodated by different urban change trajectories, depending on the absence or presence of land use policies to maintain food security. In the absence of policies, population growth mainly leads to urban expansion, yielding losses in both cropland area and crop production. Implementing strict cropland protection policies leads to more urban densification and all population can be accommodated without a net loss of cropland. Yet, crop production decreases in this scenario as the most productive croplands are still converted and compensated by less productive areas. Protecting crop production instead leads to a small loss in cropland area combined with cropland intensification and different types of urban change, but maintains the total crop production. These results show the relevance of more nuanced representation of urban development in land use models in order to inform land use policies. • Land use assessments should account for the variety in settlements, from towns to metropolises. • We model land use change using multiple different settlement systems. • In the absence of policies, urban growth will lead to a decline in cropland and crop production. • Protecting cropland area leads to urban densification accompanied by a decline in crop production. • It is possible to maintain crop production and still accommodate for urban growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]