Rural–Urban Transformation and Regional Development: 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Due to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation globally, problems such as youth outmigration, the “hollowing-out” of villages, the wellbeing of left-behind children and empty nesters, and land abandonment have emerged and prevailed in rural areas in the Global South. Moreover, since rural outmigrants have long been marginalised, socially excluded, and discriminated against in cities, many of them have returned to the rural regions from which they originated. Their return has also imposed new challenges on rural healthcare and welfare systems.

In order to address these challenges, there have been calls for rural revitalisation since the new millennium; however, whilst economic restructuring and poverty alleviation in rural areas have increasingly become a cause for concern among academics and practitioners, changes in the everyday lives of rural residents, society and culture have yet to receive adequate attention. A rural revitalisation should be first and foremost be the revitalisation of rural society and culture. Therefore, this Special Issue “Rural–Urban Transformation and Regional Development: 2nd Edition” calls for research on alternative conceptualisations of the rural, further crystallisation of rural and urban residents’ everyday activities (including activities rural and urban residents are currently conducting and what they might do differently to thrive), and pathways toward a more vital society. This Special Issue is expected to broaden our understanding by exploring interdisciplinary approaches and theories designed to enable more human-centred approaches to rural–urban planning, policies, governance, and society globally.

The Special Issue will comprise a collection of original research articles, viewpoint pieces, discussion papers, and review papers on (but not limited to) the following topics:

• reconceptualizations of rurality;
• reflections on the rural–urban dichotomy;
• the everyday activities of rural and urban residents;
• rural–urban greenery, landscape features, public spaces, wellbeing and health;
• rural–urban transport and regional development;
• rural–urban businesses and local economies;
• rural–urban gentrification and displacement;
• recreations of rurality and rural–urban tourism development;
• rural–urban resilience and social life;
• rural–urban (re)settlement, liveability, and environmental sustainability;
• rural–urban migrants, land use development, and sustainable planning;
• rural–urban financialization and urban–rural disparities;
• rural-urban public space, design, and sustainable development.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Qiyang Liu
Dr. Zhengying Liu
Dr. Mengqiu Cao
Dr. Zihao An
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 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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Urban Science 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 1800 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.