The Role of Land Policy in Shaping Rural Development Outcomes

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Socio-Economic and Political Issues".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 739

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Land Resource Management, School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
Interests: land resources management; land economy and land ecology; land use and climate change

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Guest Editor
College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Interests: land use transition; urban expansion; urban–rural sustainable development

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Guest Editor
Department of Geography, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China
Interests: spatial planning; land use/cover change; ecological conservation and restoration
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Guest Editor
Department of Geography and the Environment, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
Interests: water quality of inland waters; atmospheric correction; deep learning
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As the core institutional tool for rural development, land policy has a profound impact on the path to achieving agricultural modernization and food security. At present, rural areas globally are facing multiple structural contradictions: the aging population and land abandonment have led to a decline in agricultural production efficiency (especially in hilly and mountainous areas); the flow of urban and rural elements in the process of urbanization has made it difficult to fully release the value of rural land; the coordinated demand for farmland protection and ecological protection and restoration has intensified; and the global food supply chain has become more volatile.

From a historical perspective, land policy has always been a lever for rural reform, and agricultural and rural policy adjustments have always revolved around property rights’ allocation, business entity cultivation, and factor marketization. At present, global rural revitalization requires land policies to further adapt to the needs of modern agriculture. At the academic level, land policy research needs to break through the framework of traditional institutional economics, combine sociology, ecology, and technological innovation perspectives, and build a multidimensional evaluation system. For example, there is an urgent need to deepen both theoretical and empirical evidence regarding issues such as the protection effect of land rights’ confirmation in terms of farmers' rights and interests, the benefit distribution mechanism in land transfer, and the synergistic path of land consolidation and ecological restoration.

The goal of this Special Issue is to collate papers (original research articles and review papers) that provide insights into “The Role of Land Policy in Shaping Rural Development Outcomes”. Through interdisciplinary research, the role of land policy innovation in agricultural transformation, rural revitalization, and sustainable development is revealed. This Special Issue aims to achieve the following: Theoretical expansion: Starting from institutional economics, property rights theory, ecological economics, and other disciplines, a comprehensive framework for land policy research is constructed to respond to the need for theoretical explanations of emerging land use practices. Practice-oriented: Analyzing the practical obstacles to the implementation of land policies, study the role of land policies in the rural development process, and propose optimization paths. Global perspective: Combined with developed international experience, provide a comparative perspective for land policies in developing countries.

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include the following:

  • Agricultural economy and land policy: explore the impact of land policy on agricultural production efficiency, farmers' income, and food security.
  • Sustainable development: study the synergistic mechanism of farmland protection, land consolidation, ecological restoration, and intensive land use.
  • Rural governance: analyze the role of land system reform in rural social stability and urban–rural integrated development.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Hongwei Zhang
Dr. Enxiang Cai
Dr. Jie Zeng‬‬‬‬
Dr. Jilin Men
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • land policy reform
  • agricultural modernization
  • sustainable land use
  • land tenure systems
  • urban–rural integration
  • food security governance
  • rural revitalization strategies
  • ecological conservation in agriculture

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

25 pages, 13531 KiB  
Article
Research on the Correlation Between Spatial Layout Characteristics and Geographical Conditions for Ethnic Minority Rural Settlements
by Xi Luo and Jian Zhang
Land 2025, 14(7), 1409; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14071409 - 4 Jul 2025
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Abstract
It is significant to study the correlation between the spatial distribution and topographic features for ethnic minority rural settlements, which can provide the theoretical basis and practical methods for the preservation of ethnic culture and scientific planning of territorial space. Liuzhou in Guangxi [...] Read more.
It is significant to study the correlation between the spatial distribution and topographic features for ethnic minority rural settlements, which can provide the theoretical basis and practical methods for the preservation of ethnic culture and scientific planning of territorial space. Liuzhou in Guangxi is a region with diverse ethnic groups and this paper takes Liuzhou as the case study. This study employs fractal theory, GIS spatial analysis, and correlation analysis methods to investigate the relationship between settlement spatial patterns and their surrounding geographical conditions. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between the geographic location of ethnic minority rural settlements (including site selection and terrain features) and their geographical conditions (topographic and elevation factors). Additionally, significant associations exist between settlement slope, settlement orientation, and their positioning within mountainous terrain. The study also reveals strong correlations between planar morphological characteristics (or settlement scale) and settlement terrain for the settlements of the same ethnic group within the same region. Specifically, Dong settlements exhibit remarkable consistency in settlement scale, while Miao settlements demonstrate high similarity in terms of elevation distribution. The methodology developed in this study is applicable to correlation research on settlement characteristics across diverse ethnic groups and geographical regions. It not only reveals universal patterns of how physical-geographic environments influence the planar and spatial features of settlements, but also validates the logical coherence of investigating layout characteristics from both planar and spatial perspectives. The findings of this study not only provide practical guidance for the development and planning of settlements, but also offer recommendations for the cultural inheritance and settlement protection of ethnic minorities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Land Policy in Shaping Rural Development Outcomes)
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