Search Results (3,264)

The diversification of rural development actors in China has promoted a shift from state-centered governance toward collaborative approaches, with rural operation emerging as an important pathway for resource mobilization and value creation. While existing studies have examined multi-actor participation, less attention has been paid to the institutional and socio-economic mechanisms through which polycentric governance shapes rural operation, particularly regarding market rationalities, contractual arrangements, and local capacity formation. This study develops an analytical framework conceptualizing rural polycentric governance as the interaction of institutional support, market embedding, and local agency, and examines rural operation transformation through changes in actors, rights relations, and industrial structures. Drawing on a case study of Huashu Village in Nanjing, this study explores how polycentric governance reshapes rural operation over time. The findings reveal a transition from traditional collective operation to government-led project-based operation, and ultimately to market-embedded polycentric collaborative operation. Specifically, institutional support, through property-rights reforms, policy incentives, and normative arrangements, provides foundations for multi-actor collaboration. Market embedding, through external capital, market-oriented management rationalities, and contractual norms, reshapes resource allocation and cooperative relationships. Local agency, through grassroots organization building, local resource activation, and actor capacity development, transforms external resources into endogenous development capabilities. Through continuous interaction and feedback, these dimensions jointly promote diversified actors, clarified rights arrangements, and integrated industrial development. This study expands the theoretical boundaries of rural polycentric governance by incorporating implicit governance dimensions, refining theoretical explanations of how polycentric governance enables rural operation, and providing empirical evidence on its complexity and dynamics for policy formulation. Full article

Rapid urbanization in China has intensified ecological degradation, loss of architectural and cultural heritage, and declining well-being in traditional villages. Existing conservation approaches often address ecological, economic, or physical heritage issues in isolation, while insufficiently incorporating residents’ quality of life (QoL) as a central criterion of sustainability. This study develops a human-centred traditional village preservation framework grounded in the ecovillage concept and a QoL-oriented sustainability paradigm, using Langde Miao Village in Guizhou Province as a representative ethnic heritage settlement. A mixed-methods approach combining systematic literature review, Delphi expert consultation, household surveys, and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to examine the interrelationships among ecological, cultural, social, and economic dimensions of sustainable built heritage. Based on valid responses, the empirical results indicate that the ecological dimension exerts the strongest direct effect on residents’ quality of life, followed by the cultural and economic dimensions, while the social dimension shows a comparatively weaker effect. The proposed framework provides a community-centred model for sustainable architectural heritage conservation and rural revitalization in traditional villages. Full article

Passenger Car Equivalent (PCE) factors are widely used to convert heterogeneous traffic streams into equivalent homogeneous flow rates for the design and analysis of roads and intersections. In developing countries, mixed traffic conditions differ substantially from those in developed contexts due to variations in vehicle composition, operating characteristics, roadway parameters, and environmental conditions. Consequently, PCE values are highly context-specific and require periodic updates to accurately represent prevailing traffic conditions. However, such updates are often infrequent because conventional PCE estimation relies on extensive field data collection through time-consuming and costly traffic surveys, as well as the availability of experienced experts to conduct and validate the analyses. In Sri Lanka, the currently adopted PCE factors are more than two decades old and no longer reflect existing traffic conditions. Although several recent studies have estimated PCE values for mid-block roadway sections of various facility types (e.g., four-lane roads, two-lane roads, and freeways), no study has comprehensively addressed intersections, which are critical for signal timing and geometric design. This study aims to develop a systematic methodology for estimating intersection-specific PCE factors using drone-based video data. Traffic data were collected at selected intersections using an unmanned aerial vehicle to obtain an accurate bird’s-eye view of vehicle movements. The methodology compares the area occupancy of different vehicle categories under varying traffic compositions with that of a passenger-car-only traffic stream operating at the same average speed. Using the extracted traffic parameters, the basic headway method was applied to establish a framework for calculating PCE factors. PCE values were estimated for ten vehicle categories, and the results reveal significant deviations, particularly for three-wheelers, motorcycles, and commercial vehicles, when compared with values currently in use. A high-level comparison with studies from other developing countries in the South Asian region indicates notable differences in vehicle impacts at signalized intersections in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the proposed methodology provides a practical, economical, and less labour-intensive approach for estimating PCE factors, enabling more frequent updates without requiring extensive field surveys or specialized expertise. Because it relies on a straightforward headway-based framework and drone-derived traffic data, the methodology can be readily adapted to different roadway facilities, including highways, rural roads, and intersections, making it suitable for application across diverse geographical regions. Full article

Flower-focused destinations are visually intensive and temporally concentrated, yet the tourism literature treats them through dispersed discussions of gardens, festivals, rural landscapes, destination imagery, and agricultural diversification. This review develops a comparative explanation of how flowering landscapes become tourism resources rather than assuming that scenic quality alone produces durable destination value. An integrative comparative review was undertaken across four analytically contrasting destination–landscape configurations: Japanese cherry blossoms, Provence lavender, Dutch tulips, and Tuscan sunflowers. Literature was identified through targeted searches in Scopus and Google Scholar, citation tracing, and concept-specific follow-up searches, and was organized through a theoretically informed case-level template. Four provisional, overlapping development archetypes are proposed: temporal–ritual festival, sensory–product integration, designed horticultural showcase, and rural-embedded agritourism. A resource–mechanism–outcome (RMO) framework separates floral resources from process-oriented value-creation mechanisms, positive and negative outcomes, enabling capacities, and moderating conditions. It clarifies why similar landscape visibility may support attraction and local value in one setting but crowding, field damage, commodification, or economic leakage in another. The framework provides a transparent basis for destination planning and future empirical testing. Full article

Artisanal farmers in developing regions capture limited commercial value due to information asymmetries, market fragmentation, and informal intermediation, where commercialization, rather than production, is the main bottleneck for rural income. This study formalizes artisanal agricultural commercialization as a buyer-recommendation problem in a sparse bilateral market. We propose a context-aware hybrid system that combines content-based and collaborative filtering with economic and geographic variables. Because no transactional dataset exists for the target region (Cesar, Colombia), a proof-of-concept evaluation (Phase A) uses the Brazilian Olist e-commerce dataset as a structural proxy, benchmarking 13 models under a temporal leave-one-out protocol. A Reciprocal Rank Fusion ensemble achieved the best ranking performance (NDCG@10 = 0.4031), an item-based neighborhood model had the lowest rating-prediction error, and content-based filtering proved to be the most informative component under extreme sparsity. Differences were confirmed using Friedman, Nemenyi, bootstrap, and effect size tests. These offline indicators show technical feasibility but do not demonstrate gains in producer income or field adoption rates. Real-world validation, contextual adaptation, and fairness assessment in rural Cesar are proposed for future work (Phase B). Full article

Stresses of climate change, urbanization, and segregation make the City of Norfolk in Virginia’s Tidewater region a fitting context for qualitative research into coastal resilience, urban nature, and residents’ perceptions of the environment. Dissertation research into sea level rise and urban development provided a rich environment for developing a practical multi-method system for community-engaged investigations of flooding effects, gentrification, and the loss of urban nature. Multi-method research illuminates social, racial, and economic dynamics in Norfolk residents through participant observation, archival research, semi-structured interviews, and walking interviews. The data generated by archival content analysis and semi-structured interviews can offer insights into citizens’ roles and experiences regarding climate change, urban development and redevelopment, and distressed nature in the city. Innovative use of participant observation and the walking interview can engage with questions of respondents’ personal beliefs about nature and the city, highlighting new possible applications of these methods. This research adds to the literature on the effects of climate change and displacement in Norfolk’s planning policies. It supersedes discussions of the mechanics of climate change to assess a range of residents’ perceptions on their own terms. The article provides a clear framework for engaging with residents around issues on climate, urbanization, and environmental stress. It therefore offers a methodological contribution to the field of qualitative research in coastal climate change science and the human experience of the dynamic, modern city. The article’s findings and methods may not be applicable in rural areas or in areas which are not facing acute climate change. Full article

Composite indicators support policy comparison by compressing multidimensional information, but different indicator configurations can appear similar in aggregate. This study develops and applies a contribution-structure audit to China’s 86 county-level urban-rural integration pilot units. Using 2019–2023 multi-source spatial data, we apply principal component analysis (PCA) to indicators of economic-activity change, built-up expansion, public-service facility nodes, and transport-service nodes. Along the dominant axis, built-up and economic-activity changes oppose facility- and transport-node changes, enabling different indicator configurations to occupy nearby composite positions through compensation. Across all 3655 pairs among the 86 units, composite-position and contribution-structure distances constructed from the same standardized indicators and PCA weights are positively associated (Pearson $r=0.543$), reflecting their internal alignment. The baseline Q25/Q75 same-zone strict screen identifies 11 pairs in which close composite positions coexist with divergent contribution structures. Such pairs also appear in alternative checks that vary screening thresholds, regional composition, POI variables, and distance definitions. Their counts and identities change across specifications. This finding supports inspecting contribution structures when selecting apparently similar cases. For comparative learning among pilot units, the audit identifies cases requiring contextual evidence on institutions, implementation, and outcomes before their experiences are assessed for replication. Full article

This paper introduces the concept of rural mining, defined as the systematic recovery and reuse of construction materials from abandoned rural building stock within a circular economy framework. Although rural depopulation and its consequences have been extensively studied, the material dimension of abandonment, the substantial quantities of construction materials embedded in deserted rural settlements, has received comparatively little systematic analytical attention. Three interconnected contributions respond to this gap. First, the paper operationalizes the concept of rural mining, consolidating a term that remains terminologically rare and theoretically underdeveloped. Second, it develops the Rural Mining Potential Assessment Framework (RMPAF), an original ten-criterion analytical tool spanning the material, infrastructural, legal, economic, institutional, cultural, and technological dimensions of rural mining potential. Third, it articulates an ethical foundation establishing the non-negotiable boundaries of rural mining practice. The RMPAF is applied through a comparative assessment of three European national contexts, Serbia, Slovenia, and Greece, revealing that rural mining potential is neither uniform nor straightforwardly derivable from the scale of depopulation alone. Across all three contexts, ownership fragmentation, the absence of legal recognition, and the lack of dedicated policy instruments emerge as shared structural barriers. Development of operational protocols for culturally mediated rural mining and legal recognition of the concept are identified as priority directions for future action. Full article

The existing research has rarely integrated within-province associations, interprovincial spatial linkages, and multidimensional heterogeneity when examining how digitalization is related to increasing household consumption. Using a balanced panel of 30 provincial-level regions in China for 2011–2023, compiled from national and provincial statistical yearbooks (CSMAR) and the Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index, this study constructs a 0–1 digital economy development index with entropy-weighted TOPSIS. Two-way fixed effects estimate the average within-province relationship; global and local Moran’s I and a spatial Durbin model evaluate spatial dependence and decompose direct, indirect, and total effects. Panel quantile regressions and alternative spatial weight matrices serve as robustness checks, whereas instrumental variables and double/debiased machine learning provide supplementary identification evidence. Digital economy development is positively associated with consumption upgrading in the baseline model. Under economic distance weights, the direct, indirect, and total effects are all significantly positive, although their structure differs across consumption categories, urban and rural groups, regions, and temporal stages. The findings support combining digital infrastructure with service capacity, skills, consumer protection, and interprovincial governance while avoiding uniform policy prescriptions across regions. Full article

Retaining population is a core condition for the long-term sustainability of rural communities, yet rural out-migration is often treated merely as evidence of local development failure. Agriculturally productive regions may continue to lose population even when output, corporate activity, and local services improve, which raises the question of what kinds of rural development are demographically sustainable. This study examines that puzzle in Akmola, Kazakhstan, a major grain-producing region surrounding Astana. It asks how corporate social responsibility (CSR), rural amenities, economic vitality, and agricultural dependence are associated with net migration across rural districts. The question is important because CSR and agricultural modernization are frequently expected to support rural communities, yet their demographic implications depend on whether they generate broad local opportunities or mainly improve services and production capacity. Using an unbalanced district-level panel of eight rural districts from 2010 to 2023, the study estimates PLS-SEM models under alternative measurement specifications and compares the results with fixed-effects panel estimates and PPML (Poisson) gross-flow models. The findings show that economic vitality is associated with population retention or attraction, while agriculture-oriented development is associated with out-migration. Amenities generally support the retention-oriented interpretation, and CSR is more consistently associated with amenity provision than with migration directly. These patterns suggest that the sustainability of rural communities depends less on agricultural output or CSR-funded services in isolation than on economic diversification and enhanced local livability. Full article

The sustainability of Coffea arabica L. production in Oaxaca, Mexico, is increasingly threatened by climate change, biodiversity loss, and pest pressure, along with other factors that undermine the responsiveness of small-scale producers in the state, such as trade restrictions and coffee-related regulatory frameworks. These challenges are particularly acute in mountainous regions like Oaxaca, where coffee cultivation plays a central role in rural livelihoods, cultural identity, and territorial development. Studies demonstrate that localized models are vital for rural improvement, reducing the carbon footprint, and maintaining economic viability. Despite extensive research on agronomic, environmental, and market factors, sustainability strategies for coffee production often remain fragmented and insufficiently integrated. This systematic review used the Scopus Review database, searching by title, abstract, and keywords such as “sustainable coffee production” from 2015 to 2026. A total of 1085 documents were retrieved and processed using VOSviewer software to generate a bibliographic map in which frequently used words are grouped by color to show their relationships. Using Oaxaca as a regional case study, the article synthesizes the key factors influencing coffee productivity and quality, examines the main socio-environmental challenges, and proposes a conceptual framework that integrates agroecosystem management with socioeconomic processes under external climate and market pressures. The proposed framework highlights the central role of agroforestry systems and ecosystem services in improving climate resilience, conserving biodiversity, and supporting quality-oriented value chains. These processes generate feedback loops that influence farmers’ livelihoods, food security, and territorial sustainability. While grounded in the context of Oaxaca, the socio-ecological review and conceptual framework presented here are applicable to other Arabica-producing regions facing similar challenges, providing a structured basis for future research, policy design, and integrated sustainability strategies. Full article

Green innovation is an important means of mitigating environmental pollution, improving production efficiency, and promoting high-quality economic development. Using prefecture-level city data and China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data from 2010 to 2022, this study applies the Super-SBM model to measure urban green innovation efficiency and examines its effects on residents’ consumption levels and household consumption structures. The results show that (1) green innovation efficiency significantly increases consumption among urban residents and urban households, whereas its effects on rural residents and rural households are not statistically significant; (2) green innovation efficiency significantly reduces the share of subsistence-oriented consumption while increasing the shares of housing, development-oriented, and tourism consumption, thereby promoting a shift in household expenditure from basic needs toward development- and enjoyment-oriented consumption; (3) wage income and housing debt constitute two distinct transmission channels. Higher wage income facilitates development- and enjoyment-oriented consumption, whereas housing debt increases the share of housing consumption and exerts a crowding-out effect on development-oriented and tourism consumption; and (4) green innovation efficiency has a more pronounced effect on development-oriented and tourism consumption among young and high-income households. For middle-aged and older households, as well as low-income households, the effects of green innovation are reflected more strongly in an increase in the share of housing consumption. The findings provide important empirical evidence that green innovation contributes to improving residents’ quality of life. Full article

The aim of this article is to determine the significance of short supply chains for local and regional development in Poland. The supply chain in Poland is defined as a coordinated set of people, financial and material resources, and activities involved in the process of delivering goods and services from the producer to the end consumer. Short Supply Chains (SSCs) are the foundation of the green economy, aiming to minimize the number of intermediaries and build direct relationships based on trust. Although short supply chains have been widely discussed in the context of sustainable agriculture and rural development, there is still limited research examining how digitalization and local organizational models jointly influence the development of SSCs and their contribution to local and regional development in Poland. This study addresses this gap by analysing selected Polish case studies and examining the combined role of digitalization, institutional support, and local initiatives in strengthening short supply chains. The article presents the situation of short supply chains in Poland using the example of selected organizations and initiatives, such as Poznań Green Market, Sady Grójeckie, Warmiński Koszyk, and Wiejska e-skrzynka. These cases demonstrate the impact of advancing digitalization on the development of local food markets, particularly in terms of shortening distribution channels, increasing access to local products, and strengthening producer–consumer relationships. The economic basis of SSCs is based on farmers taking over market margins and diversifying their income through agricultural retail trade (RHD), marginal, local, and limited (MOL) activities, and agritourism. This development is stimulated by EU funds, including the Rural Development Program (RDP) and Local Action Group (LAG) initiatives, as well as ongoing digitization and growing demand for local food. Furthermore, the development of local markets and short supply chains in the food sector is in line with the European “Farm to Fork” Strategy, which aims to ensure better food quality, reduce waste, and decrease the environmental impact of food systems. The analysis presented in the article will highlight the potential of short supply chains in political processes and make a significant contribution to the debate on strategies for supporting local and regional food markets. Full article

The dominant discourse on tourism resilience has traditionally emphasized physical infrastructure, environmental management, and technological solutions as key mechanisms for adapting destinations to climate change and socio-economic disruptions. While these dimensions remain essential, growing evidence suggests that the long-term sustainability of tourism destinations, particularly in remote and vulnerable regions, depends equally on less visible but equally essential community capacities. This paper introduces the concept of human infrastructure as a complementary perspective for understanding resilience in tourism development. Human infrastructure encompasses social relationships, local leadership, collective efficacy, cultural identity, community participation, intergenerational knowledge transfer, and educational capacity, which enable communities to adapt, recover, and innovate under conditions of uncertainty. Drawing upon an integrative conceptual review of the literature on tourism studies, community psychology, rural development, resilience theory, and sustainable development, this conceptual paper proposes a human-centered framework explaining how communities themselves function as adaptive infrastructures. The article argues that resilient tourism destinations emerge not only from investments in roads, visitor centers, and digital technologies, but also from investments in social cohesion, local knowledge systems, community empowerment, and cultural continuity. The paper concludes by discussing policy implications for sustainable tourism planning and proposing future research directions for operationalizing and measuring human infrastructure in tourism contexts. Full article

This article analyzes the territorial reconfiguration of Rondônia at the beginning of the 21st century, emphasizing the concept of “Matogrossization” as a framework for understanding the profound socio-spatial transformations resulting from the expansion of globalized agribusiness, particularly the associated monocultures of soy and corn. This concept refers to the diffusion of productive practices and territorial logics characteristic of Mato Grosso, applied to Rondônia, which has led to a significant restructuring of the regional agrarian space. Methodologically, the research comprised three distinct stages: bibliographic and documentary research, cartographic mapping, and fieldwork in both Rondônia and Mato Grosso. The growth of commodity production has driven territorial appropriation aimed at export markets, resulting in a “rush” for new lands in Rondônia. This process has intensified the development of peripheral agricultural regions and caused drastic changes in the Amazonian landscape, including accelerated deforestation. It has also deepened rural conflicts over land and territory, highlighting the resistance of peasant communities and Amazonian peoples. Demographically, there is a decline in the rural population and an increase in urban growth, driven by migration from the countryside to the cities, evidencing socio-economic transformations and spatial reorganization. The concept of “matogrossization” explains this new territorial logic, which reconfigures land use to connect Rondônia to global agribusiness. Full article