Mapping and measuring urban-rural inequalities in accessibility to social infrastructures

Equal access to social infrastructures is a fundamental prerequisite for sustainable development,but has long been a great challenge worldwide.Previous studies have primarily focused on the accessibility to social infras-tructures in urban areas across various scales,with less attention to rural areas,where inequality can be more severe.Particularly,few have investigated the disparities of accessibility to social infrastructures between urban and rural areas.Here,using the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration,China,as an example,we investigated the inequality of accessibility in both urban and rural areas,and further compared the urban-rural difference.Accessibility was measured by travel time of residents to infrastructures.We selected four types of social infrastructures including supermarkets,bus stops,primary schools,and health care,which were funda-mentally important to both urban and rural residents.We found large disparities in accessibility between urban and rural areas,ranging from 20 min to 2 h.Rural residents had to spend one to two more hours to bus stops than urban residents,and 20 min more to the other three types of infrastructures.Furthermore,accessibility to multiple infrastructures showed greater urban-rural differences.Rural residents in more than half of the towns had no access to any infrastructure within 15 min,while more than 60%of the urban residents could access to all infrastructures within 15 min.Our results revealed quantitative accessibility gap between urban and rural areas and underscored the necessity of social infrastructures planning to address such disparities.

Spatial Distribution Pattern and Influencing Factors of Bed-and-breakfasts(B&Bs)from the Perspective of Urban-rural Differences:A Case Study of Jiaodong Peninsula,China

There are significant differences between urban and rural bed-and-breakfasts(B&Bs)in terms of customer positioning,economic strength and spatial carrier.Accurately identifying the differences in spatial characteristics and influencing factors of each type,is essential for creating urban and rural B&B agglomeration areas.This study used density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise(DBSCAN)and the multi-scale geographically weighted regression(MGWR)model to explore similarities and differences in the spatial distribution patterns and influencing factors for urban and rural B&Bs on the Jiaodong Peninsula of China from 2010 to 2022.The results showed that:1)both urban and rural B&Bs in Jiaodong Peninsula went through three stages:a slow start from 2010 to 2015,rapid development from 2015 to 2019,and hindered development from 2019 to 2022.However,urban B&Bs demonstrated a higher development speed and agglomeration intensity,leading to an increasingly evident trend of uneven development between the two sectors.2)The clustering scale of both urban and rural B&Bs continued to expand in terms of quantity and volume.Urban B&B clusters characterized by a limited number,but a higher likelihood of transitioning from low-level to high-level clusters.While the number of rural B&B clusters steadily increased over time,their clustering scale was comparatively lower than that of urban B&Bs,and they lacked the presence of high-level clustering.3)In terms of development direction,urban B&B clusters exhibited a relatively stable pattern and evolved into high-level clustering centers within the main urban areas.Conversely,rural B&Bs exhibited a more pronounced spatial diffusion effect,with clusters showing a trend of multi-center development along the coastline.4)Transport emerged as a common influencing factor for both urban and rural B&Bs,with the density of road network having the strongest explanatory power for their spatial distribution.In terms of differences,population agglomeration had a positive impact on the distribution of urban B&Bs and a negative effect on the distribution of rural B&Bs.Rural B&Bs clustering was more influenced by tourism resources compared with urban B&Bs,but increasing tourist stay duration remains an urgent issue to be addressed.The findings of this study could provide a more precise basis for government planning and management of urban and rural B&B agglomeration areas.

Development of Sustainable Urban-Rural Integration:Dongtan Case Study

The environmental impact issues,such as global warming and expansion of the urban zone,seem more serious and have become the biggest defining challenges of the 21st century.Climate change can lead to water shortages,desertification,land degradation,air pollution,rising sea levels,accelerated deforestation,and exacerbated economic pressures.Global urban growth greatly impacts changes in sociability,humanity,and the environment of the Earth.The human presence,especially in cities,seriously affects resource use and waste disposal,and they are consuming natural resources faster than the planet can sustain during urbanization,changing how people live.China,with a population of 1.3 billion,has seen tens of millions of people living in the countryside migrate to cities,especially megacities,since the 1980s.As a result of its decision to industrialize and urbanize to boost the economy,China has become the world’s second-largest consumer of energy.In recent years,China’s government has quickly recognized the lessons of“limits to growth”and has taken action by initiating the construction process in Dongtan,Shanghai,China.They are making efforts to build urban-rural integration communities to promote sustainable development.Based on a literature review focusing on Dongtan,research questions are raised according to the research objective:(1)What are the challenges of sustainable development in urban-rural integration?(2)What practices has Dongtan implemented for sustainable development,or how is sustainable development being applied to Dongtan?(3)What are the social,political,environmental,and economic concerns regarding the sustainable development of Dongtan?The sustainable urban-rural integration concerns the ecological,economic,environmental,and psychological aspects of urban-rural integration design and management.The overall objective is to promote sustainable development in economic,social,ecological,and spatial dimensions.It will be a liveable,complete community that makes economic,environmental,and social sense locally while also contributing to national and global sustainable development.It will serve as a compelling model for how to build sustainable urban-rural integration worldwide.

Conservation-minded Urban Green Space System Planning in the Urban-rural Integration

Environmental and ecological problems in the urban-rural integration were analyzed, characteristics of urban green space system introduced, such as excellent landscape eco-structure, distinctive historical and humanistic features, and diversified natural landscape resources, and also challenges pointed out. Evolution, overall spatial structure and conservation concept of conservation-minded urban green space system planning were elaborated, on the basis of which the evaluation system of conservation-minded urban green space system was studied, and it was proposed that mutual relationship between impact factors of compound value and qualitative evaluation factors should be taken into consideration as a whole in evaluating conservation effects of green space system. Quantitative evaluation indexes and qualitative evaluation measures were analyzed, an objective and precise evaluation system for the conservation-minded urban green space system was established by combining qualitative and quantitative analysis to improve ecological environment during the urbanization, and fully show planning concepts of conservation-minded green space system.

Study on the Modes and Strategies of Integrated Urban-Rural Construction

The connotation of urban-rural integration,its construction courses,construction modes in China and abroad are introduced in this study,the problems emerging from the urban-rural integration practices are analyzed,and strategies for the urban-rural integration in China are proposed.

Review on Practical Models of Urban-Rural Integration in China

Urban-rural integration is important for urbanization and strengthening of urban and rural development in China. Since the third session of the 16th National Committee, the model is still at experimental stage, although with some progress. Hence, it is necessary to make a summary on some typical experience of urban-ru- ral integration, in order to provide references for further exploration.

Characterization of Soil Quality Under Vegetable Production Along an Urban-Rural Gradient

Human activity and urbanization result in urban-rural environmental gradients. Understanding effect of the gradients on soil properties is necessary for management of the soils around urban areas. In this study, soil quality of some vegetable fields was characterized along an urban-rural gradient in Shaoxing County, Zhejiang Province. Fifteen soil physical and chemical properties were evaluated by using principal component analysis.Results showed that there was a great variation in the soil quality along the gradient. From rural to urban zones, soil organic matter, water-stable aggregates, cation exchangeable capacity (CEC), total N and P, and available K increased, whereas soil pH value decreased. In addition, Pb, Cu, Ni, Co, Zn and Cr in the soils tended to be accumulated toward the urban zone. Sequential chemical extraction showed that mobility of all the heavy metals in the soils tended to increase from the rural to the urban zones. The variation of soil properties accounted for by the first principal component was significantly explained by the difference in application rates of municipal wastes.

AN OVERVIEW ON THE URBAN-RURAL INTERACTION IN THE PAST 50 YEARS IN CHINA

China is a country with a long history of agricultural development,the tr adition of bureaucratic administra-tion and economic management system s for the social development.In its t ransition from traditional society to modern soci-ety during the past 50years,the rela tions between rural areas and urban a reas have been kept abnormal if considered from the point of view of the modernized co untries.Today,China still has its more than 70percent of population,bu t limited capital,lower technology and underdeveloped culture,in the rural areas.This unbalance forms not only the o bstacles to China’s modernization of social development,but also the barriers to th e society,economy and environment sustainable devel-opment.This paper focuses on the dis cussion about the coordinate develo pment of the relations between rural and urban in the past 50years,and the authors hold that only has the abnormal relation between the two areas been corrected,could China’s future development of natio nal economy be successful.

Spatial Boundary Definition of Urban-rural Fringe in Beijing City

Through reviewing domestic and overseas literatures about the definition of urban-rural fringe,it can be found that the combination of qualitative and quantitative definition methods has become a dominant one.This paper makes out the principle and basis,uses the data of villages and towns,and establishes an index system from three angles:population,land use and landscape.And then the gravitational model is applied to define the urban-rural fringe with Beijing as an example.

Effects of land use change on the spatiotemporal variability of soil organic carbon in an urban-rural ecotone of Beijing,China

Understanding the effects of land use changes on the spatiotemporal variation of soil organic carbon （SOC） can provide guidance for low carbon and sustainable agriculture. In this paper, based on the large-scale datasets of soil surveys in 1982 and 2009 for Pinggu District -- an urban-rural ecotone of Beijing, China, the effects of land use and land use changes on both temporal variation and spatial variation of SOC were analyzed. Results showed that from 1982 to 2009 in Pinggu District, the following land use change mainly occurred： Grain cropland converted to orchard or vegetable land, and grassland converted to forestland. The SOC content decreased in region where the land use type changed to grain cropland （e.g., vegetable land to grain cropland decreased by 0.7 g kg-1; orchard to grain cropland decreased by 0.2 g kg-l）. In contrast, the SOC content increased in region where the land use type changed to either orchard （excluding forestland） or forestland （e.g., grain cropland to orchard and forestland increased by 2.7 and 2.4 g kg-1, respectively; grassland to orchard and forestland increased by 4.8 and 4.9 g kg-1, respectively）. The organic carbon accumulation capacity per unit mass of the soil increased in the following order： grain cropland soil〈vegetable land/grassland soil〈orchard soil〈forestland soil. Therefore, to both secure supply of agricultural products and develop low carbon agriculture in a modern city, orchard has proven to be a good choice for land using.

Development Path of Urban-rural Integration

The urban and rural areas are regarded as two major components of the regional economic system. Only through joint balanced development of the two can we achieve overall economic optimization and social welfare maximization. But the great social division of labor has separated urban areas from rural areas,which casts the shadow of city-oriented theory on cooperative relations between urban and rural areas. Mutual separation between urban and rural settlements and independent development trigger off a range of social problems. We must undertake guidance through rational development path of urban-rural integration,to eliminate the phenomenon of urban-rural dual structure,and promote the sustainable development of population,resources and environment in urban and rural areas as soon as possible.

Restrictions and Countermeasures of Rural Vocational Education in Urban-rural Integration

Developing rural vocational education is of great significance to urban-rural integration: developing rural vocational education is helpful to cultivating new farmers for construction of new socialist countryside,favorable to improving farmers' ability of finding jobs and starting undertaking, and beneficial to transfer of rural surplus labor and acceleration of urbanization. Restrictions on development rural vocational education mainly include: low value cognition of society and social assessment of rural vocational education; out of balance of cost and expected return of rural vocational education; the quality of supply of rural vocational education failure to satisfy demand of socio-economic development; imperfect rural vocational education system. In view of these,following countermeasures and suggestions are put forward: strengthen propaganda and guidance to build environment of public opinion for rural vocational education; push forward rural vocational compulsory education system to lay social foundation for rural vocational education; reinforce policy support to assist in building rural vocational education system; improve education system to build overall framework of rural vocational education; perfect laws and regulations to establish system and norm for development of rural vocational education.

Chinese Rural labors Transfer under the Coordination of Urban-Rural Development

The strategic significance of Chinese rural labor transfer is expounded.It is conducive to solving the three agricultural problems concerning agriculture,rural areas,and farmers and coordinating the urban and rural development;promoting the rational distribution of human resources and realizing the growth of national economy;restructuring industrial structure and improving Chinese market competitiveness.The problems in the transfer of Chinese rural labors are analyzed,which include the low overall cultural level of rural labors;imperfect organization developmental;weak management mechanism and imperfect supporting measures.The rational paths for Chinese rural labor transfer are pointed out,including break the urban and rural dual structure and realize the free move of rural labors;strengthen the organization construction to provide high-quality socialized service for rural labor transfer;perfect security system to foster favorable social environment for rural labor transfer;establish scientific management mechanism to realize the sustainable rural labor transfer.

Comparative Research on Prediction Model of China's Urban-rural Residents' Income Gap

By using the data concerning China's urban-rural residents' income gap from 1978 to 2010,this paper mainly researches the application of several kinds of models in predicting China's urban-rural residents' income gap.By conducting empirical analysis,we establish ARIMA prediction model,grey prediction model and quadratic-polynomial prediction model and conduct accuracy comparison.The results show that quadratic-polynomial prediction model has excellent fitting effect.By using quadratic-polynomial prediction model,this paper conducts prediction on trend of China's urban-rural residents' income gap from 2011 to 2013,and the prediction value of income gap of urban-rural residents in China from 2011 to 2013 is 14 173.20,15 212.92 and 16 289.67 yuan respectively.Finally,on the basis of analysis,corresponding countermeasures are put forward,in order to provide scientific basis for energy planning and policy formulation:first,strengthen government's function of public service,coordinate resources,and strive to provide an equal opportunity of development for social members,so as to promote people's welfare and promote social equality;second,breach industrial monopoly and bridge income gap between employees in monopoly industry and general industry;last but not the least,support,encourage and call for government to establish social relief fund,adjust residents' income distribution from the non-governmental perspective,and endeavor to promote the income level of low-income class.

Spatial-temporal Evolution of the Urban-rural Coordination Relationship in Northeast China in 1990-2018

To comprehensively understand the law of urban-rural relationship and propose scientific measures of urban-rural coordinated development in Northeast China,this study uses the coupling coordination degree model and geographically and temporally weighted regression(GTWR)model to analyze the spatial-temporal patterns and the corresponding driving mechanisms of its urban-rural coordination since 1990.The results are as follows.First,the urban-rural coupling coordination degree in Northeast China was very low and improved slowly,but its stages of evolution is a good interpretation of the strategic arrangements of China's urbanization.Second,the urban-rural coupling coordination degree in Northeast China had spatial differences and was characterized by central polarization,converging on urban agglomeration,which was high in the south and low in the north.Moreover,the gap between the north and south weakened.Third,the spatial-temporal evolution of the urban-rural coordination relationship in Northeast China was influenced by pulling from the central cities,pushing from rural transformation,and government regulations.The influence intensity of the three mechanisms was weak,but the pulling from the central cities was stronger than that of the other two mechanisms.Furthermore,the spatial difference between the three mechanisms determines the spatial pattern and its evolution of the urban-rural coordination relationship in Northeast China.Fourth,to promote the development of urban-rural coordination in Northeast China,it is essential to advance urban-rural economic correlation,enhance the government^role in regulating and guiding,and adopt different policies for each region in Northeast China.

Soil quality and sustainable land use in urban-rural marginal area: a case study of Kaifeng

By using the basic theories of physical geography, land resources and ecology, this article analyzes the soil quality of the rural-urban marginal area in Kaifeng. Computer techniques, based on soil samples analysis, are used to study soil quality changes in the Kaifeng’s rural-urban marginal area. While focusing on nutrient circle key links of input and output in soil, relying on numerous practical survey data, this article reveals clearly the impact of land use change on soil quality.

The Research of the Balanced Development of China's Urban-rural Spatial Integration Based on the Evolution of Regional Spatial Structure

The general law of regional spatial evolution is researched.In the process of the evolution of four stages,namely the early stage of traditional agriculture and industrialization,the middle stage of industrialization,the later stage of industrialization and post-industrialization,the types of space are homogenized space,polarized space,pole-axis space and integrated space respectively;the choosing of the spatial location is influenced by economy,society and environment,and the spatial structure extends along with three-dimensional space.Based on the fact that China's urban-rural spatial structure evolution develops rapidly,and the outstanding characteristics of dual structure becomes the main obstacle to urban-rural balanced development,the thesis poses the countermeasures of China's urban-rural spatial integrated balanced development.It points out that the healthy development of socio-economy is the external environment of realizing urban-rural spatial integration;the urban-rural coordinated planning is the prerequisite of realizing urban-rural spatial integration;fulfilling the governmental function is the key to realizing urban-rural spatial integration;promoting agricultural industrialization is the approach to realizing urban-rural spatial integration;perfecting social security system is the basis of realizing urban-rural spatial integration.

Granger Causality Test of Urban-rural Income Gap and Employment of Rural Labor Forces——A Case Study of Shouguang City

Taking Shouguang City in Shandong Province as an example, this article researches the mutual relationship between urban-rural income and employment of rural labor forces, and conducting cointegration test and Granger causality test on the variable sequences using statistical data. The results show that the average annual income of rural labor forces influences the income per capita of rural residents, and there is a Granger causality relationship between the income per capita of rural residents and urban employees' average wage. Engaging in production concerning agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery makes the total income per capita in rural areas of Shouguang City higher than the average wage of urban residents in Shouguang City, even in Weifang City. The comparative advantage in terms of income causes the city to loose attraction to rural residents in Shouguang City. The comparative advantage drives more rural labor forces in Shouguang City to engage in primary industry, thereby greatly reducing the pressure of employment and transfer of rural labor forces. Finally important following measures are put forward to promote employment and on-the-spot transfer of rural labor forces: vigorously propel agricultural industrialization; increase rural residents' income; improve the living conditions for rural residents.

The Chinese Urban-rural Dual Economic Structure Model and Analysis

Based on the characteristics of urban-rural dual economic structure in China,we build a dynamic endogenous urban-rural dual economic model closely linked to China's reality,and carry out mathematical economics analysis of optimized conditions for urban and rural sectors. The main results show that:(i) The labor growth rate of urban-rural sectors must be greater than the time discount rate,or else there would be a vicious cycle of diminishing returns in the sectors;(ii) The accumulation rate of physical capital and human capital of urban-rural sectors,and the rate of technological progress,need to be greater than the corresponding depreciation rate plus the time discount rate,otherwise there would be a vicious cycle of diminishing returns in the sectors;(iii) The low accumulation rate in the rural sector,and the occurrence of labor outflow,human capital loss and lack of investment,will expand income gap between urban and rural areas,which is a reason for solidification of urban-rural dual economic structure.

On the modes of urban-rural networking development in China

This essay tries to reveal the developmental regularity of urban-rural networking manifested by urbanization. The urban-rural networking is a reality and an inexorable trend of development. As a physical existence, the urban-rural networking reflects a result of the interaction between cities and rural areas; it is a necessary and sufficient condition for sustaining progress of cities and rural areas. As an objective developmental tendency, it reflects an urban-rural regional economic process. The author briefly analyzes two contradictory urban-rural developmental views, and puts forward a concept of the mode of urban-rural networking development. The author also analyzes the mode from the perspectives of economics and philosophy.