Coupled Man-Land Relationship for Regional Sustainability

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Use, Impact Assessment and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 December 2025 | Viewed by 714

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Tourism, Xi’an International Studies University, Xi’an 710128, China
Interests: land resource management; climate change; ecosystem service; town and country planning; ecohydrology; remote sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
Interests: land management; land use planning; land information; geographic information system; natural resources management; agroeconomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Resource and Environmental Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Interests: remote sensing; ecological restoration; geographic information systems; land use change; google earth engine
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Guest Editor
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China
Interests: land use; land cover; land resources; ecosystem services; remote sensing; geography; GIS; UAV; climate change
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Guest Editor
Department of Geography and Spatial Information Techniques, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Interests: intelligent transportation and regional development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The human–land system is a complex network formed by the intricate interplay between human activities and the geographical environment on the Earth's surface. The relationship between humans and the land is a fundamental research area in disciplines such as environmental science, geography, and ecology, among others. Global climate change is escalating with the continuously growing scale and intensity of human activities, resulting in increasingly substantial impacts on Earth's system. Consequently, the inherent contradiction between humans and the land is becoming more pronounced. It is imperative to effectively balance the protection of ecological environments with socio-economic development to gradually achieve harmonious human–land relationships and foster deeper connections within human–land systems.

We are delighted  to announce that this Special Issue, “Coupled Man-Land Relationship for Regional Sustainability”, will be hosted by the open-access journal Land. The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) that give us new insights into the reciprocal interactions between humans and the environment; investigate the process of harmonizing human activities, economic development, and ecological conservation for regional social progress; and identify optimized patterns and pathways for achieving the sustainable development of human society.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that consider themes including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Discussions and case studies on the coupling of human–land systems;
  • Innovation within quantitative evaluation indices for harmonious human–land relationships;
  • The impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the ecological environment, ecosystem services, etc., and the mechanisms behind these impacts;
  • Assessments of the impact of intense human activity on regional human–land relationships;
  • The efficacy of preserving natural environments for ecosystem management and ecological conservation, with the aim of carbon neutrality;
  • The regulation of human activity intensity through land use planning, energy conservation, emission reduction, and the improvement of production processes;
  • The interplay between the advancement of tourism, burgeoning industries, and regional sustainability.

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

Dr. Pengtao Wang
Dr. Wanxu Chen
Dr. Xufeng Cui
Dr. Meimei Wang
Dr. Basanta Paudel
Dr. Xingchuan Gao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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

  • land resources
  • human–land relationships
  • sustainability
  • land planning and management
  • climate change
  • anthropogenic activities and their effects
  • ecological protection
  • economic development
  • remote sensing
  • carbon neutrality

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 6909 KiB  
Article
Heterogeneous Changes and Evolutionary Characteristics of Cultivated Land Fragmentation in Mountainous Counties and Townships in Southwest China: A Case Study of Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County
by Mengqin Liu, Fengqiang Wu, Caijian Mo, Rongjian Xiao, Huailiang Yu and Meimei Wang
Land 2025, 14(7), 1395; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14071395 - 3 Jul 2025
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Abstract
As a core element of comprehensive land consolidation, cultivated land serves as both a fundamental resource and strategic platform for driving rural revitalization and advancing ecological civilization development. Based on the five periods of remote sensing monitoring data of land use from the [...] Read more.
As a core element of comprehensive land consolidation, cultivated land serves as both a fundamental resource and strategic platform for driving rural revitalization and advancing ecological civilization development. Based on the five periods of remote sensing monitoring data of land use from the 1980 to 2020 in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, this study systematically examines cultivated land transfer dynamics and quantitatively assesses fragmentation levels through landscape metrics analysis, with the ultimate objective of informing strategic land consolidation planning at the county scale. The results indicate that (1) the cultivated land transformation in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County exhibited distinct temporal patterns demarcated by 2010. During the initial phase, limited land transfers predominantly involved woodland transfers, characterized by cross-regional occupation–compensation dynamics and a northwest-oriented spatial shift. The subsequent phase witnessed substantial transfer intensification, incorporating grassland and construction land transfers alongside woodland. This period demonstrated balanced intra-township occupation–compensation mechanisms and a marked southeastward migration of transfer concentration; (2) cultivated land transfer dynamics demonstrated greater intensity in topographically moderate townships, whereas northwestern mountainous townships characterized by elevated altitudes and pronounced gradients maintained comparative spatial stability in transfer patterns; (3) cultivated land fragmentation exhibited topographic modulation, with reduced spatial disaggregation in low-lying plains contrasting elevated indices across northwestern highland terrains; and (4) the cultivated land area showed a predominant reduction in low-elevation and gentle-slope regions, accompanied by a decrease in landscape fragmentation. Conversely, in areas with higher elevations and steeper slopes, expansions in both cultivated land area and fragmentation were observed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coupled Man-Land Relationship for Regional Sustainability)
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