Social-ecological system (SES) resilience has emerged as a fundamental concept in human-environment relationship research, driven by global sustainable development goals. Through a bibliometric analysis and systematic review, this study traced the evolution of SES resilience research, identifying three distinct developmental phases: the exploratory phase (2000-2008), rapid development phase (2009-2016), and consolidation and deepening phase (2017-present). Our analysis focused on recent methodological advances and key challenges in the consolidation phase. At the structural level, network approaches reveal feedback relationships between social and ecological components, but their accuracy is limited by inconsistencies in spatiotemporal resolution and integration standards across heterogeneous data sources. For dynamic mechanism modeling, frameworks such as system dynamics, agent-based modeling, and water-energy-food nexus approaches provide powerful tools for capturing nonlinear system evolution, yet challenges persist in simulating cross-scale feedbacks and achieving effective model coupling. At the optimization and governance level, the synergies and trade-offs between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lack dynamic identification and coordination mechanisms, frequently resulting in policy implementation conflicts. To address these limitations, we propose future research directions including: Developing integrated frameworks that couple multi-source data with multiple models, advancing hybrid "process-mechanism + data-driven" approaches for identifying nonlinear feedback relationships, and establishing dynamic coordination optimization mechanisms for SDGs. This research provides a theoretical support and methodological guidance for deepening our understanding of SES complexity, enhancing system resilience, and promoting sustainable development.
Gully erosion is a typical geomorphic evolution process on the Loess Plateau as well as in other loess regions of the world. However, the analysis of erosion process has been hindered due to the limitations of existing research methodologies. In this article, we reviewed and compared three research methods for gully erosion on the Loess Plateau, both in China and internationally, based on their characteristics in terms of spatiotemporal resolution. Among the gully erosion research methods, geomorphological analysis, which is based on the principles of geology and geomorphology, can explain the relative age of the gully erosion process in the region during the geologic period, but cannot determine the absolute age of gully erosion. The dating and documentary research methods, which are based on the multi-dating technology and historical documentary analysis, can accurately reflect the evolution process of gully erosion around the dating site by using absolute chronological dating. However, these methods are applied on a small spatial scale and are unable to analyze the temporal continuity of gully erosion. Model simulation methods include empirical statistical models, physical process models, and complex system models, which rebuild the historical erosion process at high spatiotemporal resolution based on multi-source data and interdisciplinary technologies. However, there are few research achievements based on these methods. The three types of methods each has its own strengths and focuses on different aspects of gully erosion, showing the characteristics of critique-integration-transcendence. In general, the results of the existing research methods are more microscopic than macroscopic in spatial scale, more static than dynamic at the temporal level, and more independent than coupled technically. With the development of data acquisition, interdisciplinary exchange, AI technology, and multimodal large language models, their data processing and coupling analysis capabilities will be greatly enhanced, which can overcome the spatial scale limitations, improve the accuracy of time series analyses, and increase the coupling of analyses and methods, ultimately providing a future solution to the shortcomings of existing gully erosion research methods.
Amid the new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation, new quality productive forces in agriculture have become a pivotal driver of China's agricultural modernization. However, their internal mechanisms, spatial patterns, and systemic constraints remain insufficiently explored. This study approached the issues from three key dimensions—agricultural production systems, management systems, and industrial systems—to systematically analyze how new quality productive forces empower agricultural modernization. Using the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method, it evaluated the provincial-level new qualityagricultural productive forces in China in 2022, identifying an overall spatial pattern of "strong in the east, weak in the west, and coastal concentration", and revealing the structural roots underlying these regional disparities. Further analysis highlighted four major bottlenecks—limited autonomy in core technologies, labor structure mismatches, delayed green transformation, and misaligned spatial layouts—which interact and reinforce one another, forming a systemic coupling dilemma that constrains overall improvement. Building on this result, the study summarized four practical pathways—technology-driven innovation, high-quality talent cultivation, green transformation orientation, and modern industrial system development—through typical regional cases to provide context-specific guidance for fostering new quality agricultural productive forces. Strengthening regional alignment and promoting the coordination of elements are essential pathways to mitigate regional imbalances and advance agricultural modernization in China.
In the context of building a moderately prosperous society, the follow-up development of resettlement areas for poverty-alleviation relocation in China is a key initiative to consolidate poverty alleviation achievements, promote rural revitalization, and achieve common prosperity. Using literature meta-analysis, this study systematically examined the subsequent development mode of resettlement areas for poverty-alleviation relocation in China and its spatial distribution characteristics, and categorized different modes and paths to propose the subsequent sustainable development measures of resettlement areas. The results show that China's resettlement areas for poverty-alleviation relocation can be mainly divided into six types: agriculture-led, industry-led, business and tourism services, residential, livelihood-security, and comprehensive development, and they are mainly concentrated in the original 14 contiguous poverty-stricken areas in China. Various types of resettlement areas implemented targeted measures in policy support, community governance, employment and entrepreneurship assistance, science and education support, supporting facility construction, among others in order toenhance residents' livelihood capital, optimize livelihood strategies, and realize the subsequent sustainable development. This study may provide some reference for the implementation of rural revitalization policies in resettlement areas for poverty-alleviation relocation, preventing the occurrence of large-scale poverty return and achieving subsequent sustainable development.
Filling a key gap in evolutionary economic geography, this research investigates the underexplored alternation between path dependence and breakthrough, and the contingent role of product complexity. Based on product space theory, this study systematically examined the change of Shanghai's manufacturing export products from 2002 to 2020, revealing the dynamic mechanisms of path dependence and breakthroughs. The findings are as follows: 1) Total manufacturing export value followed a trajectory of initial growth, subsequent decline, and eventual stabilization. 2) Export structure shifted from traditional light industry to high-value-added sectors, while maintaining comparative advantages in chemicals, plastics/rubber, base metals, and machinery. 3) A longitudinal case study of Shanghai's manufacturing exports within the product space framework shows that while path dependence dominates, relatedness fosters radical breakthrough (from "0" to "1") and complexity enables incremental upgrading (from "1" to "N"). 4) Notably, recent industrial restructuring is marked by a shift in complexity contribution from exiting rather than new products, revealing a challenge for sustained path creation. These findings advance theoretical understanding of path dynamics and offer practical guidance for industrial policy in mega-cities.
Against the backdrop of promoting urban-rural integration and achieving common prosperity, clarifying how urban spatial structure affects the income gap between urban and rural residents has significant policy and theoretical implications. Based on the panel data from 288 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2020, this study employed two-way fixed effects models, instrumental variable methods, and mediation effect models to examine the impact, mechanisms, and heterogeneity of polycentric urban structures on the urban-rural income gap from multiple perspectives. The results show that: 1) Polycentric spatial structures significantly reduce the income gap between urban and rural residents, and this finding remains robust after controlling for endogeneity and conducting a series of robustness checks. 2) Polycentric structures alleviate the urban-rural income gap through a triadic mechanism involving factors, industries, and markets. Specifically, they break down barriers in factor allocation between urban and rural areas, promote the transfer of surplus rural labor to non-agricultural sectors, foster the diversification of agro-related industries to improve rural livelihoods, and enhance the economic spillover capacity of core cities to increase the market potential of rural areas. 3) Heterogeneity analysis showed that the effect of polycentric spatial structure in reducing the urban-rural income gap is more significant in regions with smaller population sizes, lower administrative levels, larger topographical variations, non-resource-based cities, greater inter-center distances, and coastal cities. This indicates that geographical conditions, administrative resource distribution, and locational characteristics all have a significant impact on the effectiveness of polycentric spatial structures. The findings suggest that promoting polycentric urban development, optimizing the environment for factor mobility, cultivating diversified industrial systems, enhancing urban spillover effects on rural areas, and tailoring spatial development strategies to local conditions can advance urban-rural integration and regional coordinated development more effectively.
Against the backdrop of accelerating global digital transformation and escalating geopolitical tensions, political risk in China-U.S. relations has become a critical factor reshaping the globalization of China's information and communication technology (ICT) industry. Taking greenfield investment as the entry point, this study employed a combination of social network analysis and a global value chain heterogeneity framework to systematically assess how political risk affects China's global capital allocation and network position in the ICT industry. The findings reveal that China-U.S. political risk operates through three main mechanisms: decoupling and sanctions, restriction and redirection, and competitor cultivation, which collectively undermine China's investment attractiveness and its centrality within global production networks, particularly in high-value segments such as R&D and sales services. Meanwhile, under U.S.-led strategic restructuring, emerging economies such as India, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam have rapidly ascended in network centrality. This article argued that China-U.S. political risk has evolved from an external disturbance to a core driver of global production network restructuring. It further proposed that enhancing innovation within China and promoting regional coordination are key pathways for improving the resilience and adaptability of China's ICT industry. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of new globalization mechanisms under geopolitical pressure and offers theoretical insights for policy development in China.
Exploring the theoretical logic, spatiotemporal changes, and influencing factors of urban land green use efficiency from the perspective of space of flow can provide a scientific basis for promoting sustainable urban land development. Based on the space of flow perspective, this study deconstructed the theoretical logic of land green use efficiency. Taking the Jiangsu-Anhui-Shandong-Henan region from 2005 to 2023 as a case study, the genetic algorithm-projection pursuit model, Gini coefficient, XGBoost model, and SHAP algorithm were employed to examine the spatiotemporal change characteristics and influencing factors of land green use efficiency. The findings reveal that: 1) Urban land green use efficiency was driven by cross-regional flows of various factors, achieving the maximization of ecological, economic, and social benefits through three dimensions: optimization of input scale, spatial structure restructuring, and synergistic enhancement of benefits. 2) The urban land green use efficiency in the Jiangsu-Anhui-Shandong-Henan region exhibited a fluctuating upward trend temporally and a "high in the east, low in the west" spatial pattern. 3) The overall disparity in urban land green use efficiency in the region first increased and then decreased, with inter-provincial unbalanced development being the primary cause of spatial differences. In the scale dimension, the input of production factors was the main source of structural differences. 4) The economic flow, urbanization level, and technological flow were the dominant factors influencing the improvement of urban land green use efficiency in the Jiangsu-Anhui-Shandong-Henan region. Their synergistic interaction with socioeconomic factors strengthens the nonlinear effects on efficiency enhancement. The conclusions of this study can provide a theoretical support and decision-making references for improving urban land green use efficiency in the Jiangsu-Anhui-Shandong-Henan region.
Land serves as the carrier of economic activities and the spatial unit for low-carbon governance. Investigating the spatial effects of land use transition on carbon emission intensity and its underlying mechanisms can provide a scientific basis for exploring a synergistic development model that balances economic growth and low-carbon goals. Based on the panel data from 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region from 2000 to 2022, this study employed the spatial Durbin model and mediation effect model to investigate the spatial effects of land use transition on carbon emission intensity and mechanisms, and analyzed its heterogeneity and spatial spillover boundaries. The results show that: 1) Land use transition in the Yangtze River Delta region showed an upward trend, with obvious north-south differences and a "core-periphery" differentiation pattern, and the transition was more intense in the core areas. Medium-level carbon emission intensity had gradually become dominant. Cities with high and relatively high carbon emission intensity had changed from a scattered and point distribution to a 7-shaped belt-like agglomeration running through northern Anhui, northern Jiangsu, southern Jiangsu, and southeastern Zhejiang Province. 2) Land use transition can reduce local carbon emission intensity, but intensifies that of neighboring regions through the spatial spillover effect, leading to an increase in the overall carbon emission intensity of the region. The effect was significantly positive within 140 km and fluctuated in an N-shaped pattern with increasing distance. 3) Land use transition in the core areas, non-central areas, and large cities exacerbated local carbon emission intensity, while that in central areas and small-to-medium-sized cities had an inhibitory effect. The impact of negative externality of core areas and small-to-medium-sized cities on the carbon emission intensity in neighboring areas was more prominent. 4) Land use transition influences carbon emission intensity via green technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading. Accordingly, the Yangtze River Delta region should establish a robust cross-regional collaborative governance framework and implement place-based policies to facilitate low-carbon land transition.
Industrial chain resilience refers to the ability of an industrial chain to resist and recover from internal and external pressures. Against the backdrop of increasing global industrial chain risks, enhancing industrial chain resilience has become a crucial approach to ensuring industrial chain security and stability. Taking 34 cities at the prefecture level and above in Northeast China as the research sample, this study empirically analyzed the dynamic evolution, spatial differences, and internal structure of urban industrial chain resilience change from 2013 to 2022 using kernel density estimation, Dagum Gini coefficient, and variance decomposition. The results show that: 1) The urban industrial chain resilience in Northeast China exhibited a continuously rising trend from 2013 to 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 2.10%. The absolute difference in urban industrial chain resilience between different cities had gradually increased, with more obvious multi-polarized characteristics, and there was a tendency of hierarchical solidification as time goes by. 2) The urban industrial chain resilience in Northeast China showed a spatial distribution pattern of "stable in the core area and with gradient in the surrounding areas". Cities with higher industrial chain resilience were mainly distributed in the Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration and the mid-southern Liaoning urban agglomeration. On this basis, Shenyang, Dalian, Changchun, and Harbin formed four core growth poles. Furthermore, a stepped distribution pattern with the core growth poles as the center and decreasing toward the periphery had emerged. 3) The spatial differences in urban industrial chain resilience in Northeastern China had been continuously increasing, and supervariable density was the main source of spatial differences, with a contribution of 54.30%. 4) The difference in industrial chain leadership and industrial chain resistance constituted the main source of the overall difference in urban industrial chain resilience in Northeast China. Increasing the difference in industrial chain recovery had a positive effect on reducing the overall difference. Meanwhile, the contribution rate of industrial chain foundation difference had significantly decreased, while the contribution rate of industrial chain sustainability difference had altered the direction of change of the overall difference to some extent. Based on the conclusions, a number of policy recommendations were also put forward. The results can provide empirical support for promoting the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure in Northeast China, thereby contributing to the construction of a modern industrial system.
Population flow and industrial collaborative agglomeration are key elements in promoting new industrialization and regional coordinated development. Based on the data of the 5th, 6th, and 7th National Population Census, this study analyzed the spatial distribution characteristics of population flows and industrial collaborative agglomeration across 177 municipal districts and counties in Northeast China,and examined the impact of population flow on industrial collaborative agglomeration using the multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model. The results show that: 1) The inflow population in the municipal districts and counties of Northeast China was concentrated with decentralization, and was mainly concentrated in municipal districts and coastal and border areas, while the spatial distribution pattern of the outflow population was more balanced. 2) Population flows had spatial nonstationary influence on industrial collaborative agglomeration in the municipal districts and counties. Population inflow promoted industrial collaborative agglomeration, while population outflow increasingly inhibited industrial collaborative agglomeration. 3) The inhibitory effect of population outflow on collaborative agglomeration of knowledge-intensive industries was greater than the facilitating effect of population inflow. Digital transformation has intensified the skills mismatch in Northeast China, and the low-end lock-in effect of industrial structure has begun to emerge.The results can provide theoretical references and practical guidance for strengthening the population and industrial agglomeration capacity, optimizing industrial layout, and realizing full revitalization of Northeast China.
Since the start of the reform and opening up, China's industrial structure has gradually shifted from an agriculture-dominated model toward coordinated industrial-service integration, driving large-scale spatial reconfiguration of the population. In recent years, the digital economy is further exerting structural impacts on the labor market and industrial workforce employment. Systematically analyzing the structural characteristics and spatial change of the industrial workforce helps reveal the intrinsic mechanisms of labor allocation and industrial structure coordination. Existing research findings have laid a crucial foundation. However, systematic studies examining the spatial distribution characteristics, spatial interconnectivity, and overall spatiotemporal changes of the population across the three economic sectors remain scarce. Using the county-level data from the fifth to seventh China Population Censuses and corresponding land use type data, this study explored a grid-based method for industrial population distributionunder multi-source data fusion. It generated 1 km×1 km grid datasets for the industrial population in 2000, 2010, and 2020, and mapped the changes in population density distribution of the sectorsin the Tianshan North Slope Economic Belt at the grid scale. Accuracy validation indicates that the dataset exhibits excellent consistency with original census data (R>0.99), featuring high spatial information representation and resolution. It accurately identifies spatial agglomeration trends and gradient differences in the industrial workforce, revealing the spatial patterns of industrial workforce distribution as it evolves with industrial structure upgrading. The results indicate that: 1) There was a significant spatial differentiation of population in different sectors—agricultural populations are distributed in a belt-like pattern along the piedmont oases, industrial populations form an industrial cities-transportation corridor agglomeration model, while service sector populations exhibit a "string of beads" point-axis system centered on Urumqi and distributed along major transportation routes. Overall, the population of the three sectors displayed a ridge-like spatial pattern with the Urumqi-Kuitun oasis corridor as its spine. 2) From 2000 to 2020, the size and proportion of the agricultural population continued to decline, yet maintained a three-tier gradient differentiation feature of core area-transitional zone-peripheral area. The industrial population expanded in scale while showing a decline in peak density, forming a point-axis structure shaped by urban cores, energy bases, and transportation corridors. The service sector population grew in total size alongside increasing density differentiation, with the "string of beads" point-axis distribution pattern becoming more pronounced. Overall, the population in these sectors shifted from a dispersed pattern dominated by agricultural populations to an agglomerated pattern led by secondary and tertiary industries, profoundly reflecting its spatial response to industrial structure upgrading. This study deepened our understanding of the spatial distribution patterns of the population across the three sectors of the economy. It provides an empirical evidence on the mechanisms governing population size and agglomeration effects in sustainable urban development, while also corroborating the dynamic pattern of urban agglomeration and rural contraction. The study recommends optimizing population distribution across sectors through industrial upgrading, implementing gradient spatial development strategies and differentiated industrial supporting policies to foster high-quality regional economic development.
The high-quality development of overseas parks has important implications for promoting China's outward investment and the high-quality development of the Belt and Road. However, such development is still constrained by multiple factors, including geopolitical environment, institutional differences, and market fluctuations, necessitating the establishment of a systematic guarantee mechanism. Given that overseas parks entail the coordinated development of multiple levels, elements, and stakeholders, actor network theory provides a novel analytical perspective for overseas parks. Therefore, based on the actor network theory, this study constructed an actor network with "overseas park development" as the obligatory passage point (OPP), and analyzed three institutional mechanisms for the high-quality development of overseas parks, namely the multi-level government coordination mechanism, multi-scale cooperation operation mechanism, and multi-agent interest allocation mechanism. The results show that: 1) The multi-level government coordination mechanism serves as the development foundation for overseas parks. It coordinates various actors through policies and regulations to regulate, build, and operate parks, thereby providing institutional guarantees for the high-quality development of overseas parks. 2) The multi-scale cooperative operation mechanism acts as the linkage foundation of overseas parks. It encourages various actors to participate and cooperate actively, forming scale effects and agglomeration effects. In turn, this releases the spillover effects of overseas park development and provides cooperation guarantees for their high-quality development. 3) The multi-agent interest allocation mechanism functions as the driving foundation for overseas parks. Guided by their respective interests, various actors participate in the development, which improves the economic efficiency of park development, and provides interest guarantees for the high-quality development of overseas parks. This study not only enriches the theoretical perspectives on overseas parks, but also provides practical guidance for their high-quality development.
With the rapid development of information technology, traditional retail is accelerating its transformation into new retail. New technologies have dramatically changed the ways in which cultural information is disseminated and accessed, profoundly altering the structural space of cultural consumption in urban areas. Unlike the restructuring of physical retail spaces driven by logistics, the patterns and essence of the evolution of cultural consumption spaces require further exploration. Using bookstores as a typical case, we applied methods including kernel density analysis, nearest neighbor index (NNI), Geodetector, and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR). We examined the spatial evolution patterns of bookstores and their driving mechanisms in Tianjin over a decade from 2012 to 2022. The findings are as follows: 1) Bookstores had undergone a dynamic process of change characterized by "initial concentration at the center, followed by outer diffusion", with 2016 as a critical turning point. 2) The development of the "new retail" bookstores wasmore inclined towards the innovation diffusion hypothesis. The aforementioned "concentration-diffusion" phenomenon first emerged in the central urban area, while it lagged in the suburbs. This suggests that the commercial environment of the central urban area wasmore sensitive to market changes, and the rapid flow of information and resources in the central urban area had further accelerated the transformation process. 3) The essence of bookstore spatial restructuring lies in the transformation of their commercial functions—from purely retail-oriented to experience-centric hybrid models. Such functional changehad reshaped locational logics, evidenced by the progressive decline of educational institutions' spatial couplingand the rising dominance of commercial agglomerationsin bookstore distribution patterns. 4) The impact of transportation factors and land price levels on bookstores showed a trend of initially increasing and then decreasing. In the early stages, bookstore location followed traditional retail layout patterns, and as technology permeated, the reliance on traditional advantageous locations gradually diminished. This research verified the differentiated spatial evolution trends of various new retail formats, providing a scientific basis for the location planning and optimization of format-related organizational structures in new retail.
Festivals are often regarded as key resources for identifying the locality of ethnic regions.In the process of localization and integration, the locality represented by festivals is of great significance for the inheritance of cultural vitality and the sustainability of the cultural tourism market. This study focuses on the cultural practice of local small heritage, taking the Enshi Daughter's Festival as a typical example. From the perspective of "placeness", a "structure-human/non-human-action-locality" analysis framework is proposed to systematically analyze the dynamic process and deep logic of local construction in the local practice of ethnic festivals. It shows that: 1) The local practice of ethnic festivals has certain path dependencies. The locality presentation depends on the gradual adjustment of the government's role, mainly manifested as moving from domination to scrutiny and then to government empowerment. 2) The practical process is based on the sequence of initial stage, rapid development stage, and high-quality development exploration stage, manifested as the structural background setting and defining the actor elements required for local practice of ethnic festivals, determining the implementation of action strategies based on geographical and business relationships, and generating local representations such as materials, symbols, and experiences. 3) The transfer of cultural sovereignty, the proliferation of narrative dimensions, and the extension of spatial scales constitute three logical units of local practice. Across different temporal sequences, the locality context presents an evolution from "the continuation of local life under economic and trade" to "the presentation of local distinctiveness within social reality" and then to "the symbiosis of super local under cultural and tourism strategies". This study deepens the theoretical understanding of the complex interaction between structural and dynamic elements in local construction, providing an important case for understanding the reshaping of locality through festivals in the process of globalization and modernization. In the future, comparative research can be expanded to further verify the theory.
