Spatial justice refers to social equity in the production of space and the allocation of spatial resources, emphasizing the fairness in the distribution and utilization of spatial resources. In market-based historical and cultural districts, conflicts over the use of space arise among various stakeholders including businesses, residents, and cultural preservationists due to their competing needs and interests. These conflicts often create tensions between development, preservation, and everyday life. This study develops an analytical framework based on spatial production theory to examine the relationships between stakeholders in urban renewal, with a focus on achieving the goal of spatial justice in urban renewal. Using the Thirteen Hongs Historic Block in Guangzhou as a case study, the research draws on historical records, in-depth interviews, and survey data to uncover the root causes of spatial conflicts and the underlying factors and consequences of spatial injustice in market-based historic block. The findings reveal that spatial practices in the Thirteen Hongs Historic Block are shaped by the competing interests of government, market actors, and civil society. The unequal distribution of spatial rights has led to fragmented use of space, resulting in contradictions that hinder the realization of historical, economic, and social values. This spatial injustice stems from an imbalance of power, ineffective rule restructuring, and unequal access to resources. To address these issues, the study proposes a spatial justice-oriented approach to urban renewal. This approach includes three related strategies: a shared governance strategy to rebalance power relationships and achieve social equity, a collaborative governance strategy to ensure procedural fairness and institutional justice, a co-creation strategy to establish resource compensation mechanisms and achieve distributive justice. By integrating these strategies, the study aims to achieve a three-dimensional synergy of "value-procedure-outcome" spatial justice, fostering a more equitable and sustainable urban renewal mode.
As a key strategy for achieving high-quality urban development, urban waterfront renewal requires a scientific understanding of its land use evolution trends and driving mechanisms. Such an understanding is crucial for the optimal allocation and balanced development of urban land resources. It is imperative to scientifically identify the associated land use evolution trends and their driving mechanisms. From the perspective of port-city relationship evolution, this study takes the Xiaguan waterfront area in Nanjing to examine the logic behind land use evolution in urban renewal and explore its underlying driving mechanisms. The results indicate that: (1) The separation of port and city serves as a critical trigger for urban waterfront renewal, promoting land use diversification and rationalization, thus enhancing and upgrading land use functions. (2) The land use evolution in Xiaguan waterfront renewal exhibits three major characteristics: an inverted U-shaped trend in the speed of land use changes, a shift from traditional production-oriented land to modern mixed-use land for both production and living, and a transition from low-end to high-end land use. (3) The evolution of land use in waterfront urban renewal is influenced by multiple factors, including geographical location, locational conditions, resource endowments, economic development, environmental optimization, cultural preservation, and policy guidance. This study deepens the understanding of the evolutionary patterns in the land use structure of urban waterfront renewal. It also provides a scientific basis for identifying appropriate development pathways for these areas.
Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (NIAHS) are carriers of the traditional farming civilization of the Chinese nation, exhibiting significant social, economic, and cultural values. The reproduction of NIAHS can provide new impetus for rural industrial restructuring in heritage sites. Transforming the value of NIAHS can provide new pathways for rural industrial restructuring in the heritage sites. Taking Weiqiao village, a core village within a China Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage System site, as a case study, this study reveals the process and mechanisms of its industrial transformation driven by cultural reproduction, grounded in Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The results indicate that: (1) During the industrial transformation process of Weiqiao, the government initially acted as the key actor. Centered on the reproduction of distinctive agricultural culture, it facilitated the enrollment of more heterogeneous actors into the actor network through intersegments, enrollment, and mobilization. Subsequently, the key actors shifted from the government to rural elites and diverse stakeholders. (2) The agricultural cultural reproduction comprises three phases: cultural restoration, cultural production and dissemination, and cultural consumption. Correspondingly, rural industrial transformation progressed through three stages: upgrading traditional agriculture, cultivating new business formats, and achieving industrial integration. (3) The driving mechanisms of rural industrial transformation in Weiqiao under cultural reproduction are: leadership by key actors, unveiling the agency of non-human actors, and intervention by heterogeneous actors. Taking a typical village in the heritage site as the research object, this study aims to contribute to the revitalization, utilization, and preservaton of traditional culture while offering new perspectives for the research on rural industrial transformation in China.
The redevelopment of urban inefficient land is a significant measure to implement the national resource conservation strategy and promote high-quality urbanization. To scientifically and effectively identify the models and operational mechanisms of urban inefficient land redevelopment in China, this paper employs a "diagnosis-design-result" analytical framework to elucidate the basic attributes, constituent elements, and action logic of urban inefficient land redevelopment. By using the prototype analysis method, four models are classified from 35 typical cases across the country, and a comparative analysis is conducted on the combination elements, operational processes, and applicable conditions of each model. The research findings are as follows: (1) Urban inefficient land redevelopment is a complex process nested by external factors such as "region-policy-plot-land user" and internal factors such as "subject-material-right-measure", guided by the demands of multiple subjects and driven by differentiated mechanism architectures. (2) From the perspective of the relationship between the government and the market, the models of urban inefficient land redevelopment mainly include government system supply-enterprise-led autonomous transformation by the original land user, government information communication-enterprise participation-transactional transformation by the original land user, government resource allocation-government-enterprise cooperation-government acquisition and transfer transformation, and government function dominance-full-cycle participation-independent acquisition and transformation. (3) The models of urban inefficient land redevelopment have different operational processes and specific applicable conditions, and reflect the differentiated driving forces of an active government and an effective market. In the process of promotion and application, they should be selected and used based on local conditions. This study reveals the common laws of urban inefficient land redevelopment under different conditions, providing important theoretical basis and practical implications for the continuous advancement of urban renewal and urban inefficient land redevelopment.
National parks, as pivotal platforms for safeguarding biodiversity, sustaining ecosystem services, and propelling sustainable development, are progressively evolving into comprehensive platforms that integrate ecological conservation, recreation, education, and science research. Nature study travel, a novel form of activity that integrates nature education with study travel, aims to guide visitors in observing, learning, and experiencing natural ecosystems to enhance their environmental awareness and ecological literacy. The functional positioning of national parks is congruent with the objectives of nature study travel, thereby enabling national parks to provide ample natural resources as a foundation for such activities while concurrently offering suitable spatial and facility support for their implementation. A systematic review of domestic and international theories and research progress on the educational utilization, recreational utilization of national parks, and study travel was conducted to inform the development of a national park nature study travel system framework. This framework comprises four major components: resources and products, operations and management, stakeholders, and support and safeguards. The text subsequently provides a synopsis of the salient research issues, including resource survey and assessment, product design, activity processes and educational effects, multi-party collaboration and community integration, institutional systems and operational performance. Finally, it proposes practical pathways for nature study travel in national parks, tailoring these pathways to China's national conditions. The objective of this study is twofold: first, to furnish the academic community with insights and inspiration; and second, to offer a scientific basis and decision-making support for the optimization of multiple functions and the institutional development of China's national parks.
The integrated development of culture and tourism is a central pillar in both the policy framework and the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt. Taking the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt as a quasi-natural experiment with unique research value, this study utilizes provincial panel data covering the period from 2012 to 2023 and applies the Difference-in-Differences method to examine the policy effects and the underlying mechanisms through which the initiative has influenced the regional integration of culture and tourism. The level of integrated culture-tourism development is measured using a coupling coordination model, which is predicated on composite scores of the cultural development system and the tourism development system, respectively. These composite scores are computed using the CRITIC weighting method. The findings indicate that the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt significantly promoted the integrated development of culture and tourism across regions. Furthermore, the policy primarily drives such integration in an indirect manner through technological upgrading and industrial agglomeration, which together enhance the overall capacity and coordination of the culture-tourism sector. The policy effects are not uniform across regions. Stronger impacts are observed in non-municipality provinces, southern provinces, and areas with relatively low levels of resource endowment and economic development. This heterogeneity suggests that the policy may play a more catalytic role in regions with comparatively weak development foundations, helping to narrow gaps in regional development. Although a certain degree of spatial correlation is evident across the provincial-level regions along the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, the results of the analysis do not support the existence of direct geographical spillover effects. The research findings and policy recommendations presented in this paper hold significant reference value for government departments in optimizing the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, enhancing the integration of culture and tourism, and refining related policies to improve their effectiveness.
Against the backdrop of digital-driven industrial ecosystem reconstruction, this study explores how collaborative agglomeration of digital and tourism industries impacts cultural-tourism (CT) integration, with the aim of identifying pathways that transcend traditional development models and foster new poles of high-quality growth. This study employs China's provincial panel data (2012-2022), applying methods such as the coupling coordination degree model, spatial econometric model, and Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR). Key findings are: (1) The collaborative agglomeration shows an imbalanced pattern characterized by an initial "high in the east, low in the west" distribution, which later evolved into an intensified core-periphery structure. Early advantages in eastern coastal areas, driven by technology and policy, were subsequently moderated by technology diffusion, reducing inter-regional disparities. (2) This agglomeration promotes CT integration through a "local reinforcement and neighboring spillover" effect, with the strongest impacts in the eastern region and southeast of the Hu Huanyong Line. GTWR results further reveal that the western region, leveraging its resource endowment and the "East Data, West Computing" project, experiences a growing promotional effect. Conversely, the eastern region's advantage is reinforced through advanced digital applications in the later stage. (3) Threshold effects show no significant nonlinearity, with stable growth. Spatially, areas of Southeast Hu Huanyong Line have obvious synergy (backed by industrial foundations and policies), while central and western regions are hindered by weak technology and infrastructure. Notably, the west has a stronger spatial spillover effect, benefiting from "East Data, West Computing" cost advantages and rich cultural-ecological resources. This study enriches the CT integration theoretical framework and supports regional coordinated development policies. Therefore, it is vital to strengthen inter-regional technological cooperation, optimize the layout of digital infrastructure, and promote a two-way flow of "data-culture" elements to enhance national cultural-tourism integration.
The combined supply of natural resource assets is an important pathway and policy innovation for exercising the ownership responsibilities of resources held in common by all citizens and for achieving their value preservation and appreciation. Using the first "asset package" transaction in Jiujiang city, Jiangxi province as a case study, this research builds an analytical framework based on nudge theory. It analyzes how different actors applied nudging mechanisms to promote the combined supply policy from its initial conception to gradual refinement. The findings indicate two main points. Firstly, combined supply enables the synergy of multiple resource rights and functions, achieving cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and sustainability in resource use. Secondly, throughout the policy's evolution, its promoters adopted several nudging tools, including motivation, trade-off clarification, default options, feedback mechanisms, error prediction, and structural simplification, to guide stakeholders through the participatory process. In the policy conception stage, the central and provincial governments explored feasible pathways for realizing the value of state-owned natural resources. They used institutional incentives and information resources to encourage the municipal government to innovate policy design. In the implementation stage, the municipal government optimized the configuration of asset-package rights to align with market demand and simplified transaction procedures to facilitate enterprise participation. In the improvement stage, positive feedback from the upper-level governments strengthened property-rights protection and post-supply supervision mechanisms. Meanwhile, the municipal government adjusted the distribution of benefits and responsibilities through a benefit-sharing mechanism, thereby motivating county-level governments to enhance their oversight. As a result, the combined supply system reached an initial stage of institutional improvement. This study extends the application of nudge theory to the domain of natural resource management. By doing so, it uncovers the behavioral logic and internal mechanisms of combined supply practices, thereby informing the design and refinement of related policy frameworks.
With the advancement of the natural resource asset property rights system reform, the realization of the value of natural resource assets has gradually become a focal point of social attention. Based on the perspective of "asset-capital-funds" transformation, this paper constructs a theoretical framework for the assessment, price formation, and value realization of natural resource assets. It divides asset value into direct and indirect use values and combines asset value assessment with capital accounting methods to empirically analyze the degree of value realization of natural resource assets in Ankang city. The study finds that: (1) The value of natural resource assets in Ankang city is 4.768 trillion yuan, with direct use value amounting for 636.81 billion yuan, primarily from land resources (54.04%) and forest resources (35.51%); the indirect use value is 206.57 billion yuan, discounted to 4.131 trillion yuan, mainly from climate regulation (40.70%), water conservation (35.12%), and cultural services (12.14%). (2) Through market transactions, ecological compensation, and concession transactions, the capital of Ankang's natural resource assets is calculated to be 1.457 trillion yuan. (3) The annual cash realization of Ankang city's natural resource asset value is 62.26 billion yuan, discounted to 1.187 trillion yuan, with the realization shares through market transactions, concessions, and ecological compensation accounting for 53.68%, 42.17%, and 4.16%, respectively. (4) There is still room for improvement in the realization of the value of natural resource assets in Ankang, with the broad (capitalized) realization degree at 30.56% and the narrow (funded) realization degree at 24.94%. This study provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for promoting the realization of natural resource asset value.
Based on a systematic accounting of carbon sources and sinks, exploring carbon balance zoning and regulatory strategies is crucial for carbon regulation and the implementation of the carbon neutrality strategy. Practicing the concept of "prioritizing ecological conservation over excessive development" in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), a systematic carbon source/sink accounting framework was constructed, the detailed characteristics of carbon sources and sinks were revealed, and a carbon balance zoning scheme and its regulation strategies were proposed. The results showed that: (1) From 2005 to 2022, the YREB's carbon deficit worsened. Carbon emissions rose from 2.786 to 4.684 billion tons, while carbon sinks increased from 1.277 to 1.516 billion tons. Significant regional disparities in carbon sources and sinks existed, with the carbon balance rate showing a trend of downstream<midstream<upstream. (2) The proportions of carbon emissions from various sectors were as follows: energy combustion (70.17%), industrial production processes (14.87%), agricultural activities (7.75%), human respiration (4.21%), and waste disposal (3.00%). In terms of the types of carbon sinks, agricultural carbon sinks accounted for 63.15% (taking into account the short-term effects of agricultural carbon sinks), and ecological carbon sinks accounted for 36.85%. It was recommended to establish 45 carbon source development zones, including 7 low-carbon development demonstration zones such as Shanghai, 18 low-carbon transformation and optimization zones such as Taizhou, and 20 high-carbon control and optimization zones such as Anshun. Additionally, 85 carbon sink protection zones should be set up, consisting of 4 green carbon sink demonstration zones such as Shennongjia Forest Area, 15 key carbon sink function zones such as Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, 34 green carbon sink development zones such as Chenzhou, and 32 strict carbon sink protection zones such as Zhangjiajie. Differential regulation strategies should be implemented under the guidance of the principle of "adhering to high-quality development in carbon source development zones and implementing high-level protection in carbon sink protection zones" according to the characteristics of carbon sources and sinks and carbon balance zoning, so as to enhance the economic contribution of carbon sources and the ecological contribution of carbon sinks.
The high-quality development of the forestry biomass energy industry is a strategic pathway for China to achieve the synergy between resource protection and energy security. This study elaborates on the basic connotation of high-quality development in the forestry biomass energy industry from four dimensions: ecological resource utilization, collaborative energy supply, inclusive industrial development, and diversified energy demand. It examines the resource foundation, technological status, and industrialization challenges of China's forestry biomass energy industry. Guided by theories of ecological carrying capacity, industrial value chain, ecological compensation, and energy rebound, it explores the theoretical logic of using the industry's high-quality development to achieve the synergy between resource protection and energy security, thereby providing comprehensive coverage of the four fundamental dimensions. We propose a practical path for promoting the high-quality development of the forestry biomass energy industry and enhancing the synergy between resource protection and energy security from both industrial and governance perspectives. We aim to: (1) establish a resource security and efficient utilization mechanism grounded in the "Two Mountains Theory" and the principle of energy conservation prioritization; (2) build an energy security and efficient supply system that leverages inter-chain collaboration to enhance factor complementarity; (3) develop a collaborative governance system focused on livelihood concerns, designed to benefit, facilitate, and ensure the well-being of the people; (4) improve the diversified energy support and guarantee system through technological innovation to better meet end-user demands; (5) create a comprehensive full-chain policy support system driven by institutional innovation to facilitate high-quality industrial development.
The security of forest land property rights constitutes the institutional foundation for sustainable production practices among forest farmers, while their green production behaviors are a direct manifestation of such practices. This research examined the mechanisms through which different dimensions of land property rights security—legal, factual, and perceptual—affect the green production behavior of forest farmers, to provide insights for advancing the reform of the collective forest rights system. Grounded in theories of property rights and household behavior, this study employed Logit and Ologit models, utilizing 2023 survey data from 655 households in the collective forest areas of Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces. The research investigated the impact of these dimensions of forest land property security on the probabilities and the extent of green production technology adoption by forest farmers. It further assessed the moderating effects of forestry technical training and village regulations. The findings indicated that: (1) 69% of forest farmers engaged in green production practices, with an average of 0.88 green forestry technologies adopted. (2) The legal, factual, and perceptual dimensions of forest property rights security had a significant positive impact on the probability and extent of forest farmers' adoption of green production technology. (3) Forestry technical training and village regulations significantly and positively moderated the impact of legal, factual, and perceptual property rights security on the likelihood of green production technology adoption by forest farmers. Finally, the study revealed that the impact of property security was not uniform across forest farmers, with those having higher forestry income and smaller land holdings being more sensitive to the effects of land property security. In conclusion, to promote the transformation and modernization of forestry production, it was essential to improve the forest land property rights system while enhancing green production training and strengthing village regulations. These coordinated efforts would foster a conducive environment for green development in forestry.
As broad societal participation is essential for national park construction, it is significant to assess how farmer household involvement impacts both household income and the ecological environment. This assessment is crucial for advancing ecological civilization, consolidating poverty alleviation achievements, and achieving common prosperity. This paper classified the forms of farmer household participation in national park construction into three types, namely, ecological protection, development planning and business and employment participation, and analysed the impact of farmer household participation in national park construction on household income and the ecological environment, based on survey data from 804 farmer households in the Qinling area of the Giant Panda National Park through the seven matching methods of the Propensity Score Matching Model (PSM). The study found that farmer household participation in national park construction could achieve the dual objectives of income increase and ecological protection, and this conclusion still held after a series of robustness tests and endogeneity analyses. In terms of mode, ecological protection participation and business employment participation were important paths to achieve a win-win situation for both income increase and ecological protection. From the perspective of income level, the participation of farmers in national park construction had the characteristic of 'benefiting the poor but not benefiting the rich', and the participation of low-income farmers in national park construction had a stronger effect on the total income of the family and the ecological environment than that of the high-income farmers, and the participation in ecological protection was an important way for low-income farmers to increase their income and improve the ecological environment. As the level of participation in national park construction deepened, total household income demonstrated an inverted U-shaped relationship, initially increasing and then decreasing. In contrast, the ecological environment showed a significant positive correlation with participation. Accordingly, this paper proposed recommendations in three aspects: providing diversified incentives for farmers' participation, implementing differentiated assistance strategies, and establishing a long-term feedback mechanism.
Consolidating the achievements of poverty alleviation is the cornerstone for China's modernization and common prosperity. Based on the data of 1029 households from 56 communities in 13 counties of three cities in Southern Shaanxi in 2023, an evaluation system for the stability of poverty alleviation was constructed, covering economic conditions, development capabilities, and the risk of returning to poverty. The dual critical value method and the quasi-natural experiment method were comprehensively applied to assess the impact of urban centralized resettlement on the stability of poverty alleviation for relocated households. The research findings were as follows: (1) Relocation for poverty alleviation significantly enhanced the stability of poverty alleviation for households, with participation in social insurance, natural disasters, and total income being the key factors. (2) The contribution rates of the three dimensions to the stability of poverty alleviation showed a gradient difference, with economic conditions>risk of returning to poverty>development capabilities. (3) Overall, the positive effects of urban centralized resettlement on improving the economic conditions and development capabilities of households significantly outweighed the negative impact of an increased risk of returning to poverty, demonstrating better stability of poverty alleviation compared to rural resettlement. This conclusion remained valid after the robustness test of sensitivity analysis. Households adopting non-agricultural livelihood strategies and those resettled for more than two years benefited more significantly from urban centralized resettlement. The follow-up support policies for the relocation for poverty alleviation project should continue to leverage the advantages of both urban and rural resettlement, focusing on strengthening economic support and the cultivation of development capabilities, establishing and improving the social security system, and reducing the risk of returning to poverty. At the same time, the urban centralized resettlement strategy should be optimized, and the long-term effects should be considered. Differentiated policy support measures should be formulated based on the needs of different household groups.
Taking the wavy plain area in the Northern Liaohe River Basin as the research area, this study meticulously employed the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model and multi-scale fusion model to conduct an in-depth comparative analysis of the resilience of cultivated land ecosystems in 2012 and 2022. The PSR model captured complex interactions among resilience factors, while the multi-scale fusion model integrated multi-source data including remote sensing, in-situ observations, and socio-economic statistics for accurate assessment. The results clearly showed that the scores of the ecological subsystem and socio-economic subsystem of cultivated land in 2012 were 60.19 and 24.08 respectively, and in 2022, they were 60.15 and 22.61. When considering natural conditions, the restoration capacity of cultivated land in the study area in 2022 was markedly improved compared to 2012. This improvement might be attributed to factors such as enhanced soil quality through better management practices, a more stable climate, and optimized water-use efficiency. However, under the influence of socio-economic conditions, the resilience of cultivated land in 2022 was lower than that in 2012. The increasing population density, rapid urbanization, and changes in farming methods were likely the main causes. For instance, urban expansion led to the reduction of arable land area, and the over-reliance on chemical inputs in agriculture degraded the soil environment. In 2012, the comprehensive resilience score of cultivated land was 42.14, showing a distribution pattern of lower values in the central region and higher values in the eastern and western regions. In 2022, the score was 41.38, with an opposite distribution pattern. Over the past 10 years, overall resilience remained at a medium level, while the central region improved substantially. This improvement likely resulted from beneficial measures including land renovation projects, popularization of advanced agricultural technologies, and enhanced irrigation systems. The study provided a theoretical and methodological reference for evaluating cultivated land ecosystem restoration in the wavy plain area of the Northern Liaohe River Basin. It provided valuable insights for local policymakers and agricultural researchers to develop more effective strategies for cultivated land protection and sustainable development.
The preservation and spatial reconstruction of historical and cultural heritage are vital for enhancing national cultural soft power and cultural confidence. However, such efforts are often hindered by incomplete or missing historical data, especially when sites no longer exist and can only be inferred from fragmented texts or visual references. To address this challenge, this study proposes a knowledge graph-driven approach to three-dimensional (3D) spatial reconstruction of historical heritage, specifically for scenarios inferred from classical literary works. Our method begins with the semantic extraction of architectural entities and spatial relationships from narratives, emphasizing the "entity-relation" structure. A classical architectural knowledge graph encodes key features such as building types, functions, stylistic elements, and spatial layouts, serving as the basis for generating historically informed models. By integrating textual architectural parameters with contextual environmental features, we construct 3D models that simulate the original spatial form with structural coherence and stylistic authenticity. We further perform spatial clustering based on architectural attributes within the graph, reflecting functional and stylistic groupings that align with historical logic. Moreover, a multi-channel control mechanism guides fine-grained editing and re-rendering of architectural details, informed by spatial structure and aesthetic constraints from historical context. A case study of the Grand View Garden from The Story of the Stone demonstrates our approach: a domain-specific knowledge graph guides 3D reconstruction of both micro-level details and macro-level layouts, effectively restoring the novel's historical ambiance and architectural diversity. This research provides a novel framework for digital reconstruction of cultural heritage under data scarcity and offers a promising direction for integrating literary humanities with computational modeling in cultural preservation and public engagement.
