Development of land use transitions research in China

doi:10.1007/s11442-020-1777-9

Abstract

Abstract:

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.

Key words: land use morphology, theoretical model, multidisciplinary integration, horizontal comparison, rural restructuring, rural vitalization, land system science

LONG Hualou, QU Yi, TU Shuangshuang, ZHANG Yingnan, JIANG Yanfeng. Development of land use transitions research in China[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2020, 30(7): 1195-1214.

Figures/Tables 6

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

References 91

[1]	Barbier E B, Burgess J C, Grainger A, 2010. The forest transition: Towards a more comprehensive theoretical framework. Land Use Policy, 27(2):98-107. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.02.001
[2]	Bertoni D, Aletti G, Ferrandi G et al., 2018. Farmland use transitions after the CAP greening: A preliminary analysis using Markov Chains approach. Land Use Policy, 79:789-800.
[3]	Cai Y, 2001. A study on land use/cover change: The need for a new integrated approach. Geographical Research, 20(6):645-652. (in Chinese)
[4]	Cai Y, Wang Y, Li Y, 2009. Study on changing relationship of demand and supply of cultivated land in China. China Land Science, 23(3):11-18, 31. (in Chinese)
[5]	Calogero C, Savastano S, Zezza A, 2013. Fact or artifact: The impact of measurement errors on the farm size-productivity relationship. Journal of Development Economics, 103:254-261.
[6]	Chen C, 1998. Theories and Empirical Studies of Regional Comprehensive Development. Beijing: Science Press. (in Chinese)
[7]	Chen K, Long H, Liao L et al., 2020. Land use transitions and urban-rural integrated development: Theoretical framework and China's evidence. Land Use Policy, 92:104465.
[8]	Chen R, Ye C, Cai Y et al., 2014. The impact of rural out-migration on land use transition in China: Past, present and trend. Land Use Policy, 40:101-110.
[9]	Chen Y, Zhang Y, Liu Y, 2012. Regional differences of agricultural development in a typical transect in Jiangsu Province. Geographical Research, 29(7):1317-1323. (in Chinese)
[10]	Chen Z, Huffman W E, Rozelle S, 2011. Invrese relationship between productivity and farm size: The case of China. Contemporary Economic Policy, 29(4):580-592. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.2010.00236.x
[11]	Fan J, 2019. The progress and characteristics of Chinese human geography over the past 70 years. Scientia Sinica Terrae, 49(11):1697-1719. (in Chinese)
[12]	Fang C, Yu D, 2016. China’s New Urbanization. Beijing: Science Press & Spriner Press.
[13]	Ferreira M P, Alves D S, Shimabukuro Y E, 2015. Forest dynamics and land-use transitions in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: The case of sugarcane expansion. Regional Environmental Change, 15(2):365-377.
[14]	Foley J A, DeFries R, Asner G P et al., 2005. Global consequences of land use. Science, 309(5734):570-574. doi: 10.1126/science.1111772 pmid: 16040698
[15]	Fu B, 2014. The integrated studies of geography: Coupling of patterns and processes. Acta Geographica Sinica, 69(8):1052-1059. (in Chinese)
[16]	Ge D, Long H, Zhang Y et al., 2018. Farmland transition and its influences on grain production in China. Land Use Policy, 70:94-105.
[17]	GLP (Global Land Project), 2005. Global Land Project: Science Plan and Implementation Strategy. IGBP Report No. 53/IHDP Report No.19, IGBP Secretariat, Stockholm.
[18]	Grainger A, 1986. The future role of the tropical rain forests in the world forest economy [D]. Oxford: University of Oxford.
[19]	Grainger A, 1995. National land use morphology: Patterns and possibilities. Geography, 80(3):235-245.
[20]	Harvey D, 1969. Explanation in Geography. London: Edward Arnold.
[21]	Heltberg R, 1998. Rural market imperfections and the farm size-productivity relationship: Evidence from Pakistan. World Development, 26(10):1807-1826.
[22]	Hoggart K, Paniagua A, 2001. What rural restructuring? Journal of Rural Studies, 17(1):41-62
[23]	Hu S, Tong L, Long H, 2019a. Land use transition potential and its assessment framework. Geographical Research, 38(6):1367-1377. (in Chinese)
[24]	Hu X, Li H, Zhang X et al., 2019b. Multi-dimensionality and the totality of rural spatial restructuring from the perspective of the rural space system: A case study of traditional villages in the ancient Huizhou region, China. Habitat International, 94:102062.
[25]	Jadin I, Meyfroidt P, Lambin E, 2016. International trade, and land use intensification and spatial reorganization explain Costa Rica’s forest transition. Environmental Research Letters, 11(3):035005.
[26]	Jiang G, He X, Qu Y, Zhang R et al., 2016. Functional evolution of rural housing land: A comparative analysis across four typical areas representing different stages of industrialization in China. Land Use Policy, 57:645-654.
[27]	Koch G W, Scholes R J, Steffen W L et al., 1995. The IGBP Terrestrial Transects: Science Plan. IGBP Reports No.36, IGBP Secretariat, Stockholm.
[28]	Kong X, 2012. The Influence of Land Use Transition of Regional Peasant Household on Farmland Quality. Beijing: Science Press.
[29]	Krausmann F, Haberl H, Schulz N B et al., 2003. Land-use change and socio-economic metabolism in Austria (Part I): Driving forces of land-use change: 1950-1995. Land Use Policy, 20(1):1-20.
[30]	Lambin E F, 2012. Global land availability: Malthus versus Ricardo. Global Food Security, 1(2):83-87.
[31]	Lambin E F, Meyfroidt P, 2010. Land use transitions: Socio-ecological feedback versus socio-economic change. Land Use Policy, 27(2):108-118.
[32]	Li X, 1996. A review of the international researches on land use/land cover change. Acta Geographica Sinica, 63(6):553-558. (in Chinese)
[33]	Li X, 2002. Explanation of land use changes. Progress in Geography, 21(3):195-203. (in Chinese)
[34]	Liu C, Li X, 2006. Regional differences in the changes of the agricultural land use in China during 1980-2002. Acta Geographica Sinica, 61(2):139-145. (in Chinese)
[35]	Liu Y, 2011. Geography of New Countryside Construction in China. Beijing: Science Press. (in Chinese)
[36]	Liu Y, 2018. Research on the urban-rural integration and rural revitalization in the new era in China. Acta Geographica Sinica, 73(4):637-650. (in Chinese)
[37]	Liu Y, Li Y, 2017. Revitalize the world’s countryside. Nature, 548(7667):275-277. pmid: 28816262
[38]	Liu Y, Liu Y, Chen Y et al., 2010. The process and driving forces of rural hollowing in China under rapid urbanization. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 20(6):876-888.
[39]	Liu Y, Wang L, Long H, 2008. Spatio-temporal analysis of land-use conversion in the eastern coastal China during 1996-2005. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 18(3):274-282.
[40]	Long H, 2001. Land use changes and sustainable land management in transect of the Yangtse River [D]. Beijing: IGSNRR, CAS. (in Chinese)
[41]	Long H, 2003. Land use transition: A new integrated approach of land use/cover change study. Geography and Geo-information Science, 19(1):87-90. (in Chinese)
[42]	Long H, 2012a. Land use transition and rural transformation development. Progress in Geography, 31(2):131-138. (in Chinese)
[43]	Long H, 2012b. Land Use and Rural Transformation Development in China. Beijing: Science Press. (in Chinese)
[44]	Long H, 2014a. Land consolidation: An indispensable way of spatial restructuring in rural China. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 24(2):211-225.
[45]	Long H, 2014b. Land use policy in China. Land Use Policy, 40:1-146.
[46]	Long H, 2015. Land use transition and land management. Geographical Research, 34(9):1607-1618. (in Chinese)
[47]	Long H, 2020. Land Use Transitions and Rural Restructuring in China. Singapore: Springer Nature.
[48]	Long H, Ge D, Zhang Y et al., 2018a. Changing man-land interrelations in China’s farming area under urbanization and its implications for food security. Journal of Environmental Management, 209:440-451. pmid: 29309967
[49]	Long H, Heilig G K, Li X et al., 2007. Socio-economic development and land-use change: Analysis of rural housing land transition in the Transect of the Yangtse River, China. Land Use Policy, 24:141-153. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2005.11.003
[50]	Long H, Li T, 2012. The coupling characteristics and mechanism of farmland and rural housing land transition in China. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 22(3):548-562. doi: 10.1007/s11442-012-0946-x
[51]	Long H, Li X, 2002. Analysis on regional land use transition: A case study in transect of the Yangtze River. Journal of Natural Resources, 17(2):144-149. (in Chinese) doi: 10.11849/zrzyxb.2002.02.003
[52]	Long H, Li Y, Liu Y et al., 2012a. Accelerated restructuring in rural China fueled by ‘increasing vs. decreasing balance’ land-use policy for dealing with hollowed villages. Land Use Policy, 29(1):11-22. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.04.003
[53]	Long H, Liu Y, 2016. Rural restructuring in China. Journal of Rural Studies, 47(Part B):387-676.
[54]	Long H, Liu Y, Li X et al., 2010. Building new countryside in China: A geographical perspective. Land Use Policy, 27:457-470.
[55]	Long H, Qu Y, 2018. Land use transitions and land management: A mutual feedback perspective. Land Use Policy, 74:111-120.
[56]	Long H, Qu Y, Tu S et al., 2018b. Land use transitions under urbanization and their environmental effects in the farming areas of China: Research progress and prospect. Advances in Earth Science, 33(5):455-463. (in Chinese)
[57]	Long H, Tu S, 2018. Land use transition and rural vitalization. China Land Science, 32(7):1-6. (in Chinese)
[58]	Long H, Tu S, Ge D et al., 2016. The allocation and management of critical resources in rural China under restructuring: Problems and prospects. Journal of Rural Studies, 47:392-412.
[59]	Long H, Zhang Y, Tu S, 2019. Rural vitalization in China: A perspective of land consolidation. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 29(4):517-530.
[60]	Long H, Zou J, Li T et al., 2012b. Study on the characteristics and territorial types of rural transformation development: The case of “Southern Jiangsu-Northern Shaanxi” transect. Geographical Research, 31(3):144-149. (in Chinese)
[61]	Lu D, Shi P, Dong G, 2006. Important ideas embodying land use transition. China Land and Resources News, 2006/07/17/005. (in Chinese)
[62]	Lu S, Guan X, Liu Y et al., 2013. Agricultural region type identification and its spatio-temporal evolution characteristics: A case study of sampling belt along G106 in China. Progress in Geography, 32(4):637-648. (in Chinese)
[63]	Lu S, Liu Y, 2013. Rural land consolidation potential of typical transect along No.106 state road. Journal of Natural Resources, 28(4):537-549. (in Chinese)
[64]	Ma L, Long H, Tu S et al., 2020. Farmland transition in China and its policy implications. Land Use Policy, 92:104470.
[65]	Ma W, Jiang G, Li W et al., 2019. Multifunctionality assessment of the land use system in rural residential areas: Confronting land use supply with rural sustainability demand. Journal of Environmental Management, 231:73-85. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.09.053 pmid: 30336345
[66]	Ma W, Jiang G, Zhang R et al., 2018. Achieving rural spatial restructuring in China: A suitable framework to understand how structural transitions in rural residential land differ across peri-urban interface? Land Use Policy, 75:583-593.
[67]	Mather A S, Fairbairn J, Needle C L, 1999. The course and drivers of the forest transition: The case of France. Journal of Rural Studies, 15(1):65-90.
[68]	Meyfroidt P, Lambin E F, 2008. The causes of the reforestation in Vietnam. Land Use Policy, 25(2):182-197.
[69]	Meyfroidt P, Lambin E F, Erb K H et al., 2013. Globalization of land use: Distant drivers of land change and geographic displacement of land use. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 5(5):438-444. doi: 10.1016/j.cosust.2013.04.003
[70]	Nuissl H, Haase D, Lanzendorf M et al., 2009. Environmental impact assessment of urban land use transitions: A context-sensitive approach. Land Use Policy, 26(2):414-424. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.05.006
[71]	Qu Y, Jiang G, Li Z et al., 2019. Understanding rural land use transition and regional consolidation implications in China. Land Use Policy, 82:742-753. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.11.014
[72]	Qu Y, Jiang G, Yang Y et al., 2018. Multi-scale analysis on spatial morphology differentiation and formation mechanism of rural residential land: A case study in Shandong Province, China. Habitat International, 71:135-146. doi: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2017.11.011
[73]	Qu Y, Jiang G, Zhao Q et al., 2017. Geographic identification, spatial differentiation, and formation mechanism of multifunction of rural settlements: A case study of 804 typical villages in Shandong Province, China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 166:1202-1215. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.08.120
[74]	Qu Y, Long H, 2018a. The economic and environmental effects of land use transitions under rapid urbanization and the implications for land use management. Habitat International, 82:113-121. doi: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2018.10.009
[75]	Qu Y, Long H, 2018b. A framework of multi-disciplinary comprehensive research on recessive farmland transition in China. Acta Geographica Sinica, 73(7):1226-1241. (in Chinese) doi: 10.11821/dlxb201807004
[76]	Rudel T K, Schneider L, Uriarte M, 2010. Forest transitions: An introduction. Land Use Policy, 27(2):95-97. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.09.021
[77]	Song X, 2017. Discussion on land use transition research framework. Acta Geographica Sinica, 72(3):471-487. (in Chinese) doi: 10.11821/dlxb201703009
[78]	Song X, Huang Y, Wu Z et al., 2015. Does cultivated land function transition occur in China? Journal of Geographical Sciences, 25(7):817-835. doi: 10.1007/s11442-015-1204-9
[79]	Song X, Li X, 2019. Theoretical explanation and case study of regional cultivated land use function transition. Acta Geographica Sinica, 75(4):992-1010. (in Chinese)
[80]	Su S, Zhang Q, Zhang Z et al., 2011. Rural settlement expansion and paddy soil loss across an ex-urbanizing watershed in eastern coastal China during market transition. Regional Environmental Change, 11(3):651-662. doi: 10.1007/s10113-010-0197-2
[81]	Tan M, 2014. The transition of farmland production functions in metropolitan areas in China. Sustainability, 6(7):4028-4041. doi: 10.3390/su6074028
[82]	Tan R, Beckmann V, van den Berg L et al., 2009. Governing farmland conversion: Comparing China with the Netherlands and Germany. Land Use Policy, 26(4):961-974. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.11.009
[83]	Tu S, Long H, 2017. Rural restructuring in China: Theory, approaches and research prospect. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 27(10):1169-1184. doi: 10.1007/s11442-017-1429-x
[84]	Tu S, Long H, Zhang Y et al., 2018. Rural restructuring at village level under rapid urbanization in metropolitan suburbs of China and its implications for innovations in land use policy. Habitat International, 77:143-152. doi: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2017.12.001
[85]	Yang R, Xu Q, Long H, 2016. Spatial distribution characteristics and optimized reconstruction analysis of China’s rural settlements during the process of rapid urbanization. Journal of Rural Studies, 47:413-424. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.05.013
[86]	You H, Hu X, Wu Y, 2018. Farmland use intensity changes in response to rural transition in Zhejiang province, China. Land Use Policy, 79:350-361. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.08.029
[87]	Zhang B, Sun P, Jiang G et al., 2019. Rural land use transition of mountainous areas and policy implications for land consolidation in China. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 29(10):1713-1730. doi: 10.1007/s11442-019-1687-x
[88]	Zhang Q, Sun Z, Wu F et al., 2016. Understanding rural restructuring in China: The impact of changes in labor and capital productivity on domestic agricultural production and trade. Journal of Rural Studies, 47:552-562. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.05.001
[89]	Zhang Y, Long H, Ma L et al., 2018. Farmland function evolution in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain: Processes, patterns and mechanisms. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 28(6):759-777. doi: 10.1007/s11442-018-1503-z
[90]	Zhu F, Zhang F, Ke X, 2018. Rural industrial restructuring in China’s metropolitan suburbs: Evidence from the land use transition of rural enterprises in suburban Beijing. Land Use Policy, 74:121-129. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.09.004
[91]	Zhu F, Zhang F, Li C et al., 2014. Functional transition of the rural settlement: Analysis of land-use differentiation in a transect of Beijing, China. Habitat International, 41:262-271. doi: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2013.07.011