Innovation Series: Advanced Science

Volume 2 · Issue 4 (2025)

Impacts of Village Transformation on Rural-Urban Integration Based on Land Use Change−Taking Suzhou City as an Example

 

Shuting Zhang, Yasi Tian, Jiamin An

Suzhou University Golden Mantis School of Architecture, Jiangsu, China

 

Abstract: Against the backdrop of rapid advancement of new industrialization and urbanization, coupled with surging demand for land resources, land use change has emerged as a key factor driving village transformation and facilitating urban-rural integration. However, the impact mechanisms between urban-rural integration and the evolution of rural land use, as well as how they influence rural transformation and development, remain unresolved scientific issues.

From the perspective of urban-rural integration, this study takes Suzhou City as a case to explore the mechanism by which land use change affects urban-rural integration through village transformation. It constructs an evaluation system for urban-rural integration development level encompassing spatial, economic, and social integration dimensions. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), it assesses the spatio-temporal characteristics of urban-rural integration in Suzhou’s districts and counties from 2010 to 2020. Regression analysis reveals that land use change-driven village transformation exerts a positive promoting effect on urban-rural integration.

Results indicate that optimized land use drives the transformation of village functions, thereby enhancing the efficiency of urban-rural resource allocation. Nevertheless, regional imbalance and insufficient land use efficiency remain constraining factors. Based on this, a synergistic path of land use optimization and village transformation with Suzhou characteristics is proposed. This study clarifies the interaction mechanism among land use change, village transformation, and urban-rural integration, providing theoretical support and policy insights for regional coordinated development and rural revitalization.

 

Keywords: Land use change; Village transformation; Urban rural integration; Industrial living ecological land

 

References

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Liu, H. and Liu, X., Research on the impact of urban-rural integration on rural land use efficiency in China, Frontiers in Environmental Science, 13, 1–17 (2025).
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Tan, L., et al., The driving mechanism and path analysis of the coupling development of rural spatial reconstruction and land use transformation, Natural Resources Journal, 37(7), 1829–1847 (2021).
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Multiple Authors, Multifunctional role of land-use planning in peri-urban and urban agricultural drylands: The mediating effect of urbanization level, Journal of Urban Planning and Development, 151(1), 1–12 (2025).
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Multiple Authors, Analysis of the sustainable development pathway of urban–rural integration from the perspective of spatial planning: A case study of the urban–rural fringe of Beijing, Sustainability, 17(5), 1857–1875 (2025).
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Multiple Authors, Bridging the rural-urban dichotomy in land use science, Journal of Land Use Science, 15(5), 585–591 (2020).
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Innovation Series: Advanced Science, ISSN 2938-9933.