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Feature Papers for "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions" Section: 2nd...
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Feature Papers for "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions" Section: 2nd Edition

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 August 2026 | Viewed by 4974

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Dagmar Haase

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Guest Editor
Lab of Landscape Ecology, Department of Geography, Humboldt University Berlin, Rudower Chaussee 16, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Interests: land-use change modelling; ecosystem services; socio-environmental justice; urban land teleconnections; urban ecology; GIS and remote sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue “Feature Papers for Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions Section: 2nd Edition” welcomes positioning, overview and reflecting contributions focusing on both patterns and processes in urban landscapes and cities as well as along the urban–rural gradient. The section is open to submissions dealing with urban land use and its change, urbanization impacts on ecosystems and their services in cities, the future of peri-urbanization, the urban heat island and impacts of climate change on human and ecosystems quality of life including biodiversity aspects, wildlife and nature conservation in urban ecosystems and along urban boundaries, urban planning and governance of green infrastructure and nature-based solutions, sustainable cities, and the role of technology and big data in urban social-ecological land study.

Inter- and transdisciplinary manuscripts are highly welcome. And we also welcome case studies and other applied research, “state of science and beyond’’ reviews, and topical short communications and opinion papers.

Prof. Dr. Dagmar Haase
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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

  • urban landscapes
  • urban land use change
  • urban heat island and climate change
  • urbanization impacts on ecosystems and their services
  • biodiversity, wildlife, and nature conservation in urban ecosystems
  • urban planning and governance of green-blue infrastructures
  • green infrastructure and nature-based solutions
  • sustainable cities
  • environmental justice in cities
  • technology for cities and big data

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 3847 KB  
Article
Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Influencing Factors of Ecological Resilience: A Human-Land Relationship Perspective
by Hailan Sa, Wei Chang and Qiuyi Wu
Land 2026, 15(3), 433; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15030433 - 7 Mar 2026
Viewed by 405
Abstract
Ecological resilience (ER) describes an ecosystem’s capacity to resist, adapt to, and recover from external shocks. Enhancing ER has become a crucial issue of high-quality development in urban agglomerations. Based on the perspective of human–land relationship, this study takes the Chengdu–Chongqing urban agglomeration [...] Read more.
Ecological resilience (ER) describes an ecosystem’s capacity to resist, adapt to, and recover from external shocks. Enhancing ER has become a crucial issue of high-quality development in urban agglomerations. Based on the perspective of human–land relationship, this study takes the Chengdu–Chongqing urban agglomeration (CCUA) as its research subject and constructs a three-dimensional evaluation framework of “Resistance-Adaptation-Recovery” (Res-Ada-Rec), evaluates the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of ER from 2003 to 2022, and uses a partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) to reveal the interaction mechanism of human and natural factors on ER. Results indicate that: (1) Temporally, ER in the CCUA showed a significant upward trend, with resistance, adaptation, and recovery demonstrating fluctuating evolutionary processes. (2) Spatially, ER presented a pattern of “small agglomeration and large dispersion”, with clear spatial heterogeneity observed across the three dimensions. (3) PLS-SEM analysis revealed that green innovation, institutional policies, and the natural environment had significant positive direct effects on ER, with path coefficients of 0.54, 0.53, and 0.12, respectively. Urbanization exerted a significant indirect negative effect on ER through its impact on the natural environment. These findings deepen our understanding of how green innovation, institutional policies, and urbanization influence ER, providing scientific references for urban agglomeration to achieve modernization characterized by harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions" Section: 2nd Edition)
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26 pages, 1669 KB  
Article
Does the National Key Ecological Function Zones Policy Promote Leapfrog Development in Urban–Rural Integration?
by Fanfan Li, Guangpeng Ma and Guixiang Zhang
Land 2026, 15(1), 128; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15010128 - 9 Jan 2026
Viewed by 368
Abstract
Integrated urban–rural development is an inevitable requirement of regional development. Developing green industries based on rural ecological resources are important approaches to promoting urban–rural integration. The National Key Ecological Function Zones (NKEFZ) policy focuses on safeguarding national ecological security. However, whether the resulting [...] Read more.
Integrated urban–rural development is an inevitable requirement of regional development. Developing green industries based on rural ecological resources are important approaches to promoting urban–rural integration. The National Key Ecological Function Zones (NKEFZ) policy focuses on safeguarding national ecological security. However, whether the resulting ecological improvements can, through the realization of ecological value, provide momentum for urban–rural integration remains unclear in existing research. This study uses a sample of 284 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2023, treating the establishment of NKEFZ as a quasi-natural experiment. First, the study constructs a “Driving-constraining” bidirectional theoretical framework, and then uses the entropy weight method to measure the level of urban–rural integration, which is selected by 18 sub-indicators from the populational, spatial, and economic dimensions. Finally, a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model is constructed to test the impact of NKEFZ on urban–rural integration, and the transmission mechanisms and heterogeneity are explored. The results indicate the following: (1) Following the implementation of the NKEFZ policy, it shows an overall inhibitory trend on urban–rural integration, consequently slowing the progress of urban–rural integration. The inhibitory effects are particularly pronounced in spatial and economic integration dimensions, and these results are robust. (2) Constrained industrial upgrading and increased fiscal pressure on local governments are the main mechanisms behind the slowed urban–rural integration. (3) Due to differences in policy coverage and the heterogeneous characteristics of city locations, the negative effects of the policy are more pronounced in cities with a high proportion of key ecological function counties, as well as in prefecture-level cities in central and western regions. Based on these findings, it is suggested to promote high-quality urban–rural integration in eco-priority areas through pathways such as developing ecological industries, improving the ecological compensation system, and clarifying central–local collaborative governance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions" Section: 2nd Edition)
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24 pages, 3498 KB  
Article
User Perceptions of Text Mining in Peri-Rural Landscapes and Topic Modeling of Icheon City in the Seoul Metropolitan Region
by Doeun Kim, Junho Park and Yonghoon Son
Land 2025, 14(9), 1927; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14091927 - 22 Sep 2025
Viewed by 1283
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore and analyse user perceptions of peri-rural landscapes in the Seoul metropolitan region, using Icheon City as a case study. While the multifunctionality of peri-rural areas—providing ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic benefits—is increasingly recognised, the perceptual and [...] Read more.
The purpose of this study is to explore and analyse user perceptions of peri-rural landscapes in the Seoul metropolitan region, using Icheon City as a case study. While the multifunctionality of peri-rural areas—providing ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic benefits—is increasingly recognised, the perceptual and experiential dimensions remain underexplored in South Korea. To address this gap, 10,578 Naver Blog posts were collected and refined, resulting in 8078 valid entries. Methodologically, this study introduces an innovative approach by integrating centrality analysis with latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling of user-generated content, supported by a bespoke dictionary of 170 local landscape resources. This combined framework allows simultaneous examination of structural associations and thematic narratives within user perceptions. The results indicate that resources such as Seolbong Urban Park, Seolbong Mountain, and the Cornus Fruit (sansuyu) Villages function as symbolic hubs in the perceptual network, while thematic clusters capture multi-dimensional concerns spanning leisure, ecology, culture, suburbanization, and real estate. Synthesised together, these findings demonstrate that user perceptions construct peri-rural landscapes not as isolated sites, but as spatially cohesive and thematically interconnected systems that mediate between urban and rural domains. Overall, this study contributes to metropolitan planning discourse by highlighting perceptual dimensions alongside functional and ecological dimensions. It shows that users cognitively construct peri-rural landscapes as systems that are both spatially cohesive and thematically interconnected, and that function as spaces that link urban and rural areas. Crucially, this study provides a replicable framework for using user-generated content to inform the planning and management of peri-rural landscapes in metropolitan areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions" Section: 2nd Edition)
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33 pages, 12954 KB  
Article
The Design of Workscapes: A Scoping Study
by Rosa de Wolf, Rob Roggema, Steffen Nijhuis and Nico Tillie
Land 2025, 14(5), 1072; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14051072 - 15 May 2025
Viewed by 2270
Abstract
Population growth and urbanization are straining the limited space in the built environment. The business districts take up a great portion of this built space. These districts face climate change hazards and spatial emptiness due to their profit-driven foundation. Sustainable ambitions and strategic [...] Read more.
Population growth and urbanization are straining the limited space in the built environment. The business districts take up a great portion of this built space. These districts face climate change hazards and spatial emptiness due to their profit-driven foundation. Sustainable ambitions and strategic locations offer the potential to rethink business districts and integrate them into the living environment. Understanding business districts as potential workscapes, more socio-ecological inclusive business districts, is a new perspective. This research formulates a method to define the spatial quality of business districts through literature review and spatial analysis. A spatial analysis of forty cases in the Netherlands presents a higher spatial quality on more diverse landscapes. This indicates that diversification of the business districts’ landscape from monotone to multitone is needed to enable workscape development. Landscape-driven urbanism is needed to generate this desired level of quality. The research highlights the strategic location of edge-city business districts, situated between urban and rural areas, showing the potential to strengthen the urban-rural relationship. Further research on and by design is needed to enable workscape development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions" Section: 2nd Edition)
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