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As energy systems transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources, energy infrastructure will become a predominant land use, especially in rural areas. This poses a challenge for municipalities who need to adapt land use planning frameworks to more renewable energy. Using plan quality evaluation, this paper assesses how 57 rural official plans in Manitoba (Canada) are attempting to integrate energy planning. Consideration of energy within plans is poor, especially for implementation mechanisms and fact base. While rural communities are the forefront of the energy transition, existing land use planning frameworks are maladapted to enable it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability of social–ecological systems within river deltas globally is in question as rapid development and environmental change trigger "negative" or "positive" tipping points depending on actors' perspectives, e.g. regime shift from abundant sediment deposition to sediment shortage, agricultural sustainability to agricultural collapse or shift from rural to urban land use. Using a systematic review of the literature, we show how cascading effects across anthropogenic, ecological, and geophysical processes have triggered numerous tipping points in the governance, hydrological, and land-use management of the world's river deltas. Crossing tipping points had both positive and negative effects that generally enhanced economic development to the detriment of the environment. Assessment of deltas that featured prominently in the review revealed how outcomes of tipping points can inform the long-term trajectory of deltas towards sustainability or collapse. Management of key drivers at the delta scale can trigger positive tipping points to place social–ecological systems on a pathway towards sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates nine Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) turbulence parameterization schemes from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale meteorological model, comparing hourly values of meteorological variables observed and simulated at the surface of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (MRSP). The numerical results were objectively compared with high-quality observations carried out on three micrometeorological platforms representing typical urban, suburban, and rural land use areas of the MRSP, during the 2013 summer and winter field campaigns as part of the MCITY BRAZIL project. The main objective is to identify which PBL scheme best represents the diurnal evolution of conventional meteorological variables (temperature, relative and specific humidity, wind speed, and direction) and unconventional (sensible and latent heat fluxes, net radiation, and incoming downward solar radiation) on the surface. During the summer field campaign and over the suburban area of the MRSP, most PBL scheme simulations exhibited a cold and dry bias and overestimated wind speed. They also overestimated sensible heat flux, with high agreement index and correlation values. In general, the PBL scheme simulations performed well for latent heat flux, displaying low mean bias error and root square mean error values. Both incoming downward solar radiation and net radiation were also accurately simulated by most of them. The comparison of the nine PBL schemes indicated the local Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ) scheme performed best during the summer period, particularly for conventional meteorological variables for the land use suburban in the MRSP. During the winter field campaign, simulation outcomes varied significantly based on the site's land use and the meteorological variable analyzed. The MYJ, Bougeault-Lacarrère (BouLac), and Mellor-Yamada Nakanishi-Niino (MYNN) schemes effectively simulated temperature and humidity, especially in the urban land use area. The MYNN scheme also simulated net radiation accurately. There was a tendency to overestimate sensible and latent heat fluxes, except for the rural land use area where they were consistently underestimated. However, the rural area exhibited superior correlations compared to the urban area. Overall, the MYJ scheme was deemed the most suitable for representing the convectional and nonconventional meteorological variables on the surface in all urban, suburban, and rural land use areas of the MRSP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land trusts are increasingly powerful institutions of U.S. environmental governance that deserve more critical scrutiny. As charitable conservation organizations, they enjoy the many advantages of nonprofit status under the claim that they provide broad public benefits. Critics, however, have recently challenged this claim, portraying land trusts as quintessential institutions of neoliberal privatization and hybrid governance. Through a conjunctural analysis of U.S. land trusts across the long twentieth century, and with specific attention to the first, the Trustees of Public Reservations (founded in 1893), this article argues that the treatment of land trusts as neoliberal institutions is both illuminating and limiting. As many critical analyses indicate, U.S. land trusts today tend to privatize governance and facilitate the use of public funds for projects with significant private benefit. I argue, however, that the conceptualization of land trusts as institutions of neoliberal environmental governance also obscures the fact that, across their long history, they are an expression of the contradictions of decentralized land-use planning under capitalism. Most broadly, I suggest that rigorous conjunctural analysis can help geographers refine their conceptualization of neoliberalism and move beyond its limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incorporating green and low-carbon building targets into the rural planning management system requires scientific and quantitative methods for assessing carbon emissions from rural land use. At present, the research in this field mainly focuses on urban areas, but there are fewer theoretical and practical studies on the assessment of carbon emissions from rural land use. This paper proposes a new carbon emission assessment method based on land use modes, and the model can not only assess carbon emissions but also directly reflect the carbon emission intensity of different land use spaces in rural areas and guide the carbon emission control of construction land in village planning. In this paper, we take suburban rural areas in Hunan Province as an example and establish a land use carbon emission assessment model with 13 indicators in five dimensions: total carbon emission, carbon emission efficiency, carbon emission intensity per unit of land use, carbon emission structure of land use, and carbon emission intensity of buildings, based on the bottom-up field research data. We practised our method in Jinlong Town, Hunan Province, and gave examples of model applications. It was found that the carbon emission calculation method based on the carbon emission intensity of land use can be used to calculate the current status of carbon emissions in different villages in Jinlong Town. At the same time, the carbon emission assessment results can be used as a scientific basis for carbon emission control in detailed village planning in Jinlong Town. In general, the carbon emission assessment model can complete the assessment of land carbon emissions in rural areas and provide a low-carbon land use management tool for the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subtropical and tropical islands are undergoing rapid urbanization as the human population expands globally. Urbanization disrupts coastal ecosystems through several pathways—including the replacement of natural habitats with concrete structures that increase runoff pollution—but it remains difficult to isolate and characterize specific impacts of urbanization on marine ecosystems. The historical gradient in urbanization on the subtropical island of Okinawa, Japan, sets up a natural laboratory to study urbanization effects on nearshore ecosystems. Physicochemical parameters and bacterial community composition were assessed every 2 weeks for 1 year at two nearshore sites adjacent to watersheds with > 70% urban land use and two nearshore sites adjacent to watersheds with > 70% rural land use. Urbanization increased freshwater input and nutrient loading—indicated by decreased salinity and elevated nitrate + nitrite, ammonium, and phosphate at urban sites—despite the urban sites being more open to flushing due to land reclamation projects filling in the coral lagoon. Urbanization significantly altered microbial community composition by increasing diversity through the addition of fecal indicator and pathogenic bacteria—eight orders of bacteria were only detected in urban samples, whereas only Verrucomicrobiales was unique to rural samples. The change in microbial community composition at urban sites persisted throughout the seasonal cycle, suggesting a regime change or sustained disturbance. The altered physicochemical conditions and microbial communities at urban sites could degrade nearby coral reefs and their ecosystem services, highlighting the importance of coastal land management in marine conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants in streams act as physical ecosystem engineers, both influencing and responding to hydrogeomorphic processes such as fine sediment retention. Instream vegetation may also influence propagule dispersal and retention, shaping plant community dynamics. These plant‐sediment interactions may result in synergistic feedback promoting hydrogeomorphic complexity and biogeomorphic succession. However, the role of aquatic plants (submerged or mostly submerged) in trapping propagules, fine sediment and organic matter in degraded lowland streams is uncertain. In this study, we sampled sediment (≤5 cm depth) from eight streams ranging in land use from rural to urban, including within patches of aquatic vegetation and unvegetated locations. We conducted a propagule bank trial to identify the abundance and diversity of propagules and analysed the particle size and organic matter composition of the samples. A total of 8,365 seedlings from 113 plant species were recorded with a range of hydrological tolerances. Aquatic plants retained 56% more propagules and 32% more species, and marginal vegetation retained 250% more propagules and 48% more species, than open channel locations (the least retentive location). Similar patterns were found for fine sediment and organic matter retention. Propagule bank communities were different across land‐use types but not sampling locations. The trapping effect of aquatic vegetation diminished as catchments became more urbanised. This study provides evidence that aquatic plants retain more propagules and species, and fine sediment and organic matter than vegetation‐free channel locations. Improving aquatic vegetation in streams may be an important early step in restoring hydrogeomorphic complexity and propagule retention, and the facilitation of biogeomorphic succession in degraded streams. Unfortunately, heavily urbanised streams with flashy flow regimes are unlikely to benefit from this function unless catchment‐scale hydrology is addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization in China has shifted the logic and needs of rural resource allocation, prompting a transformative approach toward rural revitalization and sustainable development through comprehensive land consolidation. This paper offers a theoretical framework for understanding the driven adjustments in rural power, capital, and social structures facilitated by comprehensive land consolidation. It discusses how the construction of pastoral complexes influences the diversification of rural land use and ecological restoration through dynamic adjustments in power structures. This study illustrates that in Guangzhou, comprehensive land consolidation is indispensable for ensuring food security and fostering diverse rural industries. Furthermore, it facilitates the resource and commercialization of land, balances governmental social responsibilities with rational capital pursuits, and enriches the livelihood structures of social entities to ensure rural social equity. The pastoral complex model achieves a harmonious integration of rural socio-economic and natural systems. Innovations in paths of social participation help eliminate the effects of social inequality within the environment, while the theory of political ecology clearly analyzes the internal reasons for the interaction and strategic plays among diverse actors under this model. The case studies of the pastoral complex present the practice of national–capital–land–social relationships and changes in land benefits, showcasing a Chinese approach to rural development and social justice. This provides a new perspective for political ecology research and enriches its empirical content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural house is a fundamental component of rural settlements, and understanding its construction and development characteristics is crucial for rural land use and development planning. This paper focuses on the spatiotemporal characteristics and influencing factors of Rural Houses Construction Development (RHCD) from 1980 to 2019 with a case study of Qingyuan Town in China. Based on the literature review and filed research, a set of evaluation indicators for RHCD was established. The article calculates RHCD indicators from temporal and spatial dimensions, uses the location entropy method to demonstrate the spatial distribution of indicators, and classifies the RHCD type of 14 villages in Qingyuan Town using clustering algorithms. It also analyzes the influencing factors of spatiotemporal distribution. The results show that the RHCD in Qingyuan Town exhibits typical characteristics of mountainous areas and aligns with the development trends of rural society in China. Population growth, geographical location, and economic development are the primary driving factors for the quantity indicator (Qi), while economic growth, construction technology, industrial development, and policy adjustments are the key factors influencing the form indicator (Fi). In future policy-making, greater emphasis should be placed on optimizing development strategies, improving data and monitoring systems, and integrating administrative strength with actual development needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research on land use transitions has gradually received widespread attention since its introduction to China at the beginning of the new millennium, the lack of a clear portrayal of the transitional characteristics and pathways of land use at the theoretical level has prevented this research from providing adequate support for the regulation and management of rural land use activities. This study aims to bridge this research gap from a functional perspective, since the transition of land system functions—also known as land use functions—heralds the completion of a regional land use transition. The methods employed included a literature review and theoretical analysis. The results show the following: (1) the relationships between land use morphology, land use multifunctionality, and land use functions transition (LUFT) were identified; (2) the connotation of the multifunctional agriculture transition theory was analyzed, and the applicability and limitations of drawing on the theory for researching the transition of land use functions in rural China elucidated; (3) a method for characterizing LUFT is proposed from the "state" and "quality"; (4) a theoretical framework for the LUFT was constructed and anchored in transition theory; and (5) it was summarized that there are three transitional pathways: weak-strong, strong-weak, and dynamic balance. In conclusion, while theories originating from the West can provide references for Chinese research, the significant difference between their socio-economic backgrounds necessitates reconstructing these theories in the light of the actual situation in rural China. The theoretical construction of land use transitions from a functional perspective can more clearly delineate the process, the trend, and the characteristics of the transitions of rural land use, thus offering valuable insights for the regulation and management of land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions and land use intensity serve as crucial indicators of land management. This paper proposes a methodological framework to elucidate the sustainability of carbon emissions in rural areas via a coordination model, scrutinizes the correlation with land use intensity, and investigates the significance of influential factors. The study focuses on village-level units within Ningde City, and finds the pronounced spatial heterogeneity characterizing the distribution of carbon emissions across different villages: (1) Villages exhibiting high levels of carbon emissions are predominantly concentrated in the southeast region, whereas those with low carbon emission levels are primarily clustered in the northwest region. The majority of the villages serve as net carbon emission sources. (2) Spatial disparities exist in the impact of land use intensity on economic benefits from carbon sources, ecological benefits from carbon sinks, and carbon emission sustainability. (3) Significant variations exist in the influence of factors affecting land use intensity, economic benefits of carbon sources, ecological benefits of carbon sinks, and the sustainability of carbon emissions in rural areas. These findings could guide governments in implementing distinct land use control policies and provide a framework for assessing carbon emission sustainability within land management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Agricultural Outlook (1673-3908) is the property of Institute of Agricultural Information, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Agricultural nonpoint source pollution (ANPS) can cause systemic pollution of the ecological environment, directly threatening sustainable agricultural development and human health and safety. Accurate estimation of ANPS loads, clarification of the sources and spatial distribution patterns of ANPS, and effective control and management of ANPS in the watershed require identifying critical source areas. This case study focuses on the Danjiang River basin, a critical water source for China's South-to-North Water Division and demonstrates the efficiency of ArcGIS's spatial statistical analysis methods in discovering the hidden spatial pattern of ANPS and extracting the causes associated with the spatial pattern, as well as the accuracy of identifying critical source areas of ANPS. In this study, two spatial statistical analysis methods, Anselin local Moran's I and hot-spot analysis (Getis–Ord Gi*), are applied to propose a method for accurately identifying critical source areas of ANPS based on the spatial distribution of ANPS loads. The results of the study are as follows: (1) based on the MIKE LOAD model, the annual ANPS loads of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH4), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) in the Danhan River basin are calculated as 182,530.15, 16,137.39, 58,285.92, and 2,962.84 t/yr , respectively. (2) Clusters are mainly distributed in the southwestern part of the watershed, and the spatial pattern is directly related to land use and rural population; the spatial pattern of outliers is related to agricultural modes and geographical characteristics. (3) Hot spot clusters are concentrated in the hinterland of Hanzhong Plain; the regional specialty of agriculture is the dominant factor in determining the spatial pattern of cold-spot and hot-spot clusters. (4) Based on these findings, seven critical subbasins and one critical source area of ANPS that need to be prioritized for control in the study area are identified. Agricultural nonpoint source pollution (ANPS) is a significant cause of ecosystem pollution, which directly threatens the sustainable development of agriculture, human health, and safety. The Dan–Han River Basin is a crucial water source in China for the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and provides water to 140 million people. It is essential to ensure that the water quality of the Dan-Han River remains unpolluted. The ANPS as a major source of water pollution in the watershed is difficult to identify and control. Accurately identifying the sources and spatial distribution patterns of ANPS pollutants is a prerequisite for maintaining water quality and controlling ANPS. Our study offers a new perspective on methods to reveal the hidden spatial pattern and identify critical source areas of ANPS in watersheds. This research demonstrates the effectiveness of ArcGIS's spatial statistical analysis methods in discovering the hidden spatial pattern of ANPS, extracting the causes associated with the spatial pattern, and accurately identifying critical source areas of ANPS. These methods can also be applied to study nonpoint source pollution in other watersheds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Damage and destruction caused by the 2021 eruption of the Tajogaite volcano on La Palma was unprecedented relative to other historical eruptions of the last century (1909, 1949, 1971, 2011) in the Canary Islands. The devastation caused by the eruption was not a result of eruption magnitude, which was only marginally larger than other historical events, but instead an increasing vulnerability due to population growth and increasing rural land use on the slopes of the volcanically active Cumbre Vieja Ridge. Since future eruptions along the Cumbre Vieja are inevitable, it is imperative that actions are taken to ensure the safety of the island's growing population. While civil protection and emergency services managed to avert loss of life from direct volcanic impacts in 2021, loss of property for many people in the affected area remains a grave issue and requires targeted measures to safeguard against human suffering from similar future events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context and background In 2016, Ethiopia's land governance assessment framework was developed by the World Bank with other bilateral partners. The main aim of developing this framework is to assess the land governance throughout the country. Goal and Objectives: This study aim to assess the current practice of urban land governance based on the framework in Addis Ababa and Adama Methodology: Data was collected by closed-ended questionnaires. The questioners were distributed to Urban Land Management and Development experts in the study areas. Results: The study found out that land rights recognition, dispute resolution, large-scale land transfer to private investors, valuing and taxing of land and registry and cadastre of public providing of land information panels were practicing strong. Rights for communal lands, as well as forest and rural lands usage regulations, planning, using, and development of urban land, policies and institutional arrangements, and public land management panels were practicing weak. The study concluded that out of nine panels 5 panels were practiced strong and 4 panels were practiced weak at the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the midst of China's ongoing rural–urban integration and development, a pivotal transformation involving the realignment of labour dynamics and land utilisation is underway. This paradigm shift has substantial implications for rural land use and agricultural productivity. Drawing from the field survey conducted in Zhejiang Province in 2019, this study puts non-agricultural employment, land transfer, and land efficiency into one econometric model and establishes a comprehensive framework to explain the mechanisms. Unlike existing research, this paper delves into the impact of different land-transfer behaviours, namely inflow and outflow, on land efficiency. The findings indicate that non-agricultural employment has no significant impact on land efficiency. Rural households acquiring land significantly enhance land efficiency, whereas relinquishing land shows no significance, thus addressing the gap in existing literature regarding the study of different transfer behaviours. Furthermore, to explore the underlying mechanisms, we investigate the mediating effect of land inflows on land efficiency, finding that it operates through plot size. In light of this, we propose that, in guiding land inflows, more emphasis should be placed on the integration and reorganisation of fragmented land rather than simply expanding the total land area, aiming to create large, well-managed areas of arable land by achieving concentrated and contiguous transferable land parcels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving the goal of integrated urban–rural development is to achieve a spatially balanced development of the constituent elements of urban–rural relations in China. Rural populations and land dedicated to construction are the main components of the countryside in traditional agricultural areas; they play an important role in the development of the countryside itself in terms of urban and rural land use and in the formation of urban and rural development patterns. This study analyzes the spatial and temporal changes in rural populations and construction land at the township level, alongside assessing various forms and the extent of coupled development. Herein, we consider the role of urban–rural attractiveness and propose a framework for relationships between urban and rural development based on different forms of coupled development; a model of urban–rural forces is constructed to determine spatial patterns of urban–rural development at the township level that may transpire in the future. Our study shows that the rural population and construction land in the study area are characterized by significant spatial and temporal dynamics, indicating that traditional rural areas are in a process of rapid development and change. The results of our measurements of township-level coupling indicate that there exist four development patterns within urban–rural development: the A-type is most likely to produce new cities or satellite towns in the future and form new urban areas; the B-type is the area most likely to cease and be annexed to other villages or cities to meet building targets; the C-type comprises areas to be focused on in the future to attract populations and strictly control the growth of rural construction land areas (to avoid land transforming into the B-type); and the D-type refers to lands upon which regional township centers may develop in the future, becoming an area devoted to rural revitalization. The A-type and D-type are prioritized for the allocation of construction land, which can be contracted from types B and C. The results of this study have provided important reference for the formulation of population and construction land control policies in accordance with local conditions and the realization of integrated urban and rural development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use is an embodiment of human socio-economic activities and represents a bridge between these activities and natural systems. Rural residential land represents a space for rural residents to reside in and exhibits spatial characteristics that evolve over time, which is proof of rural socio-economic development. As one of the most developed regions in China, cities along the Beijing–Hangzhou Canal experienced significant changes in rural residential land use from 1990 to 2020. This paper analyses the spatial differentiation of rural residential land in 21 cities on the Grand Canal. Then, it explores the driving factors of this land using spatial grid analysis and the geographic detector model. According to the spatial differentiation characteristics and the driving factors of rural residential land, the study proposed an improved potential model for rural residential land improvement. Lastly, it proposes three different forms of rural residential land based on the results. The study found that (1) the change in rural residential land in the northern part of the Grand Canal was more volatile than that in the southern part. The change in rural residential land from 1990 to 2020 conformed to the pattern of cultivated land–rural residential land–urban construction land. (2) Based on the driving factors of rural residential land, the land is divided into one-dimensional cities, two-dimensional cities, and three-dimensional cities. Circular, linear, and scattered cities of different sizes were affected by socio-economic factors, transportation accessibility, and the natural environment, respectively. (3) Based on the potential scale of rural residential land consolidation, different types of development strategies were proposed through research, including constructing large-scale villages, relocating and reconstructing new villages, and constructing high-quality villages, respectively. Enhancing the scientific planning of rural residential land and its efficiency and tapping into the potential of land consolidation can offer the protection of agricultural land and the integration of urban and rural areas in the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Resources & Ecology is the property of Journal of Resources & Ecology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on the Indigenous resurgence efforts of the Sogorea Te' Land Trust and Amah Mutsun Land Trust in California. Topics include their strategies to reclaim and restore tribal lands through partnerships and community coalitions, revitalization of cultural practices such as language and ceremony, and the concept of (re)riteing as integral to their efforts in reconnecting with ancestral territories, cultural identities, and spiritual traditions.

For a long time, the decline in agricultural comparative returns and the urban–rural development gap in China have prompted the outflow of rural labor. Land transfer policies, which allow farmers to retain their land contracting rights while transferring their management rights, were instituted to mitigate the impact of labor outflow on land use and agricultural production. In recent years, tourism has contributed to the diversification of the rural economy and has had an essential impact on the urban–rural allocation of elements such as labor. In this paper, we adopt a probit model to investigate the impact of tourism development on rural land transfer-out by using data from the China Family Panel Studies. The results show that the marginal effect of tourism development is significantly negative, indicating that the probability of rural land transfer-out was significantly reduced with tourism development. The results are still valid after a series of robustness tests. A mechanism analysis indicates that tourism development inhibits land transfer by enhancing local vitality, such as increasing the local employment of rural labor and promoting participation in agricultural production. Moreover, from the perspective of rural welfare and asset prices, further research finds that tourism development contributes to poverty alleviation and increases land value. These results suggest that tourism development inhibits land transfer while promoting rural sustainable development, helping to understand the impact of tourism on rural land use and household asset allocation from a more comprehensive perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural collectively owned commercial construction land marketization (RCCCLM), a land policy that is still being piloted despite being allowed by law, has been regarded as an indispensable policy tool that can meet the land demand for rural development. This study aims to analyze the typical modes and key paths of RCCCLM for rural transformation theoretically and practically. We developed an innovative theoretical framework of "Situation-Structure-Implementation-Outcome" to illustrate the relationship between RCCCLM and rural transformation. By tracing the process of the impact of RCCCLM on rural transformation in typical areas, this study fills the gap in existing research that has not yet explored the theoretical mechanisms between RCCCLM and rural transformation. The results show that a combination of such factors as geographical location and rural land use status brings about three major ways of RCCCLM, namely, local marketization, adjustive marketization and consolidation-based marketization, to promote rural transformation. The influencing mechanism of RCCCLM on rural transformation mainly concerns rights granting, rural land use structure reshaping, the transformation of farmers' livelihood and improvement in rural governance capacity. Rural transformation follows a basic rule and phased characteristics of evolving from single function to multiple functions, and RCCCLM displays a differentiated driving effect on the evolution of rural functions in different stages of rural development. These findings will provide new insights into rural land use and rural transformation in China and other developing countries and help solve the bottlenecks in rural transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Urbanization progress in developing countries is reflected in the urban living conditions of their rural migrants. Housing quality, in particular, is linked to migrants' social integration and development of human capital. In China, where urban housing is highly stratified by urban citizenship via the "hukou" or household registration system, improving housing quality is a top priority for the central government in its pursuit of human-centered urbanization. Despite some social and economic elements affecting migrants' housing quality being documented, few studies have analyzed the determinants of rural migrants' housing quality from the perspective of rural landholdings or possession of use rights of rural lands, which is endowed by the land system of China. Using large micro-data from the China Migrant Dynamic Survey (CMDS), this study investigates the association between hometown landholdings and rural migrants' housing quality in their host cities. The empirical results suggest that possessing rural landholdings in their hometown is negatively correlated with rural migrants' housing quality in their host cities, wherein rural migrants' hukou transfer intention is found as an intermediary factor. Furthermore, the heterogeneity of the relationship across demographic characteristics and regions was investigated. In addition, short-term revenue derived from hometown landholdings is also verified to have a very limited positive effect on migrants' housing quality. Land transfer policies customized for subgroups of rural migrants across sociological attributes and urban stratification are concluded finally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Wieś & Rolnictwo is the property of Instytut Rozwoju Wsi & Rolnictwa, Polska Akademia Nauk and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Prevention policies against type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) focus solely on individual healthy lifestyle behaviours, while an increasing body of research recognises the involvement of environmental determinants (ED) (cultural norms of land management and planning, local foodscape, built environment, pollution, and neighbourhood deprivation). Precise knowledge of this relationship is essential to proposing a prevention strategy integrating public health and spatial planning. Unfortunately, issues related to the consistency and synthesis of methods, and results in this field of research limit the development of preventive strategies. This systematic review aims to improve knowledge about the relationship between the risk of developing T2DM in adulthood and long-term exposure to its ED during childhood or teenage years. Methods: This protocol is presented according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) tools. PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, EBSCO, and grey literature from the Laval University Libraries databases will be used for data collection on main concepts such as 'type 2 diabetes mellitus', 'zoning' or 'regional, urban, or rural areas land uses', 'local food landscape', 'built environment', 'pollution', and 'deprivation'. The Covidence application will store the collected data for selection and extraction based on the Population Exposure Comparator Outcome and Study design approach (PECOS). Studies published until December 31, 2023, in English or French, used quantitative data about individuals aged 18 and over that report on T2DM, ED (cultural norms of land management and planning, local foodscape, built environment, and neighbourhood deprivation), and their association (involving only risk estimators) will be included. Then, study quality and risk of bias will be conducted according to the combined criteria and ratings from the ROBINS-E (Risk of Bias in Non-randomised Studies—of Exposures) tools and the 'Effective Public Health Practice Project' (EPHPP). Finally, the analytical synthesis will be produced using the 'Synthesis Without Meta-analysis' (SWiM) guidelines. Discussion: This systematic review will summarise available evidence on ED associated with T2DM. The results will contribute to improving current knowledge and developing more efficient cross-sectoral interventions in land management and public health in this field of research. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42023392073. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use change is a significant contributor to global environmental change. The expansion of urban areas has increasingly impacted rural ecological environments, in particular the shift from agro-ecosystems to urban ecosystems, leading to alterations in land use patterns. Rural land use has led to economic, social, and environmental problems, including poor economic efficiency, emissions of pollutants, and increased environmental crises. The research of alterations in rural land use and their consequential environmental ramifications has garnered escalating attention, evolving into an indispensable subject of inquiry within pertinent academic disciplines. This study aims to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the ecological impacts of rural land use change. We examined 1237 literature sources through the Web of Science database and conducted a bibliometric analysis utilizing the Bibliometrix tool. Secondly, based on the results of bibliometric analysis, we conducted a review study on the impact of rural land use changes on the ecological environment, clarified the current research status in this field, and looked forward to future research directions. The study's findings indicate that there has been a steady rise in publication volume from 1982 to 2023 and a significant potential for growth. The top three journals by publication volume are Sustainability, Land Use Policy, and Land. (2) A total of 4768 scholars from 95 countries or regions have contributed publications in this domain, notably led by researchers and institutions predominantly based in China. Developed nations, exemplified by the U.S., exhibit a notable citation frequency and robust research prowess within this field. (3) Land use, urbanization, China, ecosystem services, biodiversity, and remote sensing emerge as keywords of elevated frequency within the field, indicative of the scholarly emphasis on these subjects. (4) Studies in this domain are directed towards evaluating the effects on intrinsic components of the environment, including but not limited to soil quality, atmospheric conditions, water resources, and biodiversity. The implementation of sustainable rural land use strategies is essential for the realization of rural development and environmental protection. In future research efforts, the use of remote sensing technology holds immense potential as a robust technical tool for investigating both land use change and rural ecology, offering viable strategies for addressing environmental challenges in specific, localized regions. The results of this study can assist in comprehending the current state and direction of research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rural settlements are undergoing significant changes under the rapid urbanisation, and understanding their evolution characteristics and surrounding land use will provide a basis for land spatial planning. This study takes Pingnan County, Fujian Province, China as study area, reveals the characteristics of spatial–temporal evolution and surrounding land use transition of settlements during 1985–2020 through landscape metrics, spatial "hot spot" analysis, scale classification statistics, rank-size model, Gini index, land use transition matrix. Results: The results show that: (1) Concerning the size and morphological characteristics, the settlements have witnessed a considerable increase in number and scale while remaining stable in shape. (2) Regarding spatial distribution characteristics, the settlements became more evenly spread, forming three main hotspot clusters. (3) Concerning scale structure characteristics, there are significant differences in scale, growth rates, and polarisation of settlements; the polarisation of large settlements shifted from a marked divergence before 2010 to a more balanced trend after 2010. (4) The land use transition around settlements differed in buffer zones and periods. During 1985–2010, settlement expansion heavily depended on cropland, depleting nearby resources, with an increase of woodland and grassland. During 2010–2020, expansion integrated cropland, woodland, and grassland, with cropland growth mainly encroaching on woodland and grassland. Conclusions: The study's findings are significant for optimising rural settlement structure in mountains and promoting sustainable land resource use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the dynamics of land use and land cover change (LULCC) in the Gargano area (Southern Italy) to reveal crucial insights into the socio-economic and environmental impacts on its unique natural and cultural resources. This analysis was conducted using a mixed approach of GIS data and expert interviews to investigate significant changes in the Gargano area, from 2000 to 2018, and their drivers. Artificial surfaces gained 22% of their original surfaces, while heterogeneous areas and pastures lost 25% and 78%, respectively. Urbanization and deforestation emerged as major concerns, reflecting heightened sensitivity to these transformative processes. Agricultural intensification and support policies were perceived as potential pressure sources on specific natural components. Conversely, these drivers counteracted land abandonment. Drivers such as education level and agricultural extensification were seen as levers for a more desirable land cover dynamic. Identified actions include providing targeted support for agriculture within environmental constraints, addressing land ownership fragmentation, supporting agricultural extensification, and promoting environmental awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Crop diversification from grain to non-grain production is often considered a threat to food security in many populous countries with limited arable land. Yet its potential spillover effect has not been fully studied. This study explores a unique plot-level dataset to particularly quantify the spillover effect of non-grain production on the land rental price of grain production from the perspective of factor opportunity cost and proposes corresponding land management strategies. Methods: Data used in this study came from a field survey conducted in Jiangsu province. OLS method was employed to test the effect of non-grain production on the rent price of grain production farmland, combined with plot-level heterogeneity analysis. In addition, Quantile method was used for robustness check. Results: Our main finding indicates that converting land use from grain production to non-grain production significantly increases the land rental rate of surrounding plots for grain production by 222.02 yuan/mu, accounting for 28.75% of the total land rent (772.25 yuan/mu). This spillover effect exhibits a stronger trend as the contracted land scale expands. However, the kin relationship among contract parties can weaken this effect, indicating that social ties can work as a mediator in offsetting the negative shock of the rental rate increase due to nongrain production. In order to keep the land rent under control, rural land use is actively harnessed by local governments at a guided price. Discussion: Based on the empirical results, the study recommends comprehensive land use planning and a regionally regulated land transfer market in order to achieve a balance between food security and a diversified agricultural structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of CLIO América is the property of Universidad del Magdalena and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study 'Decoding soil health: a comparative analysis of chemical and biological properties in rural land use systems of northern Bangalore' was conducted at the Department of Soil Science and Agriculture Chemistry, UAS, Bengaluru to investigate the influence of different land use systems on soil chemical and biological properties in the rural area of the northern transect of Bengaluru during the year 2021 to 2023. Three land use systems, namely agriculture, forest and barren land, were selected for the study. Twenty soil samples were collected from each land use system at a depth of 0-15 cm and analyzed for various chemical and biological properties. The pH levels were slightly acidic and significantly lower in cultivated agricultural land (5.55b) followed by uncultivated forest land (5.99ab), while the electrical conductivity (EC) values recorded were slightly higher in agricultural land (0.45 dSm-1) compared to forest (0.28 dSm-1) and barren (0.30 dSm-1) land use system. Acidic pH and increase in EC may be attributed to the application of inorganic fertilizers in cultivated agricultural land use systems. Available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium contents recorded were also found to be higher in agricultural land use systems (N- 329.66 kg ha-1, P- 35.29 kg ha-1, K- 265.82 kg ha-1) compared to forest (N- 218.85 kg ha-1, P- 20.39 kg ha-1, K- 235.53 kg ha-1) and barren (N- 164.33 kg ha-1, P- 13.88 kg ha-1, K- 159.84 kg ha-1) land use systems. Organic carbon content was found to be higher in natural forest systems (1.06%) compared to agriculture (0.67%) and barren (0.11%) land-use systems. Biological properties like dehydrogenase and urease activity recorded were found to be highest in forest land use system. The study clearly indicates that land use systems significantly influences the chemical and biological properties of the soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black rural land ownership is not what it was once was and Black rural landowners own far less than what they could and should own. Upwards of ninety percent of Black rural landowners have been dispossessed of their land due to government agency failure, systemic discrimination, and private prejudice that has shaped the legal landscaped since Reconstruction. Without legislation or policy to protect Black rural landowners, a lack access to legal representation, debt, and poorly shaped federal relief make them more vulnerable to dispossession of their land. This note examines the history of land dispossession of rural Black American farmers through a survey of relevant case law and offers critiques of federal legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Black Farmers Act. This Note argues that initiatives intended to provide relief for historic racialized injustices have no place in federal government legislation aimed at providing relief for the entirety of the American population. In response, this Note proposes the authors’ own recommendations for future policy initiatives which are aimed at effectively remedying injustices suffered by Black American farmers through institution of policies that prevent localized discrimination and target systems of injustice that have too long enabled racially prejudicial dispossession of land from Black rural landowners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural-to-urban transformation (RUT) is the process of turning a rural or natural land surface into an urban one, which brings about important modifications in the surface, causing well-known effects like the urban heat island (UHI), reduced wind speeds, and increased boundary layer heights. Moreover, with concentrated human activities, RUT introduces new emission sources which greatly perturb local and regional air pollution. Particulate matter (PM) is one of the key pollutants responsible for the deterioration of urban air quality and is still a major issue in European cities, with frequent exceedances of limit values. Here we introduce a regional chemistry–climate model (regional climate model RegCM coupled offline to chemistry transport model CAMx) study which quantifies how the process of RUT modified the PM concentrations over central Europe including the underlying controlling mechanisms that contribute to the final PM pollution. Apart from the two most studied ones, (i) urban emissions and (ii) urban canopy meteorological forcing (UCMF; i.e. the impact of modified meteorological conditions on air quality), we also analyse two less studied contributors to RUT's impact on air quality: (iii) the impact of modified dry-deposition velocities (DVs) due to urbanized land use and (iv) the impact of modified biogenic emissions due to urbanization-induced vegetation modifications and changes in meteorological conditions which affect these emissions. To calculate the magnitude of each of these RUT contributors, we perform a cascade of simulations, whereby each contributor is added one by one to the reference state, while focus is given on PM 2.5 (particulate matter with diameter less then 2.5 µm). Its primary and secondary components, namely primary elemental carbon (PEC), sulfates (PSO 4), nitrates (PNO 3), ammonium (PNH 4), and secondary organic aerosol (SOA), are analysed too. The validation using surface measurements showed a systematic negative bias for the total PM 2.5 , which is probably caused by underestimated organic aerosol and partly by the negative bias in sulfates and elemental carbon. For ammonium and nitrates, the underestimation is limited to the warm season, while for winter, the model tends to overestimate their concentrations. However, in each case, the annual cycle is reasonably captured. We evaluated the RUT impact on PM 2.5 over a sample of 19 central European cities and found that the total impact of urbanization is about 2–3 and 1–1.5 µgm-3 in winter and summer, respectively. This is mainly driven by the impact of emissions alone causing a slightly higher impact (1.5–3.5 and 1.2–2 µgm-3 in winter and summer), while the effect of UCMF was a decrease at about 0.2–0.5 µgm-3 (in both seasons), which was mainly controlled by enhanced vertical eddy diffusion, while increases were modelled over rural areas. The transformation of rural land use into an urban one caused an increase in dry-deposition velocities by around 30 %–50 %, which alone resulted in a decrease in PM 2.5 by 0.1–0.25 µgm-3 in both seasons. Finally, the impact of biogenic emission modifications due to modified land use and meteorological conditions caused a decrease in summer PM 2.5 of about 0.1 µgm-3 , while the winter effects were negligible. The total impact of urbanization on aerosol components is modelled to be (values indicate winter and summer averages) 0.4 and 0.3 µgm-3 for PEC, 0.05 and 0.02 µgm-3 for PSO 4 , 0.1 and 0.08 µgm-3 for PNO 3 , 0.04 and 0.03 µgm-3 for PNH 4 , and 0 and 0.05 µgm-3 for SOA. The main contributor of each of these components was the impact of emissions, which was usually larger than the total impact due to the fact that UCMF was counteracted with a decrease. For each aerosol component, the impact of modified DV was a clear decrease in concentration, and finally, the modifications of biogenic emissions impacted SOA predominantly, causing a summer decrease, while a very small secondary effect of secondary inorganic aerosol was modelled too (they increased). In summary, we showed that when analysing the impact of urbanization on PM pollution, apart from the impact of emissions and the urban canopy meteorological forcing, one also has to consider the effect of modified land use and its impact on dry deposition. These were shown to be important in both seasons. For the effect of modified biogenic emissions, our calculations showed that they act on PM 2.5 predominantly through SOA modifications, which only turned out to be important during summer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural to urban migration (RUM) is a key component of economic development, but its environmental consequences are not well understood. Here, we study the impacts of RUM on agriculture and land use using household panel data in combination with tree cover data from Uganda. Our results show that the labor loss and the inflow of remittances from RUM lead to a reduction in crop diversity but no shift toward less labor‐intensive crops or crops with a high up‐front investment. In addition to those results at the intensive margin, we find a reduction of cultivated area at the household level, which translates into reduced tree cover loss at the district level. These results suggest an important but nuanced role of RUM for land use change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In rural areas, land use decisions are not only shaped by economic considerations but also deeply influenced by cultural and social factors. The objective of this research is to examine the complex and diverse aspects of making decisions about how land is used in rural communities, specifically by investigating the influence of cultural and social elements. Using empirical data and rigorous analysis, this research examine how traditional practices, social norms, and community dynamics influence land use patterns. The research topic focuses on the need to have a thorough understanding of the fundamental elements that affect land use choices in rural regions, going beyond only economic incentives. This research objective is to address a significant vacuum in the current literature by examining the cultural and social aspects of land usage. This research provides vital insights for policymakers and stakeholders engaged in land management and rural development projects. This research utilizes a mixed-methods approach, using qualitative interviews, participatory observations, and quantitative surveys to collect comprehensive data on the cultural and socioeconomic elements that impact land use choices. The research sample includes a wide range of rural areas, guaranteeing a thorough representation of various cultural settings and socioeconomic backgrounds. Our study reveals that cultural traditions, social networks, and power structures have a substantial impact on land use practices in rural regions. Traditional land tenure systems, community ownership arrangements, and customary land-use practices play a vital role in influencing land-use choices and resource distribution within communities. The significance of these results is substantial for policymakers, land managers, and rural development practitioners. Policymakers may create land use policies and actions that are more appropriate to the specific cultural and socioeconomic environment by understanding the complex relationship between these aspects. Furthermore, promoting community involvement and allowing local actors to participate in decision-making may result in land management results that are both more sustainable and fair.

Detection of the exchange and distribution of agricultural lands allows many projects and plans to be made and interpreted correctly, such as food safety, planning, and environmental risk analysis. From this point of study in the spatial changes and distribution of agricultural land in time across Turkey were examined. CORINE Land Cover (CLC) data was used to identify agricultural land and examine changes over time. As a result of the study, it was observed that agricultural lands increased slightly from 1990 to 2018, but this increase has not always been in the form of preserving existing agricultural lands and adding existing agricultural lands. While some areas have lost their agricultural land characteristics, some areas have become agricultural land. New agricultural areas are usually realized by the transformation of forests and semi-natural areas while the agricultural areas that disappear are provided from heterogeneous agricultural areas. The Central Anatolia region stands out in the distribution of agricultural areas by region. The region with the highest concentration of agricultural land in terms of both proportion and area is the Central Anatolia region. Also, the Central Anatolia region is the region with the most intensive Non-irrigated agriculture. The area where irrigated agriculture is proportionally most made is the southeast Anatolia region. According to province-based, the provinces with more than 40% of the provincial surface area are Kırıkkale, Kırşehir, Nevşehir, Aksaray in the Central Anatolia region, Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa in the Southeastern Anatolia region, Edirne and Tekirdağ in the Marmara region. The provinces of Artvin, Tunceli, Bingöl, and Hakkari are the provinces where the percentage of agricultural land is below 10%.

In many countries agricultural land is a scarce resource, either due to natural conditions or because of competition over land. An increased need for food globally, changing environmental conditions and increased demand for environmentally sound agriculture and food systems, all require better integration of planning for rural land use and food production. A literature analysis was conducted including coding of 76 papers, to answer the question on how and to what extent, literature addresses the integration of land use policy and planning, and food system planning, in the context of sustainable rural development and agri-food production. The results indicate that land use and food system planning co-occur in literature, yet lacking the perspective of sustainable rural development, suggesting that integrated planning for sustainable rural land use and food systems needs to be strengthened. Food system research has largely focused on availability and access, or what can be associated with consumers, rather than rural land use. Likewise, the inclusion of food systems is neither common in rural land use planning nor in agricultural policies. Holistic planning for a sustainable food system may be suffering from a disjointed approach, e.g., planning for farmland may not have any links to planning for accessibility, consumer preferences or food marketing. Increased cooperation between stakeholders is necessary to break down the silos in the food system. Policies and plans for rural land use and agri-food production should be coordinated for the common goal of sustainability.

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since 2020, the Pampas ecoregion, a highly productive area of Argentina, has endured its most severe drought in the past century. Our understanding of the impact of droughts on physicochemical changes in lotic environments remains limited, and this knowledge gap becomes even more pronounced when considering the concurrent urbanisation and industrialisation that alter land-use patterns and pose threats to water quality. This study aims to analyse, on a short-term basis, how hydrodynamics and physicochemical characteristics of streams, exposed to different land uses, are affected by drought. During the winter of 2022, we conducted three samplings in streams within the Samborombón River basin. We selected three streams influenced by rural land use and three influenced by urban development. Our data collection encompassed meteorological information, the multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index and the Palmer drought severity index. We measured hydrological and physicochemical variables at each sampling site. Our analysis identified an extreme drought period coinciding with 'La Niña' conditions during the sampling period. The annual accumulated precipitation for this period was notably lower, at 622 mm, compared with the historical average (1958–2022) of 1006 mm for this region. Hydrological variables exhibited significant differences between urban and rural streams. Urban streams maintained a consistent water flow, while rural streams were predominantly characterised by disconnected pools. Additionally, urban streams exhibited significantly greater Secchi depth and higher nutrient concentrations, whereas rural streams displayed elevated pH, conductivity and turbidity levels. These findings underscore the crucial role of urban effluents in sustaining a base flow during extreme drought conditions. However, this base flow is associated with poorer water quality, disrupting the natural chemical and hydrological dynamics of the region during drought events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document discusses the importance of sustainable land use in rural areas in China and its implications for rural revitalization. It highlights the challenges faced by China, such as the degradation of cultivated land, expansion of constructed land, and loss of ecological land due to rapid urbanization and industrialization. The document also explores various topics related to rural land use, including land consolidation, land system reform, land use patterns, and land transfer. It presents findings from 23 articles that cover these topics and provide useful theories and policies for rural development. The document emphasizes the significance of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers in China's development and the need for modernization in these areas. The article discusses several important themes related to rural land use in China, including the importance of rural ecological function, challenges posed by changes in the rural population and climate change, and the need for regional coordination and learning from other countries' experiences. [Extracted from the article]

Mapping functional zones for rural landscapes is the foundational work for rural land use planning and plays a very important role in the economic development and resource management utilization of rural areas. However, the traditional manual delineation of functional zone boundaries empirically in rural areas is labor-intensive, time-consuming, and lacks the consideration of spatial landscape patterns. The emergence of high-resolution remote sensing imagery and image segmentation has facilitated the analysis of ground landscape information and patterns, but there is still a lack of functional zone boundary mapping methods applicable to rural landscapes. To address this, we propose a functional zoning method called multiscale merging of landscape contextual and shape characteristics with heterogeneity indices (M2LHI) for mapping geographic boundaries for rural landscapes based on high-resolution remote sensing imagery. The landscape contextual features were first constructed based on the geospatial distances of landscape types, and then, the dominance index and shape index were introduced to quantify the landscape heterogeneity by object-oriented image analysis. Then, the automated merging of adjacent landscape units based on the thresholds of the landscape heterogeneity indices was performed to map the initial zones. The final rural functional zones were defined based on the main function in the zone. The study was carried out in three typical rural landscapes (hilly countryside, flat countryside, and grassland countryside) located in Fujian, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, China, and the freely available Gaofen-2 (GF-2) satellite imagery was used as the data source. We compared the boundaries of mapped functional zones and reference functional zones, and the matching and inclusion ratios of the final functional zones mapped in each case were bigger than 78%, indicating that the M2LHI method has a high ability to map the functional spatial patterns. The overall accuracies of mapping functional zones with different functions were 95.9%, 89.0%, and 92.1% for the respective cases. The results demonstrated that the M2LHI method effectively quantifies landscape heterogeneity and accurately delineates functional zones with different landscape patterns. It can provide a scientific basis for rural planning and management and efficiently draw reasonable geographic boundaries for rural functional zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land is the space carrier for the existence and flow of other development factors. Activating rural land and promoting the circulation of other development factors through land management innovation is necessary to realize rural vitalization. This paper identifies the connotation of factor flow in the rural vitalization context, the action mechanism of land management innovation to boost the flow of development factors, the issues and obstacles restricting factor circulation, and the realization mechanism of the flow of development factors in rural vitalization. Based on the analytic paradigm constructed in the paper, the successful practice of promoting the flow of development factors through innovative land management in a model village is examined. The results show that: 1) the unreasonable systems characterized by the land use system in rural areas are the main obstacles causing circulation issues in development factors. It is essential to engage in comprehensive reform to break down these long-lasting obstacles to the smooth flow of development factors. 2) The land should play a leading role in the circulation of development factors in the background of rural vitalization; the main purpose of land management innovation is to activate the land factor, thereby promoting the circulation of other factors. 3) The activated land factor will act as a 'trigger' to promote capital and technology in rural settings and use capital and technology to attract the inflow of talents and the return of migrant workers, whereby the population factor will act as a 'catalyst' for the cultivation of rural culture, bringing about the integration of various development factors. 4) The innovation of land use and management, increased funding, and new technologies have brought multiple talents to Tengtou Village. The high-frequency mutual feedback between the village's own and the external development factors resulted in its successful integration of industrial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural construction land (RCL) received less attention but played an important role to control rural land use. Studying the RCL of developed areas may provide valuable references for underdeveloped areas to optimize land use. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is the most economically developed region in China. The study is intended to explore the spatiotemporal characteristics and determinants of RCL in the YRD based on a period of data from 1990 to 2017. The results show that the RCL in the YRD increases at an average annual rate of 5.38% but the growth rate tends to decrease. There is a weak spatial linkage of the RCL growth between cities. Clear spatial differences exist in the effects of every determinant of RCL. The correlation between the rural population and the RCL is unstable, which proves the existence of hollow villages. There is no clear correlation between the RCL and the local economy and accessibility, as the rural population normally goes to few big cities for higher salary work but spends the money in their hometowns on building homes. These findings help optimize rural land use in the YRD and provide an important reference for planning land use in underdeveloped regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]