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Industrial wastewater discharge in China is increasing with the country's economic development and it is worthy of concern. The discharge is primarily relevant to the direct discharge coefficient of each sector of the economy, its direct input coefficient and the final demand in input-output models. In this study, we calculated the sensitivity of the reduction in the Chinese industrial wastewater discharge using the direct input coefficients based on the theory of error-transmission in an input-output framework. Using input-output models, we calculated the direct and total industrial wastewater discharge coefficients. Analysis of 2007 input-output data of 30 sectors of the Chinese economy and of 30 provincial regions of China indicates that by lowering their direct input coefficients, the manufacturers of textiles, paper and paper products, chemical products, smelting and metal pressing, telecommunication equipment, computers and other electronic equipment will significantly reduce their amounts of industrial wastewater discharge. By lowering intra-provincial direct input coefficients to industrial sectors themselves of Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang, there will be a significant reduction in industrial wastewater discharge for the country as a whole. Investment in production technology and improvement in organizational efficiency in these sectors and in these provinces can help lessen the direct input coefficients, thereby effectively achieving a reduction in industrial wastewater discharge in China via industrial restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is an important way to realize rural revitalization and sustainable development to guide rural settlement transition (RST) in an appropriate way. This paper uses actor network theory (ANT) to construct a theoretical framework for the study of RST. Taking two typical villages with different transition paths in rural areas of North China Plain as examples, this paper reveals the mechanism of RST and makes a comparative analysis. The results show that: 1) after identifying problems and obligatory passage point, key actors recruit heterogeneous actors into the actor network by entrusting them with common interests, and realize RST under the system operation. 2) Rural settlements under different transition paths have similarities in the problems to be solved, collective actions and policy factors, but there are differences in the transition process, mechanism and effect. The actor network and mechanism of RST through the path of new rural community construction are more complex and the transition effect is more thorough. In contrast, the degree of RST of retention development path is limited if there is no resource and location advantage. 3) Based on the applicable conditions of different paths, this paper designs a logical framework of 'Situation-Structure-Behavior-Result' to scientifically guide the identification of RST paths under the background of rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to the debate on the nexus between informal economies and the environment by investigating the long-term dynamic impacts of China's informal economies on pollution and considering regional differences in informal economies' pollution. This paper uses the Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model to estimate the size of informal economies and employs econometric models to examine their relationships to pollution based on provincial-level panel data from 2000 to 2017. The results indicate that informal economies' effects on environmental pollution are not purely positive or negative. Rather, our model indicates that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between informal economies and pollution in the long run in China; this means that the level of environmental pollution increases at first and then decreases with the growth of informal economies. Further analysis shows that while this inverted, U-shaped relationship is significant in different regions of China, it is affected by different environmental impact factors. The paper concludes by discussing the policy implications for environmental protection and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the impact of urbanization on agricultural development in shrinking areas is important for maintaining food security and promoted agricultural development in China. Based on the measurement results of the shrinking cities in the three provinces of Northeast China, this paper selects 15 shrinking cities as the research object, and constructs a multi-dimensional index system to explore the impact of the urbanization level of the shrinking areas on the agricultural development in the region since 2007–2019, analyzes the influencing factors and their differences by using the geographically-weighted regression model and Geodetector, and proposes a targeted regulation strategy. The results show that: 1) overall, there is a negative correlation between the urbanization level and the agricultural development level in the contracted areas of the three northeastern provinces. The urbanization level in these areas has a certain negative impact on the overall level of agricultural development; 2) regarding the time dimension, the impact of urbanization level on the agricultural development level in the contracted areas of the three northeastern provinces gradually increases over time; 3) regarding the spatial pattern, the overall impact of shrinking urbanization levels in the three provinces of Northeast China on the agricultural development shows a significant distribution pattern of high in the east and low in the west; 4) the total population and natural population growth rate at the end of the year were the main factors influencing a certain level of urbanization on agricultural development in the shrinking cities while population density and the urban fixed asset investment rate were the secondary factors; and 5) the main reasons why the level of agricultural development in different cities was affected by the level of urbanization were different. However, they can be categorized into areas of population loss and spatial construction, which can be further divided into area of population loss in the northeast, areas of negative population growth in the west, and areas of urban spatial change in the south. According to the causes of the impact, this paper adopted targeted regulation strategies and formulated relevant policies and solutions that cater to local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global value chains have become the core skeleton of the global economy. As a large-scale international cooperation initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI hereafter) may have a significant impact on the global economic landscape. In this context, the spatiotemporal pattern and evolution of the value chain connection of the Silk Road countries and whether the BRI will promote the value chain connections between China and these countries are important research questions for understanding the changing global economic landscape. This paper employs input-output analysis, network analysis and difference-in-differences based on Propensity Score Matching (PSM-DID) to conduct an in-depth quantitative study of these questions. The results show that, first, the overall value chain connection between China and the Silk Road countries has been rising since 2001. From the perspective of geographical distribution, Southeast Asia is the highest value chain connection region with China, and the growth in the central and eastern Europe is the most significant, whereas the central Asia is the lowest value connection region. From the perspective of complex network analysis, China's position in the network of value flow among the Silk Road countries has been increasing continuously, and it has been in the lead position since 2008. Besides, the implementation of the BRI has had a significant positive influence on the overall value chain connection between China and the Silk Road countries, but this positive influence is limited to the central and eastern Europe region, whereas it is not significant in other regions. Finally, this paper suggests that to promote the development of value chain connection, the Silk Road countries need to develop more specific policies related to value chains. Policymakers need to be able to correctly identify the comparative advantages of the region and the types of value chains that are compatible with them and then find suitable partners and formulate targeted promotion policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2000s has witnessed increasing interests in cities' role of innovation in the era of knowledge-based economy. Compared with substantial empirical analysis on the world city hierarchy of innovation, this paper attempts to examine the national urban hierarchy of innovation capability in China, in terms of ranking systems, spatial pattern and inter-city linkages of knowledge during the post-reform period since the late 1970s. Based on quantitative analysis such as principal component factor analysis and clustering analysis, this paper identifies the five-tier hierarchy of innovation, which is headed by Beijing and Shanghai, followed by the capital cities of each province and regional centre cities. The development of China's urban hierarchy of innovation capability has been driven by such factors as the scale of innovation, scientific scale, innovation potential and innovation environment. The paper further investigates the inter-city linkages of knowledge measured by the number of co-authored papers among the cities. Beijing is positioned in the central position of the knowledge diffusion and knowledge cooperation innovation. More knowledge diffusion among high level cities has occurred than that among the low level cities as well as between the low level cities and high level cities, and provincial capital cities and the regional central cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reorganization of the global production network and the increased mobility of urban-rural elements have accelerated the differentiation of rural spaces, resulting in a trend towards specialization in rural areas. This paper focuses on the concept of specialization, and takes a renowned bonsai specialized village in Guangzhou City, China as a typical case to explore its transformation and development process, action logic and coupling mechanism with the social governance. The results show that: 1) the development of rural specialization in Ruiling Village is shaped by several key actors, such as local governments, grassroots organizations, villagers, social organizations, policies, markets and infrastructure. The transfer of these key actors and the reconstruction of actor-networks in different stages have an important influence on the transformation and realization of rural development goals. 2) Through subjects-driven, organization management and resource connection, social governance supports the specialization of rural industrial organization, operation, technology and mode. The governance structure shifts from decentralization to networking, refinement and integration. A coupling community of social governance and specialization is created by the social governance system of 'local government-grassroots organizations-economic cooperatives-villagers', which links industries, industrial chains and cooperatives. 3) Social governance integrates into the value chain extension process of rural specialized development with a central, multi-level organizational structure. It promotes the construction of the whole value chain through organizational planning, resource integration and image shaping, thus realizing the value, branding and organization of the industry, as well as the integration of rural sustainable development and governance mechanism. Social governance has a profound impact on the development of rural specialization in terms of subject, structure and mode, and participates in the construction of the whole value chain of rural areas. This paper provides a new perspective for understanding the coupling effect of social governance in the rural development transformation, and promotes the rural sustainable development and governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China is the prominent area for agricultural production, but it is also the most typical ecological fragile area with frequent drought disasters. Taking Yulin City at Shaanxi Province in China as the case area, the paper aims to investigate the spatio-temporal changes of agricultural vulnerability to drought in China's agro-pastoral ecotone in the period 2000 to 2020. The results show that: 1) the agricultural vulnerability to drought in Yulin City has shifted from high vulnerability in the period 2000–2010 to low vulnerability in the period 2011–2020. 2) There exist obvious spatio-temporal differences of the agricultural vulnerability to drought in Yulin City during the research period. 3) Four sensitive events and 14 resilient events were identified in the research and the crops of Yulin had become more resilient to drought. Finally, the paper put forward with policy implications to make adaptive strategies of agriculture to climate change in China's agro-pastoral ecotone in the future, e.g., carrying out agricultural zoning based on agricultural production conditions, intensifying the construction of disaster prevention and relief system, and integrating with modern agricultural technology to develop new type agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dislocation between regional innovation and economic development directly influences the economic effect of regional innovation. However, no in-depth researches have been made on how to solve this problem. Using data from Henan Province, China, employing geographical detector technology, this paper focuses on testing whether the industry-university-research cooperation can contribute to coordinating the relation between regional innovation and economic development. It is shown that: 1) the industry-university-research cooperation in Henan Province is increasing gradually, and the network presents a core-edge structure, and the coupling degree between regional innovation and economic development is spatially unbalanced, which is similar to the spatial distribution of the intensity of industry-university-research cooperation; 2) as an important approach to effectively connect scientific researches with market demands, the industry-university-research cooperation can help form an interactive, interconnected, coupled and coordinated virtuous relation between regional innovation and economic development. Compared with the cooperation between organizations of the same type and the separate innovation of organizations, the improvement of the industry-university-research cooperation level can better coordinate the relation between regional innovation and economic development; 3) the cooperative innovation model between enterprises and universities can better promote the coupling between regional innovation and economic development, compared with many industry-university-research cooperation models. For underdeveloped areas lacking local knowledge base, industry-university-research cooperation should be considered as a long-term development strategy, especially using the knowledge sources of external universities and scientific research institutions to enhance innovation capability and achieve economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of importance to enhance the urban areas' capacity for population aggregation in underdeveloped regions, aiming to rectify the imbalanced and insufficient pattern of economic development in China. Taking the Taiyuan Metropolitan Area (TMA) in central China as a case study, this paper examines the evolutionary process and characteristics of population agglomeration from 2000 to 2020, and identifies factors associated with agglomeration and their spatial effects. The findings indicated that: 1) against the background of sustained population shrinkage in the provincial area, the TMA showed a demographic trend of steady increase, albeit with a decelerated growth rate. In the metropolitan area, urban population size continued to grow rapidly, whereas the rural areas endured sustained losses. Disparities in city size continued to widen, and the polarization of concentrated population in the core cities kept increasing. 2) Agglomerations in both secondary and service industries had significant positive effects on local population agglomeration, with the former effect being stronger. Regional economic development, government fiscal expenditure, and financial advancement all contributed to facilitating local population clustering. From a spatial spillover perspective, service agglomeration and financial development promoted population agglomeration in surrounding areas. Conversely, fiscal expenditure inhibited such agglomeration. As for industrial agglomeration and regional economic development, their spatial spillover effects were non-significant. The results obtained reveal several policy implications aimed at enhancing the population agglomeration capacity of the metropolitan area in underdeveloped regions during the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City cluster is an effective platform for encouraging regionally coordinated development. Coordinated reduction of carbon emissions within city cluster via the spatial association network between cities can help coordinate the regional carbon emission management, realize sustainable development, and assist China in achieving the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. This paper applies the improved gravity model and social network analysis (SNA) to the study of spatial correlation of carbon emissions in city clusters and analyzes the structural characteristics of the spatial correlation network of carbon emissions in the the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) city cluster in China and its influencing factors. The results demonstrate that: 1) the spatial association of carbon emissions in the YRD city cluster exhibits a typical and complex multi-threaded network structure. The network association number and density show an upward trend, indicating closer spatial association between cities, but their values remain generally low. Meanwhile, the network hierarchy and network efficiency show a downward trend but remain high. 2) The spatial association network of carbon emissions in the YRD city cluster shows an obvious 'core-edge' distribution pattern. The network is centered around Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi, all of which play the role of 'bridges', while cities such as Zhoushan, Ma'anshan, Tongling and other cities characterized by the remote location, single transportation mode or lower economic level are positioned at the edge of the network. 3) Geographic proximity, varying levels of economic development, different industrial structures, degrees of urbanization, levels of technological innovation, energy intensities and environmental regulation are important influencing factors on the spatial association of within the YRD city cluster. Finally, policy implications are provided from four aspects: government macro-control and market mechanism guidance, structural characteristics of the 'core-edge' network, reconfiguration and optimization of the spatial layout of the YRD city cluster, and the application of advanced technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-region innovation is widely recognized as an important source of the long-term regional innovation capacity. In the recent past, a growing number of studies has investigated the network structure and mechanisms of cross-region innovation collaboration in various contexts. However, existing research mainly focuses on physical effects, such as geographical distance and high-speed railway connections. These studies ignore the intangible drivers in a changing environment, the more digitalized economy and the increasingly solidified innovation network structure. Thus, the focus of this study is on estimating determinants of innovation networks, especially on intangible drivers, which have been largely neglected so far. Using city-level data of Chinese patents (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Province of China), we trace innovation networks across Chinese cities over a long period of time. By integrating a measure on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development gap and network structural effects into the general proximity framework, this paper explores the changing mechanisms of Chinese innovation networks from a new perspective. The results show that the structure of cross-region innovation networks has changed in China. As mechanisms behind this development, the results confirm the increasingly important role of intangible drivers in Chinese inter-city innovation collaboration when controlling for effects of physical proximity, such as geographical distance. Since digitalization and coordinated development are the mainstream trends in China and other developing countries, these countries' inter-city innovation collaboration patterns will witness dramatic changes under the influence of intangible drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has resolved its overall regional poverty in 2020 by attaining moderate societal prosperity. The country has entered a new development stage designed to achieve its second centenary goal. However, ecological fragility and risk susceptibility have increased the risk of returning to ecological poverty. In this paper, the Liupan Mountain Region of China was used as a case study, and the counties were used as the scale to reveal the spatiotempora differentiation and influcing factors of the risk of returning to poverty in study area. The indicator data for returning to ecological poverty from 2011–2020 were collected and summarized in three dimensions: ecological, economic and social. The autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) time series and exponential smoothing method (ES) were used to predict the multidimensional indicators of returning to ecological poverty for 61 counties (districts) in the Liupan Mountain Region for 2021–2030. The back propagation neural network (BPNN) and geographic information system (GIS) were used to generate the spatial distribution and time variation for the index of the risk of returning to ecological poverty (RREP index). The results show that 1) ecological factors were the main factors in the risk of returning to ecological poverty in Liupan Mountain Region. 2) The RREP index for the 61 counties (districts) exhibited a downward trend from 2021–2030. The RREP index declined more in medium- and high-risk areas than in low-risk areas. From 2021 to 2025, the RREP index exhibited a slight downward trend. From 2026 to 2030, the RREP index was expected to decline faster, especially from 2029–2030. 3) Based on the RREP index, it can be roughly divided into three types, namely, the high-risk areas, the medium-risk areas, and the low-risk areas. The natural resource conditions in low-risk areas of returning to ecological poverty, were better than those in medium- and high-risk areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the transformation of China's industry and demographic structure, urban shrinkage, especially the resource-based cities due to their single industrial structure, tend to emerge gradually. Using empirical and quantitative methods, this paper explores the evolution mechanism of urban shrinkage in Hegang, a resource-based city in China. Our findings suggest that there are many correlations or cyclic relationships among variables, which provide an empirical confirmation for the complexity of urban shrinkage process. The result shows there is a time delay of about four to five years between the mining industry and the changes of demographic profile, economic performance and built environment variables. The development of Hegang has formed a path dependence on resource-based industries. Furthermore, the time lags between demographic profile and economic performance variables are not obvious, and the real estate market has a certain sensitivity to perceive population loss and economic change. Besides, market led public service facilities are more sensitive to the changes of population outflow and economic recession than government led public service facilities. The study findings could offer insights for other resource-based cities in developing countries to employ on the economic development policies issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three types of spatial function zoning is an effective measure for regional environmental protection and orderly development. For ecological and economic coordinated development, spatial function zones should be divided scientifically to clear its direction of development and protection. Therefore, based on ecological constraints, a beneficial discussion would be about the key ecological function areas adopting the concept of ecological protection restriction and supporting socioeconomic development for spatial function zoning. In this paper, the researchers, taking Tacheng Basin, Xinjiang of China as an example, choose township as basic research unit and set up an evaluation index system from three aspects, namely, ecological protection suitability, agricultural production suitability, and urban development suitability, which are analyzed by using spatial analysis functions and exclusive matrix method. The results showed that: 1) This paper formed a set of multilevel evaluation index systems for three types of spatial function zoning of the key ecological function areas based on a novel perspective by scientifically dividing Tacheng Basin into ecological space, agricultural space, and urban space, which realized the integration and scientific orientation for spatial function at the township scale. 2) Under the guidance of three types of spatial pattern, the functional orientation and suggestions of development and protection was clearly defined for ecological protection zones, ecological economic zones, agricultural production zones, and urban development zones. 3) A new idea of space governance is provided to promote the coordinated and sustainable development between ecology and economy, which can break the traditional mode of thinking about regional economic development, and offers a scientific basis and reference for macro decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on urban physical space and theory of landscape ecology, a triune assessment framework —'size-density-morphology'—was constructed in order to analyze the spatial pattern and the scale effect of urban resilience in Shenyang of China in 2015, and to explore the main impact factors of landscape under different spatial scale backgrounds. The results show that: 1) Urban resilience is an optimal combination of the resilience of size, density, and morphology. The urban resilience of Shenyang displays scale effect; the overall resilience level increases with the increase in scale, while the spatial difference and spatial similarity tend to decrease resilience. 2) As 2 km, 1 km and 2 km are scale inflection points of average value curves for size resilience, density resilience and morphology resilience, respectively in an urban setting; the optimal scale unit of comprehensive resilience is 1 km. Choosing 1 km–2 km as the basic spatial scale better depicts overall pattern and detailed characteristics of resilience in Shenyang. The spatial amplitudes of 0.5 km and 1 km are sensitive points for spatial autocorrelation of morphology and density resilience, size, and comprehensive resilience to scale effect. 3) The major landscape factors of urban size and morphology resilience transform with scale expansion. Aggregation index (AI) has a significant impact on urban resilience at different scales; its influence increases significantly with the increase in scale. 4) The high-level area of comprehensive resilience in Shenyang is the eastern ecological corridor area, while the low value area is the peripheral extension area of the city. To promote the overall level of resilience in Shenyang, this paper argues that the construction of ecological infrastructure should be strengthened in the peripheral extension area in a balanced manner. In the city center, population and building density should be controlled; the intensity of human activities should be reduced; impetus should be placed on landscape heterogeneity; and the homogeneous expansion of the area of construction should be prevented. In the eastern ecological corridors, the exploitation of ecosystem lands should be strictly controlled, and the integrity of the green landscape patches should be maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil moisture plays an important role in crop yield estimation, irrigation management, etc. Remote sensing technology has potential for large-scale and high spatial soil moisture mapping. However, offline remote sensing data processing is time-consuming and resource-intensive, and significantly hampers the efficiency and timeliness of soil moisture mapping. Due to the high-speed computing capabilities of remote sensing cloud platforms, a High Spatial Resolution Soil Moisture Estimation Framework (HSRSMEF) based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform was developed in this study. The functions of the HSRSMEF include research area and input datasets customization, radar speckle noise filtering, optical-radar image spatio-temporal matching, soil moisture retrieving, soil moisture visualization and exporting. This paper tested the performance of HSRSMEF by combining Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 images and in-situ soil moisture data in the central farmland area of Jilin Province, China. Reconstructed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) based on the Savitzky-Golay algorithm conforms to the crop growth cycle, and its correlation with the original NDVI is about 0.99 (P < 0.001). The soil moisture accuracy of the random forest model (R2 = 0.942, RMSE = 0.013 m3/m3) is better than that of the water cloud model (R2 = 0.334, RMSE = 0.091 m3/m3). HSRSMEF transfers time -consuming offline operations to cloud computing platforms, achieving rapid and simplified high spatial resolution soil moisture mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building a more resilient response system to climate change for sustainable development and reducing uncertainty in China's food markets, requires access to historical research gaps and mapping future research progress for decision making. However, the lack of quantitative and objective analyses to ensure the stability and development of agroecosystems increases the complexity of agro-climatic mechanisms, which leads to uncertainty and undesirable consequences. In this paper, we review the characteristics of climate change in China (1951–2020), reveal the mechanisms of agroecosystem structure in response to climate, and identify challenges and opportunities for future efforts in the context of research progress. The aim is to improve the scientific validity and relevance of future research by clarifying agro-climatic response mechanisms. The results show that surface temperature, precipitation, and frequency of extreme weather events have increased to varying degrees in major agricultural regions of China in 1951–2020. And they have strong geographic variation, which has resulted in droughts in the north and floods in the south. Moreover, climate change has complicated the mechanisms of soil moisture, Net Primary Productivity (NPP), soil carbon pool, and crop pest structure in agroecosystems. This lends to a reduction in soil water holding capacity, NPP, soil carbon content, and the number of natural enemies of diseases and insects, which in turn affects crop yields. However, human interventions can mitigate the deterioration of these factors. We have also realized that the methodology and theory of historical research poses a great challenge to future agroecosystem. Historical and projected climate trends identified current gaps in interdisciplinary integration and multidisciplinary research required to manage diverse spatio-temporal climate change impacts on agroecosystems. Future efforts should highlight integrated management and decision making, multidisciplinary big data coupling, and numerical simulations to ensure sustainable agricultural development, ecological security, and food security in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve a rapid and accurate identification of soil stratification information and accelerate the development of smart agriculture, this paper conducted soil stratification experiments on agricultural soils in the Mollisols area of Northeast China using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and obtained different types of soil with frequencies of 500 MHz, 250 MHz, and 100 MHz antennas. The soil profile data were obtained for 500 MHz, 250 MHz, and 100 MHz antennas, and the dielectric properties of each type of soil were analyzed. In the image processing procedure, wavelet analysis was first used to decompose the pre-processed radar signal and reconstruct the high-frequency information to obtain the reconstructed signal containing the stratification information. Secondly, the reconstructed signal is taken as an envelope to enhance the stratification information. The Hilbert transform is applied to the envelope signal to find the time-domain variation of the instantaneous frequency and determine the time-domain location of the stratification. Finally, the dielectric constant of each soil horizon is used to obtain the propagation velocity of the electromagnetic wave at the corresponding position to obtain the stratification position of each soil horizon. The research results show that the 500 MHz radar antenna can accurately delineate Ap/Ah, horizon and the absolute accuracy of the stratification is within 5 cm. The effect on the soil stratification below the tillage horizon is not apparent, and the absolute accuracy of the 250 MHz and 100 MHz radar antennas on the stratification is within 9 cm. The overwhelming majority of the overall calculation errors are kept to within 15%. Based on the three central frequency antennas, the soil horizon detection rate reaches 93.3%, which can achieve accurate stratification of soil profiles within 1 m. The experimental and image processing methods used are practical and feasible; however, the GPR will show a missed detection for soil horizons with only slight differences in dielectric properties. Overall, this study can quickly and accurately determine the information of each soil stratification, ultimately providing technical support for acquiring soil configuration information and developing smart agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the trends of Chinese rural transformation development, and the sustainable development goals for resources and environment, reasonable arranging the potential development space and the ecological space, so as to optimize the distributions of rural settlement would be the key challenge for rural areas in ecologically fragile regions. From the perspective of maintaining regional ecological security, this paper takes Da'an City, a typical ecological fragile region in Jilin Province, as the case area, constructing the comprehensive ecological security pattern (ESP) on basis of landscape ecology, and applying the landscape pattern indexes to quantitative analysis the spatial distribution characteristics of rural settlements. Then, different optimization directions and management strategies are put forward for rural settlements in each secure zone under the comprehensive ESP. The experimental results showed that 1) the area of the low security zone, the general security zone, the moderate security zone and the extreme security zone was 1570.18 km2, 1463.36 km2, 1215.80 km2 and 629.77 km2, representing 32.18%, 29.99%, 24.92% and 12.91% of the total area of the target area, respectively. 2) The rural settlements in Da'an City were characterized by a high degree of fragmentation with a large number of small-scale patches. 3) The area of rural settlements in the ecological relocation zone, the in situ remediation zone, the limited development zone and the key development zone was 22.80 km2, 42.31 km2, 36.28 km2 and 19.40 km2, accounting for 18.88%, 35.03%, 30.04% and 16.06% of the total area of rural settlements, respectively. Then, different measures were proposed for settlements in different optimization zones in order to scientifically plan important ecological space, production space and living space in rural areas. This paper aims to provide fundamental support for rural settlements based on redistribution from the perspective of landscape ecology and provide insights for rural planning and rural habitat environmental improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial interaction model is an effective way to explore the geographical disparities inherent in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by simulating spatial flows. The traditional gravity model implies the hypothesis of equilibrium points without any reference to when or how to achieve it. In this paper, a dynamic gravity model was established based on the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) theory to estimate and monitor the interconnection intensity and dynamic characters of bilateral relations. In order to detect the determinants of interconnection intensity, a Geodetector method was applied to identify and evaluate the determinants of spatial networks in five dimensions. The empirical study clearly demonstrates a heterogeneous and non-circular spatial structure. The main driving forces of spatial-temporal evolution are foreign direct investment, tourism and railway infrastructure construction, while determinants in different sub-regions show obvious spatial differentiation. Southeast Asian countries are typically multi-island area where aviation infrastructure plays a more important role. North and Central Asian countries regard oil as a pillar industry where power and port facilities have a greater impact on the interconnection. While Western Asian countries are mostly influenced by the railway infrastructure, Eastern European countries already have relatively robust infrastructure where tariff policies provide a greater impetus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is common to observe the epidemic risk perception (ERP) and a decline in subjective well-being (SWB) in the context of public health events, such as Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, there have been few studies exploring the impact of individuals' ERP within living space on their SWB, especially from a geographical and daily activity perspective after the resumption of work and other activities following a wave of the pandemic. In this paper, we conducted a study with 789 participants in urban China, measuring their ERP within living space and examining its influence on their SWB using path analysis. The results indicated that individuals' ERP within their living space had a significant negative effect on their SWB. The density of certain types of facilities within their living space, such as bus stops, subway stations, restaurants, fast food shops, convenience shops, hospitals, and public toilets, had a significantly negative impact on their SWB, mediated by their ERP within living space. Additionally, participation in out-of-home work and other activities not only increased individuals' ERP within living space, but also strengthened its negative effect on their SWB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms are embedded in complex networks, where diverse ideas combine and generate new ideas. Shareholders of firms are often seen as critical external resources that have significant influence on firm innovation. The current literature tends to focus on the relationship between firms and their shareholders, while paying less attention to the connections between firms with the same shareholders. This article identifies two types of network spillover effects, intra-city network effect and inter-city network effect, by visualizing the co-ownership networks in China's electric vehicle (EV) industry. We find that firms with the same shareholders, which are defined as co-owned EV firms, are more innovative than non-co-owned ones. Furthermore, there are two dominant types of firm co-ownership ties formed by corporate and financial institution shareholders. While corporate shareholders help exploiting local tacit knowledge, financial institutions are more active in bridging inter-city connections. The conclusion is confirmed at both firm and city levels. This paper theorizes the firm co-ownership network as a new form of institutional proximity and tested the result empirically. For policy consideration, we have emphasized the importance of building formal or informal inter-firm network, and the government should further enhance the knowledge flow channel by institutional construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to interpret the connotation of high-quality development of tourism economy (HQTE) from the perspective of the new development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, and then to evaluate the spatial differentiation of China's HQTE based on provincial panel data from 2009 to 2018. Specifically, we employ the spatial convergence model to explore the absolute and conditional β convergence trends of HQTE in the whole country and the eastern, central and western regions of China. Our empirical results reveal that: 1) within the decade, from 2009 to 2018, regions of China with the highest HQTE index is its eastern region followed by the central region and then the western region, but the fastest growing one is the western region of China followed by the central region and then the eastern region. 2) Whether or not the spatial effect is included, there are absolute and conditional β convergence in HQTE in the whole country and aforementioned three regions. 3) The degree of government attention as well as the level of economic development and location accessibility are the positive driving factors for the convergence of HQTE in the whole country and the three regions. The degree of marketization and human capital have not passed the significance test either in the whole country or in the three regions. The above conclusions could deepen the understanding of the regional imbalance and spatial convergence characteristics of HQTE, clarify the primary development objects, and accomplish the goal of China's HQTE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For mankind's survival and development, water, energy, and food (WEF) are essential material guarantees. In China, however, the spatial distribution of WEF is seriously unbalanced and mismatched. Here, a collaborative governance mechanism that aims at nexus security needs to be urgently established. In this paper, the Yellow River Basin in China with a representative WEF system, was selected as a case. Firstly, a comprehensive framework for WEF coupling coordination was constructed, and the relationship and mechanism between them were analyzed theoretically. Then, we investigated the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving mechanisms of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) with a composite evaluation method, coupling coordination degree model, spatial statistical analysis, and multiscale geographic weighted regression. Finally, policy implications were discussed to promote the coordinated development of the WEF system. The results showed that: 1) WEF subsystems showed a significant imbalance of spatial pattern and diversity in temporal changes; 2) the CCD for the WEF system varied little and remained at moderate coordination. Areas with moderate coordination have increased, while areas with superior coordination and mild disorder have decreased. In addition, the spatial clustering phenomenon of the CCD was significant and showed obvious characteristics of polarization; and 3) the action of each factor is self-differentiated and regionally variable. For different factors, GDP per capita was of particular importance, which contributed most to the regional development's coupling coordination. For different regions, GDP per capita, average yearly precipitation, population density, and urbanization rate exhibited differences in geographical gradients in an east-west direction. The conclusion can provide references for regional resource allocation and sustainable development by enhancing WEF system utilization efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constructs a quasi-natural experiment based on the expansion of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA) of China in 2010 to investigate the impact and inner mechanism of urban agglomeration expansion on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations through propensity scores in difference-in-differences models (PSM-DID) using panel data from 286 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2016. The results show that 1) urban agglomeration expansion contributes to an overall decrease in PM2.5 concentration, which is mainly achieved from the original cities. For the new cities, on the other hand, the expansion significantly increases the local PM2.5 concentration. 2) In the long term, the significant influence of urban agglomeration expansion on PM2.5 concentration lasts for three years and gradually decreases. A series of robustness tests confirm the applicability of the PSM-DID model. 3) Cities with weaker government regulation, a better educated population and higher per capita income present stronger PM2.5 reduction effects. 4) Urban agglomeration expansion affects the PM2.5 concentration mainly through industrial transfer and population migration, which cause a decrease in the PM2.5 concentration in the original cities and an increase in the PM2.5 concentration in the new cities. Corresponding policy suggestions are proposed based on the conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural innovation is important for the green transformation of agriculture. Based on the perspective of technology transformation, this paper builds a theoretical analysis framework and evaluation index system for green efficiency of agricultural innovation, and discusses the evolution laws and influencing factors of the green efficiency of China's agricultural innovation from 2005 to 2017 utilizing the DEA model, Malmquist index, and Tobit regression analysis. The results show that: 1) The overall green efficiency of China's agricultural innovation is not high, the green efficiency of agricultural innovation in eastern China is mainly driven by pure technical efficiency, while that in central and western China is mainly driven by the scale efficiency. The green efficiency of agricultural innovation shows significant spatial differences, and the low efficiency and relatively low-efficiency regions moved to central and southeastern China. 2) Technical progress is the main force affecting the change of green total factor productivity of China's agricultural innovation, seeing a trend of decrease followed by an increase. Pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency exhibit an increasing-decreasing trend, and gradually transform into key factors that restrict the improvement of the green total factor productivity of agricultural innovation. 3) Agricultural technologies' diffusion, absorption, and implementation are three influencing factors of the green efficiency of agricultural innovation. The local level of informatization, the number of agricultural technicians in enterprises and institutions, average education level of residents, and the level of agricultural mechanization have positive impacts on the promotion of the green efficiency of agricultural innovation, promoting the diffusion, absorption and implementation of agricultural innovation technology can significantly improve the green efficiency of agricultural innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local climate zones (LCZs) are an effective nexus linking internal urban structures to the local climate and have been widely used to study urban thermal environment. However, few studies considered how much the temperature changed due to LCZs transformation and their synergy. This paper quantified the change of urban land surface temperature (LST) in LCZs transformation process by combining the land use transfer matrix with zonal statistics method during 2000–2019 in the Xi'an metropolitan. The results show that, firstly, both LCZs and LST had significant spatiotemporal variations and synchrony. The period when the most LCZs were converted was also the LST rose the fastest, and the spatial growth of the LST coincided with the spatial expansion of the built type LCZs. Secondly, the LST difference between land cover type LCZs and built type LCZs gradually widened. And LST rose more in both built type LCZs transferred in and out. Finally, the Xi'an-Xianyang profile showed that the maximum temperature difference between the peaks and valleys of the LST increased by 4.39°C, indicating that localized high temperature phenomena and fluctuations in the urban thermal environment became more pronounced from 2000 to 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public environmental concern (PEC) is an important bottom-up force in building an environmentally sustainable society. Guided by attitude theory, this paper innovatively constructed a PEC evaluation index system, while introducing entropy weighted-TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) to realize the assessment of PEC. Exploratory spatial data analysis was used to portray the spatio-temporal evolution patterns of PEC in 362 Chinese cities at prefecture-level and above from 2011 to 2018. Furthermore, the Geodetector model was performed to identify the multi-dimensional determinants of PEC from the perspective of spatial heterogeneity. The results indicated that: 1) PEC in China exhibited a fluctuating upward trend, consistent with the spatial distribution law of 'Heihe-Tengchong Line' and 'Bole-Taipei Line'; 2) the driving effect of each factor varied dynamically, but in general, economic development level, population size, industrial wastewater, and education level were the dominant driving factors explaining the spatial variation of PEC; 3) risk detection revealed that four factors, government environmental regulations, PM2.5, vegetation coverage, and natural resource endowment, had nonlinear effects on PEC; 4) the interactions between factors all demonstrated an enhancement in explaining the spatial differentiation of PEC. PEC was driven by the comprehensive interaction of four-dimensional factors of economy, society, pollutant emissions, and ecology. Among them, population agglomeration accompanied by a high level of regional economy and information technology can explain the increase in PEC to the greatest extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algal blooms in lakes have become a common global environmental problem. Nowadays, remote sensing is widely used to monitor algal blooms in lakes due to the macroscopic, fast, real-time characteristics. However, it is often difficult to distinguish between algal blooms and aquatic vegetation due to their similar spectral characteristics. In this paper, we used modified vegetation presence frequency index (VPF) based on Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery to distinguish algal blooms from aquatic vegetation, and analyzed the spatial and temporal variations of algal blooms and aquatic vegetation from a phenological perspective for five large natural lakes with frequent algal bloom outbreaks in China from 2019 to 2020. We simplified the VPF method to make it with a higher spatial transferability so that it could be applied to other lakes in different climatic zones. Through accuracy validation, we found that the modified VPF method can effectively distinguish between algal blooms and aquatic vegetation, and the results vary from lake to lake. The highest accuracy of 97% was achieved in Hulun Lake, where the frequency of algal outbreaks is low and the extent of aquatic vegetation is stable, while the lowest accuracy of 76% was achieved in Dianchi Lake, which is rainy in summer and the lake is small. Analyses suggests that the time period when algal blooms occur most frequently might not coincide with that when they have the largest area. However, in most cases these two are close in terms of time period. The modified VPF method has a broad scope of application, is easy to implement, and has a high practical value. Furthermore, the method could be established using only a small amount of measured data, which is useful for water quality monitoring on large spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among cancers, lung cancer is the most common cause of death in China. For the prevention and control of lung cancer, it is necessary to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of lung cancer mortality, as well as the changes in the trend and the affecting mechanism. Based on statistics and auto-correlation analysis, this paper studied the spatial and temporal distribution of lung cancer mortality in Yuhui District, Bengbu, Huaihe River Basin, from 2017 to 2020. In addition, Spearman's Rank Correlation Assessment Model and Geographic Detector Model were used to examine the relationship between environmental factors and lung cancer mortality to identify impact factors and their mechanisms. The findings indicated that: 1) from the characteristics of temporal distribution, the number of lung cancer deaths exhibited a linear growth tendency, with the highest mortality in winter; 2) from the characteristics of spatial distribution, lung cancer mortality showed a strong spatial agglomeration form, concentrating on two clustering areas, located in the old city and the central city of Bengbu, near the Huaihe River; 3) from the point of view of the whole research area, there were 15 impact factors with significant correlation in the built and natural environment factors. The significant impacting factors in the built environment included land use, road traffic, spatial form and blue-green space, which could indirectly affect lung cancer mortality, while air pollution and temperature constituted the significant impacting factors in the natural environment; 4) the influence of screened environmental factors on lung cancer mortality was different. Spatial stratified heterogeneity assessment, the interaction among environmental factors demonstrated statistical significance, it was found that the interaction between environmental factors in pairs had a significant enhancement effect on lung cancer mortality. To some extent, urban planning and policies could reduce lung cancer mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban agglomerations are spatial entities that promote the development of ‘new urbanization’ processes within China. In this context, the concept of ‘multiscale urban agglomeration spaces’ encompasses three linked levels: macroscale urban agglomerations, mesoscale cities, and microscale urban centers. Applying a series of multidisciplinary integrated research methods drawn from geography, urban planning, and architecture, this paper reveals two intensive utilization laws that can be generalized to apply to multiscale urban agglomeration spaces, top-to-bottom ‘positive transmission’ linkage and inside-to-outside ‘negative transmission’ movement. This paper also proposes optimization transmission theory and policy decision technical pathways that can be applied to these three urban agglomeration spatial scales. Specific technical pathways of transmission include intensive expansion and simulated decision-making in macroscale urban agglomerations, ecology, production, and living space intensive layout and dynamic decision-making in mesoscale cities, and four cores (i.e., ‘single, ring, axis, and pole core’) progressive linkage and intensive optimization decision-making in microscale urban centers. The theory and technical pathways proposed in this paper solve the technical problem of optimization and provide intensive methods that can be applied not only at the individual level but also at multiple scales in urban agglomeration spaces. This study also advances a series of comprehensive technical solutions that can be applied to both compact and smart growth cities as well as to urban agglomerations. Solid theoretical support is provided for the optimization of Chinese land development, urbanization, agricultural development, and ecological security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans and livestock have always dwelling together, especially in rural areas. Based on a multi-method approach of ethnographic fieldwork, grounded theory and one-way multivariate analysis of variance, this paper explores human and livestock dwelling. The findings show that human and livestock dwelling form a special type of human dwelling place, with forms defined as co-, mix- and dis-dwelling. Then, from co-, mix- to dis-dwelling constructed a story line to the evolution of human and livestock dwelling forms, which further explains the entire dwelling situation of humans and livestock, including the dimensions of human dweller, livestock dweller, the rural environment and special events. Among co-, mix- and dis-dwelling significant differences existed between human and livestock individuals, the nature of rural environment, vernacularity and rural tourism development. Between co- and dis-dwelling, significant differences existed in seventeen aspects; between mix- and dis-dwelling, significant differences existed in eleven aspects; meanwhile, no significant differences existed between co- and mix-dwelling. Accordingly, this suggested that human and livestock dwelling forms can be divided into mix- and dis-dwelling. This study on humans and livestock dwelling relationship offer a new perspective on rural and animal geography. This paper is an exploratory foray into rural dwelling geography as part of the Anthrozoology study and broadens the scope of extant scholarship on human dwelling morphology, as well as analyses the spatial relationships between human and livestock dwelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization has both direct and indirect impacts on land use change, and analyzing spatio-temporal characteristics of land use change is essential for understanding these impacts. By comparing Landsat TM images, this paper examines the changes of land use structure and landscape patterns in Shanghai from 1990 to 2015. It finds that the city doubled in size, with the growth of isolated construction land being most significant among eight land use types. A land use change matrix was established and landscape indices were selected to evaluate the change of spatial structure in Shanghai. In order to identify the main driving forces of city expansion in Shanghai, this research ran partial least square regression models to assess the impact of 10 social-economic factors on land use change of Shanghai from 1990 to 2015. It then conducted bivariate correlation analysis to explore the drivers of change of various land use types: urban settlement, rural settlement and isolated construction land. Besides quantitative analysis, this paper analyzes the influence of policy-dimensional factors in land use change. It concludes with future potential research topics on land use change in a rapidly urbanizing context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 14th Five-Year Plan period is a critical period for China to achieve high-quality development. Based on super-efficiency slacks-based measure (SBM) model, grey-related analysis (GRA) and other models, this paper studies the heterogeneity of the coupling relationship among technological innovation, industrial transformation and environmental efficiency in the Huaihai Economic Zone during the period of 2005–2019. In addition, it analyzes the coupling mechanism of single and binary systems to the ternary system, which is of great significance for the collaborative symbiosis among systems. The findings are as follows. 1) The technological innovation, industrial transformation and environmental efficiency (TIE) systems of the Huaihai Economic Zone had significant spatial-temporal heterogeneity. Although their evaluation value fluctuated, the development trends are all positive. Ultimately, technological innovation is characterized by being high in the northeast and low in the southwest around Xuzhou, while other systems are relatively staggered in space. 2) The coupling of TIE systems is in transition, lack of orderly integration and benign interaction. However, the developing trend of interaction is also upward, and a spatial pattern driven by Xuzhou and Linyi as the dual cores has gradually formed. Moreover, the coupling is mostly manifested as outdated technological innovation and industrial transformation. Except for the final coordination of regenerative cities, the other resource types are all in transition. Cities in all traffic locations are still in transition. The overall system interaction of cities on Longhai Line (Lanzhou-Lianyungang Railway) is relatively optimal, and cities on Xinshi Line (Xinxiang-Rizhao Railway) are accelerating toward synergy. 3) The coupling status of TIE systems depends on the development of the single system and the interaction of the binary (2E) system. The coupling is closely related to technological innovation and Technology-Industry system, and is hindered by the inefficient interaction of Technology-Environment system. Specifically, the synergy of regenerative cities is attributed to the advantage of a single system and the effective integration of 2E systems. Beneficial from the advantages of environmental efficiency, the cities on Xinshi Line promote the synergy of the 2E and TIE systems. Therefore, while the Huaihai Economic Zone stimulates the development potential of the single and 2E systems, it is necessary to amplify the superimposition effect of systems in accordance on the basis of resource and location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, urban transit system has become one of the major forces underlying urban pace transformation via changing accessibility of related land parcels, which leads to the changes of land value and land use structure. This paper studied the interaction between land use changes and related transport routes, particular about how different transport routes and road nodes influence the conversion of industrial lands to residential and commercial uses respectively. Taking Changchun, an old industrial city in the rust belt of China as a case of study, we explored and compared the influences of different transport routes and road nodes on industrial land conversion. We found that surrounding the studied transport routes, more industrial lands were replaced by residential lands than by commercial lands. Also, apparent differences exist in the corridor effects of different transport routes (i.e., light rail, expressway and trunk road) and road nodes (i.e., expressway nodes and trunk road nodes) while the industrial lands convert to residential and commercial uses. Our research findings help us to illuminate the interactive relationships between transportation and industrial land conversion in old industrial cities which are undergoing social, economic and the related urban transition in Northeast China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing the issue of the healthy and coordinated development of the population and economic factors in rural areas will not only help consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation, but will also lay a foundation for comprehensive rural revitalization. In this paper, the spatial coupling relationship between the population and economic factors in rural areas in the Qinling-Daba Mountains, China, is explored to provide a reference for rural revitalization and regional sustainable development in poverty areas. Sixty-eight county units in rural areas in the Qinling-Daba Mountains, as well as the population and economic factors in rural areas, are used to study the spatial coupling relationship between population and economy, as well as the driving mechanism, in rural areas in the Qinling-Daba Mountains from 2010 to 2020. The results show that a population contraction phenomenon occurred in the rural areas in the Qinling-Daba Mountains, and the spatial agglomeration trends of the population and economic factors were consistent. The agglomeration was mainly located in the suburban areas of the municipal area, and the agglomeration degree was significantly higher in these areas than in other areas. In terms of the spatial distribution, the economic development level of the rural areas in the northeastern part of the Qinling-Daba Mountains was generally higher than that in the central and western parts, and the unbalanced trends of the population and economic spatial differentiation in the eastern and western regions were significant. The spatial coupling relationship between the population and economy changed from coordinated development to economic advancement. This was mainly due to the mutual restriction and joint actions of the industrial structure, capital situation, natural environment, policies, and institutional regulations, among which the industrial structure and capital status had significant effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural green development is an essential direction for global sustainable agriculture. The academic literature, however, needs to place greater emphasis on studying the factors influencing agricultural green development performance and how such performance can be improved. A theoretical framework for agricultural green development performance was constructed in this paper using the Super-SBM model, which considers undesirable outputs, to measure the agricultural green development performance of 330 cities at or above the prefecture level in China (excluding Tibet Autonomous Region, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan of China) from 2007 to 2018. Furthermore, the influencing mechanism of agricultural green development performance was then analyzed using a spatial econometric model. The results show that: 1) from 2007 to 2018, China's agricultural green development performance experienced three stages of evolution: 'rise, decline and rise'. 2) The regions with high performance agricultural green development are mainly distributed in eastern China, northeastern China, and southern Qinghai Province. 3) The agricultural economic level, industrialization process, and labor quality play significant roles in promoting local agricultural green development performance, while such performance is obviously inhibited by the openness level and the government's environmental regulations. Local agricultural green development performance is significant inhibited by the agricultural economic level and accelerated industrialization process in neighboring cities, while significantly promoted by the agricultural industrial structure in neighboring cities. Some suggestions for improving agricultural green development performance are proposed based on these research results, which can provide scientific references for promoting sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since China's reform and opening up in 1978, the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization in China had led to dramatic changes in the pattern of urban-rural land use. In this paper, we focused on the rural industrialized areas in central China (Xinxiang County and Changyuan City of Henan Province). We used the average nearest neighbor index, spatial statistical analysis, and a structural equation model to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of urban-rural construction land based on multi-source spatial data and survey data. The results showed that: 1) from 1975 to 2019, the spatial distribution of urban-rural construction land in rural industrialized areas had evolved from homogeneous distribution to local agglomeration. In terms of comparative analysis of cases, the spatial distribution of urban-rural construction land in Changyuan City had shown a trend from diffusion to agglomeration, and Xinxiang County had overall shown a spatial change from homogenization to agglomeration and then to regional integration development. 2) The hot spots with increased urban-rural construction land significantly expanded, and they had a high degree of spatial overlap with industrial development. Among them, Xinxiang County was concentrated in central and marginal areas, and Changyuan was mainly concentrated in central urban areas. 3) From the evolution of spatial proximity of urban-rural construction land, rural industrialized areas generally decline, showing the characteristics of internal differentiation in the rate of change. 4) Industrial development, social economy, the policy environment, and urban development played a positive role in promoting the expansion of urban-rural construction land in rural industrialized areas. To promote the optimal use of regional land and the integrated development of urban-rural areas, we should combine the advantages of regional endowment, formulate development strategies according to local conditions, and adjust the way that land is used in a timely manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Settlements and cultivated land are important production and living spaces in promoting rural revitalization. However, few studies have explored the relationship between rural settlements and cultivated land from spatiotemporal interaction perspective. This paper analyzed the spatiotemporal conversion and the interactive mechanism between rural settlements and cultivated land in a karst mountainous area (Qixingguan District of Guizhou Province) with fragile ecological environment in China during 2009–2018. The results showed that the expansion of rural settlements and the loss of cultivated land coexisted in Qixingguan District. Only 2.68% of the new cultivated land was reclaimed from rural settlements, whereas 85.45% of the new rural settlements occupied cultivated land. Six spatial expansion modes of rural settlements when occupying cultivated land were identified. Among these six modes, the area of the edge-expansion & along traffic roads (EA) mode accounted for 52.75%. The occupation by rural settlements made the cultivated land landscape more fragmented. The area ratio index of cultivated land to rural settlements (ARICR) of Qixingguan District averaged 18.75 in 2009 and 17.21 in 2018, respectively. The ARICR reduced in all township administrative regions. Cultivated land with suitable slope condition for farming or without rocky desertification was more likely to be occupied by rural settlements. The probability of cultivated land occupied by rural settlements increased with the decrease of the distance to traffic roads, towns, and old rural settlements. The better the economic and social development of the township administrative regions, the more the ARICR decreased, while the richer the agricultural resources and the better the rural development of the township administrative regions, the less the ARICR decreased. The optimal reconstruction path of rural settlements, the comprehensive conservation path of cultivated land and the urban-rural integration development path in karst mountainous area were proposed. The findings would contribute to our understanding of the spatiotemporal interaction between rural settlements and cultivated land, and would provide a theoretical basis for promoting the coordinated development of rural man-land relationship and rural revitalization in karst areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National nature reserves are an important part of classification management on ecological protection in China. Taking the national nature reserves of Jilin Province as examples, this paper introduced the stability index by referring to the intensity model of land-use and land-cover change (LUCC), and analyzed the overall stability of land-use and land-cover (LULC) in the study area from the time interval level and land category level. The stability of LULC in different types of nature reserves was tracked and identified by extracting land-use change trajectory, and the land-use change trajectory was divided into three types: stable type, sub-stable type and unstable type. The impact of LUCC on regional ecosystem services was studied by using hotspot analysis and gravity center analysis. The results showed that: 1) The LULC in the study area was stable on the whole, and the proportion of stable land area reached 86.08%. The intensity of LUCC showed an increasing trend in recent 20 years, and the conversion of cultivated land and construction land was active in continuous time interval. 2) The stability of LULC in forest ecological reserves and wildlife reserves in the eastern part of Jilin Province was the highest, while that in inland wetland reserves and geological relic reserves in the central and western part of Jilin Province was lower. 3) The LUCC in national nature reserves not only changed the value of its own ecosystem service function, but also affected the ecosystem service function of the whole region. The combination of intensity analysis and land-use change trajectory was used to identify the characteristics of stability of LULC in nature reserves, which was conducive to deeply understand the process of LUCC in national nature reserves and provided reasonable suggestions for regional ecological protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aviation industry has become one of the top ten greenhouse gas emission industries in the world. China's aviation carbon emissions continue to increase, but the analysis of its influencing factors at the provincial level is still incomplete. This paper firstly uses Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology model (STIRPAT) model to analyze the time series evolution of China's aviation carbon emissions from 2000 to 2019. Secondly, it uses the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LDMI) model to analyze the influencing characteristics and degree of four factors on China's aviation carbon emissions, which are air transportation revenue, aviation route structure, air transportation intensity and aviation energy intensity. Thirdly, it determines the various factors' influencing direction and evolution trend of 31 provinces' aviation carbon emissions in China (not including Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan of China due to incomplete data). Finally, it derives the decoupling effort model and analyzes the decoupling relationship and decoupling effort degree between air carbon emissions and air transportation revenue in different provinces. The study found that from 2000 to 2019, China's total aviation carbon emissions continued to grow, while the growth rate of aviation carbon emissions showed a fluctuating downward trend. Air transportation revenue and aviation route structure promote the growth of total aviation carbon emissions, and air transportation intensity and aviation energy intensity have a restraining effect on the growth of total aviation carbon emissions. The scope of negative driving effect of air transportation revenue and air transportation intensity on total aviation carbon emissions in various provinces has increased. While the scope of positive driving influence of aviation route structure on total aviation carbon emissions of various provinces has increased, aviation energy intensity mainly has negative driving influence on total aviation carbon emissions of each province. Overall, the emission reduction trend in the areas to the west and north of the Qinling-Huaihe River Line is obvious. The decoupling mode between air carbon emissions and air transportation revenue in 31 provinces is mainly expansion negative decoupling. The air transportation intensity effect shows strong decoupling efforts in most provinces, the decoupling effort of aviation route structure effect and aviation energy intensity effect is not prominent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures the efficiency of ports in the Yangtze River Delta Region (YRDR) in 2008 and 2013 using port berth quantity, quay length, and human resources as input indicators, using cargo and container throughput as output indicators, and considering traditional (foreign trade dependence and industrialization level) and modern environmental factors (traffic line density, financial development level, and informatization level). To achieve such aim, this study constructs a multi-stage data envelopment analysis model (DEA) that identifies effective port decision-making units (DMUs) and generates a highly accurate conclusion by eliminating the interference from the exogenous environment and random errors. First, the external environment significantly affects port efficiency, with the traditional environmental factors showing huge fluctuations and the modern environmental factors producing great benefits. Second, the efficiency of ports in YRDR has increased from 2008 to 2013 primarily because of their pure technical efficiency. Third, the weighted standard deviation ellipse (SDE) analysis results reveal that the efficiency pattern of ports significantly deviates from their throughput pattern, while the center of SDE of port efficiency moves from the eastern coastal regions to the northwest regions. Based on these findings, this paper proposes spatial development strategies for YRDR, such as creating an unblocked environment where spatial elements can freely circulate, intensifying port-city joint development, implementing differentiated policies, and focusing on the spatial collaboration of port efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high environmental pollution load caused by the massive pollutant emissions and the accumulation of endogenous and cross-regional pollution has become an important obstacle to the current ecological civilization construction in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) in China. Taking the YREB as an example, by using four environmental pollutant emission indicators, including chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx), this paper established an environmental pollution load index (EPLI) based on the entropy-based measurement. Moreover, the Spatial Durbin Model was used to quantitatively analyze the drivers and spatial effects of environmental pollution load. Finally, specific scientific references were provided for formulating environmental regulations of pollution source control in the YREB. The results showed that: 1) During 2011–2015, the EPLI in the YREB was reduced significantly and the environmental pollution load increased from upstream to downstream. Among them, the pollution load levels in the Upper Mainstream subbasin, Taihu Lake subbasin, and Lower Mainstream subbasin were the most prominent. 2) The environmental pollution load situation in the YREB was generally stable and partially improved. High load level areas were mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta Region and the provincial borders in upstream, midstream, and downstream areas. The high load level areas already formed in Chengdu and Chongqing were also the key regulatory points in the future. 3) The degree of local environmental pollution load was apparently affected by the adjacent cities. The population size, industrialization level, and the fiscal decentralization not only drove the increase of the local environmental pollution load level, but also affected the adjacent areas through the spatial spillover effects. The land development intensity mainly drove the increase in the local EPLI in the YREB. While factors such as economic development level and agricultural economic share could only act on the environmental pollution load process in adjacent cities. 4) According to the differentiation characteristics of drivers of each city, the YREB was divided into seven zones based on k-medoids cluster method, and targeted zoning control policy recommendations for alleviating environmental pollution load in the YREB were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the leading urban agglomeration in China, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is experiencing a factor-driven to innovation-driven transition. However, the dynamics of regional innovation growth are not yet fully understood. This paper combines the complex network methodology with spatial econometrics to disentangle the contributions of innovation endowments, innovation network flows, and innovation network positions to regional innovation growth, as well as their spatial spillover effects. The primary findings suggest that regional innovation growth results from the networked agglomeration economies, which is shaped by the interactions between agglomeration factors and network factors. Specifically, agglomeration factors play a fundamental role in regional innovation growth. In contrast, network factors, such as the network flows and network positions, may contribute to new path creation by promoting access to external innovation resources. Additionally, the institutional factors show multiplexity in fostering regional innovation patterns. Such findings indicate that the YRD region should shift the innovation growth pattern from competitive involution to mutually beneficial cooperation to reduce regional disparities. In this regard, the institutional capacity of organizing network flows and fostering reciprocal inter-city partnerships has become increasingly critical for promoting sustainable innovation and regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the system philosophy of human-earth relationship as the theoretical axis, and under the three-dimensional goals of economic growth, social development, and protection of the ecological environment, this paper constructs the supporting system of China's economic development. On this basis, guided by the basic principles of system theory and system dynamics, and combined with the theories of other related disciplines, we constructed an economic geography-system dynamics (EG-SD) integrated forecasting model to simulate and quantitatively forecast China's economic growth in the medium and long term. China's economic growth will be affected by quantifiable and unquantifiable factors. If the main unquantifiable factors are not taken into account in the simulation and prediction of China's economic growth in the medium and long term, the accuracy and objectivity of the prediction results will be diminished. Therefore, based on situation analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, SWOT), we combined scenario analysis with the Delphi method, and established a qualitative prediction simulation model (referred to as the S-D compound prediction model) to make up for the shortcomings associated with quantitative simulation predictions. EG-SD and S-D are organically combined to construct a simulation and prediction paradigm of China's economic growth in the medium and long term. This paradigm not only realizes the integration of various forecasting methods and the combination of qualitative and quantitative measures, but also realizes the organic combination of unquantifiable and quantifiable elements by innovatively introducing fuzzy simulation of system dynamics, which renders the simulation and prediction results more objective and accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between urbanization and economic development has become a hot topic in the scientific community due to its great practical significance, and economic and social value. However, this relationship continues to change dynamically. In the new stage of urbanization, it is urgent to reveal the causal relationship quantitatively and diagnose the future direction systematically. Based on this, this paper calculates the contribution rate of China's urbanization to economic development from 1978 to 2019 and uses the panel data cointegration test method to explore the causal relationship between urbanization and economic development in China. The study has three principal results. First, the contribution rate of urbanization to economic growth has maintained the overall growth trend from 1978 to 2019, but the growth rate of urbanization's contribution to economic growth has been relatively low since 2012. It is an important reason that the real estate sector has moved into a new stage of transformation. Second, the cointegration test shows that economic development is a significant factor in advancing urbanization and the urbanization is the product of economic development. Urbanization has a positive feedback effect on economic development, but this effect does not pass the 5% significance level test. The impulse response function shows that the impact of urbanization on economic development is relatively small and stable, indicating that it is limited that the boost of economic development by land-centered urbanization. Third, China's urbanization and economic development have both shown rapid growth for some time, but their relationship is still the low level of coordination, which has also led to a downward trend in the contribution of new-type, people-oriented urbanization to economic growth in recent years. In the future, China's urbanization and economy need to maintain relatively medium-low speed growth in the medium-long term, and we should boost the coordinated development of urbanization and economy from low level to high level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National urban planning, construction, and management levels have undergone qualitative changes in China since 2000. Nonetheless, problems caused by rapid urbanization are becoming increasingly prominent. The concept of the city health examination appears to tackle these problems and is being gradually implemented, starting from the implementation of a national strategy and leading to the concrete practice of high-quality urban development. This paper elaborates on the basic philosophy and theory of the city health examination, briefly explains indicator selection and aims, and comprehensively illustrates examination methods. It then describes the empirical research that operationalized the dataset collected from a satisfaction survey administered during the 2020 city health examination. It aims to provide a reference for the standardization, specialization, analysis, and application of the results of the city health examination in China; this may help promote a smooth elimination of 'urban diseases' and allow for the development of high-quality livable cities. This research shows that city residents are generally more satisfied with the landscape features, ecological livability, and security resilience; it also shows that residents are generally more dissatisfied with traffic issues. Residents with different characteristics showed different satisfaction levels toward different indicators. Residents were also shown to be more sensitive to innovation vitality, ecological livability, and health and comfort in considering whether to stay in their current city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social interaction has become one of the key factors affecting the spatial reconstruction of rural settlements (SRRS). However, most studies ignored the multi-scale impact of social networks on the identification of restructuring types of rural settlements. This paper, taking Ezhou City of Hubei Province, China as the case study area, developed a potential inter-settlement network through considering settlements as nodes, and inter-settlement interactions induced by the spatial disparity of public facilities as edges, divided towns in Ezhou City into three zones based on community structure at the town level, and then identified four types of rural settlements in light of the characteristics of cluster patterns and centrality at the patch level. The results show that the inter-settlement network in Ezhou City presents apparent disparities in terms of community structure, cluster patterns and centrality. In community analysis, high inter-community and intra-community interactions are concentrated in well-developed areas in the north and east, while weak interactions between communities occur in the southern areas dominated by traditional agricultural production. Accordingly, three zones are divided such as the urban-leading zone, urban-rural integration zone and rural-leading zone. For the network centrality and cluster patterns, high-level rural settlements are mainly distributed in the urban-leading zone, followed by the urban-rural integration zone and the rural-leading zone. Moreover, the lump cluster pattern is observed in each zone, but the chain pattern and dispersed pattern largely occur in the rural-leading zone. At same time, four types of rural settlements are identified, namely urbanized settlements, central settlements, grassroots settlements and relocated settlements. The corresponding plans are discussed in different zones regarding urbanization, integration and characteristics to provide meaningful insights for policymakers to guide SRRS. This study would contribute to our understanding of the impact of social network involved in daily life on rural settlement reconstruction, and expect to provide theoretical and methodological support for rural sustainable development in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the knowledge economy era, science and technology (S&T) resources are getting more and more important in shaping regional competiveness and building regional innovation capacity. As such, the spatial distribution of S&T resources is a key to understanding regional development and disparities. By designing an input-output indicator system, this paper develops an evaluation model to examine the spatial distribution of S&T resources in China and assess their spatial efficiency. Moreover, the paper tries to explain spatial differences in the efficiency of S&T resources in China. Major findings are: 1) the input and output of S&T resources in China shows a clear T-shaped spatial structure, i.e., concentrated mainly in the coastal region and along the Changjiang (Yangtze) River; 2) the efficiency of S&T resources in China displays strong spatial disparities, with the level of efficiency descending from the east to the west while high efficiency appearing in only several clusters; 3) the utilization rates of S&T resources in most provinces are quite low, resulting in low efficiency of S&T resources allocation. The paper suggests that the utilization rate of S&T resources should be raised and the commercialization of S&T outputs should be enhanced to improve the efficiency of S&T resources in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]