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Sustainability
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Land Use Planning for Sustainable Ecosystem Management
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Land Use Planning for Sustainable Ecosystem Management

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 2440

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xinyuan Liang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Public Administration, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Interests: sustainable land resource management; landscape and land use planning; food security and ecological conservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Jing Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Public Policy and Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Interests: food security and farmland protection; land resource utilization and management; comprehensive land consolidation and spatial optimization, etc.
Dr. Yeting Fan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Public Administration, Nanjing University of Finance & Economics, Nanjing, China
Interests: land use transition, cultivated land use and protection, land consolidation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Unsustainable land management practices permanently reduce the land's biological productivity, leading to a loss of or reduction in yield, which in turn results in a long-term decrease in or loss of the land’s ecological integrity and value to humans. Reportedly, unreasonable land use practices have caused a serious degradation of 80% of agricultural land, 10-20% of pastures, and 87% of wetlands globally. The annual loss of ecosystem services due to land degradation amounts to more than 10% of the global GDP. Therefore, the United Nations has proposed SDG 15, which aims to “protect, restore, and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, manage forests sustainably, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss.” Currently, there is an urgent need to optimize the allocation of natural resources through rational land use planning that is being pursued by scientists, thereby curbing and repairing the phenomenon of land degradation.

This Special Issue aims to elucidate and address the issues, challenges, developments, opportunities, tools, techniques, cases, etc., of land use planning, which can contribute to sustainable ecosystem management through multi-objective synergies. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Land use planning;
  • Agricultural land reallocation;
  • The optimization of protected areas;
  • Landscape and urban planning;
  • Land use transition;
  • Ecosystem evolution and regulation;
  • Natural resource management;
  • Land degradation and restoration;
  • Trade-offs of ecosystem services.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Xinyuan Liang
Dr. Jing Liu
Dr. Yeting Fan
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • sustainable development
  • land use planning
  • ecosystem services
  • land consolidation
  • ecosystem restoration
  • ecological protection
  • land use policy
  • natural resource management
  • interdiscipline

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 22900 KiB  
Article
Urbanization and Ecosystem Services Supply–Demand Mismatches Across Diverse Resource-Based Cities: Evidence from Sichuan, China
by Tianwen Wang, Mingliang Luo, Leichao Bai and Weijie Li
Sustainability 2025, 17(16), 7331; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17167331 - 13 Aug 2025
Viewed by 303
Abstract
Resource-based cities, characterized by a prolonged dependence on resource extraction and persistent urban expansion, frequently exhibit significant imbalances between the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESs). Understanding how various types of resource-based cities respond to urbanization in terms of ESs supply–demand relationships [...] Read more.
Resource-based cities, characterized by a prolonged dependence on resource extraction and persistent urban expansion, frequently exhibit significant imbalances between the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESs). Understanding how various types of resource-based cities respond to urbanization in terms of ESs supply–demand relationships is crucial for advancing sustainable urban development. This study examines three representative resource-based cities in Sichuan Province—Nanchong (growing), Luzhou (declining), and Panzhihua (mature)—to analyze changes in six key ESs from 2000 to 2020, including soil retention, carbon sequestration, water yield, habitat quality, food production, and recreational services. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and random forest (RF) models were employed to evaluate the effects of gross domestic product (GDP) density, construction land proportion (CLP), and population (POP) density on the ecosystem service supply–demand ratio (ESDR), and to explore variations in sensitivity among these cities. The results demonstrate that (1) ESs’ supply–demand patterns differ significantly among the three city types. Nanchong exhibited a declining supply and increasing demand for regulating services; Luzhou displayed improvements in its water yield and recreational services but persistent degradation of habitat quality; and Panzhihua achieved notable gains in carbon sequestration and habitat quality. (2) Urbanization generally reduced the ESDR across all three cities. However, the GDP density positively influenced the ESDR in Nanchong, while the CLP and the POP density exerted widespread negative effects. In Luzhou, the ESDR was primarily constrained by the CLP, whereas in Panzhihua, both the CLP and the POP density significantly reduced the ratio. (3) The sensitivity analysis revealed distinct response patterns: Nanchong was most sensitive to CLP, Luzhou responded most strongly to GDP density, and Panzhihua was highly sensitive to both GDP density and POP density. These findings underscore the necessity of formulating city-type-specific development strategies—such as land restoration, population control, and industrial upgrading—tailored to different types of resource-based cities, in order to reconcile urbanization with ecosystem service dynamics, promote green transformation, and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Planning for Sustainable Ecosystem Management)
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37 pages, 1118 KiB  
Article
Reframing Sustainability in Post-Mining Landscapes: A Foundational Framework for Institutional and Behavioral Integration in Indonesia
by Justan Riduan Siahaan, Gagaring Pagalung, Eymal Bahsar Demmallino, Abrar Saleng, Andi Amran Sulaiman and Nadhirah Nagu
Sustainability 2025, 17(12), 5278; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17125278 - 7 Jun 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1092
Abstract
Sustainability in post-mining landscapes has left a critical governance challenge in resource-rich countries such as Indonesia, where extraction leaves communities economically vulnerable and environments degraded. This study aims to develop and validate a dual-pathway framework for post-mining sustainability by analyzing the intersection between [...] Read more.
Sustainability in post-mining landscapes has left a critical governance challenge in resource-rich countries such as Indonesia, where extraction leaves communities economically vulnerable and environments degraded. This study aims to develop and validate a dual-pathway framework for post-mining sustainability by analyzing the intersection between institutional mechanisms and behavioral readiness. Drawing from a qualitative meta-synthesis of 1339 stakeholder-derived remarks coded across 80 thematic nodes, the framework identifies ten key dimensions, including land compensation, corporate social responsibility (CSR) co-financing, agroecological livelihoods, stakeholder engagement, social norms, and perceived legitimacy. Anchored in Stakeholder Theory and Legitimacy Theory, the findings reveal that sustainability is contingent not solely on technical rehabilitation but also on the synergy between policy reform, community empowerment, and cultural acceptance. While this study is grounded in secondary data synthesis, further field validation is recommended to enhance generalizability across diverse mining regions. The resulting model offers both a conceptual and operational guide for participatory governance and behavioral integration in complex post-extractive contexts with policy recommendations for inclusive, multi-actor planning in Indonesia’s mining regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Planning for Sustainable Ecosystem Management)
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22 pages, 2047 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Big Data Pilot Zones on Urban Ecological Resilience: Evidence from a Machine Learning Approach
by Wei Wen, Kangan Jiang and Xiaojing Shao
Sustainability 2025, 17(7), 2846; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072846 - 23 Mar 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 538
Abstract
Against the backdrop of the structural transition in China’s economic landscape, the implementation of digital economy policies—particularly through the Broadband China Demonstration Cities initiatives—has significantly enhanced urban ecological resilience. Based on panel data from 280 prefecture-level cities in China over the period 2013–2022, [...] Read more.
Against the backdrop of the structural transition in China’s economic landscape, the implementation of digital economy policies—particularly through the Broadband China Demonstration Cities initiatives—has significantly enhanced urban ecological resilience. Based on panel data from 280 prefecture-level cities in China over the period 2013–2022, this study employs the national big data comprehensive pilot zone as a quasi-natural experiment and utilizes the dual machine learning method to examine how pilot zone construction influences urban ecological resilience. This analysis provides theoretical support for fostering green urban development. The results are summarized as follows. (1) The construction of national big data comprehensive pilot zones significantly enhances urban ecological resilience. The conclusion is robust to various tests, including the removal of outliers, changes in sample splitting ratios, and alterations in machine learning algorithms. (2) The construction of national big data comprehensive pilot zones indirectly improves urban ecological resilience through pathways of green innovation and energy efficiency. (3) This study assesses the heterogeneity of policy effects based on the generalized random forest (GRF) model to identify the sources of heterogeneity in policy effects, and conducts a comprehensive heterogeneity analysis from the three dimensions of resource endowments, geographical location characteristics, and the attributes of environmental protection zones. These findings enrich the analysis of the consequences of national big data comprehensive pilot zone policies and offer a theoretical basis and policy reference for how constructing big data pilot zones can better serve urban ecological development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Planning for Sustainable Ecosystem Management)
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