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Land
Special Issues
Suburban Land Development and Rural-Urban Integration
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Suburban Land Development and Rural-Urban Integration

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 1073

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yanwei Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural and Forestry Economic Management, International Business School, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Interests: land use policy; sustainable land use and management; suburban land development; rural-urban Integration
Dr. Kaifeng Duan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Economics and Management, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China
Interests: urban development and management; sustainable development; rural-urban relations; regional and urban economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Maomao Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Public Administration, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430079, China
Interests: land use and management; urban climate; regional development and sustainability; environmental economics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of urbanization and rural revitalization, the enhancement of the interaction between urban and rural areas will change the evolution mechanism of the rural-urban integration system and promote the profound transformation of rural-urban relations. In this context, the scientific meaning of the rural-urban integration system must be interpreted and its structural characteristics and operating mechanism must be analyzed; in addition, a clear understanding of the objective dynamic mechanism and the internal mechanism that drive the development of rural-urban integration must be obtained. Suburbs are located in the transitional zone between urban construction areas and agricultural land. They have characteristics that are different from urban and rural areas in terms of their social economy, population structure, land use and landscape function. Their transitional performance is represented by the transformation of land use from a single function to a multiple composite function. The transformation of suburban land use affects the allocation and optimization of land use functions and the operation of the land system, thus influencing the allocation of rural-urban elements, rural-urban regional structure and rural-urban development functions and affecting the process of rural-urban integration and development. Considering this, in this Special Issue, we hope to discuss how the development of suburban land can better promote the development of rural-urban integration.

This Special Issue aims to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) that provide insights into “Suburban Land Development and Rural-Urban Integration”.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

  • Response of suburban land development to rural-urban integration;
  • Change of land–use functions in suburban land;
  • Evaluation of sustainable land use in suburban areas;
  • Driving factors and paths leading to the development of urban-rural integration;
  • Analysis of the operation mechanism of the rural-urban integration system.

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

Dr. Yanwei Zhang
Dr. Kaifeng Duan
Dr. Maomao Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • suburban land development
  • rural–urban integration
  • land use transition
  • sustainable land use and management
  • rural revitalization

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

29 pages, 18388 KiB  
Article
Study on the Driving Mechanisms and Regulation Pathways of Rural Construction Land Changes Based on the Decoupling-Potential Linkage Model: A Case Study of a County in Northern China
by Bing Zhao, Weicheng Han and Zhiqi Zhang
Land 2025, 14(5), 1079; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14051079 - 15 May 2025
Viewed by 151
Abstract
Amidst the backdrop of rural population decline and the inefficient expansion of construction land, traditional land management models are confronted with the dual challenges of supply–demand mismatch and low efficiency. This paper constructs a three-dimensional analytical framework based on decoupling types, development potential, [...] Read more.
Amidst the backdrop of rural population decline and the inefficient expansion of construction land, traditional land management models are confronted with the dual challenges of supply–demand mismatch and low efficiency. This paper constructs a three-dimensional analytical framework based on decoupling types, development potential, and driving mechanisms. Initially, using Tapio’s decoupling theory, the study identifies the population–land decoupling types among 224 villages in Yanggao County, Shanxi Province, Northern China. It then evaluates the development potential of rural construction land using a comprehensive index system, and a linkage analysis between the two is conducted. Finally, the study employs the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method to conduct an in-depth analysis of the mechanisms driving changes in rural construction land. The results indicate the following: (1) Between 2010 and 2020, the study area exhibited a reverse evolution characterized by rural population loss and the expansion of construction land, with a significant “population–land decoupling” phenomenon. (2) The development potential for rural construction land shows a pattern of being high in the north and south, low in the middle, high in mountainous and hilly areas, low in plains, and high in peripheral areas but low in town centers. (3) Villages in Yanggao County are predominantly of the resource reserve type (49.11%), indicating relatively abundant land resource reserves. (4) In different population migration patterns, the reduction in land-use efficiency represents similar proportions (38% and 36%), with villages experiencing net population inflow performing better in improving land-use efficiency compared to those with net population outflow. Drawing on international governance experiences, the study proposes classification and phased implementation pathways. By revealing the dynamic patterns of rural population–land relationships—construction land potential and change mechanisms—the logic of regulatory path adaptation, the article provides a methodological paradigm for constructing a precise and differentiated land resource allocation system, promoting the transition of rural spatial governance from expansion in scale to an improvement in quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Suburban Land Development and Rural-Urban Integration)
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15 pages, 6856 KiB  
Article
Spatial Heterogeneity of the Natural, Socio-Economic Characteristics and Vitality Realization of Suburban Areas in China
by Tao Lin, Zhiwei Zeng, Hongkai Geng, Yiyi Huang, Jiayu Cai, Xiaotong Wang, Xin Cao and Yicheng Zheng
Land 2025, 14(3), 593; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14030593 - 12 Mar 2025
Viewed by 475
Abstract
Suburban areas are the transitional zone between urban and rural areas, serving as key areas for addressing issues related to urban and regional sustainable development. In this study, 294 prefecture-level cities in China were selected as research objects. The spatial heterogeneity of social, [...] Read more.
Suburban areas are the transitional zone between urban and rural areas, serving as key areas for addressing issues related to urban and regional sustainable development. In this study, 294 prefecture-level cities in China were selected as research objects. The spatial heterogeneity of social, economic, and natural characteristics, as well as the vitality realization of suburbs in China, was quantitatively analyzed at a national scale, and the impact of socio-economic and natural factors on the realization of suburban vitality was discussed. The results show that China has large suburban areas, with 431 km2 of peri-urban, 1816 km2 of mid-suburban, and 5384 km2 of outer-suburban areas, respectively. However, the suburban areas in China exhibit significant spatial heterogeneity (p < 0.001), with larger areas mainly located in the northeast and north. The vitality of the peri-suburban, mid-suburban, and outer-suburban areas exhibits spatial clustering (p < 0.001), with corresponding global Moran’s I values of 0.292, 0.272, and 0.380, respectively. The suburban areas with high vitality are mainly clusters in the southeast coastal regions, and the farther a suburban area is from the built-up areas, the lower its vitality. Various socio-economic and natural factors have different impacts on suburban vitality. The key negative factors are the proportion of agricultural land and elevation, while the positive factors are the density of points of interest (POIs) and the proportion of built-up areas. Finally, we discuss the causes of spatial heterogeneity of suburban vitality in China and the pathways to enhance it. This study provides a scientific reference for the sustainable development of the urban–rural transition zones in other regions and countries in the world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Suburban Land Development and Rural-Urban Integration)
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