Hollow Villages and Rural Restructuring in Major Rural Regions of China: A Case Study of Yucheng City, Shandong Province

The agricultural land resources of China are relatively limited because of its large population.Therefore,balancing the land use for industrialization,urbanization,and food security is a big challenge.In recent years,rural hollowing in China has resulted in numerous of abandoned rural houses,and the areas with abandoned houses need to be restored into agricultural land with effective land consolidation techniques.This study used the method of benefit-cost analysis and the data collected through field surveys conducted in Yucheng City in the northwest of Shandong Province in March 2009,to examine how hollow villages (HVs) to be created and how to solve the problem.The qualitative and quantitative analyses indicate following results.1) The situation of HVs is becoming increasingly severe under rapid industrialization and urbanization in Yucheng City.2) Poor infrastructure in rural areas and incomplete urbanization are the main factors that have led to the rural hollowing in many major rural regions of China.3) In order to resolve the problem caused by HVs and increase agricultural land,reconstructing rural communities in the countryside is necessary.4) A new mechanism in the provision of compensation funds by developed regions to the villages in less-developed regions must be established.

Land consolidation： An indispensable way of spatial restructuring in rural China

The implementation of new type industrialization and urbanization and agricultural modernization strategies lacks of a major hand grip and spatial supporting platform, due to long-term existed ＂dual-track＂ structure of rural-urban development in China as well as un- stable rural development institution and mechanism. It is necessary to restructure rural pro- duction, living and ecological space by carrying out land consolidation, so as to establish a new platform for building new countryside and realizing urban-rural integration development in China. This paper develops the concept and connotation of rural spatial restructuring. Basing on the effects analysis of industrialization and urbanization on rural production, living and ecological space, the mechanism of pushing forward rural spatial restructuring by carry- ing out land consolidation is probed. A conceptualization of the models of rural production, living and ecological spatial restructuring is analyzed combining with agricultural land con- solidation, hollowed villages consolidation and industrial and mining land consolidation. Fi- nally, the author argues that a ＂bottom-up＂ restructuring strategy accompanied by a few ＂top-down＂ elements is helpful for smoothly pushing forward rural spatial restructuring in China. In addition, the optimization and restructuring of rural production, living and ecological space will rely on the innovations of regional engineering technology, policy and mechanism, and mode of rural land consolidation, and more attentions should be paid to rural space, the foundation base and platform for realizing urban-rural integration development.

Rural restructuring in China： Theory, approaches and research prospect

Rural restructuring is a process of reshaping socio-economic morphology and spatial pattern in rural territory in response to the changes of elements both in kernel system and external system of rural development, by optimally allocating and efficiently managing the material and non-material elements in the two systems. It aims at ultimately optimizing the structure and promoting the function within rural territorial system as well as realizing the coordination of structure and complementation of function between urban and rural territorial system. This paper establishes a theoretical framework of rural restructuring through elabo- rating the concept and connotations as well as analyzing the mechanism pushing forward rural restructuring based on the evolution of ＂elements-structure-function＂, and probes the approaches from the three aspects of spatial restructuring, economic restructuring and social restructuring. Besides, the authors argue that the study of rural restructuring in China in the future needs to focus on the aspects of long-term and multi-scale process and pattern, mechanism, regional models, rural planning technology system and standard, policy and institutional innovations concerning rural restructuring as well as the impacts of globalization on rural restructuring, in order to serve the current national strategic demands and cope with the changes of rural development elements in the process of urban-rural development transformation.

A strategy of the rural governance for territorial spatial planning in China

Rural spatial governance has become an important part of the spatial governance system under the unified management of urban and rural spaces.In-depth theoretical and practical research on rural spatial governance in terms of promoting national spatial planning can help improve the planning and regulation system of rural space.Beginning with a description of rural spatial governance,this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework of rural spatial governance based on the comprehensive perspective of spatial governance.The study also discusses the internal processes and feasible paths of rural spatial governance in territorial spatial planning and outlines the theoretical and practical research for enhancing rural spatial governance.The conclusions are as follows:(1)Rural spatial governance starts with the coordination theory of human-land relationships in the rural regional system.Through planning and negotiation,governance has effective regulation of rural space and allocates spatial rights in an orderly manner.Rural spatial governance highlights the comprehensive governance processes that combine"top-down"and"bottom-up"participation by multiple subjects.(2)Through the"action-efficiency-target"system,the comprehensive governance analysis framework of"matter-organization-ownership"in rural space provides an effective scheme for constructing rural spatial governance.Rural spatial governance is characterized by both rigidity and flexibility,the interaction between physical space and spatial relationships,and the superposition of spatial ownership and spatial organization.(3)The rural spatial governance features of interconnecting various scales(regional–village–plot)are conducive to improving the rural spatial governance system.(4)The governance means,participation modes,and value-sharing mechanisms of rural spatial governance help enrich the territorial spatial planning system,promote the integration of multiple regulations,refine the regulation of land use,and ensure good rural governance and ecological governance.

Development of land use transitions research in China

With the introduction of the concept of land use transition into China,related researches have been carried out extensively in the past two decades,which enrich the knowledge of land system science.This paper describes the development of research on land use transitions in China from the perspectives of conceptual connotations,theoretical model,research methods,and research progress and prospects.With the in-depth investigation of land use transitions,the concept and connotations of land use morphology are developed and encapsulated as two kinds,i.e.,dominant morphology and recessive morphology.The dominant morphology refers to the land use structure of a certain region over a certain period of time,with features such as the quantity and spatial pattern of land use types.While the recessive morphology includes the land use features in the aspects of quality,property rights,management mode,input,output and function.Accordingly,the concept of land use transition is further developed,and the theoretical model of regional land use transitions is established.Thereafter,three innovative integrated approaches to study land use transitions are put forward,i.e.,multidisciplinary research framework for recessive land use transition,transect and horizontal comparison.To date,there have been 62 Ph.D.and 166 M.S.dissertations on the topic of"land use transition"in China.During 2002–2019,the National Natural Science Foundation of China has funded 48 research programs on the theme of"land use transition".As such,the Chinese scholars have adapted the concept derived from western literature to the situations and experiences in China.