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Socio-economic development has accelerated urban expansion, leading to the encroachment of urban space into agricultural space land and seriously undermining the stability of ecosystems. Scientifically optimizing the layout of urban-agricultural space can guarantee China's food security, promote urban development and maintain ecological stability. In this study, we focused on the rapidly growing city of Nankang. We used land, ecological and geographic location data to calculate land suitability, predicted future urban space through the GeoSOS-FLUS model, and finally optimized the agricultural-urban space conflict. The results show that: the areas of farmland with quality evaluation results for grades 1–4 were 7783.13 hm2, 9411.01 hm2, 8738.99 hm2 and 3032.73 hm2, and the areas suitable for construction, more suitable for construction, unsuitable for construction and prohibited from construction accounted for 12.19 %, 16.23 %, 41.34 % and 30.24 %, respectively. Combining the FLUS model with the land suitability evaluation results, we found that there is a conflict area of 1841.96 hm2 in the delineation scheme. Adjusting their layout according to the principle of conflict coordination, the optimized area of agricultural-urban space is 28429.34 hm2 and 8968.23 hm2 respectively, accounting for 16.32 % and 5.15 % of the study area. The result of spatial contradiction optimization satisfies the balance between production and residential space, promotes urban development, protects ecological security, and can provide scientific reference for regional urban ecological environment construction.

Agricultural and urban space can dominate the national food security and the sustainable development of cities and towns. This study aims to treat the ever-increasingly serious contradiction between urban and agricultural space. A case study was selected as the Nankang District, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province of China. Four steps were carried out, including land suitability evaluation, spatial prediction and correction, spatial conflict coordination, as well as scheme determination and optimization. Specifically, the entropy weight and weighted sum were used to quantify the indicators, and then determine the weights for the more accurate evaluation of cultivated and construction land. GIS technology was also applied to evaluate the suitability of cultivated and construction land. PLUS and convex hull models were then introduced to predict the scope and types of urban expansion. The accuracy of urban boundary delineation was finally improved to optimize the layout of permanent basic farmland and urban boundaries. The results show that: 1) The cultivated land with the high comprehensive quality was concentrated mainly in Tangjiang, Jingba, and Fenggang Town. The comprehensive score was ranked in the descending distribution of the central city to the surrounding towns and villages after the suitability evaluation of construction and development. The highest scores were found in Dongshan and Rongjiang Streets. 2) The PLUS model predicted that the newly-built construction land would be 3362.85 hm² by 2035 (including urban construction land of 2023.06 hm² ). The convex shell model presented that the extension type was dominant in the future, where the Rongjiang and Dongshan Streets were the key areas for the urban expansion and development. 3) The cultivated land was introduced for national use after the evaluation of the suitability of the comprehensive quality. The agricultural space was divided into protected areas, reserve areas, and general cultivated land, according to the national average utilization of cultivated land. Once there was a spatial conflict between urban development boundaries and protected areas, the urban development boundaries were adjusted to give priority to the protection of cultivated land. When there was a spatial conflict between the urban development boundary, the reserve area and the general cultivated land, the farmland was transferred for the urban development. The final designated area of urban development boundary and permanent basic farmland were 8895.67, and 23368.76 hm², respectively. The average quality of the designated permanent basic farmland was higher than that in 2017, indicating accurate coordination and optimization. The findings can provide a strong reference for the protection of cultivated land resources, as well as the optimization and coordination of permanent basic farmland and urban boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major function-oriented zone (MFOZ) planning is an important blueprint for the spatial development and protection of the Chinese national territory. The "Three Zone Space" (TZS) perspective, including agricultural space, ecological space, and urban space, is an important principle and method for the transformation and diffusion of MFOZ planning to implement territory planning from the central government to local branches. More than ten years have passed since the release of the MFOZ plan in 2010 in China, but there is still a lack of comprehensive and systematic analysis of the dynamic characteristics of the TZS under the impact of MFOZ planning. Therefore, based on high-resolution remote sensing land use data from 2010 to 2020, this paper systematically analyzes the changing characteristics of the TZS on the national scale by reasonably determining TZS areas in China. The main results are as follows: in 2020, the proportions of ecological space, agricultural space, and urban space in China were 78.635%, 20.083%, and 1.282%, respectively. The TZS areas reflected the spatial pattern of MFOZs in China. From 2010 to 2020, the spatial heterogeneity of the TZS changes was significant. In China, agricultural space and ecological space as a whole showed a decreasing trend, with dynamic degrees of −0.05% and −0.04%, respectively, while urban space showed a significant expansion trend, with a dynamic degree of 4.69%. The temporal change processes of the TZS in the periods of 2010–2015 and 2015–2020 were noticeably different. The agricultural space first showed an increasing trend and then a decreasing trend. The ecological space showed a decreasing trend in the two periods, while the urban space showed a significant expansion trend in the two periods. From 2010 to 2020, the urban spatial structure of the optimized development zones tended to be stable, and the ecological space reduction in the key ecological function zones has gradually been curbed, but the agricultural space in the main agricultural production zones has shown a slight decline. On the whole, the dynamic changes in the TZS from 2010 to 2020 in China are basically in line with the governance objectives of territorial space. The reasonable allocation and development of the "three zone space" is of great significance for protecting the natural and ecological environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the promotion of China's rural revitalization strategy, rural industrial formation based on digital technology is increasingly emerging. How digital technology stimulates rural industrial development as a new infrastructure force and guides the transformation and reconstruction of rural space has become a topic of concern for the Chinese government. Using field research and semi-structured interviews, this research took the tea industry in Zijin County, Guangdong Province, as an example to explore the digital construction process of rural agricultural space. Furthermore, it focused on how digital technology promoted the social and spatial organization transformation of rural areas and analyzed the operation mechanism of digital agricultural space. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) The introduction of digital agricultural technology realizes real-time monitoring of the production space, which helps break the "black box" dilemma arising from the physical isolation of the production and sales sides, and promotes the construction of a logic for agricultural modernization operations. To support the routine operation of the technology platform, digital infrastructure and the introduction of skilled human resources stimulated the creation of new rural spatial functions. 2) Differences in the digital practices of different rural entities were observed. First, targeted digital agricultural space construction leads to differences in resource allocation among rural enterprises of different scales, which intensifies the differential development of rural space construction. Second, the top-down-led digital construction of rural areas has differences between the implementation strategies of governance subjects and the actual needs of local enterprises. This is mainly reflected in the lack of coupling between the integration of digital infrastructure resources and the granting of hierarchical technical knowledge. In addition, grassroots farmers form cognitive inertia to traditional production models and have insufficient knowledge of digital technologies, making it difficult for them to participate in the everyday construction of digital rural discourse systems. 3) Digital technology is leading the rurality turn, i.e., features digital intervention in the construction of agricultural space. Under the discourse of precise poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, the logic of digital rural operation in Zijin County centers on the three-subject framework of government, enterprise, and villagers. With the intervention of digital technology, a hybrid of multiple subjects, networks, and meanings guides the structural transformation of rurality. Overall, digital technology has triggered a reconfiguration of the spatiality of the Chinese countryside. On the one hand, it drives the spatial transformation of rural areas by guiding the transformation of rural social and spatial organization. On the other hand, the current top-down digital technology sink model of rural areas needs to be further improved due to the differences in multiple subjects in rural areas. To broaden the effectiveness of digital technology in promoting the development of rural areas, future construction of digital rural areas should deepen the bottom-up participatory transmission path and guide the participation of more diverse rural subjects.

Agricultural space is one of the most complex territorial systems with a fixed physical carrier (i.e. farmland) and the mobile factors of production. These mobile factors can be transmitted and radiated between different units during spatial planning. As such, the total-factor productivity of the indigenous farmland can be facilitated by the modernization of agriculture. Previous studies have demonstrated that the modernization process of agriculture in northeast China is later than elsewhere, due mainly to the server mismatch of basic factors in agricultural production. Taking the Harbin-Changchun Urban Agglomeration (HCUA) as a representative region, this study aims to conduct the network analysis of the key factors with the agricultural space and allocation optimization. Modified gravity model and social network analysis were adopted to identify the distributional structure of mobile factors in each prefectural unit, including the labor forces, capital investments, agricultural techniques, and managing policies. In addition, the farmland factor was represented by the scale, quality, and indexes, indicating the sustainable level of farmland use in each unit. A coupling coordination analysis was eventually introduced to measure whether these mobile factors were adapted to the farmland factor, and if not, some suggestions were made to reallocate these factors, in order to narrow down the gaps between these two systems. The results indicated that: 1) There was a prominent hierarchical network of mobile factors between the agricultural space of the prefectural units in HCUA, in which the central area was provided with the higher control and connectivity of factors. Moreover, Changchun City was identified as a pivot point to reallocate these mobile factors of production. Even though Harbin City was assumed as another pivot in most regional agricultural planning, the centrality in the entire network still needed to be promoted, especially for the labor forces, capital investments, and managing policies. 2) Both the scale and quality of farmlands were low in the eastern areas, while much higher in the western areas. But the units with the higher sustainable level of farmland use were concentrated in the central area, where the indexes were all higher than 0.65 in the Changchun, Siping, and Daqing. 3) A better performance of the indigenous farmland factor was achieved in the centrality of mobile factors in Changchun, Siping, and Songyuan. The core then served as the mobile factors eastward. Therefore, the other pivot–Harbin was activated first to optimize the factor allocation in HCUA. Then, the double-pivot system was developed to exert some influences northward, particularly for the places with abundant and fertile farmlands but deficient factors of production, such as Suihua, Daqing, and Qiqihar. Unfortunately, the hilly areas including Mudanjiang and Yanbian were found to be almost excluded from the network, and also difficult to be affected by the spillover effect. The characteristic agriculture can be expected for the highlights of the other services, except for the supplying services of agroecosystems. This finding can enrich the allocating factors of production in the agricultural space within a given region. Some statistics can also be used to promote the modernization of agriculture under industrial planning in northeast China. Agricultural space is one of the most complex territorial systems with a fixed physical carrier (i.e. farmland) and the mobile factors of production. These mobile factors can be transmitted and radiated between different units during spatial planning. As such, the total-factor productivity of the indigenous farmland can be facilitated by the modernization of agriculture. Previous studies have demonstrated that the modernization process of agriculture in northeast China is later than elsewhere, due mainly to the server mismatch of basic factors in agricultural production. Taking the Harbin-Changchun Urban Agglomeration (HCUA) as a representative region, this study aims to conduct the network analysis of the key factors with the agricultural space and allocation optimization. Modified gravity model and social network analysis were adopted to identify the distributional structure of mobile factors in each prefectural unit, including the labor forces, capital investments, agricultural techniques, and managing policies. In addition, the farmland factor was represented by the scale, quality, and indexes, indicating the sustainable level of farmland use in each unit. A coupling coordination analysis was eventually introduced to measure whether these mobile factors were adapted to the farmland factor, and if not, some suggestions were made to reallocate these factors, in order to narrow down the gaps between these two systems. The results indicated that: 1) There was a prominent hierarchical network of mobile factors between the agricultural space of the prefectural units in HCUA, in which the central area was provided with the higher control and connectivity of factors. Moreover, Changchun City was identified as a pivot point to reallocate these mobile factors of production. Even though Harbin City was assumed as another pivot in most regional agricultural planning, the centrality in the entire network still needed to be promoted, especially for the labor forces, capital investments, and managing policies. 2) Both the scale and quality of farmlands were low in the eastern areas, while much higher in the western areas. But the units with the higher sustainable level of farmland use were concentrated in the central area, where the indexes were all higher than 0.65 in the Changchun, Siping, and Daqing. 3) A better performance of the indigenous farmland factor was achieved in the centrality of mobile factors in Changchun, Siping, and Songyuan. The core then served as the mobile factors eastward. Therefore, the other pivot–Harbin was activated first to optimize the factor allocation in HCUA. Then, the double-pivot system was developed to exert some influences northward, particularly for the places with abundant and fertile farmlands but deficient factors of production, such as Suihua, Daqing, and Qiqihar. Unfortunately, the hilly areas including Mudanjiang and Yanbian were found to be almost excluded from the network, and also difficult to be affected by the spillover effect. The characteristic agriculture can be expected for the highlights of the other services, except for the supplying services of agroecosystems. This finding can enrich the allocating factors of production in the agricultural space within a given region. Some statistics can also be used to promote the modernization of agriculture under industrial planning in northeast China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the promotion of China's rural revitalization strategy, rural industrial formation based on digital technology is increasingly emerging. How digital technology stimulates rural industrial development as a new infrastructure force and guides the transformation and reconstruction of rural space has become a topic of concern for the Chinese government. Using field research and semi-structured interviews, this research took the tea industry in Zijin County, Guangdong Province, as an example to explore the digital construction process of rural agricultural space. Furthermore, it focused on how digital technology promoted the social and spatial organization transformation of rural areas and analyzed the operation mechanism of digital agricultural space. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) The introduction of digital agricultural technology realizes real-time monitoring of the production space, which helps break the "black box" dilemma arising from the physical isolation of the production and sales sides, and promotes the construction of a logic for agricultural modernization operations. To support the routine operation of the technology platform, digital infrastructure and the introduction of skilled human resources stimulated the creation of new rural spatial functions. 2) Differences in the digital practices of different rural entities were observed. First, targeted digital agricultural space construction leads to differences in resource allocation among rural enterprises of different scales, which intensifies the differential development of rural space construction. Second, the top-down-led digital construction of rural areas has differences between the implementation strategies of governance subjects and the actual needs of local enterprises. This is mainly reflected in the lack of coupling between the integration of digital infrastructure resources and the granting of hierarchical technical knowledge. In addition, grassroots farmers form cognitive inertia to traditional production models and have insufficient knowledge of digital technologies, making it difficult for them to participate in the everyday construction of digital rural discourse systems. 3) Digital technology is leading the rurality turn, i. e., features digital intervention in the construction of agricultural space. Under the discourse of precise poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, the logic of digital rural operation in Zijin County centers on the three-subject framework of government, enterprise, and villagers. With the intervention of digital technology, a hybrid of multiple subjects, networks, and meanings guides the structural transformation of rurality. Overall, digital technology has triggered a reconfiguration of the spatiality of the Chinese countryside. On the one hand, it drives the spatial transformation of rural areas by guiding the transformation of rural social and spatial organization. On the other hand, the current top-down digital technology sink model of rural areas needs to be further improved due to the differences in multiple subjects in rural areas. To broaden the effectiveness of digital technology in promoting the development of rural areas, future construction of digital rural areas should deepen the bottom-up participatory transmission path and guide the participation of more diverse rural subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of ensuring national food security, high-intensity agricultural production and construction activities have aggravated the conflicts between agricultural and ecological spaces in ecologically fragile areas, which have become one of the most important factors hindering regional sustainable development. This study took Lin’an District, a typical hilly region of southeastern China, as an example. By constructing a landscape ecological risk evaluation model, land-use conflicts between agricultural and ecological spaces were identified, spatial autocorrelation and topographic gradient characteristics were analyzed, and land-use conflict trade-off mechanisms were proposed. During 2008 and 2018, the degree of land-use conflict in Lin’an District displayed an increasing trend, and the proportion of severe conflicts increased obviously. Slope is the main factor affecting land-use conflicts in a hilly region and shows a negative correlation, mainly because areas with flat terrain are more conducive to human activities. Based on the characteristics of land-use conflicts in Lin’an District, conflict trade-off mechanisms were proposed to provide a theoretical basis and practical support for land-use conflict management. Our study provides scientific evidence for sustainable land-use planning and ecological management in ecologically fragile areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing farmland suitability is a crucial step towards the rational utilization of land resources and ensuring sustainable agricultural development. Despite China's position as a major producer and consumer of agricultural products, a comprehensive map of farmland suitability based on crop suitability has yet to be produced. Additionally, significant changes have occurred in China's agricultural production space over the past few decades, and research on the correlation between these changes and farmland suitability is lacking, posing a serious threat to agricultural security and sustainable land use. This study aims to investigate the spatial suitability of six crops, namely rice, wheat, maize, soybean, rape, and cotton, and to determine the corresponding range of farmland suitability. Additionally, this research aims to analyze the degree of matching between land cover and farmland suitability in both current and long-term time series to identify inappropriate land use and the potential for flexible farmland allocation. In this study, we applied the optimized maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model to simulate the spatial distribution of crop suitability by integrating six crop occurrence records and environmental variables. The land suitability space was determined by computing the suitability results for all six crops using the maximum-value compositing algorithm. The optimized MaxEnt model significantly enhanced the model's performance and transferability. Environmental variables influenced the proportion of suitable area for the six crops, with soybean > rape > maize > wheat > rice > cotton in descending order. In China, 64.96% of the land was suitable for cultivation, with 22.64% being highly suitable. In 2020, the farmland areas that were highly suitable, moderately suitable, poorly suitable, and unsuitable for crop cultivation accounted for 72.02%, 21.51%, 4.25%, and 2.22% of the total farmland area, respectively. The current farmland area that was highly suitable reached 135.93 million ha, which was sufficient to meet China's cultivated land preservation goal of 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares). Of the woodland, grassland, and unused land, 28.64 million ha, 24.53 million ha, and 2.38 million ha, respectively, were found to be highly suitable for conversion into cropland. Over the past 21 years, built-up land has occupied 8.39 million ha of cropland, 86.65% of which was high-suitability cropland. In addition, 1.35 million ha of unused land were converted to farmland, with 69.80%, 17.32%, and 9.11% being highly suitable, moderately suitable, and poorly suitable for crop cultivation, respectively, while 3.77% of the converted unused land was unsuitable for planting. The optimized MaxEnt model shows significant potential for predicting the distribution of crop suitability. Crop suitability is determined by a combination of climatic, topographic, geological, pedological, and hydrological factors. Currently, the distribution of cropland in China matches well with its suitability, and there is still sufficient suitable land available for agricultural production. However, the implementation of the "Farmland Balance Policy" has not effectively curbed the loss of high-quality farmland, and the available reserve resources for cultivation are becoming scarce. The crop suitability spatial analysis in our study may assist farmers in adjusting their crop cultivation strategies, and the farmland suitability spatial analysis may aid managers in reconciling conflicts between farmland protection and economic development to ensure sufficient land is available for agricultural production. • Crop suitability covering grain, oil and fiber were predicted using the optimized MaxEnt. • Crop suitability is influenced by a combination of climatic, geomorphological, geological, soil and hydrological factors. • China has abundant suitable land available for agricultural production. • China is facing the threat of highly suitable farmland being occupied and low-suitable marginal land being developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural space functions in rapidly urbanizing areas experience rapid transition with urban–rural development process, leading to habitat fragmentation and degradation. Previous studies focused more on impacts of agricultural landscape patterns on habitat quality at the regional scale, ignoring transition processes of agricultural space functions and functional combinations under an urban–rural gradient perspective and their different impacts on habitat quality. This study constructed a holistic framework oriented by four main agricultural space functions, including production, living, ecological, and landscape culture functions, to map transition characteristics of agricultural space function combinations in the main urban area of Hangzhou, a typically rapidly urbanizing area in China, from 2000 to 2019 under the urban–rural gradient. Impacts of these transition processes on habitat quality were further investigated.The results showed that spatiotemporal differences in variations of various agricultural space functions leaded to urban–rural gradient changes in the transition of agricultural space function combinations. From the urban development area to the urban–rural transition area and rural development area, the dominant output type was the single function area, while the dominant input type was the comprehensive function area, composite function area, and single function area, respectively. Areas with decreased habitat quality were mostly concentrated around urban construction land, and they had the highest proportion in the urban development area. All transition types in the urban development area had a negative impact on habitat quality, while the transition process from a more complex function combination to a simpler one in the urban–rural transition area and rural development area had a greater positive impact, and areas transformed from the lagged development area to other functional combinations also produced a positive impact. These findings provide ideas for rational spatial decision-making about limited agricultural resources in rapidly urbanizing areas. • Production and ecological functions in urban development and urban–rural transition areas decreased continuously; • Single function area was the dominant output type, while the dominant input type had urban–rural gradient differences; • Areas with decreased habitat quality levels had the highest proportion in the urban development area; • Impact of functional transition on habitat quality varied across distinct urban–rural development areas and transition types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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