Farmers′ Perception to Farmland Conversion: A Questionnaire Survey in Xining City, Qinghai Province, China

China is experiencing a fast process of farmland conversion which is conducted mainly by local governments to fuel economic development.Social tension is aroused and policy makers take great concerns on coordinating interests among different stakeholders,especially for increasing farmers′ interest.The purpose of this study is to get some insights related to land acquisition institution by exploring farmers′ perception to farmland conversion.Participatory Rural Appraisal(PRA) was applied for the investigation in peri-urban area,of Xining City,Qinghai Province,China.The total of 519 householders from 15 villages completed valid questionnaire survey from July to November,2012.The results indicate that farmland conversion has several impacts on farmers′ life.Most farmers are gradually adapting to city life.Higher living expenses and more income are perceived by farmers with average score of 4.21 and 2.69,respectively.The average scores of 2.38 and 2.46 are for improvement of life security and more job opportunities.Farmers expect to get some stable ways of compensation in addition to lump-sum compensation in cash.Stable subsidies every year and obtaining same number of land received strong proposal.And these two options are cited by 49.6% and 43.9% of respondents.Farmland conversion brings about cleaner living condition and more amenities,but lower air visibility and drier air.Results reflect landless farmers′ economic and life pressures and various demands.Local government should pay more attention to increase farmers′ income and improve rural security system.

Dynamic Assessment of Spatiotemporal Population Distribution Based on Mobile Phone Data: A Case Study in Xining City,China

High-resolution,dynamic assessments of the spatiotemporal distributions of populations are critical for urban planning and disaster management.Mobile phone big data have real-time collection,wide coverage,and high resolution advantages and can thus be used to characterize human activities and population distributions at fne spatiotemporal scales.Based on six days of mobile phone user-location signal(MPLS)data,we assessed the dynamic spatiotemporal distribution of the population of Xining City,Qinghai Province,China.The results show that strong temporal regularity exists in the daily activities of local residents.The spatiotemporal distribution of the local population showed a signifcant downtown-suburban attenuation pattern.Factors such as land use types,holidays,and seasons signifcantly afect the spatiotemporal patterns of the local population.By combining other spatiotemporal trajectory data,high-resolution and dynamic real-time population distribution evaluations based on mobile phone location signals could be better developed and improved for use in urban management and disaster assessment research.

Effectiveness of Land Use Structure Evolution to Industrial Structure Transformation

Scarcity of land resources and transformation of industrial structure is a pair of contradictory elements.We derive the characteristics of land use structure and industrial structure transformation in Xining City using Transformation Coefficient(TC):first,in the period 1999-2000,the land use structure coefficient(θ1) declined by 79.55%,but the overall evolution trend is gentle;second,the transformation coefficient of industrial structure(θ2) tended to decline ceaselessly on the whole,a decrease of 36.09%(overall,the transformation coefficient of industrial structure is slightly greater than the land use structure coefficient);third,the inter-annual variation of the two experienced ups and downs(in the period 1999-2007,the inter-annual variation was great and in the period 2008-2010,the inter-annual variation tended to be gentle).On the basis of autocorrelation and co-integration model,we draw the following conclusions through analysis:first,the land use structure in Xining City plays a role in promoting industrial structure transformation;second,there is a long-term equilibrium relationship between the two.Finally,relevant policy recommendations are put forward for the industrial development in Xining City.