Integrating Nature-Based Tourism, Urban Community Planning, and Sustainable Land Use

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: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1324

Special Issue Editors

Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Interests: national parks; sustainable tourism; regional sustainable development
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Guest Editor
Management College, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
Interests: ecotourism; sustainable tourism; tourism planning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The acceleration of global urbanization has led to a triple crisis of ecological space squeezing, land-use fragmentation, and community dysfunction. Addressing the systemic challenges inherent in "tourism development, community reconstruction, and land regulation" from a single-disciplinary perspective proves inadequate. The United Nations' New Urban Agenda and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals underscore the necessity for a paradigm shift in spatial planning. There is an urgent need to establish a collaborative framework that facilitates the capitalization of natural tourism resources, enhances community resilience, and promotes integrated land use. This Special Issue seeks to foster the deep integration of human geography, landscape ecology, and public policy research, providing theoretical support and methodological advancements for reconstructing the territorial spatial planning system by dissecting the interaction chain of "value realization of ecological products—community function iteration—land property rights reorganization". Key topics include, but are not limited to, multidisciplinary methodological innovations (e.g., space syntax coupled with ecosystem service assessment, ABM simulations of land decision-making behavior), scalable technical parameter systems (such as dynamic models of ecotourism capacity and measurement criteria for carbon sinks in brownfield regeneration), and institutional breakthrough cases (like national park gateway communities and pilot areas for cross-basin ecological compensation). Special emphasis is placed on leveraging digital technology (including 3D cadastral rights confirmation and the real-time monitoring of ecological footprints) and innovating policy tools (such as the securitization of land development rights and community planning contract systems). Research should highlight contradictory findings (for instance, conflicts of interest between ecological protection and land appreciation) and propose clear solutions.

  • Collaborative mechanism of nature tourism and urban community planning.
  • Sustainable technology system of land compound use.
  • Spatial reconstruction model of surrounding communities in ecologically sensitive areas.
  • Framework for mediation of "development–conservation" conflicts in cultural heritage sites.
  • Stakeholder collaborative governance model.
  • Intelligent technology enables system integration.
  • Evaluation of policy tool innovation.

Kind regards,

Dr. Hu Yu
Dr. Shengrui Zhang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • multi-system coupling
  • spatial justice
  • value realization of ecological products
  • community resilience
  • land composite use

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

32 pages, 4772 KiB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Driving Factors of the Urban Tourismification–Transportation Quality–Ecological Resilience System: A Case Study of 80 Cities in Central China
by Hexiang Zhang, Yechen Zhang, Ruxing Wang and Xuechang Zhang
Land 2025, 14(6), 1263; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14061263 - 12 Jun 2025
Viewed by 61
Abstract
Within China’s “Central China Rising” strategy, urban tourismification operates as a production mode that reconfigures spatial, economic, and ecological systems—mirroring global overtourism challenges seen in Barcelona and Venice, where rapid infrastructure development often prioritizes economic gains over ecological resilience (cf. Lines 43–46). This [...] Read more.
Within China’s “Central China Rising” strategy, urban tourismification operates as a production mode that reconfigures spatial, economic, and ecological systems—mirroring global overtourism challenges seen in Barcelona and Venice, where rapid infrastructure development often prioritizes economic gains over ecological resilience (cf. Lines 43–46). This study examines 80 central Chinese cities (2010–2021), proposing the Urban Tourismification–Transportation Quality–Ecological Resilience System (UTTES) framework. Using entropy weighting, improved coupling coordination degree (CCD), GM (1,1) forecasting, and spatial Durbin models, we analyze coordination relationships, driving factors, and mechanisms. Key findings reveal the following: (1) UTTES coordination peaked in 2019 (pre-COVID), showing a spatial “center-periphery” gradient with provincial capitals leading. (2) Projections indicate transportation efficiency as a critical bottleneck—most cities will achieve good coordination post-2026. (3) Economic activity, social restructuring, and policy support drive the system, with spatial spillovers creating dual-path mechanisms (economic growth vs. manufacturing/environmental barriers). The UTTES framework advances a replicable methodology for diagnosing Tourism–Transportation–Ecology synergies in rapidly developing regions, integrating multidimensional indicators to balance environmental governance and tourism dynamics. Full article
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25 pages, 8726 KiB  
Article
Climate Change-Driven Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Landscape Ecological in the Qinling Mountains (1980–2023)
by Yufang Liu and Hu Yu
Land 2025, 14(5), 1008; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14051008 - 6 May 2025
Viewed by 698
Abstract
This pioneering study examined the complex interplay between climate changes and landscape ecological dynamics through a spatiotemporal analysis (1980–2023) of China’s climatically vulnerable Qinling Mountains. The results revealed significant trends in landscape indices, indicating the ecosystem sensitivity of the Qinling Mountains to climate [...] Read more.
This pioneering study examined the complex interplay between climate changes and landscape ecological dynamics through a spatiotemporal analysis (1980–2023) of China’s climatically vulnerable Qinling Mountains. The results revealed significant trends in landscape indices, indicating the ecosystem sensitivity of the Qinling Mountains to climate change. The analysis revealed temperature and precipitation as the primary climatic drivers differentially affecting land cover systems. Qinling’s thermal regime has undergone progressive intensification under anthropogenic warming, contrasting with precipitation’s nonlinear variability marked by decadal oscillations. Persistent warming trajectories align with observed vegetation shifts toward higher elevations and latitudes. Landscape metrics demonstrated scale-dependent climate synchronization, achieving full coherence at the macroscale and partial alignment across ecosystem-specific configurations. These multiscale interactions delineate a dual mechanism where climate directly reshapes landscape ecological patterns while modulating human–environment feedback loops. Full article
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