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A topical collection in Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This collection belongs to the section "Land Socio-Economic and Political Issues".

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Prof. Dr. Hualou Long

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School of Public Administration, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Interests: land-use transition; land consolidation; sustainable land management; rural restructuring; urban-rural integrated development; rural geography
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Dear Colleagues,

Land is the spatial carrier of anthropogenic activities, the most basic production factor of socioeconomic development, and the most fundamental survival resource for urban and rural residents. Land-use transitions are primary forces driving the transformation of the rural-urban territorial system and bring about direct socioeconomic as well as environmental effects on regional sustainability, resulting in farmland loss and soil degradation, affecting biodiversity and ecosystems’ ability to serve human needs, polluting the environment, influencing agricultural production and food security, and causing regional socio-economic and spatial restructuring. Land use transitions can be measured by changes in both the dominant morphology (e.g., quantity, structure, and spatial pattern) and recessive morphology (e.g., quality, property rights, management mode, fixed input, productive ability, and function) of land use. The study of land-use transitions can lead to a deeper understanding of human–land interactions and reveal major socioeconomic development issues and related environmental effects. Translating scientific findings into sustainable solutions and implementation in practice is the core objective of land system science. Land system science provides theoretical guidance for studying integrated land use transitions, which constitute a hugely significant area of land system science research. Adjusting and controlling land use transitions by linking the research of land system science with urban-rural transformation development, becomes one of the important solutions for realizing the sustainable utilization of urban-rural land resources.

As a continuation of the last Special Issue on "Land Use Transitions under Rapid Urbanization", this collection will gather excellent research work on land-use transitions and land system science, focusing on the following themes:

Theoretical research of land use transitions and land system science;
Measuring land use transitions;
Impacts of land use transitions on socio-economic development;
Eco-environmental effects of land use transitions;
Driving mechanism of land use transitions;
Adjusting and controlling land use transitions;
Land-use transitions and sustainable land use solutions;
The transition of land tenure regimes;
Linking local land use transitions with globalization.

Prof. Dr. Hualou Long
Collection Editor

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Keywords

land use transitions
socio-economic development
eco-environmental effects
driving mechanism
land system science
land tenure regime
globalization

Related Special Issue

Land Use Transitions under Rapid Urbanization in Land (27 articles)

Published Papers (8 papers)

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2023

Jump to: 2022

24 pages, 5914 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Understanding Recessive Transition of Cultivated Land Use in Jilin Province, China (1990–2020): From Perspective of Productive-Living-Ecological Functions

by Lingzhi Wang, Anqi Liang, Xinyao Li, Chengge Jiang, Junjie Wu and Hichem Omrani

Land 2023, 12(9), 1758; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12091758 - 10 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 729

Abstract

Jilin Province is an important commercial grain production base in northeast China, and it has seen significant transition in cultivated land use in recent years. This study constructed a measurement system for the recessive transition of cultivated land use in Jilin Province based on the perspective of “three-function synergy” (productive, living, and ecological functions). It discussed the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of the recessive transition of cultivated land use from 1990 to 2020, identified the turning point of the cultivated land transition trend, and built a model of recessive transition of cultivated land in Jilin Province. After analyzing the results, we came to the following conclusions: (1) The turning point of the “three-function synergy” of the recessive morphology of cultivated land in Jilin Province occurred earlier than the mutation point of the recessive transition of cultivated land, and there was a certain temporality in the recessive transition of cultivated land compared with the functional change of cultivated land; (2) the degree of recessive transition of cultivated land in Jilin Province showed a spatial distribution characteristic of being higher in the west and lower in the east; (3) the recessive transition of cultivated land use in Jilin Province could be divided into transition stages characterized by “low stage slow rise period”, “middle stage significant increase period”, and “high stage steady growth period”; (4) Jilin Province should adopt differentiated and diversified management of cultivated land to achieve a comprehensive management model that emphasizes quantity, quality, and ecology. Full article

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15 pages, 263 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Spatial Characteristics of Farmland Plots on Transfer Patterns in China: A Supply and Demand Perspective

by Yang Guo, Meiling Cui and Zhigang Xu

Land 2023, 12(2), 444; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020444 - 09 Feb 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1011

Abstract

(1) Background: The tense relationship between man and land makes transferring farmland rights in the market critical for improving agricultural production efficiency and promoting large-scale agricultural management. (2) Methods: This study considers the impact of the spatial characteristics of farmland plots on the economies of scale of farmers in terms of farmland use and heterogeneity. The effect of plots’ area and location on the directional flow of plots in the farmland transfer market from the perspective of matching supply and demand is also investigated. An empirical test is conducted on farmer actions and plot characteristics data based on surveys from 2015 and 2018 in the Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang, Henan, Zhejiang, and Sichuan. (3) Results: The plots’ area and location affect economies of scale for different potential transfer plots. This leads to large plots and adjacent plots in the market transferring to large-scale households, while scattered small plots mainly transfer to ordinary households. (4) Conclusions: The fixed spatial characteristics of the plots determine the scattered circulation of farmland in the transfer market, hindering the centralized utilization of farmland and restricting efficiency in farmland transfer market allocation. The findings from the context of China are similar to what has been found elsewhere. This suggests the need for a unified trading platform for farmland transfer and strengthening the mutual transformation of land and agricultural machinery. Full article

2022

Jump to: 2023

19 pages, 5048 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Land Use Transition and Its Ecosystem Resilience Response in China during 1990–2020

by Liuwen Liao, Enpu Ma, Hualou Long and Xiaojun Peng

Land 2023, 12(1), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010141 - 31 Dec 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1982

Abstract

Land use transition and its eco-environmental effects are important research topics. Its essence is the process that human activities exert interference to the ecological environment in the process of social and economic development, and the ecosystem resists interference and recovers and adapts to interference. The article starts from the transition of land use dominant morphology and takes ecological resilience as the breakthrough point. Based on four periods of land use data, this article studied the spatio-temporal evolution of land use and ecological resilience and the response of ecological resilience to land use transition in China from 1990 to 2020. The results showed as follows: (1) During the study period, the construction land in China continued to increase, and the forest land, grassland, and farmland showed a fluctuating trend. (2) The spatial distribution pattern of ecological resilience showed the characteristics of “high in the southeast and low in the northwest”. The mean value and total value of ecological resilience in the region decreased first and then increased, taking 2010 as the dividing line. The difference in ecological resilience increased first and then decreased. (3) Ecological land and construction land are the main types of land that affect the changes in ecological resilience. The higher the proportion of ecological lands such as forest land, grassland, and waters, the smaller the variable coefficient of ecological resilience. The higher the proportion of construction land, the greater the difference in ecosystem elasticity among different types of areas. Full article

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30 pages, 5667 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Endogenous Driving Forces in Ecology-Production-Living Space Changes at Micro-Scale: A Mountain Town Example in Inland China

by Dong Han, Jiajun Qiao, Qiankun Zhu, Jie Xiao and Yuling Ma

Land 2022, 11(12), 2289; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122289 - 13 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1365

Abstract

Studying land use transition and restructuring has value for promoting sustainable regional development, especially in China’s vast rural areas, which are undergoing rapid changes. Current research tends to focus on the macro level, and analyses of driving forces are mostly based on the correlation analysis of influencing factors. However, in the case of villages and towns, which are at the micro level, it is important to know who promotes land use transition and how to promote it under the influence of the macro environment. This study, therefore, focused on the endogenous driving force behind land use transition and its characteristics at the micro level of villages and towns. On the basis of our theoretical framework, an empirical study was carried out on the transformation and restructuring of ecology–production–living (EPL) spaces in the town of Zhulin in Central China over the past 30 years. We found the following: (1) The overall distribution of EPL spaces in Zhulin shifted from mixed distribution to relatively concentrated distribution, and the spatial transfer of EPL spaces showed fluctuations in the expansion and contraction of different types of spaces. (2) Land use transition was more active in spatial interface areas than in noninterface areas, where the interconversion of ecological space and agricultural production space was concentrated at the terrain interface. In addition, transformation processes related to living space and non-agricultural production space were concentrated at the urban–rural interface. (3) Macro-level social and economic changes were the root cause of land use transformation, and the autonomous spatial governance capability of villagers’ self-organization institutions was key to regulating land use transformation. The spatial interface was a sensitive area for land use transformation in a natural state. An endogenous driving mode of active response to land use transformation based on rural autonomous spatial governance capability and spatial interface sensitivity is proposed. How to improve the rural governance capacity of key local actors in different regions and at different levels is an aspect worthy of further consideration. Full article

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17 pages, 1132 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact Mechanism of the Three Pilot Reforms of the Rural Land System on Rural Residential Land Use Transition: A Regime Shifts Perspective

by Bangrong Shu and Yi Qu

Land 2022, 11(12), 2215; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122215 - 06 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1267

Abstract

Understanding the impact of the three pilot reforms of the rural land system (TRRLS) on rural residential land use transition (RRLUT) based on the land use transition (LUT) theory is crucial for promoting rural land system reform. However, there is still a lack of research on this, and the LUT theory also needs to be improved from a systematic perspective to eliminate the misunderstanding of LUT in academia. To address this, this study firstly attempts to deepen the conceptual model and the understanding of characteristics of LUT from a regime shifts perspective. LUT is the transformation of the land use system as one regime passes into another, where a difference in the analytical perspective of land use morphology generates different transition results. The process of LUT can simultaneously or solely involve dominant morphology and recessive morphology transitions, and there are two types of LUT: positive and negative transitions. Moreover, LUT in different regions may have pathway differences and the convergence of results. Then, a theoretical analysis framework of the pathways of RRLUT under the TRRLS is constructed to detect the impact mechanism by using Wujin district, China to obtain empirical evidence. The results reveal that the recessive morphology transition of rural residential land in Wujin under the TRRLS is significant, while the dominant morphology transition in land quantity structure and spatial distribution is relatively slow. Furthermore, two internal factors of population urbanization and migration, the demand for rural collective economic development, as well as the two external factors of the TRRLS and market factors, such as nonlocals’ demand for housing and rural enterprises’ demand for land, have, to a certain extent, weakened the resilience of the rural land use system and promoted RRLUT. Here, the TRRLS have, by removing the institutional barrier to RRLUT, become the key to the transition. Full article

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22 pages, 4498 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comprehensive Eco-Environmental Effects Caused by Land Use Transition from the Perspective of Production–Living–Ecological Spaces in a Typical Region: A Case Study of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

by Zipeng Chen, Yongqiang Liu and Shuangshuang Tu

Land 2022, 11(12), 2160; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122160 - 30 Nov 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1368

Abstract

With the promotion of rapid economic and social development, land use has undergone profound processes of transition worldwide, leaving the production–living–ecological spaces (PLES) and landscape pattern reconfigured, thus further affecting regional eco-environmental quality and landscape ecological risk. This paper first introduces a research framework of comprehensive eco-environmental effects caused by shifts in land use, to analyze the relations and interactions among land use transition, interconversion of PLES, eco-environmental quality, and landscape ecological risk, and then this framework was applied to the empirical analysis of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Guangxi), to examine the comprehensive eco-environmental effects caused by land use transition there. The results show the following: (1) During 1990–2018, ecological space in Guangxi tended to continuously shrink in area, while the area of production and living space kept expanding. The areas of forest ecological land, grass ecological land, and agricultural production land clearly decreased over time, having been mainly converted into both urban living land as well as industrial and mining production land. (2) The eco-environmental quality in Guangxi showed a trend of continual decline, this characterized by high and medium-high quality zones decreasing in area as the low-quality zone expanded. Further, the spatial distribution of eco-environmental quality tended to diminish when moving from Guangxi’s surrounding towards its central and southern parts. (3) However, the landscape ecological risk continued to rise mainly because of reductions in ecological space. Its spatial distribution was the inverse of that of eco-environmental quality; i.e., being at high risk in the central and southern parts, but lower in the surroundings. (4) The bivariate global Moran’s I analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between the eco-environmental quality and landscape ecological risk. Going from remote mountainous and hilly areas to rural areas, and then into urban areas, the eco-environmental quality displayed a gradually decreasing trend, while landscape ecological risk was initially reduced but then augmented. We conclude that land use transition in Guangxi has caused a continuous reduction in its regional eco-environmental quality, and also exacerbated its landscape ecological risk. Hence, it is of great importance to balance the PLES and optimize the landscape pattern, so as to restore the eco-environmental quality while also mitigating the landscape ecological risk of Guangxi and similar regions. Full article

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16 pages, 4019 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Spatio-Temporal Pattern and Transition Mode of Recessive Cultivated Land Use Morphology in the Huaibei Region of the Jiangsu Province

by Xinyao Li, Lingzhi Wang, Bryan Pijanowski, Lingpeng Pan, Hichem Omrani, Anqi Liang and Yi Qu

Land 2022, 11(11), 1978; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11111978 - 04 Nov 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1377

Abstract

Examining land use transition is a new way of building on the comprehensive research on Land Use/Cover Change (LUCC). Research on transition law and characteristics is important for improving the theory of land use transition and the practice of land resource management, and for being able to provide a basis and reference for promoting socio-economic transformation. Based on the relevant statistical data concerning cultivated land use in the Huaibei area of the Jiangsu Province from 1995 to 2020, and by understanding the county as a unit to be measured, this paper constructed a multi-dimensional (economic–social–ecological) functional index system of recessive morphology, analyzed the spatio-temporal pattern of the transition of cultivated land use, identified transition point mutations, and established the transition mode by adopting multi-dimensional time series point mutation detection and the piecewise linear regression method. The findings suggest that the index of recessive cultivated land use morphology in the Huaibei region of the Jiangsu Province presents a trend of “slow decline to significant growth to stable growth”. Moreover, the index presented evolutionary characteristics such as “high in the middle and east while low in the west”, as well as “the relatively balanced distribution between counties”, thus indicating that the degree of transition deepened, it showed a homogeneous development trend, and the transition process presented obvious “ladder” stage characteristics; therefore, the authors suggest making scientific use of cultivated land resources, in accordance with local conditions, in order to make the land use transition of cultivated land efficient, green, and sustainable. Full article

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19 pages, 3584 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Land Use Has Changed through the Last 200 Years in Various Production Areas of South Bohemia

by Jana Moravcova, Vendula Moravcova, Tomas Pavlicek and Nikola Novakova

Land 2022, 11(10), 1619; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11101619 - 22 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1667

Abstract

This article focuses on land use changes in the area of interest in the southern part of the Czech Republic (South Bohemia Region). Land use changes have been assessed at several time levels over nearly two centuries. Unlike similar studies, two types of materials were used as source data and compared. Specifically, these are historical maps or aerial photographs and the Corine Land Cover database. The evolution of land use was examined on a representative set of sixty cadastral areas, which evenly cover the territory of three different production areas of the South Bohemia Region. Each production area was then evaluated both as a whole and separately. The paper’s results confirm the trend of decreasing the share of intensively used agricultural land (arable land), especially in worse natural conditions, like in other countries of the Central European region. An essential result of the publication was also the demonstration of the unique development of the post-1948 period when there was a significant difference in land use development between the border forage production areas and the rest of the agriculturally used parts of the region. Full article

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2022

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