Land doi: 10.3390/land15050826

Authors: Jie Ma Wei Wang Yuan Han Guoqing Niu Xiaolong Li Yuanjie Hu Ping Zhang Jifu Zhang Xiang Liu

Under the influence of climate change and human activities, alpine grasslands in the Qinghai Lake basin have undergone a degradation trend over recent decades. In this context, investigating the distribution and stability of soil aggregates across varying degradation degrees of alpine grasslands, along with their driving factors, is critical for formulating sustainable management strategies to maintain grassland health and soil structural resilience in this ecologically sensitive region. In this study, plant and soil samples (0–20 cm) were collected at nine sites in the Qinghai Lake basin, each encompassing a non-degraded (ND), a lightly degraded (LD), and a heavily degraded (HD) grassland plot. The distribution and stability of mechanically stable aggregates and water-stable aggregates were evaluated using the dry-sieving and wet-sieving methods, respectively. The results showed that grassland degradation led to declines in plant above-ground and below-ground biomass, soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and microbial biomass carbon contents, and β-1,4-nacetylglucosaminidase activity, alongside an increase in soil pH. However, soil β-1,4-glucosidase and alkaline phosphatase activities exhibited no significant changes. The 2–0.25 mm fraction is the primary component of mechanically stable aggregates in alpine grasslands across three degradation levels. After degradation, neither the distribution nor the stability of mechanically stable aggregates exhibited significant changes. In terms of water-stable aggregates, the 2–0.25 mm fraction constituted the primary component in ND and LD, whereas the <0.053 mm fraction predominated in HD. Additionally, the mass proportions of the >2 mm and 2–0.25 mm size fractions were significantly lower in HD compared to ND, while the mass fraction of the <0.053 mm fraction was notably higher. The altered distribution of water-stable aggregates resulted in a significant decrease in mean weight diameter and a notable increase in the percentage of aggregate destruction, suggesting a reduced resistance of the soil to water erosion. Plant below-ground biomass, soil total organic carbon, and total nitrogen were identified as crucial factors modulating the dynamics of aggregate stability during grassland degradation. The findings of this study suggest that alpine grassland degradation in the Qinghai Lake basin reduces the water stability rather than the mechanical stability of soil aggregates.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050825

Authors: Angelo Leogrande Massimo Arnone Carlo Drago Alberto Costantiello Fabio Anobile

The study investigates the interrelationship between the performance of the regional economy in Italy and the multidimensionality of wellbeing, as defined by the ISTAT Benessere Equo e Sostenibile (BES) model. Based on panel data from 19 Italian regions and 2 autonomous provinces—Trentino and Bolzano (2012–2023)—the research aims to explore whether there is a link between regional GDP and the three BES dimensions: Benessere (B), Equità (E), and Sostenibilità (S). The innovative contribution of this paper is not the creation of a novel theoretical model, but a multilayered empirical approach that combines panel data methods, machine learning, and clustering. This approach makes it possible to reveal nonlinearities, complex interactions, and regional heterogeneity in BES–GDP relationships. The analysis of the Benessere dimension based on k-Nearest Neighbors reveals nonlinear dynamics related to health, mobility, security, digital access, and socio-economic conditions. Furthermore, cluster analysis identifies territorial development regimes according to the Benessere dimension. The Equità dimension is estimated using boosting regression and clustering models that emphasize the role of income, poverty risk, healthcare pressure, labour-market participation, youth exclusion, deprivation, and access to essential services. Finally, the Sostenibilità dimension is explored using boosting regression and random forest models to estimate interactions among environmental quality, climate stress, energy transition, innovation, digital skills, service reliability, and regional economic performance. The findings demonstrate a structural connection between well-being, equity, sustainability, and the economic performance of Italian regions. The results also confirm the hypothesis that Italy has multiple development regimes that differ geographically.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050824

Authors: Harsh Deep Singh Narula

Conservation management of large, multi-species landscapes requires integrating heterogeneous data streams—such as satellite imagery, GPS telemetry, camera traps, bioacoustic sensors, weather stations, and field reports—into a unified model capable of simulating ecosystem dynamics and generating actionable recommendations. This paper proposes a tiered, energy-aware AI architecture for constructing ecosystem digital twins that enables prescriptive, rather than merely descriptive or predictive, landscape-scale conservation management. The framework classifies conservation tasks across three computational tiers: classical machine learning for continuous environmental monitoring and species distribution prediction, deep learning for perception-oriented tasks such as computer vision and bioacoustic analysis, and foundation models for cross-domain synthesis and stakeholder interaction. We apply this architecture to a comprehensive digital twin of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, anchored in the ongoing conservation crisis of the Sublette Pronghorn Herd—a population that crashed from 43,000 to 24,000 animals in a single winter due to compounding severe weather and a Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. We formalize a coupled change model linking population dynamics, forage condition, corridor permeability, winter severity, and disease pressure, and demonstrate how a prescriptive recommendations engine can generate goal-conditioned management actions for the herd’s 165-mile “Path of the Pronghorn” migration corridor. A comparative energy footprint analysis, grounded in hardware-level energy measurements using Intel RAPL instrumentation and the CodeCarbon framework, estimates that the tiered architecture reduces computational energy consumption by approximately 34% relative to a deep-learning-everywhere baseline and by over three orders of magnitude relative to a foundation-model-centric baseline. The architecture provides a replicable blueprint for resource-constrained conservation organizations seeking to deploy AI-powered ecosystem management at landscape scale.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050823

Authors: Yurou Liang Baoqing Hu Xiangying Kong Yinyin Lao

Global climate change and rapid socio-economic development have increasingly exacerbated the imbalance between ecosystem service (ES) supply and demand. Taking the Pinglu Canal Economic Zone as a case study and employing a water–energy–food (WEF) nexus perspective, this study selected three key ESs—water yield, carbon sequestration, and food supply. The InVEST model, supply–demand index (SDI), Pearson correlation analysis, and four-quadrant model were integrated to systematically reveal the spatiotemporal patterns, correlation characteristics, and spatial matching of ES supply and demand from 2005 to 2020. Scale effects and appropriate management scales were clarified through municipal, county, and grid scale comparisons, and a comprehensive management zoning scheme was constructed using a “zoning–classification–grading” framework. The results show that water yield and food supply exhibited an overall increasing trend, while carbon sequestration supply remained stable. Demand for all three services showed continuous growth, with a spatial pattern of “high in the central area and low in the surrounding areas”, consistent with population and economic agglomerations. The county scale was the most effective at capturing local supply–demand characteristics. A “zoning–classification–grading” spatial governance system was constructed based on dominant functions, supply–demand status, and control priority. This study can provide a scientific basis for territorial spatial planning and integrated ecosystem management in the Pinglu Canal Economic Zone and similar regions.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050822

Authors: Junqi Chen Zheng Tao Wenrui Wu Yi Wen Ling Wang Dan Chen

As urban parks become vital settings for public health, understanding how spatial features influence physical activity is essential. This study addresses a research gap by examining how park attributes affect walking and running across different space types (paths vs. plazas) and time periods. Analyzing 30 spatial units in three Shanghai parks (2021–2023) via OLS regression, the research identifies several key findings. Results indicate that paths facilitate significantly higher activity levels than plazas. While safety facilities, single-layer vegetation, and stone paving consistently promote activity, seat density and complex vegetation show divergent effects across space types. Temporally, connectivity, lighting, and simple vegetation structures encourage activity throughout the day, whereas high choice values and long entrance distances consistently act as suppressors. Other features, such as sky openness and water proximity, exhibit time-specific influences. These findings provide empirical evidence of the dynamic, context-dependent relationship between park design and exercise, offering actionable insights for urban planners to optimize green spaces for public health.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050821

Authors: Lora Stoeva Elena Tsvetkova

This study quantifies how different land-use types influence surface soil characteristics (0–5 cm) and the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen in the mountainous ecosystems of the Rila Mountains. Across 54 forest and agricultural plots, pH, bulk density, coarse fraction, C:N ratio, SOC, total nitrogen (TN), and their respective stocks were assessed using standard analytical methods and statistical tests (Shapiro–Wilk, ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis, correlation and regression analysis). Land use significantly affected all soil parameters except pH. Forest soil showed lower bulk density and lower SOC stocks compared with grasslands. Unmown meadows exhibited the highest SOC and TN concentrations and stocks, while potato fields recorded the highest bulk density and elevated TN stocks, reflecting intensive management impacts on surface soil properties. Forest soils displayed species-specific patterns, with Scots pine and Silver fir showing comparatively lower SOC and TN stocks attributable to historical degradation and site limitations. As the study focused on the uppermost soil layer (0–5 cm), the results should be interpreted more as indicators of surface soil dynamics rather than as estimates of total topsoil carbon and nutrient storage. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive relationships among SOC, TN, and the C:N ratio, and strong negative relationships between SOC and both bulk density and coarse fraction in managed agricultural lands. The findings demonstrate that minimizing soil disturbance and maintaining permanent vegetation cover—particularly through conservation of unmanaged grasslands—offer great capacity for enhancing the soil organic matter accumulation in mountainous ecosystems.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050820

Authors: Min Wu Qirui Chen Zihan Hu Huimin Wang

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires not only aggregate progress but also more balanced coordination across social, economic, and ecological systems. This issue is especially salient in western China, where development catch-up, ecological fragility, and pronounced intraregional heterogeneity coexist. This study constructs a localized SDG evaluation framework for 12 provincial units of western China from 2000 to 2018, reorganizing the 17 SDGs into social, economic, and ecological subsystems with 106 indicators. The analysis combines entropy-weighted TOPSIS, coupling coordination analysis, regional disparity analysis, spatial autocorrelation analysis, and integrated forecasting. Results show that the composite sustainable development index increased from 0.225 to 0.430, yet subsystem progress was uneven: social sustainability improved fastest, economic sustainability also increased substantially, while ecological sustainability lagged significantly. SDG5, SDG6, SDG10, SDG12, SDG13, and SDG15 emerged as the principal lagging goals. Coupling coordination among the three subsystems improved from near disorder to primary coordination, but economic–ecological and social–ecological links stayed weaker than the social–economic relationship. Provincial disparities were moderate overall but ecological sustainability exhibited greater interprovincial divergence. Spatially, the three subsystems followed distinct trajectories: ecological sustainability shifted from early clustering to a low-level dispersed state, economic sustainability developed an entrenched club-convergence pattern, and social sustainability remained spatially random. Forecasts to 2030 indicate continued social and economic gains alongside persistent ecological lag and subsystem imbalance. These findings indicate that the main sustainability challenge in western China has shifted from general development insufficiency to structural imbalance across goals, subsystems, and provinces, and that regional SDG assessments must move beyond aggregate metrics to identify subsystem coordination, territorial heterogeneity, and spatially differentiated governance pathways.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050819

Authors: Roxana Juliá

This paper examines the resilience of deforestation control policies across land tenure regimes in the Brazilian Legal Amazon, using Brazil’s post-2019 shift in environmental governance policies as a quasi-natural experiment. Combining high-resolution deforestation data with detailed tenure classifications, the analysis evaluates how land governance mediates deforestation outcomes under weakened enforcement and regulatory rollback. Using a difference-in-differences framework with spatial panel data and event-study specifications, the results reveal substantial heterogeneity across tenure regimes. Areas characterized by strong legal recognition—particularly homologated Indigenous territories and strictly protected conservation units—remain comparatively resilient, exhibiting stable or declining deforestation. In contrast, lands with weaker or incomplete property rights, including non-homologated Indigenous territories, agrarian settlements, and untitled public lands, experience significant increases in deforestation. The findings also highlight important within-land category variation, underscoring the role of formal recognition and cadastral validation in shaping environmental outcomes. Overall, the results demonstrate that the durability of deforestation reductions depends critically on the strength of land tenure institutions in the face of changing policy regimes.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050818

Authors: Marija Lalošević Milica Hadži Arsenović Nataša Danilović Hristić

Contemporary planning systems are increasingly exposed to pressures for accelerated decision-making, while remaining bound to legally rigid and procedurally formalized frameworks. In this context, phased planning has emerged in Serbia as a mechanism for structuring the preparation and adoption of planning documents. However, its role as a land-use governance instrument remains conceptually underdefined and unevenly operationalized in practice. This paper examines how phased planning is interpreted and implemented within the Serbian statutory planning system through a qualitative comparative analysis of two planning processes in Belgrade. The selected cases represent two distinct procedural models: amendment-based phasing through successive modifications of a single planning document, and document-based phasing in which phases are adopted as separate but interrelated plans. The analysis focuses on key governance dimensions relevant to land-use planning, including integration of planning scales, coordination among institutional actors, procedural transparency, and the risk of fragmentation across planning phases. The findings indicate that while phased planning can introduce a degree of procedural flexibility, it also tends to reproduce or intensify coordination gaps and information asymmetries in legally rigid systems. The paper contributes to a better understanding of how phased planning operates as a governance mechanism in land-use planning and identifies conditions under which it may support—or constrain—coherent spatial development.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050817

Authors: Fujian Han Faming Huang Liang Song Xiaomin Dai Liangping Wang

With the rapid expansion of the tourism industry in Xinjiang, which received a record 328 million tourists in 2025, identifying development bottlenecks is crucial for regional sustainability. This study aims to identify the core obstacles hindering sustainable tourism in Southern Xinjiang—the region’s fastest-growing sector—and proposes evidence-based optimization pathways. Utilizing a deep learning approach, we deployed a Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) sentiment analysis model to parse 5800 online reviews from 38 representative A-level scenic spots. The analysis identified 28 distinct obstacle clusters across three categories: landscape, cultural, and comprehensive destinations. The results reveal significant site-specific differentiation: natural landscape sites like Bayanbulak are primarily constrained by environmental risks and safety hazards, while high-traffic cultural sites like the Ancient City of Kashgar face acute challenges from over-commercialization and cultural erosion. Based on these findings, this study introduces a macro-level diagnostic tool and proposes targeted optimization strategies within the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) framework. These insights offer actionable references for policymakers to enhance tourism resilience and achieve high-quality sustainable development in sensitive frontier regions.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050816

Authors: Rongtian Liu Guisen Zou Yifei Zhao Quansheng Huang Juntao Bi

Existing research on iron smelting sites from the Han to Song Dynasties in southeastern Guangxi has focused on metallurgical technology analysis, but geographic information system-based analysis remains limited. To address this gap, this study examines spatial distribution, clustering patterns, and natural controls of iron smelting sites and clarifies the coupling relationship between spatial patterns and the evolution of bloomery iron smelting and cast iron smelting technology. This study examines 38 iron smelting sites using a geographic database that integrates kernel density estimation, Thiessen polygons, and geographic detectors to reveal spatial patterns and driving factors. Results show that: (1) two smelting technologies existed in the region (bloomery iron and cast iron); (2) sites exhibit a three-centre cluster, with the highest density in Pingnan County; (3) lithology was the primary controlling factor, followed by contour density, relief, elevation, and soil properties; (4) shaft furnaces existed in favourable geotechnical conditions and transport access; small-scale furnaces are controlled by ore availability, with additional cultural and safety influences. This study reveals the spatial heterogeneity and key factors of iron smelting sites in southeastern Guangxi, providing quantitative support for Lingnan metallurgical archaeology, human–environment relations, and dissemination of Maritime Silk Road technology.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050815

Authors: Qin Li Xingping Wu Zhenze Yang Zijun Li Wenlong Li Yijun Liu Lixin Jia

The current urban development model is gradually shifting from incremental expansion to optimizing existing resources and enhancing functionality. To address the need for diversified land use and refined allocation in urban development, this paper takes the Dongfeng Renewal Unit in Jinan Science and Technology City as a case study. It proposes a multi-objective optimization of urban land use guided by sustainable development principles, aiming to adjust and optimize the structure and layout of urban land use within the spatial planning domain. First, based on the detailed planning and current construction status of the area, a spatial data model for the district is constructed. Subsequently, targeting production development, living convenience, ecological livability, and sustainable development, the model is solved using the Non-Dominated Selection Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II), iteratively generating a solution set of several potential optimal land use plans. Finally, the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is employed to select the optimal land use plan from the feasible solution set based on different preferences. The study reveals that a multi-objective optimization model for sustainable land use, fully considering spatial factors, can generate more valuable land use solutions. This approach offers valuable insights and references for land use optimization in other regions. Based on these optimized land use solutions, reference strategies for land use optimization and spatial planning can be proposed for urban detailed planning, thereby providing robust support for cities to achieve their goals of production, living, ecology, and sustainability.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050814

Authors: Huichao Wu Li Zhu Quhan Chen Haoyu Deng

In the digital economy era, Urban vitality has transitioned into an intertwined Virtual-Physical system. This study examines Changsha’s five urban districts through a dual-dimensional framework bridging physical (social, economic, cultural, and ecological) and virtual (video, social, and digital life) dimensions. Integrating Coupling Coordination Degree (CCD) and XGBoost-SHAP models, we elucidate the spatial patterns and nonlinear drivers of Virtual-Physical synergy. The results indicate that: (1) Urban Vitality exhibits a significant center-periphery gradient. Although the Coupling Degree between the two dimensions is high, the overall CCD remains relatively low, reflecting pervasive spatial mismatches. Notably, 55 units display a reverse pattern where Virtual Vitality surpasses Physical Vitality, suggesting that digital flows can reconfigure urban space by transcending traditional locational constraints. (2) Interactions within the built environment exert pronounced threshold effects. Structural elements require specific critical masses to activate synergy, beyond which marginal returns diminish, as exemplified by the U-shaped effect of the Green View Index and the inverted U-shaped effect of Spatial Enclosure on CCD. (3) Interaction analysis identifies building density as a multiplier, unlocking the synergistic potential of land-use mix and transport networks once critical thresholds are surpassed. Furthermore, the efficacy of population and transit relies on dense road networks and intersection, while functional diversity buffers against negative micro-environmental impacts. This study advocates for a shift from facility-increment to threshold-triggered precision strategies in urban regeneration, providing empirical support for human-centric planning in the digital twin era.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050813

Authors: Sate Sampattagul Phakphum Paluang Hisam Samae Keng-Tung Wu Shabbir H. Gheewala Ratchayuda Kongboon

Agricultural crop residue burning is a major driver of seasonal PM2.5 pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Northern Thailand. This study quantified GHG emissions from the open burning of rice, maize, and sugarcane residues across six provinces (Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Uttaradit, Nakhon Sawan, and Kamphaeng Phet) from 2019 to 2024 using the 2006 IPCC emission methodology. Spatiotemporal patterns of fire hotspots were characterized using MODIS and VIIRS satellite data, combined with kernel density estimation (KDE) and land-use classification in ArcGIS Pro. Total non-CO2 GHG emissions (CH4 and N2O, expressed as CO2-eq using GWP100 from IPCC AR5) over the six years totaled 2,599,551 tCO2-eq, with major rice contributing the largest share (35%), followed by sugarcane (24%), second rice (21%), and maize (20%). Nakhon Sawan was the leading emitter (41%), reflecting its extensive rice and sugarcane cultivation. Pearson correlation analysis revealed consistently positive relationships between daily fire hotspot counts and PM2.5 concentrations (r = 0.30–0.84), with the strongest correlations observed in Mae Hong Son, where basin topography traps pollutants. Time-series analysis confirmed pronounced seasonal PM2.5 peaks that exceeded Thailand’s 24-h NAAQS limit (37.5 μg/m3) by 7–9 times in severe years. Biochar production via pyrolysis was evaluated as a zero-burning alternative, with an estimated annual carbon sequestration potential of 2.3–3.5 million tCO2-eq, substantially exceeding emissions from open burning. These findings indicate that crop-residue valorization options—including biochar production, composting, and biochar co-compost—could theoretically offset agricultural GHG emissions and reduce field-burning PM2.5 emissions in Northern Thailand. However, the realized mitigation will depend on (i) verification of biochar long-term stability in tropical Thai soils through dedicated in situ trials, (ii) economic incentives that offset biochar production costs of approximately 1500–3500 THB per tonne, and (iii) integration within a policy mix that combines burning bans, mechanization support, and farmer extension services. Without these enabling conditions, biochar should be regarded as a future-perspective option rather than an immediately deployable solution.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050812

Authors: Rashed Jalal Akhter Hossain Zaheer Iqbal Mariam Akhter Tariq Aziz Rajib Mahamud Mondal Falgoonee Kumar Shahidul Islam Mohammad Abdul Hadi Amit Ghosh Fatima Mushtaq Gael Sola Liam Costello Kristofer Johnson

Reliable land cover information is essential for scaling plot-based measurements in national forest inventories (NFIs). This study compared the precision of key forest indicators in the Bangladesh NFI using remote sensing (RS)-derived and field-assigned land cover data. Field data from 1781 plots, collected as part of the Bangladesh NFI (2015–2019), were integrated with a 2015 national land cover map produced from SPOT-6/7, Landsat, and Sentinel-2 imagery. The precision of forest indicator estimates was evaluated across land cover domains and ecological zones. Results show that, under an unchanged NFI field measurement and estimation framework, RS-derived land cover reduced the width of confidence intervals (i.e., improved statistical precision) of estimates for most biomass related indicators, including above- and below-ground biomass, tree volume, basal area, and carbon pools, by 15–20% on average, with some reductions exceeding 50%. Improvements were less consistent for regeneration-related indicators (saplings, seedlings). The insights from this study highlight the advantages of remote sensing-derived land cover for improving NFI indicator precision, while underscoring the continued need for advancing ontology-driven approaches with necessary strengthening of field crew capacity to ensure the consistent application of land cover standards.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050811

Authors: Ziluo Huang Weicong Fu Xiaomin Tang

Urban parks are increasingly confronted with a mismatch between static, blueprint-driven planning paradigms and residents’ diverse and temporally dynamic recreational demands. Recreational behavior is shaped by both relatively stable landscape attributes and time-varying environmental conditions. However, this dynamic perspective remains insufficiently incorporated into current research and planning practice. This study examines Fuzhou Hot Spring Park in Fujian Province, China, using all-day, park-wide field observations to investigate recreational behavior, static landscape factors, and temporal environmental factors. Time-segmented multiple linear regression models were employed to analyze the effects of environmental factors and their interactions on recreational behavior across different periods of the day. The results reveal marked spatiotemporal differentiation in park use. (1) Middle-aged visitors dominate the park’s spatiotemporal use patterns, exhibiting dispersed use in the morning, clustering in small nodal spaces during the daytime, and expansion into larger areal spaces. (2) The driving mechanisms of recreational behavior vary across time periods. Stable landscape elements, especially facilities, exert persistent effects, but these are further modified by temporal environmental factors. For middle-aged and older adults, microclimatic conditions are a key factor shaping temporal fluctuations in visitation: daytime heat weakens the effects of connectivity and facilities, whereas nighttime relative humidity, combined with facilities, encourages longer stays. Regarding behavior types, relaxation activities (RA) and social interaction activities (SIA) often co-occur and are both supported by resting facilities, but RA depend more strongly on microclimatic conditions, whereas SIA are more closely associated with soundscape. These findings inform dynamic regulation and adaptive design strategies for urban parks and provide practical guidance for adaptive planning and improved demand–supply alignment.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050810

Authors: Fankai Wei Ligang Xu Hua Zhu Mingliang Jiang Zhiyu Mao Tao Song

Carbon use efficiency (CUE) is a critical indicator of ecosystem carbon sink capacity. However, the nonlinear response of CUE to complex environmental drivers remains poorly understood in subtropical humid regions. This study analyzed the spatiotemporal dynamics of vegetation CUE in the Poyang Lake Basin (PYLB) from 2001 to 2020 and quantified the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors using XGBoost-SHAP and GeoDetector models. The results showed that: (1) The average annual CUE in the PYLB was 0.455, exhibiting a declining trend, with a linear rate of −0.001524 yr−1. (2) SHAP analysis revealed that the association between LAI and CUE exhibited a non-monotonic transition at a threshold of approximately 1.80. Specifically, while lower LAI levels were positively correlated with CUE, this relationship shifted to a negative trend as LAI exceeded the threshold, demonstrating a phase-specific coupling pattern across the canopy density gradient. For hydrothermal drivers, CUE exhibited localized downward fluctuations when precipitation was between 1700 and 2700 mm and temperature ranged from 15.0 to 18.0 °C. (3) GeoDetector analysis indicated that LAI was the dominant individual factor controlling the spatial heterogeneity of CUE (q = 0.471), and its interaction with TEM exerted the strongest synergistic effect (q = 0.493). These results emphasize the necessity of considering nonlinear thresholds and factor interactions when evaluating ecosystem carbon budgets in changing climates.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050809

Authors: Yuhuan Geng Shaojun Ji Jianjun Zhang

In the context of global climate change and the green transformation of the tourism industry, low-carbon tourism has emerged as an important topic within the field of sustainable development research. Consequently, there is a pressing need to systematically review and synthesize its knowledge domain. This study utilizes bibliometric analysis, employing CiteSpace, to review 468 articles published in the Web of Science Core Collection from 2010 to 2026, thereby elucidating publication trends, keyword clustering, and research hotspots within the field of low-carbon tourism. Additionally, it employs content analysis to provide an in-depth discussion of the knowledge system in this research area. Key findings are as follows: (1) The number of published papers on low-carbon tourism exhibits a phased growth pattern, with contributions predominantly centered around scholars such as Gössling and institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Moreover, keyword co-occurrence and clustering analyses uncover a development from essential concepts such as low-carbon tourism and climate change to a more extensive range of themes, including carbon emission accounting, tourist behavior, and systemic governance, and research topics have undergone a phased evolution, moving from macro-level cognition to quantitative analysis, and then to systemic governance. (2) The research hotspots encompass five key areas: basic cognition and related concepts, carbon emission accounting methods and applications, factors influencing emissions and assessment frameworks, tourists’ low-carbon behaviors and decision-making mechanisms, and pathways for multi-party collaborative governance. (3) Current research is still facing four challenges, i.e., the absence of a standardized framework for assessing carbon emissions, outdated assessment methods, a disconnect between behaviors and governance, and fragmented governance entities. This indicates that research on low-carbon tourism has progressed beyond the initial macro-level discussions and has entered a critical phase closely linked to substantive governance. Future research needs to focus on deeply exploring the standardization of accounting methods, the development of dynamic assessment models, the design of behavioral intervention mechanisms, and the establishment of multi-level collaborative governance mechanisms. These efforts are essential to provide scientific evidence and practical guidelines for the global tourism industry to achieve neutrality goals.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050808

Authors: Victor L. Barradas Bolivar Morales Monica Ballinas Manuel Esperón-Rodríguez

Stomatal conductance (gS) is a key driver of urban tree transpiration and heat mitigation potential, but few studies compare machine learning models for predicting gS across multiple species in cities. This study applies five machine learning models (XGBoost, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine [SVM], Neural Network, and Random Forest Adjusted) and two classical models (Multiple Linear Regression and Generalized Additive Model [GAM]) to predict gS for 15 dominant tree species in the urban forest of Mexico City using environmental variables (air temperature, vapor pressure deficit, photosynthetically active radiation, and leaf water potential). We trained the models on a dataset of 300 observations per species, with 70% for training, 20% for validation, and 10% for testing, and evaluated performance using RMSE, MAE, and R2. Overall, XGBoost, GAM and SVM consistently showed the highest predictive performance, with R2 values up to 0.997, while the Neural Network and Multiple Linear Regression performed poorly (R2 ≈ 0.10–0.65). Model performance varied substantially among species, with XGBoost performing best for seven species, GAM for four, and SVM for four. Our results demonstrate that tree species gS can be accurately predicted using machine learning models in urban forests; however, model choice should account for species differences in performance. We therefore recommend that practitioners consider ensemble approaches of multiple models, excluding only the Neural Network, when selecting predictors for individual species.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050807

Authors: Wen Liu Xinwen Xu Yi He Lanting Gong Bo Liu

Under the background of global change, the threshold for the propagation of meteorological drought to hydrological drought is crucial for drought early warning and water resource management. However, traditional threshold studies often adopt subjective and fixed conditional probabilities and lack the revelation of the driving mechanisms under macroscopic natural geographical differentiation. This study integrates terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA) data derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and its Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission, the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), and multi-source environmental data to construct an objective threshold identification method based on Copula joint distribution and “system resilience loss”, and combines explainable machine learning to systematically explore the critical threshold for meteorological drought, triggering a TWSA deficit and its driving mechanisms from the perspectives of three major natural regions, the Eastern Monsoon Region (EMR), the Northwestern Arid Region (NAR), and the Tibetan Plateau Region (TPR). The results show that: (1) from 2005 to 2024, the TWSA significantly decreased in nearly half of China’s regions, with significant regional differentiation; (2) the response of the TWSA to meteorological drought has a significant lag (an average of 9–12 months), and shows a spatial pattern of slower in the east and faster in the northwest; (3) the probability of a TWSA deficit and the triggering threshold both have obvious grade dependence and spatial heterogeneity, with the lowest threshold in the northwest arid region, which is the most sensitive; (4) the threshold is driven by the synergy of multiple factors, with “water dominance and energy modulation”, and the dominant factors show regional differentiation; and (5) irrigation agriculture significantly reduces the drought triggering threshold and exacerbates system vulnerability. This study provides a scientific basis for understanding the geographical differentiation laws of drought propagation and regional early warning management.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050806

Authors: Ruixuan Zheng Zhanlin Shao Peng Guo

Marginal land refers to areas where environmental constraints prevent cost–effective production; driven by global energy and food security strategies and greenhouse gas reduction targets, its potential productivity has garnered significant attention. However, macro–level and data–driven knowledge graph analyses remain scarce. Therefore, this study employed VOSviewer, Bibliometrix R, and CiteSpace to conduct a bibliometric analysis of 2535 Web of Science Core Collection documents (1995 to 2025). Findings reveal that: (1) The research is split into four stages—early exploration, fluctuating development, rapid growth, and stable output, peaking at 191 papers in 2021. (2) The collaboration of authors and institutions has reached an initial scale but remains relatively weak, with Lewandowski and the Chinese Academy of Sciences occupying the core of the co–authorship network. The United States (N = 501) ranks as the top–producing country. France (MCP% = 56.8%) leads in international collaboration intensity, and US––China cooperation is the most frequent. (3) Journals primarily focus on environmental science and agronomy, with Global Change Biology Bioenergy leading with 109 publications. (4) Through consolidating core keywords like “marginal lands,” “biomass,” and “productivity” into four perspectives: technological/model interventions, farmer behavioral choices, natural baseline conditions, and theoretical understanding, this study constructs a comprehensive framework to help research become sustainable.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050805

Authors: Wei Cai Xin Zhang Fengjue Huang Mingyu Zhang

The evaluation of inefficient industrial land is crucial for sustainable urban renewal, yet conventional methods are often compromised by applying a single uniform set of evaluation criteria that ignore local contextual patterns. We introduce a novel, pattern-sensitive framework that identifies distinct inefficiency patterns by interrelationships between evaluation indicators and land performance and calibrates expert-derived weights with data-driven insights. Using public access data for Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, we establish an evaluation system via the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Subsequently, a novel iterative clustering method partitions parcels into segments sharing the same inefficiency pattern. Within each segment, a random forest model learns the local interrelationships from the data. This machine-learned information is then used to optimize the initial AHP weights, creating a unique evaluation system for each identified pattern. Results demonstrate that our optimization framework achieves Pearson correlations of 0.66–0.82 with ground-truth inefficiency across four identified patterns, outperforming traditional AHP-based models. Temporal validation on 2023 data confirms robustness of weights optimized on 2022 data, maintaining significant positive correlations (Pearson’s r = 0.58–0.66) with ground-truth inefficiency across all segments. By synergizing expert knowledge with machine learning, this study provides an accurate tool to formulate targeted urban renewal strategies that move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050804

Authors: Pedro Jiménez-Castillo

This article reassesses agrarian expansion in al-Andalus between the tenth and twelfth centuries within the broader context of medieval economic growth in the western Mediterranean. It challenges the idea of a uniform “Islamic Green Revolution” by combining archaeological, archaeobotanical, landscape, and textual evidence to examine three key aspects: the uneven chronology of agrarian change, the social actors involved, and the consequences of commercialization and fiscal intensification. The study shows that agrarian transformation was gradual and not driven by a single group. Peasant communities played a central role in cultivating drylands, managing small-scale irrigation, and developing local exchange networks that strengthened regional markets. Meanwhile, state institutions and urban elites promoted large irrigation systems, invested in market-oriented estates, and integrated rural production into fiscal and commercial structures. These processes stimulated economic growth and increased productivity but also led to land concentration, dispossession, and rising social tensions. By emphasizing the interaction between peasant agency, elite investment, and extractive political systems, the article argues for an integrated interpretation that links growth, inequality, and conflict, offering a more nuanced understanding of Andalusi agrarian landscapes.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050803

Authors: Chunlan Li Xinwu Xu Walter Leal Marcio Cataldi Shijin Wang Xinlei Yi Desalegn Yayeh Ayal Karamat Ali

Using GIMMS NDVI3g+ data (1982–2022) together with ERA5-Land temperature and precipitation, this study examined long-term vegetation dynamics in the Indus River Basin (IRB) and used a residual trend framework for cautious first-order attribution. Basin-averaged NDVI increased significantly at 0.0061 per decade (p < 0.05), and 65.5% of the basin showed greening, mainly in irrigated croplands and river-adjacent agricultural zones, whereas 12.6% showed degradation concentrated in rapidly urbanizing areas, cryosphere margins, and desert fringes. Partial correlation and residual analyses indicate that climate-related enhancement was most evident in upper-elevation cryosphere transition zones and some lower-basin barren lands, whereas non-climatic residual effects were especially important in intensively managed agricultural landscapes. Because the attribution model includes only temperature and precipitation, the residual component is interpreted here as a non-climatic residual rather than a direct measure of human activity. The study, therefore, provides a spatially explicit basin-wide assessment of vegetation change while highlighting the uncertainty and interpretation limits of residual-based attribution.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050802

Authors: Xiaopei Cheng Wei Zou Ziyin Zhuang Zengzeng Fan

Land expropriation policy is related to social stability and sustainable development, and its implementation will have an impact on the relative poverty of residents. Based on the data of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2010 to 2022, this paper constructs a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model to evaluate the impact of land expropriation policy on family relative poverty. It is found that the land expropriation policy can significantly alleviate the relative poverty of families, and PSM-DID and placebo tests also show that the above conclusions are still valid. Further analysis shows that the poverty reduction effect of land expropriation policy exists in gender, family dependency ratio, land value, and urban–rural heterogeneity. The mechanism analysis shows that the land expropriation policy can reduce poverty mainly by increasing the proportion of non-agricultural income, promoting labor migration, and improving social and economic status. The conclusion of this paper provides relevant theoretical support and policy enlightenment for implementing land expropriation policy and fully realizing the goal of rural revitalization.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050801

Authors: Paola Gullino Paola Greppi Enrico Pomatto Fabio Meloni Luigi Provero Andrea Nasi Vincenzo Lombardo Federica Larcher

Combining landscape studies with historical studies and archeology is a scientific challenge: through the skills of historians, archeologists, agronomists, and computer scientists, an integrated and interdisciplinary methodology was adopted. The aim was to backtrack historical landscape changes and permanences in the rural landscape around Staffarda Abbey (Piedmont, Northwest Italy), a medieval monastery founded in the XII century on a surface of 1356 ha and its farms. Surveys, field observations, landscape observations, and historical and archival analyses (XII–XX century) were performed. Several document types, such as historical cartography, iconographies, cadastral maps, notes, descriptions, topographic maps, inventories, and photographs, were deeply analyzed. These documents referred to different historic periods (XII–XXI century) and provided qualitative and quantitative data. Using a fixed-wing drone, the aerial photographs were reworked and georeferenced. QGIS was used to perform diachronic analyses at the landscape level. The advanced land analysis methodologies were compared with the post-medieval cartographic data that were collected. The landscape dynamics and land-use changes were quantified over time, and routes, tree lines, hedgerows, and canals were recognized as qualifying elements. In this study, qualitative and quantitative data were collected, processed, systematized, and analyzed using a digital platform. Using different scales, readings, and interpretations, the landscape dynamics of a rural medieval site were reconstructed.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050799

Authors: Xingqun Zhao Chao Li Siyu Ma Shiqiang Zhang

As a rapidly developing extreme drought event, flash drought poses an increasingly serious threat to agricultural production, ecosystem carbon sequestration, and regional ecological security. However, systematic understanding remains limited regarding the occurrence characteristics of flash drought across different cropland types and the mechanisms by which it affects gross primary productivity (GPP). Using root-zone soil moisture, meteorological variables, and GPP data for China from 2000 to 2020, this study characterized flash drought events across different cropland ecosystems, quantified the response frequency and intensity of GPP, and further explored the dominant driving factors using eXtreme Gradient Boosting and SHapley Additive exPlanations. The results showed that flash drought occurred more frequently in cropland than in non-cropland areas, and that rainfed cropland experienced flash drought more frequently and developed more rapidly than irrigated cropland. The mean GPP response frequency in cropland was 0.43, indicating that nearly half of flash drought events suppressed GPP. Regions with high sensitivity were mainly concentrated in northwestern and northeastern China, with northwestern China showing the lowest resistance to flash drought. Climatic background and hydro-meteorological anomalies were the dominant factors controlling GPP responses in cropland, and the dominant driving factors differed significantly among cropland types, exhibiting pronounced nonlinear and threshold effects. This study reveals the spatial heterogeneity and driving mechanisms of flash drought impacts across different cropland ecosystems in China and provides a scientific basis for agricultural drought-risk assessment and differentiated adaptive management.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050800

Authors: Seung-Jun Lee Woon-Chul Jung Jung-Ho Cho Jisung Kim Hong-Sik Yun

Quantitative land cover records for geopolitically restricted regions remain extremely scarce, particularly for the pre-Landsat era. This study reconstructs long-term urban land cover dynamics in Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), over a 55-year span (1967–2022) by combining deep learning colorization of declassified CORONA KH-4 panchromatic imagery with the GLC_FCS30D global 30 m land cover dynamics dataset. The GLC_FCS30D nine-epoch time series (1985–2022) revealed that built-up area expanded from 65.0 km2 (36.0%) to a peak of 103.2 km2 (57.1%) in 2015, driven almost entirely by the conversion of agricultural land, before declining to 92.7 km2 (51.3%) by 2022. The 1967 colorization-based classification yielded a built-up proportion of 35.9%, closely approximating the 1985 baseline. Integration of these results identified three urbanization phases: post-reconstruction consolidation (1967–1985), sustained expansion at the expense of agricultural land (1985–2015), and stabilization coinciding with intensified international sanctions and pandemic-related isolation (2015–2022). The near-halving of agricultural land within the capital’s vicinity during chronic national food insecurity is consistent with a fundamental tension between showcase urban modernization and food production imperatives in state-planned economies. As perhaps the last continuously state-planned socialist city, Pyongyang’s trajectory offers a rare empirical counterpoint to market-driven urbanization processes.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050798

Authors: Zhenyu Li Mengying Tang Qi Liu Yichen Zhu Feng Deng

Against the backdrop of rapid global urbanization, peri-urban villages universally face the dual dilemmas of landscape homogenization and the imbalance between heritage preservation and functional renewal. As a typical representative, the “Shanghai-style Jiangnan” villages feature an open water–land chessboard pattern and linear water-house parallel organization, which are distinctly different from the closed and introverted texture of traditional Suzhou-Hangzhou water towns. Such villages urgently need to balance the continuation of the original spatial fabric and the adaptation of modern functions. Existing studies on rural landscapes mostly focus on the static vertical identification of single elements, lacking a systematic quantitative analysis of the horizontal topological relationships among multiple elements, making it difficult to accurately define the spatial boundaries between preservation and renewal. This study takes Xinyuan Village in Jinshan District, Shanghai, as an empirical subject to construct a model for the vertical gene decoding of the “Point-Line-Network” and horizontal topology coupling of “Surface Gene.” By introducing a landscape sensitivity assessment combined with the Entropy Weight Method (EWM) and GIS (Geographic Information System) spatial Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), a quantifiable landscape control heat map is generated. The study identifies the nested original fabric structure of the “water-field-forest-house” and the spatial landscape differentiation characteristics in Xinyuan Village and delineates three-tier differentiated zoning controls through dual-verified heat maps. Validated based on Xinyuan Village, this method effectively resolves the conflict between rural preservation and renewal and realizes the transformation from static museum-style preservation to refined adaptive zoning. It provides specific practical strategies for the renewal of “Shanghai-style Jiangnan” villages and offers a quantitative morphological reference for enhancing the spatial resilience and living heritage of peri-urban villages, while its cross-regional transferability needs further verification.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050794

Authors: Christos Pantazis Panagiotis T. Nastos

Land degradation caused by soil erosion is a major challenge in Mediterranean sloping agroecosystems, where extreme weather events and conventional land management practices accelerate soil loss and threaten long-term sustainability. This study evaluates and compares three complementary approaches to estimate soil erosion in an olive orchard in Messenia, Greece. Field-based runoff plots provided direct measurements of sediment yield, drone-based Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) surveys enabled soil surface change detection through the Difference of Digital Elevation Models (DoD) method, and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was applied to model erosion risk using site-specific parameters. Results indicate that field measurements and RUSLE estimates are broadly consistent, particularly when the model is calibrated with empirical data, offering reliable insights into soil loss dynamics. In contrast, the LiDAR-DoD analysis identified patterns of soil surface displacement, which reflected spatial variation in surface change across the olive orchard. Overall, the integration of field monitoring, remote sensing, and modeling highlights the strengths and limitations of each method and demonstrates the value of multi-method approaches for improving erosion assessment and supporting sustainable land management in vulnerable Mediterranean landscapes.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050797

Authors: Xiaolong Cheng Bingzi Li Zihao Yuan Weifeng He Zhirong Wen

Rare earth elements are vital, non-renewable strategic resources, and their exploitation has significant impacts on regional ecological security and sustainable development. To address the issue of insufficient accuracy in land use classification in rare earth mining areas, this study takes the Lingbei rare earth mining area in Dingnan County, Jiangxi Province, as a case study. Multi-source remote sensing data, including Sentinel-2 imagery, Sentinel-1 SAR data, nighttime light data, and DEM data, were integrated to construct a feature set combining spectral, textural, and topographic information. On this basis, this study developed a feature optimization framework that combines recursive feature elimination (RFE), mean decrease accuracy (MDA), and K-fold cross-validation (CV), termed RFE-MDA-CV. We designed nine feature combination schemes and compared them with the optimal feature subset. Their performance was systematically evaluated across four classifiers: RF, SVM, CART, and GBDT. The results were as follows: (1) the optimized feature set combined with the RF classifier consistently achieved the highest classification performance, with a mean OA of approximately 93.2% and a kappa coefficient of about 0.916, outperforming CART and SVM by around 4-5 percentage points; (2) land use remained generally stable between 2016 and 2023, but frequent conversions occurred between forest land, cropland, and impervious surfaces, mainly driven by urban expansion and mining activities; and (3) cross-regional experiments demonstrated that the proposed feature optimization framework has good applicability and transferability in mining areas with similar geomorphological and metallogenic conditions. Overall, the proposed RFE-MDA-CV method can be effectively implemented on the Google Earth Engine platform, significantly improving the accuracy and robustness of land use classification in rare earth mining areas, while providing reliable technical support for ecological monitoring and land resource management.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050795

Authors: Zhehao Song Yuchen Han Xuerong Zhu Xiao Wang Peng Tang Yacheng Song Dongqing Han

Urban renewal in China increasingly focuses on extensive residential historic areas embedded within cities. Recent practice emphasizes refined and progressive renewal strategies, which require multi-dimensional evaluations of micro-scale spatial elements and the formulation of differentiated renewal pathways. The progressive renewal also requires repeated evaluation and adjustment. However, conventional evaluation and decision-making largely rely on manual judgment, which can be subjective and inefficient when dealing with complex information. To address these limitations, this study proposes a digital methodological workflow integrating multi-objective analysis with design decision-making. The workflow targets spatial design issues at three hierarchical levels—streets, plots, and buildings—and is implemented through a multi-module platform. The platform consists of an analytical evaluation module and a design decision module. The analytical module provides quantitative assessments across morphological and non-morphological dimensions, while the design decision module combines analytical results with expected parameters to generate optimization suggestions for spatial structures and identify renewal pathways for spatial elements. Tested in the conservation and renewal planning of Hehuatang in Nanjing, the platform demonstrates the ability to efficiently compare spatial structure schemes and rapidly determine renewal pathways, improving the scientific rigor and efficiency of renewal planning.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050796

Authors: Yunlong Wei Hu Li

Urban fire risk in high-density cities is characterized by complex spatial heterogeneity and nonlinear relationships with the built environment, population distribution, and climatic conditions. However, most existing studies rely on linear assumptions and offer limited interpretability. To address this gap, we developed an interpretable analytical framework that integrates the CatBoost model with SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations), using Futian District in Shenzhen as a case study. We constructed a fire risk surface from historical fire incident data using kernel density estimation (KDE) and incorporated multiple urban environmental factors—including points of interest (POIs), road networks, and meteorological variables—as explanatory variables. The CatBoost model captured nonlinear relationships, while SHAP quantified feature importance and revealed interaction effects. The results show that urban fire risk is strongly associated with the spatial agglomeration of population-related facilities, especially high-density commercial and residential areas, as well as thermal conditions. Several variables exhibit clear nonlinear threshold effects, with their influence on fire risk varying markedly across different intensity ranges. Interaction analysis further indicates that combinations of built-environment characteristics and climatic factors jointly shape the spatial pattern of fire risk. These findings provide empirical insights into the spatial mechanisms underlying urban fire risk and highlight the value of interpretable machine learning in urban safety research. The proposed framework offers a practical tool for developing more targeted, evidence-based fire risk management strategies in high-density urban areas.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050793

Authors: Alexandra D. Solomou

Mediterranean rural landscapes are globally important biocultural systems in which long-standing low-intensity farming, grazing, terracing, and agroforestry have historically maintained fine-grained habitat mosaics and high vascular-plant diversity. This review adopts a systematic scoping approach focused on farmland abandonment and High Nature Value (HNV) farming, with a search window extending from 1996 to April 2026. Following PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-ScR principles, the review maps evidence on plant richness, diversity indices, floristic turnover, indicator species, and vegetation trajectories across Mediterranean agricultural and semi-natural systems. The literature shows that abandonment does not produce a single biodiversity outcome. Early abandonment can maintain or temporarily increase local richness through overlap among remnant grassland species, annuals, and colonizing shrubs, whereas prolonged abandonment more often drives shrub encroachment, woody dominance, and losses of open-habitat specialists. By contrast, HNV systems such as extensive grazing, agro-pastoral mosaics, wood pastures, and dehesa/montado-like agroforestry more consistently maintain habitat interfaces, beta diversity, and plant assemblages associated with cultural landscape continuity. The review argues that biodiversity-sensitive policy in the Mediterranean should move beyond the binary of abandonment versus conservation, and instead support landscape-specific combinations of passive succession, targeted grazing, agroforestry renewal, and rural livelihood viability.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050792

Authors: Wirut Thinnakorn Pittida Chotikachorntham Jantanee Bhejranonda Supawadee Chaupram

Historic urban landscapes (HULs) represent complex environments where contemporary daily life interacts with living heritage. This study focuses on “third places,” informal social spaces outside home and work, as critical infrastructure for urban resilience. Addressing the lack of multidimensional assessments in Southeast Asian heritage contexts, this study develops and applies a context-sensitive assessment framework that integrates the HUL approach with four sustainability pillars: physical, environmental, socio-cultural, and governance–economic. Nakhon Si Thammarat was selected as a representative case study of a multicultural living heritage town where Buddhist, Muslim, and Chinese cultural layers uniquely converge within its urban fabric. Through field surveys and spatial mapping, 17 sites were empirically identified based on Oldenburg’s characteristics and evaluated via a structured rubric. Findings reveal a significant systemic imbalance: while the socio-cultural dimension is highly sustainable (M = 2.44), driven by robust cultural diversity, the environmental (M = 1.03) and governance–economic (M = 1.38) dimensions are considerably weaker. Key deficiencies include poor low-carbon accessibility and limited community participation. Notably, religious courtyards emerged as effective “living heritage” prototypes (M = 2.04), bridging sacred and secular functions. The study suggests that historic urban management should prioritize micro-scale environmental retrofitting and co-management models, leveraging existing social capital rather than wholesale urban restructuring. This flexible framework is transferable to other multicultural historic towns in the region with comparable contextual conditions.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050791

Authors: Huancai Liu Xingyu Huo Man Li Huiqiang Ma

The Yellow River Basin (YRB) faces escalating pressures from climate variability and intensive land-use change; however, how these drivers jointly shape the water ecosystem services (WES) remains insufficiently quantified. This study assessed water yield, soil conservation, and water purification capacity across the YRB from 2000 to 2020 using the InVEST model. The effects of driving forces, including climate and land-use changes, on WES were examined using scenario simulation and the geographical detector method. During 2000–2020, water yield and soil conservation displayed fluctuating upward trends, increasing by 26.24% and 30.19%, respectively, whereas nitrogen and phosphorus exports declined slightly by 4.82% and 3.08%, indicating a modest improvement in water purification. All indicators exhibited elevated values in the southeast and lower values in the northwest, with clear distinctions among the three topographic zones. The contribution rates of climate change to variations in water yield, soil conservation, nitrogen export, and phosphorus export were 97.4–99.3, 94.5–98.3, 87.2–96.0, and 85.7–95.2%, respectively, indicating the central regulatory role of climatic factors in watershed-scale water-related ecological processes. However, the contribution of land-use factors increased over time and had a significantly greater impact on water purification capacity. Distinct spatial heterogeneity was observed among the WES. Interactions among climatic, topographic, and other factors significantly enhanced the spatial variability of water yield and soil conservation services, while land-use interactions with other drivers had greater impacts on the spatial variability of water purification capacity. Thus, regionally differentiated policy strategies are essential. Our findings provide a quantitative basis for differentiating climate versus land-use interventions in water resource management and designing spatially targeted ecological restoration policies in the YRB and similar regions worldwide.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050790

Authors: Yu Zhang Hao Cheng Fujia Li Li Chen

Vegetation spring phenology in drylands is sensitive to climatic and anthropogenic pressures, yet the nonlinear responses of the start of the growing season (SOS) across different vegetation types remain inadequately quantified. Here, we extracted the start of the growing season from 2001 to 2020 Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series for stable vegetation areas on the Mongolian Plateau (MP) and applied Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models with Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) analysis to six environmental drivers—precipitation, temperature, windspeed, livestock density, population density, and elevation—across forests, shrublands, and grasslands. The SOS displayed pronounced spatial heterogeneity, with earlier onset in northern forests and shrublands and delayed onset in southern arid grasslands. Forests and shrublands exhibited significant advancing trends of 6.8 and 6.4 days per decade, respectively, while grasslands showed no significant trend. Temperature dominated the SOS variability across all vegetation types, yet the relative importance of other drivers varied; windspeed notably influenced forests, whereas precipitation and elevation were critical for grasslands and shrublands. SHAP analysis revealed strong nonlinearities and threshold effects, including a U-shaped temperature response and a 350 mm precipitation threshold in grasslands, beyond which the SOS responses markedly shifted. These results highlight the vegetation-specific and nonlinear nature of phenological regulation in drylands, suggesting that phenology prediction and ecosystem monitoring should explicitly incorporate vegetation type and threshold-based climatic responses.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050789

Authors: Matij Mitrović Marijana Pantić

Persistent territorial disparities across regions suggest that economic and geographic explanations alone cannot account for uneven development outcomes. This paper advances a theoretical framework that conceptualises territorial inequality as a governance-produced outcome, shaped by institutional configurations that distribute power, voice, and decision-making authority across space. The study introduces bottom-up capacity as an analytical criterion to assess how territorial governance models enable or constrain citizen agency, grassroots initiatives, and territorially balanced development. Four ideal-typical governance models—centralised, decentralised, collaborative, and participatory—are comparatively evaluated in terms of their institutional openness, mechanisms of power devolution, and potential to redirect development toward marginalised territories. The paper argues that governance models function as structural filters shaping whose knowledge is recognised, where resources flow, and which territorial priorities are legitimised. By linking governance design to spatial justice and territorial cohesion, the framework provides a novel conceptual lens for understanding the governance roots of spatial inequality and establishes an agenda for future empirical research on bottom-up territorial development.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050788

Authors: Mengjun Hu Xiao-Jun Wang

Understanding the effectiveness of urban greenspace policies is conducive to the reasonable planning, construction, and management of urban human settlements, which is helpful for achieving climate resilience and spatial equity, yet empirical evidence from rapidly urbanizing contexts in the developing countries remains limited. Using panel data for 33 cities in Jiangsu Province from 2010 to 2023, this study applies a staggered difference-in-differences design to estimate the causal effect of China’s Ecological Garden City (EGC) policy on urban greenspace development. A composite index is constructed to capture multidimensional greenspace outcomes. The results show that the EGC policy improves overall greenspace development and increases the Comprehensive Index of Greenspace Development by 0.032. Among specific dimensions, it significantly increased total green coverage area by 693.3 ha and the number of parks by 9.9, while effects on some structural indicators were not statistically significant. Event-study estimates indicate that the policy effect strengthens over time, while heterogeneity analysis shows stronger effects in prefecture-level cities than in county-level cities. Drawing on institutional isomorphism theory, the study finds stronger support for a coercive mechanism.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050787

Authors: Gonçalo Fernandes Adriano Costa

The study analyses the role of GEOfood products and geoproducts in the eco-cultural sustainability and territorial regeneration of Portuguese UNESCO Global Geoparks, highlighting how geodiversity, agriculture, gastronomy and local communities are integrated into sustainable development strategies. GEOfood is presented not only as a certification mark, but as an instrument of territorial governance, capable of strengthening short supply chains, promoting local products, preserving traditional agro-silvo-pastoral systems and reinforcing the cultural identity of the territories. An analysis of the five Portuguese geoparks—Naturtejo, Arouca, the Azores, Terras de Cavaleiros and Estrela—highlights four main strategic pillars: certification and territorial branding, strengthening short supply chains and empowering producers, integrating gastronomy into interpretive tourism, and contributing to regenerative tourism practices. The results show positive impacts in terms of ecological conservation, landscape preservation, socio-cultural continuity and local economic resilience. It is concluded that GEOfood functions as a mechanism for integrated territorial enhancement, converting geological and food resources into economic, cultural and educational assets, whilst supporting landscape regeneration, the intergenerational transmission of knowledge and the sustainability of rural communities.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050785

Authors: Undram Ganbaatar Youngsang Kwon

In Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, a 2023 law allowing compulsory land expropriation for Ger area redevelopment once 70% of residents consent has raised concerns about procedural legitimacy and social acceptability. This study examines determinants of residents’ acceptance of the policy using a survey of 407 adult Ger area residents. Drawing on procedural and distributive justice, government trust, and policy acceptance theories, we estimated a structural equation model and assessed robustness using 5000 bootstrap resamples and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Trust in government was low (mean = 2.85), whereas policy acceptance was neutral to positive (mean = 3.20). Procedural justice showed the strongest positive direct association with acceptance (b = 0.401, 95% CI [0.135, 0.676]), while housing satisfaction was negatively associated with acceptance (b = −0.112, 95% CI [−0.207, −0.017]). Government trust was not significantly related to acceptance (b = 0.105, 95% CI [−0.025, 0.235]), and the indirect effect of procedural justice via trust was not significant (CI included zero). Participation was negatively associated with acceptance (b = −0.156, 95% CI [−0.268, −0.032]), contrary to the hypothesized positive relationship. These findings suggest that, in transitional contexts, perceived process fairness may be more consequential for policy acceptance than generalized institutional trust.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050786

Authors: Vasily Kovyazin Elizaveta Bogdanova Jana Volkova Vladimir Bogdanov

Intensive anthropogenic activity leads to ecosystem degradation, necessitating a shift from conventional management approaches towards proactive environmental risk assessment strategies. This study presents a quantitative methodology for calculating a Comprehensive Environmental Risk Indicator (CERI) based on the analysis of types of permitted use (TPU) of land plots in the Russian Federation. The methodology comprises three stages: determining a base risk weight for each TPU, statistically weighting impact factors using multiple regression analysis (MRA), and synthesizing the final CERI. This research identifies five key impact factors: industrial pollution, biogenic and agrogenic effects, landscape and resource changes, anthropogenic and household load, and specific risks and disasters. The results demonstrate that biogenic and agrogenic effects (weight 0.450) and specific risks and disasters (weight 0.398) are the most significant factors. Industrial pollution and landscape changes were excluded from the model due to multicollinearity. The model’s R2 (0.194) confirms its statistical validity as a foundational framework for macro-level risk evaluation. Further improvements could address limitations related to cadastral data variability and the integration of localized environmental parameters. The developed CERI was integrated into geographic information systems (GIS) to visualize risk gradients across land parcels. This study concludes that the use of statistically substantiated factor weights enables objective territorial zoning, facilitating a transition from subjective expert assessments to management based on actual environmental consequences.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050784

Authors: Gabriele Manella Ángel Rodríguez-Pallas Tommaso Rimondi

This paper examines several trends in contemporary tourism: the broadening of the very notion of a “tourist destination”, alongside the growing importance of providing a diversified and territorially integrated supply; the opportunities that tourism may offer to some “marginal” areas; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which calls for a rethinking of more sustainable and responsible forms of travel, both for the environment and for the people encountered along the way. Tourism related to walking routes and trails appears to benefit from all of these trends, and indeed, this segment has shown clear growth in Italy. The paper then considers the potential and critical issues of this sector in Forlì-Cesena County, with a focus on the nine Apennine municipalities included in the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI). Through an analysis of local tourism promotion websites, a secondary analysis of statistical data, and 19 questionnaire–interviews with local stakeholders, this study examines an area where tourism is growing but remains largely concentrated on the coast. Although the potential of walking routes is confirmed by the various itineraries crossing this area, their actual use and impact on local development still appear limited.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050783

Authors: Dong Qiao Zijia Zhang Yue Jiao Lina Peng Meian Luo Guojiao Yang Kun Zhao Chuan Jin

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a key component of terrestrial carbon stocks, yet its spatial variability, recovery potential, and dominant controls across tropical forest succession remain insufficiently quantified. We combined field measurements from 40 natural forest plots on Hainan Island, China, with laboratory analyses and multi-source environmental data to assess topsoil SOC (0–20 cm) distribution, recovery potential, and regulatory drivers. In natural forests on Hainan Island, topsoil SOC stocks ranged from 33.06 to 62.60 Mg · C · ha−1. Using the median (Q0.5) SOC of old-growth forests as the reference level, recovery potential ranged from 12.60 to 42.14 Mg · C · ha−1. Topsoil SOC exhibited clear spatial heterogeneity across the island, with higher values in more continuous forest areas. Secondary forests generally exhibited lower current SOC but greater recovery potential, whereas old-growth forests showed higher and more stable stocks. Multivariate analyses revealed a clear successional shift in dominant controls: total phosphorus (TP) was the primary predictor in secondary forests, while total nitrogen (TN) dominated across the full gradient, particularly in old-growth forests. These findings highlight stage-dependent SOC regulation and the critical role of soil nutrient status in shaping tropical forest carbon recovery.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050781

Authors: Xueyan Wang Feilong Duan Jing Luo Wei Wu Shengyu Liu Junjiao Sun Xiaoqing Wei Jing Cao Xiaohan Qu Quanping Zhang

Land-use change substantially contributes to carbon emissions, yet systematic research on complex human–environment interactions in old industrial bases remains scarce. Here, we integrated multi-temporal land-use data and socio-economic statistics from 1990 to 2023 to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics and drivers of land-use carbon emissions in Northeast China. The land-use transfer matrix, the carbon emission coefficient, exploratory spatiotemporal data analysis (ESTDA), standard deviational ellipses, and modified Kaya–LMDI models were applied. Construction land area expanded by 120%, with its share of total emissions increasing from 87% to 95%. Meanwhile, forest and grassland shrank, reducing their carbon sink capacity and increasing their net carbon emissions 1.9-fold. Spatially, emissions showed a weak global correlation but strong local lock-in (i.e., persistent stability of local spatial patterns over time), with the emission center of gravity shifting southwestward. Economic development was the dominant positive driver (provincial contribution rates: 275–529%), whereas energy intensity was the main mitigating factor (up to −409%). Population loss exerted a slight negative contribution, while energy structure showed only a weak inhibitory effect (−9.1%), reflecting the region’s path-dependent lock-in to fossil fuels. This study provides a scientific basis for differentiated carbon management strategies in Northeast China and analogous regions.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050782

Authors: Mirabbos M. Zakirov Golib E. Ochilov Karamatdin M. Djaksimuratov Alim O. Asamatdinov Daniel Snow

This article addresses a pressing issue—the study of ecological and geodynamic conditions in the southern part of the Uzbekistan Republic of Karakalpakstan Ustyurt plateau. The article synthesizes and systematizes the findings from both archival and personal research on the current state of ecological and geodynamic conditions. A schematic map of ecological–geodynamic conditions has been developed to assess the manifestation of various processes and their impact on the region’s flora and fauna, as well as on engineering and geological conditions relevant to mineral development and human economic activities. The overarching methodology involves system analysis and mapping of the natural-geological environment and geodynamically active zones. The primary criteria for evaluation include the state of the landscape, soil-grounds, and soil-forming rocks. The ecosystem serves as a nutrient base for plants and a fodder base for livestock development. In the Karakalpak Ustyurt, precipitation distribution is uneven, with annual precipitation ranging from 200–220 mm in the central and northern parts to 120–140 mm in the southern part. The Karakalpak Ustyurt presents morphological challenges related to the study of the nature of the relief, surface runoff, and the composition, state, and properties of the soil massif, including its ecological and geodynamic indicators. This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the region’s ecological dynamics, contributing to sustainable development and conservation efforts. Thus, the conducted studies have revealed geodynamic processes associated with both natural geological phenomena and human engineering or economic activities. In principle, ecological geodynamics and engineering geodynamics rely on the same geological information to assess the manifestation of these processes

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050780

Authors: Damjan Marušić Barbara Goličnik Marušić

Rapid climate change and accelerated urbanization expose the limitations of land use planning approaches grounded in static spatial allocation and assumptions of predictable futures. Contemporary urban systems are increasingly characterized by continuous socio-economic–ecological transformation, requiring planning paradigms capable of engaging with change as a persistent condition rather than an episodic disruption. This paper develops a conceptual framework that reframes urban land use planning as the governance of land use change over time. Drawing on resilience thinking, systems perspectives, and the Time Quality Assessment (TQA) approach, the framework conceptualizes urban form as a temporally dynamic system whose performance must be assessed across duration, adaptability, and long-term trajectories of change. Rather than relying on empirical case studies, the paper advances a theory-driven synthesis that foregrounds temporal resilience as a core dimension of spatial performance under climate uncertainty. By positioning TQA as a conceptual–operational interface for engaging with temporal dynamics, the paper challenges static and deterministic planning models and argues for a shift from managing land use toward stewarding land use change. The framework offers a coherent foundation for future empirical research and for the development of planning practices oriented toward robustness, adaptability, and long-term responsibility in uncertain urban futures.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050779

Authors: Martina Gudac Cvelic Iva Mrak Ivona Gudac Hodanić

Waterfront brownfield urban public parks (WBUPPs) are complex regeneration projects that require comprehensive assessment of environmental remediation, climate resilience, urban connectivity, and social well-being. This study proposes a structured GIS-based spatial analysis protocol that operationalizes key attributes of brownfields, waterfronts, public parks, and sustainability, with the aim of examining how digital tools can support WBUPP planning processes. Using free and open source resources and datasets (QGIS and OpenStreetMap), the approach produces eight core thematic maps that spatially organize 39 of 50 criteria identified from the literature and classified under economic, environmental, and social sustainability dimensions. This mapping protocol streamlines navigation for planners through complex datasets and offers researchers a foundation for thematic spatial analyses aligned with these literature-based criteria. The protocol is illustrated with Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City—an 85-acre waterfront redevelopment that demonstrates heritage conservation, ecological restoration, and financial viability. The results highlight identifiable spatial patterns such as dual zones (urban buffer and recreation), winding pathways, and clustered amenities. At the same time, the analysis underscores the importance of data validation, as inconsistencies in volunteered geographic information require cross-referencing with multiple sources and field verification. The analysis shows that WBUPPs require tailored approaches that integrate land–water mobility, heritage adaptation, nature-based solutions, and equitable service distribution. This criteria-driven protocol offers adaptable guidance for future waterfront brownfield regeneration, while emphasizing that digitalization enhances the process, but it cannot replace hybrid analytical methods that combine quantitative spatial analysis with qualitative evaluations.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050778

Authors: Flavio Martella Maria Vittoria Tesei

The accelerating pace of global urbanisation is reshaping planning agendas toward integrating urban nature, yet dominant approaches continue to rely on designed or controlled interventions to produce engineered approximations of spontaneity. This study presents Rome as a striking example of spontaneous urban nature, where wild flora has reclaimed ruins, walls, and neglected spaces for centuries without planned intervention. By “wild” or spontaneous vegetation, this paper refers to unmanaged, self-seeding flora that establishes itself without deliberate planting, irrigation, or maintenance, colonising ruins, walls, abandoned lots, and urban margins through autonomous ecological processes. The paper adopts a critical narrative synthesis methodology, integrating historical–cultural evidence, contemporary ecological data drawn from peer-reviewed biodiversity surveys within Rome’s urban boundary, and a spatial analysis of georeferenced historical cartographic sources to build an interpretive framework for what is here called passive coexistence. The key findings demonstrate that Rome’s sub-Mediterranean climate and centuries of aesthetic conditioning through visual arts, literature, and film have together produced a tacit social acceptance of spontaneous vegetation, effectively substituting for the deliberate education campaigns and designed interventions required in comparable cities. The study proposes an alternative narrative of spontaneous urban nature, guided by ecological monitoring and grounded in heritage planning frameworks. Despite context-specific limits, Rome’s passive coexistence paradigm offers a provocation and existing proof for more-than-human cities that seek resilience without the resource burden of engineered green infrastructure.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050777

Authors: Shan Yang Mike Robinson Xuegang Feng Ru Liang

The integration of culture and tourism has positioned literary heritage tourism as an important pathway for the sustainable development of cultural landscapes and urban regeneration. However, existing studies remain fragmented, lacking a systematic understanding of the spatial configuration, development processes, and the role of tourists in shaping these spaces. Addressing these gaps, this study adopts a tourist-perception perspective to examine seven types of literary heritage tourism space forms in Shanghai. Using online review data, TF–IDF and TextRank methods are applied to identify key space elements and their semantic relationships, enabling a data-driven analysis of spatial characteristics. The results identify three key dimensions, namely perceptual, conceptual, and experiential, which are further organised into 15 subcategories. A spatial analytical framework is developed to conceptualise the literary heritage tourism space as a process shaped by physical settings, symbolic interpretations, and experiential co-production. Furthermore, the findings suggest an interpretive framework of spatial reconstruction, in which tourist participation serves as a link between internal space elements and broader socio-cultural contexts. This study extends the application of spatial production theory from a perception-based perspective, combines computational text analysis with spatial interpretation, and offers practical implications for sustainable cultural landscape planning.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050776

Authors: Yong Mei Batunacun Chang An Yunfeng Hu Chunxing Hai Ruifang Guo

Against the backdrop of global warming, grassland degradation (GD) in arid and semi-arid regions has become a critical issue constraining ecosystem stability and socio-ecological resilience. This study aims to reveal the spatial differentiation of drivers of GD across four functional zones in Inner Mongolia—resource-oriented (RO), center-service-oriented (CSO), agro-pastoral-oriented (APO), and ecological-oriented (EO)—at the county level, using grassland conversion processes as a structural proxy. The results show that land cover changed in 19.29%, 18.69%, 17.28%, and 4.67% of the RO, CSO, APO, and EO regions, respectively, with GR mainly occurring in the RO region, while GD was more prevalent in the other zones. Drivers of GD exhibit significant variations across functional zones. In the RO zone, land use change is primarily associated with human disturbance. In the CSO and APO zones, it is associated with human activities, climatic factors, and urbanization. In the EO zone, the identified drivers show strong spatial heterogeneity, with urbanization, grazing intensity, and climate change emerging as key associated factors in the Hulunbuir, Xilingol, and Arxar regions. Overall, the results reveal a spatial gradient in the relative importance of anthropogenic pressure and climatic stress, with broader implications for adaptive and place-specific dryland governance under ongoing warming and increasing aridification.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050775

Authors: Maria Mprouzgou Evangelos Asprogerakas

This study examines how vernacular cultural landscapes (VCLs) contribute to community well-being, addressing fragmented evidence across cultural geography, environmental psychology, and public health. It aims to develop an integrated understanding of the mechanisms linking VCL characteristics to health outcomes. A hybrid narrative–scoping review, following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, synthesizes the interdisciplinary literature (2016–2026). The findings show that VCLs support well-being through interconnected pathways, including physical activity, psychological restoration, social cohesion, and environmental sustainability, although these effects are shaped by governance, access, and socioeconomic conditions. The study concludes that VCLs function as context-dependent, health-supportive socio-ecological systems. Its key contribution lies in developing a conceptual framework that operationalizes VCL–health relationships and informs spatial planning and public health policy.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050774

Authors: Xiao Liu Jun Yang Enyi Zhao

Land use transition and its effects on farmers’ well-being are central to the transformation and sustainable development of resource-exhausted areas (REAs). While extensive research has emerged in recent years, there remains a critical lack of systematic synthesis and clarity regarding key scientific issues in this domain. To bridge this research gap, an R-based bibliometric analysis was conducted on an extensive corpus encompassing 8245 papers on land use transition and 931 papers on farmers’ well-being published between 2001 and 2024, systematically investigating the mechanisms of transition, regional transformation dynamics, and the multi-dimensional determinants of well-being. The findings indicate that: (1) land use transition research has evolved from spatial patterns to management strategies, yet it lacks comprehensive regional and multi-scale characterization; (2) although land use is recognized as central to REA studies, the underlying theoretical frameworks require significant refinement; and (3) research on farmers’ well-being has shifted from broad ecosystem services to multidimensional micro-analyses, though the explicit correlation mechanisms with land use remain unclear. Based on these insights, four pivotal directions are identified for future research in REAs: establishing theoretical and analytical frameworks that link land use transitions to well-being under regional development logic; uncovering the spatiotemporal processes and multi-scale driving mechanisms of these transitions; quantitatively measuring their impacts on multidimensional well-being; and developing regulatory policies that balance regional coordination with well-being enhancement. This review provides a robust scientific foundation for optimizing land resources and promoting sustainable human–environment interactions in REAs.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050773

Authors: Matheus Melo de Souza Andréa Leda Ramos de Oliveira

The expansion of Brazil’s agricultural frontier in Arco Norte has intensified environmental and socioeconomic concerns that may worsen under climate change. This study evaluates how climate-driven shifts in soybean suitability may reconfigure production patterns and affect logistical vulnerabilities. Three scenarios were modeled using the MaxEnt algorithm: a historical baseline (1970–2000) and two future projections (2041–2060) based on the CMIP6 climate pathways. The model integrated bioclimatic, physical, land-use and land-cover, and infrastructure variables. The results showed that soybean expansion was highly concentrated across all scenarios. Mato Grosso, Goiás, and Tocantins accounted for 82.7% to 85.5% of total projected expansion, while Bahia and Maranhão increased this share to more than 92% of total gains. Although consolidated areas absorbed most of the expansion, new frontiers still represented nearly 30% of the total gains. A logistical vulnerability index linked potential expansion areas to grain storage deficits and revealed critical conditions in the main soybean-producing municipalities of Mato Grosso. These findings indicate a growing mismatch between emerging production areas and existing logistics infrastructure, highlighting the need for coordinated investments in storage, intermodal transportation, and territorial planning.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050772

Authors: Lingyun Yao Yonglin Zhang Xue Qiao Ke Wang Bo Huang Zheng Niu Li Wang

Accurate estimation of residential building energy consumption and associated CO2 emissions is essential for refined urban carbon management. This study develops a hybrid framework that integrates physics-based simulation and machine learning to estimate residential building energy use and energy-related CO2 emissions in Shenzhen in 2020. Representative building archetypes were first simulated and then used to train machine-learning models for large-scale applications. Building-level energy estimates were further combined with a bottom-up inventory to generate high-spatiotemporal-resolution maps of residential CO2 emissions. The results show that: (1) the selected model achieved good accuracy and temporal robustness, with strong agreement between estimated and reference energy use at daily, monthly, and annual scales; (2) residential energy use was primarily driven by meteorological conditions, especially daily mean temperature and the duration of high-temperature conditions, and exhibited clear weekly and seasonal patterns, with higher values on weekends and in summer; (3) residential CO2 emissions in Shenzhen reflected the combined effects of scale and intensity, with Longgang and Bao’an contributing the largest total emissions, Self-built residential buildings contributing the largest aggregate emissions, and Old residential buildings showing the highest average emissions per building; (4) emissions were highly concentrated in a small number of high-emission buildings, which were more frequently distributed along road-adjacent block perimeters. Overall, the proposed framework improves the fine-scale characterization of residential building CO2 emissions and provides a useful basis for hotspot identification and targeted mitigation.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050771

Authors: Jinghong Rong Songtao Wu

Ecological networks provide an important spatial framework for maintaining regional ecological security in fragmented landscapes. However, structural comparison of ecological network evolution at the provincial scale remains relatively limited, especially in cold-region contexts. Taking Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China as the study area, this study applies a structure-oriented workflow integrating ecological sensitivity assessment, the Minimum Cumulative Resistance (MCR) model, and edge-betweenness-based backbone corridor extraction to examine ecological network change in 2000, 2010, and 2020. The results show that 16, 18, and 17 ecological source areas were identified in 2000, 2010, and 2020, respectively, with a relatively stable spatial distribution concentrated in forest- and wetland-dominated regions. The total length of potential ecological corridors decreased from 12,634 km in 2000 to 11,985 km in 2020. Quantitative topological indicators further indicate that the 2010 ecological network was the most compact and densely connected of the three periods, whereas the 2020 network remained connected but exhibited lower structural compactness. Backbone ecological corridors retained only a limited proportion of the full corridor network while preserving overall connectivity, indicating that a relatively small subset of structurally important corridors supported the main network framework. Spatially, structural weakening was more evident in the Harbin–Daqing region, whereas the northwestern and southeastern parts of the province maintained relatively stable ecological foundations. These patterns were broadly consistent with land-use dynamics, particularly grassland decline and built-up land expansion. Overall, this study provides an applied structure-oriented workflow for examining ecological network evolution at the provincial scale and offers a spatial basis for ecological conservation and territorial planning in cold-region provinces.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050766

Authors: Maksims Feofilovs Linda Gulbe-Viluma Andrei Grishanov Ilze Barga Amrutha Rajamani Nidhiben Patel Claudio Rochas Francesco Romagnoli

Draining peatlands for peat extraction converts them into significant sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Quantifying GHG emissions at the regional scale remains challenging because direct field measurements are spatially limited, while GHG accounting for land-use planning requires spatially explicit information. Building on the advances in remote sensing (RS) as a scalable low-cost emission accounting tool for large areas, this study presents a proof-of-concept workflow that integrates satellite-based land-cover classification with an emission-factor (EF) approach to support spatial upscaling of peatland GHG estimates. Using Sentinel-2 imagery and a supervised Random Forest classifier, peatland-related land-cover classes were mapped for selected sites in Latvia. The classification results show higher accuracy for spectrally distinct classes such as raised bogs and active peat-extraction areas, while more heterogeneous classes exhibited lower performance. The study provides an overview of how to utilize the RS approach to generate accurate land-cover maps, which can be used to upscale GHG estimation in Latvia when field data is limited. The study does not include calibration against site-level flux measurements, uncertainty propagation, or temporal variability analysis; therefore, the emission results are illustrative and consistent with current EF-based inventory practice rather than validated site-specific fluxes.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050769

Authors: Yujie Chen Lukaiyi Zhang Hengxuan Du Chenjuan Zhang Wanning Yang

As essential components of the natural environment, urban green and blue spaces (UGBSs) hold significant potential to enhance public health and wellbeing. However, existing research is limited in understanding the spatiotemporal heterogeneity and nonlinear relationships characterizing how built environment (BE) features of UGBSs influence public happiness. This study takes Nanjing, China as a case study. It integrates multisource data (e.g., social media text, remote-sensing imagery, POI data, land use, etc.) and employs machine learning techniques (including sentiment analysis and random forest), to investigate the nonlinear effects and spatiotemporal dynamics of UGBSs’ BE on public happiness. The results show that nonlinear relationships (e.g., S-shaped and inverted U-shaped) commonly exist between UGBSs’ BE indicators and happiness. The influence of UGBSs’ BE on happiness demonstrates significant spatiotemporal dynamics. Diversity and destination accessibility were dominant factors from 2021 to 2023, whereas the importance of the design and density dimensions increased substantially after 2023. The influence varied across UGBS types; except for the diversity dimension, the BE’s density, design, and destination accessibility were significantly associated with happiness across all UGBS types. The study offers empirical evidence to inform planning and management of UGBS infrastructure, with the aim to maximize public health benefits and foster healthy cities.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050770

Authors: Zhaoxi Wu Yan Yu Ying Zhang Cuiping Zhao

Farmland management rights (FMR) mortgage lending has been advanced as a central instrument of rural credit reform in China, yet the program has consistently failed to sustain itself in the absence of direct government facilitation. Drawing on five national and provincial pilot counties in Henan Province, this study investigates the structural factors underlying this sustainability failure. We employ a sequential mixed-methods design: grounded theory analysis of in-depth interviews, policy documents, and media reports from five focal sites to inductively construct a constraint framework, followed by structural equation modeling (SEM) validation using 1055 survey responses. Our grounded theory analysis identifies three internal constraint categories—property rights insecurity, a thin secondary land market, and subject-level agricultural risk—and one external environmental constraint, which together produce a state of mutual non-recognition: neither financial institutions nor farming households regard FMR as legitimate collateral. Notably, the effect of collateral acceptance on farmer mortgage willingness is statistically insignificant, revealing that demand-side barriers are more deeply entrenched than supply-side institutional improvements alone can resolve. These findings challenge the premise that legal formalization of land rights is sufficient to generate market-driven credit activity, and call attention to the equally important role of institutional ecosystem development—encompassing land markets, appraisal capacity, supervisory infrastructure, and rural credit culture. The insights carry direct relevance for developing economies exploring land-backed agricultural credit as a rural finance strategy.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050768

Authors: Haiying Wu Yixuan Wang Aocheng Zhuang Shengyi Qiang Yongyong Song

Urban agglomerations serve as crucial spatial carriers for advancing people-centered new urbanization. However, the integrated analysis of urban expansion dynamics, landscape pattern responses, and their driving mechanisms, particularly in ecologically sensitive, late-developing urban agglomerations, remains insufficiently understood. Taking the Guanzhong Plain Urban Agglomeration (GPUA) as the study area, this paper utilizes the Urban Expansion Rate Index (UERI), Urban Expansion Intensity Index (UEII), Landscape Expansion Index (LEI), and Landscape Pattern Metrics (LPMs) to examine urban land expansion and landscape pattern changes, and employs GeoDetector to analyze the driving forces behind these changes. The findings indicate that from 1990 to 2020, the urban land area of the GPUA expanded continuously, with UERI and UEII showing an “increase-then-decrease” trend. Significant disparities exist among cities in the urban expansion areas, with the coexistence of “edge” and “infilling” modes profoundly influencing landscape responses. The driving forces of urban expansion have undergone a stage-specific transition from socioeconomic dominance to ecological policies and natural constraints, with policy–institutional control, socioeconomic development drivers, natural endowment constraints, and improved locational conditions collectively shaping the GPUA’s “spatial landscape” system. The findings of this study provide a scientific basis for territorial spatial governance and sustainable development in ecologically fragile urban agglomerations.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050767

Authors: Carlos J. L. Balsas

Property development, roads, vehicles, and suburban sprawl cause biodiversity habitat fragmentation. Some herpetofauna are at risk from a conservation perspective. This phenomenon is simultaneously a road ecology and a public health problem. The article analyzes the impact of “campus-based growth machine” development on herpetofauna habitat fragmentation around various wetlands in uptown Albany, New York, U.S. This study fills an unresearched gap on the impact of the campus-based growth machine, roads, vehicles, and suburban sprawl on biodiversity habitat fragmentation. The research methods comprised both qualitative and quantitative assessments of property development inventories, wildlife observations, student engagements and biodiversity monitoring at the University at Albany, the cataloging of test-design and conservation measures, and the review of institutional planning regulations and roadway design features. The key finding is the need for more biodiversity conservation innovations to increase the continuity of habitats, uniform underground crossings, and the elimination of biodiversity road crossing deaths. The article presents research and management practice recommendations. The study shows a plausible association between university expansion and biodiversity reductions on campus grounds. It also identifies potential mitigation measures and opportunities for community service collaborations.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050765

Authors: Shanlin Huang Wanting Lin Zhixiang Wang

Improving cultivated land use efficiency is widely regarded as a core issue in ensuring national food security. As one of the key policy instruments supporting agricultural development, agricultural subsidies are considered to play an important role in promoting cultivated land use efficiency. Using micro-survey data from 449 farm households in a typical black soil region of Heilongjiang Province, this study employs the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model, the fractional logit model, and the mediation effect model to explore the potential impact of agricultural subsidies on black soil cultivated land use efficiency, as well as the potential mediating pathway at farm scale. The results suggest the following conclusions: (1) Different types of agricultural subsidies appear to have heterogeneous effects on black soil cultivated land use efficiency. Specifically, producer subsidies and total agricultural subsidies appear to exhibit nonlinear relationships with black soil cultivated land use efficiency; however, within the sample range, the overall effects tend to be negative, whereas cultivated land fertility protection subsidies are also associated with lower black soil cultivated land use efficiency. (2) Farm scale appears to serve as a potential mediating pathway linking producer subsidies and total agricultural subsidies to cultivated land use efficiency. (3) Under different conditions of land fragmentation and farm scale, the mediating pathway at farm scale appears to vary. A mediating pathway is observed among highly fragmented landholdings and small-scale farmers, whereas it is not evident among low fragmentation landholdings and large-scale farmers. Based on these findings, this study suggests that the study area may consider optimizing the structure of agricultural subsidies to promote moderate-scale farming and to improve the coordination mechanism between agricultural technical training and regulatory supervision in order to enhance black soil cultivated land use efficiency.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050763

Authors: Shuzhen Song Ning Zhang Xuecheng Wu Rongbiao Li Yongkuan Chi

World Natural Heritage sites are shared assets of humanity; therefore, assessing and analyzing their ecological environments is crucial for informed decision-making and providing a basis for ecological risk control and security measures. This study utilizes GIS spatial analysis and a comprehensive ecological risk evaluation method, based on LUCC, NDVI, and DEM, to investigate trends in ecological risk changes within the Karst World Natural Heritage site. Additionally, a geographical detector model is introduced to quantitatively analyze influencing factors. Furthermore, simulations are conducted to predict the evolution of ecological sensitivity over the next twenty years. The results indicate that: (1) In the single-factor sensitivity evaluation, NDVI exhibits the highest influence (0.36), whereas the aspect factor demonstrates the lowest (0.08). (2) The ecological sensitivity of the study area is predominantly classified as medium–high across all stages. The proportion of areas with medium sensitivity decreased from 39.57% in 2000 to 35.02% in 2020, while other sensitivity levels remained relatively stable. The spatial distribution of comprehensive ecological sensitivity exhibits a positive correlation, displaying an aggregated pattern with a tendency towards homogeneity over time. High ecological sensitivity areas tend to aggregate in the north, while low-value areas aggregate in the south. (3) NDVI and land use demonstrate significant explanatory power for the spatial differentiation of ecological sensitivity, with land use serving as the dominant factor in the Shibing Karst. The strongest interaction exists between NDVI and land use, with explanatory powers of 0.906 and 0.889, respectively. (4) Finally, the CA–Markov model was employed to simulate ecological sensitivity from 2030 to 2040. It was predicted that overall ecological sensitivity will increase in the future, particularly within the northern buffer zone, which is in urgent need of improvement. Overall, the ecological sensitivity of the Shibing Karst is moderate. Heritage management must prioritize ecological protection to promote the conservation of the World Natural Heritage site. Management authorities should pay greater attention to ecological conservation to foster the sustainable development of natural World Heritage sites, providing scientific references for the preservation of other World Heritage sites.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050764

Authors: Xuerui Shi Pau Chung Leng Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling

China’s rural public open spaces (POS) are largely governed as common-pool resources through self-organized collective arrangements, often regarded as a viable pathway to sustainable commons management. Yet, in practice, these systems remain prone to overuse and under-maintenance, reflecting collective action failures associated with the tragedy of the commons. The governance of rural POS therefore constitutes a complex social–ecological problem shaped by the interplay of institutional rules, biophysical conditions, and user–stakeholder interactions. Taking Taigu District in Shanxi Province—characterized by heterogeneous social–ecological contexts and collective action dilemmas—as the empirical case, this study develops a meso-level baseline model to identify the key conditions (design principles) for sustainable rural POS governance. Adopting an expert-based epistemological approach, 24 specialists in rural governance (scholars, planners, and local administrators) were engaged. Grounded in commons and collective action theories within the Social–Ecological Systems (SES) framework and informed by Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), the study operationalizes a Delphic Hierarchy Process (DHP), combining three rounds of Delphi to establish consensus on governance conditions with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to derive their relative weights. The model specifies 14 governance conditions across four interrelated dimensions: ecological (e.g., clearly defined resource boundaries and congruence between resource characteristics and user needs), institutional (e.g., simple and enforceable rules, accessible conflict-resolution mechanisms, accountable monitoring, and calibrated external support), social (e.g., social capital, leadership capacity, clearly defined user boundaries, and group interdependence), and interactional (e.g., resource dependence, equity in benefit distribution, and supply–demand alignment). It further clarifies their relative importance and systemic interdependencies. By operationalizing commons design principles within a meso-level analytical framework, the study advances their empirical application in rural planning and offers five targeted managerial implications to strengthen institutional robustness and the long-term sustainability of self-governed rural POS.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050762

Authors: Dimitrios E. Bakaloudis Evangelos G. Kotsonas Konstantinia S. Papastergiou Grigorios Papaioannou

The fallow deer (Dama dama) population on the island of Rhodes, Greece, constitutes one of the oldest extant free-ranging populations of this species. Robust population estimates are crucial for effective conservation and management. This study aimed to estimate deer population density, using a combination of direct and indirect approaches and to evaluate their relative performance. Surveys were conducted during the rutting season (October 2022) across mixed habitats, shrublands, and forests using Daytime Distance Sampling (DDS) and Spotlight Distance Sampling (SDS). Indirect estimates were derived using the Faecal Standing Crop (FSC) method during the same period, and, in January 2023, a revisit allowed estimation through the Faecal Accumulation Rate (FAR) method. All approaches indicated that mixed habitats supported the highest densities (7.85–10 individuals/km2), whereas shrublands (2.24–2.64 individuals/km2) and forests (0.65–2.96 individuals/km2) showed lower densities. Distance sampling methods performed best in mixed habitats, while FSC yielded more accurate and precise estimates than FAR across all habitats according to the Relative Net Precision index. These findings highlight the value of integrating complementary density methods and support the combined application of SDS and FSC for long-term population monitoring and evidence-based management.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050761

Authors: Gaël Kermarrec Gregor Thomas Meusel Lukas Fricke

Small- and mid-sized municipalities increasingly need to assess the long-term effectiveness of urban greening projects under climate change, but typically lack the resources for extensive measurement campaigns or complex simulation infrastructure. We propose and demonstrate a practical three-component assessment framework that can be deployed with limited resources: one or two UAV thermal surveys to capture the spatial baseline, a small network of fixed monitoring stations for temporal context, and a single microscale model to project future scenarios. We apply this framework to a 0.5 ha parking-to-park conversion in Aalen, Germany (pop. 68,000). A diurnal drone survey (four flights over 14 h) established surface temperature contrasts of up to 34 K between sealed and tree-shaded areas. Six fixed stations operating over six weeks confirmed that an existing mature linden reduced hot days by nearly 50%. The ASMUS_green microscale model, evaluated against the drone observations (mean absolute difference 3.4 K across surface types), was then used to project Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) under EURO-CORDEX scenarios for 2035 (+1.3 K) and 2055 (+2.5 K) combined with tree growth. The results show that young trees provide limited near-term relief, but mature canopy reduces PET by 6–8 K, offsetting the projected warming. We discuss how each component compensates for the limitations of the others, making the combined framework more robust than any single method. The approach is designed to be transferable to other municipalities facing similar planning decisions with comparable resource constraints.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050760

Authors: Haoyue Li Dawei Mei Haijiao Yu Liang Wang Hangting Yu Zihan Yang

Rapid urbanization has profoundly reshaped land use patterns and intensified pressures on ecosystem structures, thereby exacerbating trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services (ESs). Understanding ecosystem service trade-offs, synergies, and their attribution mechanisms is critical for balancing ecological conservation and regional sustainable development in rapidly developing regions. This study quantified provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural ecosystem services in Shandong Province from 2000 to 2020 using the InVEST model and spatial analysis. An integrated framework combining Pearson correlation and bagplot analysis was developed to identify linear and nonlinear ES trade-offs and synergies, while the XGBoost–SHAP model was applied to quantify the relative contributions of natural and socioeconomic drivers. Ecosystem service bundles were further identified using a self-organizing map to delineate spatially functional zones. The results showed that: (1) Provisioning and cultural services increased markedly, whereas regulating and supporting services generally declined. Spatially, provisioning services were concentrated in the western plains, regulating and supporting services in the central mountains and eastern hills, and cultural services in urban areas. (2) Strong trade-offs emerged between provisioning services and most regulating/supporting services, while regulating and supporting services exhibited pronounced synergies. Cultural services reflected a generally compatible relationship with other ESs. (3) Regulating and supporting services were primarily shaped by natural conditions and land use patterns, whereas provisioning and cultural services were more strongly driven by socioeconomic factors. (4) SOM clustering identified four major functional zones, the ecological core zone, the ecological degraded zone, the food production zone, and the urban composite zone, each corresponding to differentiated ecosystem functions and development trajectories. The integrated framework provides a scientific basis for ecosystem-service-oriented spatial zoning and targeted management strategies to reconcile ecological protection and urbanization in rapidly developing regions.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050759

Authors: Mauricio Secchi Antonio Pasculli Nicola Sciarra

Physics-based simulation of debris flows over complex terrain is essential for hazard assessment, but repeated numerical integration is costly when many scenarios must be explored. We develop a general deep-learning surrogate modelling framework for two-dimensional (2D) debris-flow propagation, here applied to the Morino–Rendinara area (central Italy) using a three-dimensional (3D) Fourier Neural Operator (FNO) trained on synthetic simulations generated by a validated in-house finite-volume shallow-water solver. The solver reproduces debris-flow propagation over complex terrain and is specifically developed for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. It is based on a depth-averaged 2D formulation using the Harten–Lax–van Leer–Contact (HLLC) approximate Riemann solver, hydrostatic reconstruction, positivity-preserving wet–dry treatment, and Voellmy-type basal friction, and was verified through analytical benchmarks, numerical tests, and back-analyses of real events. The dataset was built from four site-specific release settings derived from real topography, combining different released volumes and bulk densities while preserving local geomorphological and rheological characteristics. Each simulation was stored as a full spatio-temporal tensor and used to train an FNO conditioned on coordinates, topography, friction parameters, bulk density, and initial release thickness. Training used a novel loss to emphasize active-flow areas and improve velocity reconstruction, and was performed using a graphics processing unit (GPU). The surrogate shows effective generalization to within-distribution validation samples, with global relative mean squared errors of 5.49% for flow thickness, 5.34% for velocity component u, and 2.60% for v, and mean R2 values of 0.95, 0.94, and 0.97. For a representative sample, the surrogate predicts the full spatio-temporal solution in 0.52 s, versus about 47 s for the first-order finite-volume solver, corresponding to a speed-up of about 91×, with an even larger gap expected for higher-order solvers, since, whilst the computation time of the solver increases as its complexity increases, the computation time of the FNO remains essentially unchanged. These results indicate that the proposed FNO is a reliable site-specific surrogate for rapid approximation of 2D debris-flow dynamics over real terrain, with potential for uncertainty propagation, Monte Carlo analysis, large-ensemble simulation, and hazard-oriented scenario assessment.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050758

Authors: Katerina Zeglova Kristine Bilande Una Diana Veipane Irina Pilvere Aleksejs Nipers

Sustainable land use policy planning requires integrated approaches that account for environmental and socio-economic trade-offs of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation measures. This study presents a spatial decision-support tool developed to support the evaluation of policy scenarios in non-urban land-use sectors, with application to the land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector in Latvia. The tool enables users to select predefined mitigation measures, apply spatial selection criteria, and generate quantitative and spatially explicit outputs. In addition to estimating GHG mitigation potential, it evaluates impacts on profitability, employment, and habitat quality, allowing the assessment of trade-offs and synergies across multiple dimensions. Scenario results are reported as both absolute and relative impacts, improving transparency and comparability. Developed in Python 3.10 and supported by a PostgreSQL 17/PostGIS 3.5 database, the tool operates through a web-based interface and supports efficient scenario construction and evaluation. While results depend on underlying data and assumptions, the tool provides a transparent framework for exploring policy options and supports evidence-based decision-making in land-use and climate policy planning.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050756

Authors: Jianqiang Li Feiyun Zhang Ao Ma Jingjing Ma Daqiang Li Qian Li

Understanding how land-use dynamics and carbon balance respond to socio-economic development and future climate change is essential. It supports the refinement of ecological management strategies in environmentally fragile regions and the achievement of China’s dual-carbon goals. This study aims to (i) analyze historical land-use evolution in Xinjiang from 2000 to 2020 and simulate its future dynamics from 2021 to 2060 under multiple SSP-RCP scenarios; (ii) quantify land-use carbon emissions and carbon storage using the coupled SD-PLUS-InVEST model; and (iii) evaluate the carbon balance through the carbon emission to storage ratio (CESR). This study coupled the system dynamics (SD) model, Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model, and InVEST model by integrating socio-economic statistics, IPCC climate data, and land-use datasets. The integrated model was used to simulate land-use evolution in Xinjiang from 2000 to 2060 and to quantify the spatiotemporal variation in land-use carbon emissions, carbon storage, and the CESR. Results indicated that carbon emission increased continuously from 2000 to 2020. Carbon emission showed an inverted U-shaped pattern from 2020 to 2060, with the peak occurring in approximately 2030 under the SSP1–2.6 and SSP2–4.5 scenarios, while it continued to rise from 2020 to 2060 under SSP585. Carbon storage exhibited an “initial increase followed by decline” from 2000 to 2020 but increased consistently from 2020 to 2060 under all scenarios. Xinjiang is a carbon-contributing area with the CESR less than 1 from 2000 to 2060. The CESR increased first and then decreased from 2020 to 2060 under SSP126 and SSP245, while it increased significantly under SSP585. The carbon contribution capacity in Xinjiang decreased under SSP585. These findings indicated that Xinjiang is a carbon contribution area, but its contribution function may be weakened by the expansion of energy-related land use and reduction in forest areas. Hence, it is necessity to uphold Xinjiang’s role within the national carbon balance framework by enhancing spatially differentiated land management, promoting the low-carbon transformation of the energy structure, and strengthening ecological restoration efforts to improve regional carbon sink capacity.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050757

Authors: Alireza Monavarian Soheil Abadifard Hande K. McGinty Vaishali Sharda

Climate-driven heat and water stress are increasingly compromising rainfed maize yields in transition zones, with significant implications for global food security. While continental-scale models of crop suitability exist, they often fail to capture the high-resolution heterogeneity of agricultural landscapes or distinguish between irrigated and rainfed systems in semi-arid regions. This study models the current and future suitability of rainfed maize in Kansas, USA, using a Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) approach. To accurately isolate biophysical constraints, we employed a novel data-filtering workflow using the USDA Cropland Data Layer (CDL) and Landsat-based Annual Irrigated Datasets (LANID) to train the model exclusively on rainfed occurrences. We projected suitability shifts for the mid- (2041–2070) and end-of-century (2071–2100) periods under two CMIP6 Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5), using high-resolution CHELSA bioclimatic variables. The model, achieving an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.73 and validated against 30 years of historical USDA production records, reveals a distinct spatial contraction of areas climatically suitable for growing maize. Projections indicate a significant decline in suitability across Western and Central Kansas driven by rising temperatures and precipitation variability, with the most highly suitable optimal habitats projected to decline by approximately 90% by mid-century. These findings quantify mounting climate impacts on maize-growing areas of the Great Plains and provide spatially explicit baselines for the development of regional adaptation strategies and groundwater conservation policies.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050755

Authors: Xiaomei Lian Xinyue Feng Tao Liu Shasha Huang

In recent years, local governments in China have actively promoted new district development, encouraging a transition from monocentric to polycentric urban form. Whether and how this spatial restructuring is reflected in government-mediated land grant prices, however, remains unsettled. Using LandScan population grids and Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), this paper measures the polycentric spatial structure of 283 prefecture-level cities in China. We merge this measure with city-level land transaction data to examine how polycentricity affects overall urban land prices as well as industrial, residential, and commercial land prices. The results show that a more polycentric urban structure significantly increases comprehensive land prices. Across land-use categories, the effect is smallest for industrial land and stronger for residential and commercial land. Further analysis shows that land-finance dependence moderates the effect of polycentric urban spatial structure on land prices, and this moderating effect differs across land-use types. In addition, the positive effect of polycentricity is weaker in larger cities. Spatial econometric estimates further suggest that local polycentricity raises land prices in neighboring cities, implying the presence of positive spillovers across urban areas. The paper contributes to the literature on urban spatial structure by linking intra-urban polycentricity to land price and by showing that these effects extend beyond city boundaries.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050754

Authors: Hong Yang Wei Li Ru Wang Liguo Liao Bijia Zhang Jiajun Zhang Rouyin Xie Jinrui Lei Yongchun Liu

Rural settlements are significant carriers of rural production, living, and land use activities and are also significant subjects for researching regional socio-economic development and spatial structural changes. With regard to the unique topographical environment and transportation situation in the Qiongbei volcanic lava area, a settlement form with prominent topographical constraints and transportation orientation is created. This paper utilizes land use/land cover data from different periods, along with rural settlement expansion patch data, to quantitatively analyze the spatial patterns and expansion characteristics of rural settlements, as well as their influencing factors, from 1990 to 2025 using GIS spatial analysis, buffer gradient analysis (BGA), and multi-order adjacency index (MAI). The research results indicate the following: (1) The spatial pattern of rural settlement distribution in the study area is “peripheral agglomeration and core sparsity,” and the general expansion trend is “rapid in the early period and stable in the late period.” The settlement area expands from 37.21 km2 in 1990 to 80.87 km2 in 2025. (2) The evolutionary pattern of rural settlements in the study area changes from “core–peripheral extension” in the early period to a mixed “core stabilization and peripheral leapfrogging development” model in the later period. The new patches formed in the peripheral areas have obvious discrete features, such as varying land use patterns and differing population densities compared to the core areas. (3) The spatial correlation factors for rural settlement expansion in the study area exhibit stage differences and distinct spatial non-stationary characteristics. During the early period (1990–2008), with strict limitations imposed by the natural material environment, sunlight (interpretability of 0.367) and water systems (0.286) show significant spatial coherence, indicating the great adaptability of rural settlements to the material conditions of the landforms; during the later period (2008–2025), after the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, the population density (0.135) and transport-related factors become the main spatial correlation factors. The GWR model also shows the percentage of positive and negative influences by influencing factors at each stage and their significant differences in space, proving that human activities break through in the limitations of natural topology in a discontinuous way. According to this research, “inefficient land use” should be understood in a dialectical manner in volcanic geomorphological areas, and spatial optimization should be achieved on the premise of respecting the physicality of volcanic landscapes and rural identity. The research conclusions have important guiding significance for the spatial resilience planning in tropical volcanic areas and traditional settlement culture preservation.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050753

Authors: Antonio Corbo Alessandro Maria Jaia Deodato Tapete

Remote sensing is widely used in archaeological prospection to detect surface anomalies (crop marks) indicating buried remains, typically through recognition of visual patterns in high- or very high-resolution imagery acquired by means of satellite, airborne, or drone sensors. In contrast, spectroscopic approaches focusing on variations in spectral signatures still remain rarely applied in archaeological research. This study proposes a technological barrier-free method addressed to archaeologists which is based on pixel-level analysis of the Reflectance Values (RV) and spectral shape variations in the visible, near-infrared and short-wave infrared (VIS-NIR-SWIR) range derived from Sentinel-2 imagery. Spectral signatures are extracted through sampling polygons designed to account for the spatial resolution of the different Sentinel-2 bands and their spatial relationship with the location and size of the archaeological features. The RV method is tested on two Roman archaeological contexts: the ancient city of Telesia Vetere (San Salvatore Telesino, Benevento) and a Roman villa at Podere Colle Agnano (Labro, Rieti) using the full Sentinel-2 archive since 2017. While Telesia has previously been investigated through aerial photo interpretation and archaeological fieldwork, the Roman villa at Labro is documented here for the first time. Results show consistent seasonal repeated spectral separability between areas corresponding to known buried archaeological features and surrounding areas. Similar anomalies were also detected in areas without previously documented remains, thus suggesting the possible presence of buried structures and highlighting the predictive potential of the RV method. Owing to its easiness to use beyond image processing specialism and reliance on open-access data, the method can support archaeological decision-making and guide further investigation with higher-resolution remote sensing data or targeted field surveys, particularly in the framework of preventive archaeology.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050752

Authors: Haijuan Zhao Xuejun Liu Yan Long Jingmei Shao Jiaqi Chen Zixuan Chen Guoen Wang

Using truck GPS trajectory data, this study measures the intensity of economic spatial linkages in Hubei Province at both administrative and cross-administrative scales and examines the hierarchical structure and spatial pattern of its urban economic network. By comparing the results with existing regional plans, the study provides empirical support for regional coordination and spatial planning. Network centrality analysis, linkage intensity measurement, and community detection algorithms are integrated to construct a topological model of the urban economic network from three dimensions: urban node hierarchy, inter-city linkage intensity, and urban cluster structure. To overcome administrative boundary constraints, a 5 km × 5 km grid-based approach is applied to identify functionally connected urban economic communities. The results indicate that Hubei Province’s urban economic network exhibits a highly dominant core accompanied by multiple secondary supporting centers. While the Wuhan Metropolitan Area demonstrates high economic activity, internal horizontal linkages remain relatively weak, and the roles of Yichang and Xiangyang as regional sub-centers require further strengthening. Grid-based analysis further reveals pronounced cross-administrative economic linkages. Accordingly, this study suggests strengthening support for regional sub-centers and promoting better alignment between administrative space and functional space within the spatial planning system, with enhanced cross-regional coordination.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050750

Authors: Ying Zhou Leyi Liu Juan Du Long Zhang

Continuous urban expansion and the resulting land use and land cover (LULC) changes significantly exacerbate the urban heat island effect and intensify heatwaves. While the cooling effects of blue–green spaces are widely documented, most studies focus on single landscape types or specific time frames. Few investigations systematically explore the comprehensive thermal regulation mechanisms of gray–green spaces, or their nonlinear driving factors and interactive effects across coupled seasonal and diurnal scales. To address these gaps, this study focuses on Chengdu, a typical expanding city in China, to establish a comprehensive indicator system for urban gray–green spaces. This system encompasses four key dimensions: coverage, fragmentation, aggregation, and morphological spatial pattern. After evaluating 12 machine learning models, the optimal model was selected for further analysis using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) and Partial Dependence Plots (PDP). This research investigates the nonlinear thresholds and interactive effects of composite gray–green space indicators on land surface temperature (LST) across varying seasonal and diurnal cycles. The results indicate that: (1) The impact of gray–green spaces on LST varies significantly across seasonal and diurnal contexts. Green spaces primarily exert a cooling effect during spring, summer, and autumn, whereas gray spaces dominate heat retention during winter and across all nocturnal periods. (2) The morphological spatial pattern of green spaces (GMSPA) outperforms traditional coverage indicators (G1) in providing cooling benefits across multiple scenarios. (3) The cooling efficiency of GMSPA peaks between −0.8 and −0.5, reaching saturation at 0.53. Conversely, LST exhibits a sharp, step-like increase when gray space aggregation (B3) exceeds −0.58. (4) Optimizing areas with high GMSPA can significantly mitigate heat exposure risks in expanding cities. These findings offer robust theoretical insights and actionable guidelines for spatial planning aimed at thermal resilience, urban thermal environment management, and building energy conservation in rapidly growing urban areas.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050751

Authors: Sander Münster

Large-scale datasets such as Objaverse or ShapeNet and repositories such as Sketchfab have been compiled for 3D content. Within the European 3DBigDataSpace project, a consortium of 10 partners assess open licensed 3D models to select and retrieve those models representing cultural heritage objects in Europe to aggregate them into the European Data Space. A key component of this work is the classification and geolocalization of 3D content, with mesh models viewable via different viewers and tested in different scenarios such as museum exhibitions, cultural tourism, or education. This article makes four principal contributions: (1) a current empirical overview of the global distribution and linguistic coverage of large-scale 3D heritage datasets; (2) a comparative evaluation of text-based and image-based methods for geocoding and semantic classification; (3) an analysis of data quality challenges specific to uncurated 3D heritage collections; and (4) a discussion of the implications of user-generated content for definitions of digital cultural heritage.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050748

Authors: Yikai Xu Jingjing Li Yizhao Du Qingyang Chen Xiong Li

In rapidly urbanizing metropolitan areas, children increasingly face risks to their physical and mental health, largely due to constrained access to suitable outdoor spaces that support regular physical activity. The uneven distribution and varying quality of these urban outdoor environments further intensify such risks by limiting children’s opportunities for safe, stimulating, and health-promoting activities. However, the existing research often lacks a systematic framework to quantify these spatial inequities across multiple dimensions. This study aims to fill this gap by constructing a robust analytical framework for evaluating outdoor environmental quality. It quantifies spatial distribution and determinants of these inequalities. The framework is structured around four core dimensions: Safety, Facility Variety, Fun, and Greenness. Taking Beijing as a case study, data from 1598 primary and secondary schools were analyzed. The Gini coefficient and Moran’s I were used to evaluate the equality and spatial clustering of environmental indicators, while the Geographically Weighted Regression model explored how Spatial Construction, Social Development, and Economic Level shape environmental quality. The results reveal the following findings: (1) the quality of children’s outdoor physical activity environments in Beijing is notably unequal, especially regarding Greenness and Fun; (2) these disparities correspond closely to the city’s “core–periphery” metropolitan structure; and (3) the relationships between metropolitan-level factors and environmental quality exhibit strong spatial heterogeneity. This study provides a comprehensive framework for evaluating and visualizing inequalities in children’s outdoor environments, offering empirical support for inclusive and health-oriented urban governance.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050749

Authors: Thuy Van Tran Thi Thanh Tan Mai Thu Nhung Nguyen

The forest within the Ben En National Park has a diverse flora, which, although protected, remains subject to degradation. The analysis and management strategies for forest degradation within this park were conducted using a phytogeographical approach supplemented by satellite imagery and a SWOT analysis. As a result, the area is characterized by nine distinct vegetation types comprising 1417 vascular plant species (from 902 genera and 196 families). These species belong to endemics from Northern, Central, and all of Vietnam, as well as 16 other phytogeographical elements. Tropical Asian and South China elements dominate the community structure in evergreen broad-leaved closed forests on both limestone and non-limestone mountains. Forest degradation is evident in changes to both floristic composition and vegetation structure. Floristic composition shows a trend of decreasing native elements while simultaneously increasing non-native or introduced elements. This “anthropogenic tropicalization” leads to a declining chain of ecological function from palaeotropical to introduced elements, resulting in biological invasion. For instance, the invasive species, Mimosa pigra, currently occupies about 442 ha in the semi-submerged zone of the Song Muc reservoir, indicating a loss of ecological function and a likely hydrological pathway for further spread. As a consequence of “anthropogenic tropicalization”, the vegetation is fragmented and gradually altered from a natural system to an anthropogenic one through a regressive succession from primary forest to bare land/invaded area. Based on the SWOT analysis, four management actions were proposed: 1—Establish a “sustainable native forest” program and “invasive species control” in the Song Muc reservoir; 2—Launch a “green livelihoods for the buffer zone” initiative; 3—Implement a “Smart forest monitoring” system; and 4—Forge an “ecotourism-conservation-community” alliance.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050747

Authors: Ying Han Wenjing Wang Xinjia Chen Jinxia Fu Ruizhe Du Bo Li

Assessing the construction suitability and sediment reduction potential of dry-farming wide terraces is critical for improving soil and water conservation in semi-arid and semi-humid regions, yet these aspects are seldom evaluated within an integrated framework. Focusing on the Loess Plateau, this study delineates potential construction areas based on precipitation constraints, quantifies soil erosion using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, and develops a multidimensional framework to jointly evaluate construction suitability and sediment reduction potential on sloping farmland. Results indicate that slope, transportation accessibility, and soil erosion intensity are the primary determinants of suitability. Highly suitable, suitable, and marginally suitable areas account for 7.5%, 7.2%, and 4.3% of the study area, respectively, with Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces—and particularly Yulin, Yan’an, and Qingyang—emerging as priority regions for implementation. Scenario analysis suggests that targeting (i) highly suitable and suitable areas or (ii) all suitable classes would reclaim approximately 59.89 × 103 km2 and 77.19 × 103 km2 of sloping farmland, respectively, leading to reductions in mean soil erosion modulus of 16.6% and 22%. These findings provide a quantitative basis for optimizing terrace deployment and advancing regionally targeted soil erosion mitigation strategies on the Loess Plateau.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050746

Authors: Mengyuan Qiu Hui Zhang

Outdoor music festivals (OMFs) increasingly operate as a form of temporary land use that activates urban stock land, yet how such land-use reconfigurations unfold across uneven urban–rural geographies remains insufficiently examined. Taking China’s OMFs from 2013 to 2024 as a case, this study applies the Geodetector model within a spatial justice framework to analyze fifteen indicators organized along the distributional, procedural, and recognition dimensions. The results show a pronounced “market-sinking” trend accompanied by westward expansion, and the seasonal clustering gradually moderated. The three dimensions jointly shape OMFs’ diffusion through distinguishable pathways, with the procedural dimension exhibiting the highest explanatory power through institutional steering and industrial coordination, followed by the recognition dimension through demographic foundations and digital visibility, and the distributional dimension through material and infrastructural accessibility; interaction detection further indicates that their joint presence produces amplified effects. These mechanisms align with international land-use and territorial-governance studies, while reflecting the state-led coordination distinctive to China. The findings point to an emerging form of collaborative co-creation in which governmental, market, and community actors jointly shape the spatial production of cultural events, extending the classical core–periphery account and informing debates on the territorial governance of event spaces in non-metropolitan regions.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050745

Authors: Hao Zhao Dong Chen Jianxiong Wu

The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) coordinated-development strategy provides a county-level setting for examining how transport-led regional restructuring reshaped the relationship between human activity and land–environment conditions. Using a balanced panel of 200 county-level units from 2010 to 2020, we work with two linked subsystems: the human-activity subsystem (H), which combines transport integration and economic upgrading, and the land–environment subsystem (L), which combines land-use transition and ecological response. Pooled entropy weighting, a coupling-coordination index, spatial autocorrelation analysis, and fixed-effects differential-response models are used to trace temporal change, spatial clustering, and post-2014 heterogeneity within BTH. Mean coupling coordination (D) rose from 0.5430 to 0.6012, but the increase came mainly from the rise of H, while L changed only slightly. Positive spatial autocorrelation persisted throughout the period. Counties in the Beijing–Tianjin ring kept higher absolute coordination levels, yet after 2014, they improved more slowly than non-ring counties because land–environment adjustment lagged behind changes within H. Relative to key ecological function zones, agricultural counties—and to a lesser extent urbanized counties—posted faster gains in D, again mainly through H. The results show that in BTH, regional integration did not move the two subsystems in lockstep: transport reorganization and economic upgrading advanced faster than land–environment adjustment, so durable county coordination still depended on land governance, ecological regulation, and policies matched to territorial functions.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050744

Authors: Chong Geng Chong Xu Lei Li Peng Wang Huiran Gao

In a high-mountain gorge region, landslide hazards pose a serious threat to the upper Minjiang River, located at the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. To map susceptibility in the upper Minjiang River basin, this study used a Random Forest model in conjunction with slope unit subdivisions. First, a landslide inventory containing 3785 landslides was established using human–machine interactive interpretation techniques. After a multicollinearity analysis, 11 key conditioning factors were selected to construct a spatial database, including elevation, slope, aspect, curvature, topographic wetness index, stream power index, distance to fault, peak ground acceleration, distance to road, vegetation index, and rainfall. The r.slopeunits algorithm was implemented to partition the study area into discrete slope units. The ideal parameter combination for slope units was determined through integrating the normalized slope aspect standard deviation and Moran’s I using an equal-weight scheme. Ultimately, 30,513 slope units were delineated in the upper Minjiang River. The random forest model trained on these ideal slope units was validated using a 70/30 split of landslide and non-landslide samples. In receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the model demonstrated excellent performance, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.852. The results indicate that small-scale landslides dominate the inventory in terms of frequency. Despite accounting for only 30% of the study area, the Very High and High susceptibility zones exhibit considerable degree of spatial overlap with current landslide clusters. Furthermore, shapley additive explanations (SHAP) explanatory metrics indicate that the random forest model’s predictive behavior is primarily influenced by terrain elevation, precipitation patterns, and proximity to transportation networks.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050742

Authors: Asep Hidayatulloh Amro Elfeki Jarbou Bahrawi Fahad Alzahrani Fahad Alamoudi Mohamed Elhag

Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes significantly influence flood hazard, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas like the Wadi Ibrahim watershed in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. This study analyzed the impacts of historical (2001–2025) and projected (2037) LULC changes on floods using remote sensing, GIS, and hydrological modeling with 30 m DEM and Landsat data. Urban growth was assessed from 2001, 2013, and 2025 maps, and future scenarios were simulated with the MOLUSCE plugin in QGIS using Cellular Automata–Artificial Neural Network (CA-ANN) techniques. Hydrological simulations were used to examine changes in flood discharge and response to LULC transitions. The results revealed substantial urban expansion, with built-up areas increasing from 12 km2 (11%) in 2001 to 28.7 km2 (26%) in 2025 and projected to reach 31.9 km2 (28.3%) by 2037. The corresponding impervious surface fraction rose from 11% to 28% over the same period. Hydrological modeling for 50-, 100-, and 200-year return periods reveals a significant escalation in flood response, with peak discharge (Qp) increasing by up to 12% and runoff volume (V) by approximately 9% between 2001 and 2037. The LULC classification using the Random Forest algorithm demonstrated strong and reliable performance, achieving an average Kappa (κ) value of 0.86, indicating almost perfect agreement. Overall, the findings underscore the need for sustainable land management to reduce flood risk in rapidly growing arid regions.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050743

Authors: Jingjing Liu Jinping Liu Peter Nijkamp Yiting Wang Huiqin Li

Tourism development has, in the past decades, brought new opportunities and challenges to residents’ livability in urban destinations, due to mobility, landscape and environmental quality effects. Quality of life may comprise, inter alia, a clean environment, historic atmosphere, cultural identity or a relaxed inner city. In recent years, uncontrolled tourism has led to ‘overcrowding’ and has prompted ‘mixed feelings’ on tourism among residents, despite clear economic benefits. Clearly, tourism takes place in a conflicting domain with different local actors. There is a rising fear in many historic cities that the long-run effects of mass tourism may be detrimental to the locals. This study seeks to examine local tensions among different interest groups in the tourism sector as a result of negative externalities such as decay of local livability, traffic congestion, or quality decline in the supply of tourism attractions. In this paper a novel supply-oriented concept, Local Leisure Resources, is put forward to uncover the externality effects of tourism and tourism mobility on urban livability, as well as the moderating effect of intra-city destination mobility of visitors. This concept will be tested for sustainability challenges in urban areas in China. Our empirical modeling analysis, based on data from 247 Chinese tourist places over the years 2008–2018, shows that local leisure resources have a clear mediating effect on the relationship between tourist visits and quality of life in urban destinations. The internal mobility appears to have a positive moderating effect on the role of diverse local leisure resources in supporting place-based livability of various local groups of actors involved. This research highlights the complex mechanism of tourism development on urban livability and environmental landscapes from the new concept of local leisure resources. It provides a solid basis and reference for sustainable development strategies for local policy actors regarding local destination livability.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050741

Authors: Lin Ma Xinggang Hou Jing Chen Qiuyuan Zhu Dengkai Chen Sara Wilkinson

Urban nature and nature-based solutions are increasingly promoted to enhance public space experience and urban climate resilience. In Public and semi-public indoor settings, biophilic design is considered beneficial for stress reduction and mental health restoration through the introduction of natural elements such as plants. However, research focusing on the specific visual features of plants and the underlying mechanisms remains limited. Based on 200 indoor greenery images and their multi-dimensional feature vectors, and combined with questionnaire data from 253 valid participants, this study developed a quantitative framework of plant visual features and adopted a two-level analytical approach. At the image level, linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) were used to identify how plant features influenced immediate responses. At the group level, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to examine how cumulative restorative experience translated into affective states, perceived restorativeness, and behavioural intention. The results showed that Green View Index (GVI) and species richness were the most stable positive features, while plant health status, certain planting modes, and spatial layer-related features also showed significant effects. Restorative experience influenced behavioural intention mainly through positive affect and perceived restorativeness. These findings provide evidence for biophilic design, offering quantitative support for incorporating indoor public space into broader urban nature and public space framework.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050740

Authors: Xiaotong Xie Yingchao Li Shanshan Guo Weikang He

Ecological resilience (ER) describes the ability of ecosystems to resist, adapt, and recover from external shocks. How to improve ER has become a crucial component of high-quality development (HQD) in the new era. Therefore, there is an urgent need to investigate the synergistic relationship between HQD and ER. In this study, taking the Yellow River Basin as an example, long-term time series data (2008–2022) were used at the provincial scale. Then we developed a logical framework to reveal the interrelationship and intrinsic mechanism between HQD and ER. Next, we explored the spatiotemporal coupling characteristics of HQD and ER using a comprehensive evaluation model and coupling coordination analysis. We found that from 2008 to 2022, the comprehensive level of HQD and ER fluctuated, and the coupling coordination degree showed significant spatial distribution characteristics. Meanwhile, from 2008 to 2022, the spatial evolution level of HQD increased in 89% of the study regions, while ER improved markedly across most regions. Furthermore, using principal component analysis (PCA), we analyzed the driving factors for HQD and ER. The analysis revealed that economic development, green innovation, livelihood improvement, and ecological adaptation play significant roles in promoting the coordinated development of HQD and ER. This research can serve as a reference and methodological guidance for achieving high-quality and sustainable development in the Yellow River Basin.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050739

Authors: Jiao Chen Yu Zou Xingchuan Shu

In the context of escalating global warming and the urban heat island effects, recurrent extreme heat events will increase the exposure risk of cyclists, which will have a detrimental effect on both health and the sustainability of active mobility. Nevertheless, this risk has not been given sufficient attention. To accurately quantify the levels of solar radiation exposure experienced by cyclists in high-temperature conditions and the impact of the built environment on these levels, this study focuses on central Shanghai as a case study. The integration of Mobike trajectories, street view imagery, and solar radiation data sets enabled the quantification of trip-level cumulative radiation exposure and per-minute exposure levels. Subsequently, the XGBoost–SHAP interpretability framework was employed to decipher the mechanisms of the built environment. The following key findings have been identified: (1) Spatiotemporally, the radiation exposure level of cyclists exhibited an inverted U-shaped pattern, peaking at midday (10:00–15:00), with per-minute values of 862–943 W/m2. This intensity significantly exceeded that observed during the morning (407 W/m2) and evening (253 W/m2). (2) It was determined that geometric factors dominated the radiative exposure level. The shading index demonstrated a critical influence (57% contribution), with exposure reduction intensifying beyond 0.41 yet exhibiting diminishing marginal effects after 0.6. The sky view factor and building height elevated exposure risk by amplifying direct solar radiation. (3) Socioeconomic factors had divergent effects on the radiation exposure level of cyclists: commercial/business densities reduced exposure through continuous building shade, whereas transportation facility density increased exposure due to low-shaded layouts. Consequently, this study proposes “shaded corridors” as a core mitigation strategy, establishing a tripartite intervention framework (spatial-facility-governance) for radiation exposure reduction. The present study provides scientific foundations for the targeted enhancement of heat resilience in active mobility.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050738

Authors: Yingkai Tang Wangping Liu Xi Yao Liangzhao Chen Min Li

Aligning urban morphology with carbon emission intensity categories is essential for advancing sustainable urban development and achieving dual carbon objectives. This study utilizes data from 336 Chinese cities across 2010, 2015, and 2020 to construct multi-dimensional morphological indicators. Spectral clustering categorizes cities into four distinct classes: high-emission intensity, medium-emission ecological, medium-emission developmental, and low-emission. An integrated gradient boosting framework, combined with SHAP and PDP interpretability tools, identifies key morphological drivers and their nonlinear contributions to class assignments. Results demonstrate that morphological features exert nonlinear and threshold-dependent effects on carbon emission intensity category assignments, exhibiting substantial spatial heterogeneity across urban clusters. Core drivers, such as economic density and the landscape shape index, follow distinctly different decision pathways in each category. Furthermore, morphological factors produce non-additive interactive effects that generate region-specific shifts in classification probability. Through this classification-oriented approach, the study provides policymakers with a systematic and readily interpretable reference to inform the formulation of context-specific low-carbon spatial planning strategies.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050737

Authors: Junfeng Zhang Feng Cheng Xiaowei Xu Jiancheng Ding Ling Mei Mingqiang Li Xiong Zhang

Farmers’ land transfer-out decisions involve weighing benefits against risks. However, existing studies tend to examine the separate effects of livelihood capital or risk perception on land transfer, overlooking whether and how risk-bearing capacity mediates the relationship between livelihood capital and transfer-out decisions. Moreover, most research treats land transfer-out as a simple binary choice (transfer or not), ignoring that farmers also decide to whom to transfer—a choice that affects both risk and return. This study investigates the effects of livelihood capital and risk-bearing capacity on these decisions, drawing on 2021 China Land Economy Survey data. Logistic regression and mediation models are employed to assess both direct and indirect impacts. The results indicate that natural and financial capital represent the most binding constraints on farmers’ livelihood capital. Higher levels of livelihood capital increase the likelihood of land transfer-out, with this effect operating partly through enhanced risk-bearing capacity. When selecting a transfer object, farmers with greater livelihood capital show a preference for village collectives over other farmers, cooperatives, or enterprises—a choice reflecting a trade-off between expected returns and perceived risks. Risk-bearing capacity partially mediates the effect of livelihood capital on the choice of village collectives and other farmers, but does not play a mediating role in transfers to enterprises or cooperatives. These findings suggest that policies designed to facilitate land transfer-out should consider not only the enhancement of farmers’ livelihood capital endowments but also the strengthening of their risk-bearing capacity. China still needs to strengthen the organizational framework for rural land transfers and improve the rights protection mechanisms for such transfers. This will reduce the risks associated with land transfer-out for farmers, encourage more proactive and market-oriented decision-making, and ultimately improve land transfer efficiency.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050734

Authors: Youness Boubou David Tonnan Amos Akankossi Luc Hippolyte Dossa Andreas Buerkert

Rapid urbanization and population growth in West Africa are intensifying pressure on natural resources and reconfiguring telecoupled supply chains, especially for essential household fuels like charcoal and firewood, here collectively referred to as woodfuel, that link urban consumers to distant production landscapes. However, these cross-regional linkages remain poorly understood. This study, therefore, investigates how urban dynamics structure telecoupled woodfuel flows in Benin, based on quantitative and qualitative surveys of roadside charcoal and firewood traders along the country’s major long-distance roads RNIE#2 and RNIE#3. Collected data included sources, destinations, quantities, pricing, and organizational aspects, combined into a system analysis of fuelwood trading across sending, receiving, and corridor (spillover) areas. Results show consumers growing reliance on charcoal, which in our study amounted to 35,770 t year−1 (97% of the total surveyed flow) to urban areas. Roadside trading depends heavily on connectivity, traffic, and regional trade links, with RNIE#2 emerging as the main corridor, channeling 30,960 t year−1 (84% of the total surveyed flow). Contrary to assumptions that woodfuel sources reflect vegetation density, distances to reported sources were short, with supply shadows averaging 11.3 km (SD = 14.5). Urban demand shapes woodfuel flows by concentrating most trade in major cities—especially the Cotonou–Porto-Novo area, which received 83% (28,770 t year−1) of charcoal and 84% (850 t year−1) of firewood traded along the surveyed flow axes of Benin, with market reach distances varying between 1 and 390 km.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050736

Authors: Pengfei Bao Yingpu Wang Yanhui Chen Jiping Liu

As a key component of ecosystems, the synergistic relationship between wetland carbon storage and habitat quality is vital for maintaining ecological functions, and its evolution is profoundly influence by changes in wetlands. This study focuses on wetlands in western Jilin Province. Based on four sets of land use data from 2010 to 2023 and utilizing the InVEST model, combined with methods such as spatial autocorrelation, the Coupled Coordination Degree Model, and the GeoDetector, the study analyzed the co-variation of carbon storage and habitat quality, as well as their response to landscape patterns. The study found that between 2010 and 2023, the wetland area increased by a net 858.13 km2, and landscape fragmentation was generally alleviated, although local connectivity continued to degrade. Regional carbon storage increased by 68.1%, totaling 7.43 × 106 Mg, while the habitat quality index exhibited high spatiotemporal stability, fluctuating marginally between 0.609 and 0.621. Spatially, high-value areas remained primarily concentrated within nature reserves. Results of bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed a strengthening of spatial positive autocorrelation between carbon storage and habitat quality, with Moran’s I increasing from 0.410 to 0.501. The coupled coordination degree model further confirmed that the level of synergy between the two services exhibited a pattern of higher values in the north and lower values in the south, and that areas of high coordination expanded significantly outward following restoration projects. GeoDetector analysis indicates that the largest patch index is the core factor driving the synergistic development of ecosystem services. The results also suggest that the integrity of core wetland patches and a heterogeneous landscape pattern can promote the synergistic improvement of carbon storage and habitat quality through boundary effects and habitat complementarity.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050735

Authors: Shiqi Liu Airu Zhang

Grassland lake basins are mostly located in arid and semi-arid regions and represent typical ecologically fragile zones. As a representative inland lake in the cold and arid region of northern China, Hulun Lake serves as a crucial node for maintaining the ecological balance of the Hulunbuir grassland. Studying its ecological carrying capacity is particularly key to implementing the philosophy of a holistic approach to the management of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts. Based on data from 2018 to 2024 across four cities (banners, districts) in the Hulun Lake basin, this study constructs an evaluation system to measure ecological carrying capacity across three dimensions—ecosystem support, human activity pressure, and socio-economic response—using the Pressure–State–Response (PSR) model. Spatial analysis and geodetector methods are employed to explore its spatiotemporal differentiation and influencing factors. The findings are as follows: (1) The ecological carrying capacity in the Hulun Lake basin exhibits a significant spatial differentiation pattern, characterized by a gradient of “high in the east, low in the west; high in pastoral areas, low in urban areas.” (2) The overall trend in ecological carrying capacity shows a slow increase amid fluctuations, but the carrying capacity level remains relatively low. (3) The core driving forces of ecological carrying capacity primarily stem from the dimensions of population quality and infrastructure, while the direct influence of agricultural production is relatively limited. (4) Transportation infrastructure plays a strongly influential role as a driving mechanism of ecological carrying capacity in the Hulun Lake basin. Its synergy with factors such as education, information, and industry significantly affects both the ecosystem support capacity and the socio-economic responses of the basin. This study provides a reference for ensuring the ecological security of the Hulun Lake basin.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050733

Authors: Jiangbo Chang Fang Su

As the most critical binding constraint in the Yellow River Basin, the endowment and allocation efficiency of water resources significantly influence the stability and sustainability of urban economic systems. However, the direction, intensity, and heterogeneity of the impacts of water resource abundance and water use efficiency on urban economic resilience remain unclear. Therefore, to explore the intrinsic relationship between water resources and urban economic resilience and to identify effective pathways for enhancing urban risk resistance, this paper employs a fixed-effects model to empirically examine the differential impacts based on panel data from 78 prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2011 to 2023. The results show that: (1) Water resource abundance exerts a significant inhibitory effect on urban economic resilience, while water use efficiency exhibits a significant promoting effect. (2) Market demand, government intervention and opening up exacerbate the negative impact of water resource abundance and also strengthen the positive impact of water use efficiency. (3) The negative impact of water resource abundance is significant only in resource-based cities, water-abundant cities, cities in the lower reaches, and cities with high economic development, high urbanization, and high technology input. In contrast, the positive impact of water use efficiency is significant in most cities, and it is more pronounced in resource-based cities, water-abundant cities, cities in the middle reaches, and cities with high economic development and high urbanization. These findings provide important insights for enhancing urban resilience and promoting sustainable development.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050731

Authors: Wanning Tao Miao Yu Yufei Zhang Chuqiao Wang Zhichao Dong Deyang Guan

There exists a complex and intimate interplay between ecosystem services and human well-being. This coordination not only concerns regional sustainable development but also depends on the structural balance of various service functions within ecosystems. Therefore, based on three-phase data from 2000 to 2020, this study investigates the coupling coordination relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being in the Northeast Black Soil Region, along with its driving factors and influence pathways. Key ecosystem services and human well-being levels were quantified, introducing a two-level coupling coordination model: D1 (coordination between total ecosystem service provision and human well-being) and D2 (coordination between internal ecosystem service balance and human well-being). Results indicate that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the Ecosystem Service Index showed an initial rise followed by a decline. Synergistic relationships among ecosystem services strengthened, while trade-offs between cultural services (Shannon diversity index) and other services persisted. High human well-being zones were highly concentrated in provincial capitals, indicating the gradual formation of a priority development pattern. (2) The coupling coordination level of D2 was significantly weaker overall than that of D1. Compared to the overall supply level, the coordination of internal ecosystem service functions was a more critical factor constraining regional comprehensive development. (3) Landscape patterns are the primary factor governing the coupling relationship between regional ecosystem services and human well-being. Future efforts should focus on optimizing landscape configurations to enhance both human well-being and ecosystem coordination. This study contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being from the perspectives of both aggregate coordination and internal balance, and also provides valuable insights for research and management measures in regions characterized by intensive agricultural development and rapid urbanization.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050732

Authors: Zhang Zhang Lu Wu Chen

Using panel data from 11 prefecture-level cities in Zhejiang Province (2014–2023), this study applies the entropy method, spatial autocorrelation analysis, and an obstacle-factor diagnosis model to examine the spatiotemporal evolution, regional disparities, and constraints on urban–rural integration. The results show a steady upward trend in urban–rural integration alongside significant regional disparities. This reveals a complex pattern marked by the coexistence of convergence and divergence. Spatially, a clear “northeast–high, southwest–low” pattern is observed, with local adjustments within a stable framework, reflecting a “stable core and entrenched low-value areas.” Spatial agglomeration is characterized by “dual-core agglomeration with a predominantly non-significant periphery,” dominated by homogeneous “high–high” and “low–low” clusters, with no statistically significant spatial outliers. Obstacle factor diagnosis indicates markedly uneven constraining effects across subsystems, with spatial integration exhibiting the highest degree of obstacles. The composition of primary obstacle factors is highly stable, and obstacle structures differ significantly across city tiers. These findings elucidate the spatiotemporal evolution and core constraints of urban–rural integration in Zhejiang, offering a theoretical and decision-making basis for advancing high-quality urban–rural integration in the region.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050730

Authors: Ana Perić Antonije Ćatić Siniša Trkulja

Public participation in planning, though a foundational democratic principle, faces persistent implementation challenges across diverse planning systems. This paper examines participatory planning practice in Ireland and Serbia—two countries representing distinct planning traditions (discretionary and conformance-based, respectively) yet confronting shared structural pressures. Through comparative analysis of four local land use planning instruments (the Development Plan and Local Area Plan in Ireland; the Municipal Spatial Plan and General Regulation Plan in Serbia), the study investigates how institutional design and legislative frameworks shape the depth and quality of participatory practice. Methodologically, the research triangulates statutory regulations, public hearing documentation, and non-statutory participation records across two planning scales (county/municipal and local/sub-municipal). A four-dimensional analytical framework—informing, consultation, collaboration, and monitoring—guides the systematic comparison of participatory mechanisms across the selected cases. Findings reveal that, while both systems remain predominantly at the informing and consultation levels, critical differences emerge in how participation is structured and documented in institutional practice. Ireland’s discretionary system enables multi-channel information dissemination, feedback-oriented consultation, and non-statutory collaborative experimentation beyond legal minimums. Serbia’s conformance-based system confines participation largely to statutory procedures, with objection-based consultation and limited collaborative mechanisms, though distinctive features, such as the public hearing session, provide direct opportunities for deliberation absent in the Irish context. The study contributes to European comparative planning scholarship by demonstrating that participatory depth is shaped less by the formal existence of legal provisions than by the interplay between institutional design, procedural arrangements, transparency, and responsiveness.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050729

Authors: Siyi Feng Ying Shi Ying Pan

Coastal ecosystems are highly dynamic and vulnerable to climate change, sea-level rise, and rapid urbanization. However, many landscape ecological risk assessments are limited by fixed scales and assumptions of spatial uniformity. This study develops a geomorphology-based framework to analyze coastal ecological risk. Using multi-source data from 1980 to 2020, the optimal analytical scale was identified as 120 m (grain) and 1000 m (extent). An integrated approach combining OPGD, XGBoost–SHAP, and restricted cubic spline (RCS) models was applied to examine risk patterns and driving mechanisms across four coastal types in Guangdong, China. The results show that the importance and interactions of driving factors vary significantly among geomorphic types, with clear nonlinear responses. Key statistical thresholds were identified, indicating ranges where risk sensitivity changes, including NDVI ≈ 0.624 in the Hilly Ria Coast, slope ≈ 2.8° in the Platform Ria Coast, elevation ≈ 14.5 m in the Barrier–Lagoon Coast, and GDP ≈ 1644.65 × 106 CNY/km2 in the Estuarine Delta Coast. These findings provide quantitative evidence for understanding spatial heterogeneity and the nonlinear dynamics of coastal ecological risk, and offer practical references for adaptive management.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050728

Authors: Pedro Lombe Elsa Carvalho Paulo Rosa-Santos

Drought in Angola is a recurrent and cyclical natural phenomenon that poses significant environmental, economic, and social challenges, affecting water resources, agriculture, ecosystems, livestock, and vulnerable communities. This study investigates the temporal evolution and spatial behavior of drought in the provinces of Cunene, Huila, and Namibe over the period 1980–2024. Drought conditions were assessed using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standard Precipitation–Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) at multiple time scales. Trends were evaluated using the Modified Mann–Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimator, while drought intensity was analyzed using run theory. The results reveal a clear intensification of drought conditions in the last decade, characterized by an increase in frequency and intensity, particularly after 2010. Extreme drought events were identified in the early 1980s, the mid-1990s, and more recently in 2019 and 2021. Despite some regional variability, the three provinces exhibit consistent temporal patterns, with drought events generally occurring simultaneously over the study period. These findings highlight the increasing pressure on water and environmental systems and underscore the need for improved drought monitoring and forecasting approaches to support more effective adaptation and decision-making.

Land doi: 10.3390/land15050727

Authors: Min Wu Qirui Chen Zihan Hu Huimin Wang

Urban agglomerations have become the dominant spatial platform of urbanization, regional coordination, and economic transformation in China. Yet whether the expansion of agglomeration scale at the urban-agglomeration level alleviates or intensifies energy use remains insufficiently understood. Extending the scale of analysis from individual cities to integrated urban agglomerations, this study investigates 64 cities in four major Chinese urban agglomerations, including Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and Chengdu–Chongqing, over the period 2006–2023. Using panel data models, this study examines the impact of the scale agglomeration within urban agglomeration on urban energy intensity. The results show that the overall agglomeration scale generated by urban agglomeration formation significantly suppresses energy intensity while indicating a robust energy-saving effect: every 10% increase in agglomeration scale is associated with a decline of approximately 0.0893 million tons of standard coal per CNY 100 million of GDP. This finding remains stable after addressing endogeneity concerns and performing a series of robustness checks. Mechanism analyses further suggest that this effect operates primarily through talent agglomeration, technological progress, and public transportation expansion. In addition, the energy-saving effect is more pronounced in smaller cities, cities with lower administrative rank, cities with weaker factor mobility, and cities characterized by poorer air quality but stronger public environmental attention. These findings contribute to the literature on urban agglomeration and green development by showing that the agglomeration scale within urban agglomerations can generate inclusive energy-efficiency gains, especially for relatively disadvantaged cities, thereby offering important implications for spatial governance and low-carbon transition in rapidly urbanizing economies.