Research Progress, Hotspots and Trends of Land Use under the Background of Ecological Civilization in China: Visual Analysis Based on the CNKI Database

Abstract

Land use is a fundamental element of ecological civilization, whose relevant academic results are not only a concentrated expression of the construction of ecological civilization and land use but also an important theoretical basis for guiding land use changes to promote the construction of ecological civilization. Therefore, based on CiteSpace visual software, this paper analyzes the research progress, hotspots, and trends of 558 articles related to land use under the background of ecological civilization in China based on the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database. The results are as follows: (1) The research cycle is characterized by two distinct stages: the nascent stage and the fluctuating growth stage. (2) The number of publications by researchers and institutions is low, the collaborative network is fragmented, and a core of research researchers and institutions has not yet been formed. (3) The journals in which the papers are published indicate that the research is cross-disciplinary in character, while the highly cited journals have a central role, and the research content of the high-frequency cited papers mainly includes three parts: spatiotemporal evolution pattern and measurement, spatial planning, and land reclamation. (4) The research hotspots are grouped into 12 keyword clusters, which can be further grouped into two sections: “ecological civilization construction and land use” and “national spatial planning”. (5) The burst of territorial spatial planning has reached 2022 and will continue to be a research hotspot in this field in the future. The results of this study can help relevant scholars clarify the research context and current situation in this field and grasp future research directions.

1. Introduction

The construction of an ecological civilization is a strategic direction for the well-being of human beings and the long-term development of all countries in the world [1,2,3]. With the rapid urbanization and industrialization of most countries worldwide, a series of problems, such as environmental degradation and the contradiction between humans and land, have gradually come to the forefront, leading to the frequent introduction of corresponding countermeasures by various countries [4,5,6]. The Chinese government issued the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Accelerating Ecological Civilization Construction [7], proposing the establishment of a new development concept of ecological civilization construction and proposing guidance on the layout of productive forces, industrial structure, production methods, lifestyles and institutional systems [8]. By March 2018, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources was established, which integrated some of the responsibilities of several departments and highlighted the holistic protection of national land resources and mountains, water, forests, fields, lakes, and grasses to accelerate the construction of ecological civilization [9,10]. Notably, as an important basic element in the construction of ecological civilization, land use plays a pivotal role in promoting the construction of ecological civilization [11,12,13], and how to promote the coordinated development of land use and ecological civilization construction has become an important challenge that needs to be solved [14,15,16]. For this reason, the concept of intensive land use has emerged, mainly through increasing the input of land capital, technology, and labor to rationalize and optimize the structure and efficiency of land use [17,18,19]. At present, various regions in China have successively carried out the preparation of intensive land use and territorial spatial planning and have achieved initial results [20,21,22].

The research of land use in the context of ecological civilization has been the focus of attention of many researchers, who have carried out extensive research and achieved fruitful results [14,23,24]. Research on land use under the background of ecological civilization in China is divided into the following three areas: the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of land use, the relationship between the construction of ecological civilization and land use, and the impact of land use in the context of ecological civilization. Specifically, one is in the research of the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of land use. Based on the grid scale, Yang et al. [25] used the diversity index and other methods to explore the spatiotemporal relationship between land use changes and the value of ecosystem services in Nanchang and found that the growth of land for construction was the largest and the reduction of the amount of arable land was the largest, while land use and the value of ecosystem services were positively correlated and showed a clustering distribution. In addition, Zhang et al. [26] analyzed the spatial and temporal changes and drivers of land use change in India from 2000 to 2020 by using the land use dynamic attitude model and found that the total area of cultivated land in India remained relatively stable, but the rate of conversion of cultivated land to construction land showed a gradual acceleration, while temperature extremes, elevation, population, GDP and policies were the main drivers of the spatiotemporal evolution of land. The second is in the research of the relationship between the construction of ecological civilization and land use. Some scholars argued that in the context of ecological civilization construction, attention should be given not only to the issue of land use efficiency but also to the low-carbon development, green development, and the ability of recycling development in the process of land use to prevent the ecological environment of farmland from being threatened [27,28,29]. Unlike other researchers, Liang et al. [30] focus on exploring the coupling relationship between intensive land use and healthy urban development in the context of ecological civilization using the entropy value method and coupling coordination degree model and find that the coupling coordination level has obvious regional differences but shows a narrowing trend in time and space, while the proportion of the tertiary industry is the main driving factor. Third, in terms of research on the impact of land use in the context of ecological civilization. Liu et al. [31] believed that the goal of ecological civilization construction will reshape the direction of ecological value-oriented land use transformation, optimize the ecological transformation path in the process of land remediation, and then effectively improve the regional ecological environment and enhance the ecosystem service function; in addition, Wang et al. [32] believed that land resources, as one of the important basic elements in the construction of ecological civilization, by exploring the compilation of a balance sheet in the process of land use is an important guarantee to promote the construction of ecological civilization systems.

Under the background of ecological civilization construction in China, the rational use of land is of great significance. Although the research in this field has been fruitful, there is still a lack of comprehensive research literature, which makes it difficult for some researchers to accurately grasp the research lineage, research hotspots, and future research directions. Therefore, based on bibliometric and content analysis methods, this study uses the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database as the source of literature and uses CiteSpace software to create a knowledge map of researchers, research institutions, and keywords to address the following three questions: (1) What is the lineage of research on land use under the background of the ecological civilization? (2) What is the current status of research on land use under the background of the ecological civilization? (3) What are the future research directions of land use under the background of the ecological civilization? We believe that this study will help readers clarify the research lineage and research hotspots in this field and help them to grasp future research directions.

2. Research Methodology and Data Sources

2.1. Research Methodology

This study explores the current status of land use research under the background of ecological civilization in China by using bibliometric analysis and content analysis [33,34], as follows: (1) Bibliometric analysis method: with the help of Citespace software developed by Prof. Chen’s [35] team, by drawing time zone diagrams, cluster diagrams and keyword mutation diagrams, we can sort out the basic situation, important concepts and development lines of land use research under the background of ecological civilization, dig out the hot topics and development patterns in the field, by using methods such as scholar analysis, research institution analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis and keyword time zone mapping. (2) Content analysis method: Based on the results of the highly cited literature and cluster analysis, the hot topic terms in the field are scientifically discovered, and the contributions made by different researchers in the research hotspots in the field are then elaborated in depth. Based on the above research methodology, this study will provide an in-depth analysis of the literature related to the field of land use research under the background of ecological civilization in China to show the relationship between the various fields of land use research.

2.2. Data Sources

The Chinese government vigorously promotes the construction of ecological civilization [36], and Chinese researchers attach great importance to and make great contributions to the research on land use under the background of ecological civilization construction in China [37]. Therefore, to ensure the comprehensiveness of the literature sample, the source of journal data in this study was selected the CNKI database, which is rich in literature achievements in this field. The search terms were “ecological civilization” and “land use”, and the journals were set to “all articles”, with no restriction on the year of publication. After the initial search and comparative screening, marginal information such as conference proceedings, newsletters, interviews, and calls for papers were manually excluded, and a total of 558 research articles were retrieved (from 1998 to 19 October 2022). The acquired literature data were stored in the encoding format UTF-8, converted in Refworks format, and imported into CiteSpace software, with the set time slice to one year and the threshold taken as the top 50, and topics such as researchers, research institutions, and keywords were selected to map the knowledge graph for further analysis.

3. Analysis of the Research Trend

To explore the historical span of research themes and the changing trends of research hotspots, this study draws a map of the number of articles published annually (Figure 1) and time zone (Figure 2) on land use research under the background of the ecological civilization of land use research. Additionally, based on the natural breakpoint method [38,39], annual changes in the number of publications, annual changes in keywords, and major historical points, this study divides the research lineage of land use under the background of ecological civilization into two stages: the nascent stage (1998–2011) and the fluctuating growth stage (2012–2022).

Nascent stage (1998–2011): In this stage, a total of 29 articles have been published since the first article was published in 1998, accounting for 5.20% of the total number of articles published in this research field, with an annual average of 1.31 articles, and the main keywords are ecological civilization (7 articles), land ecosystem (4 articles), general land use planning (4 articles), land ecological planning (3 articles), land ecological (3 articles), new rural construction (3 articles), etc. It can be found that, as the budding and starting stage of land use research under the background of ecological civilization, the number of publications is relatively small, the growth of study is slow, and even the number of publications is zero in several years; at the same time, the keywords are scattered, most keywords and clusters have not yet been generated, and the research content has not yet been systematized. Xiang considered land as an important carrier for the construction of ecological civilization and researched how to build ecological civilized cities in the face of the increasingly acute “population–resource–environment” problem [40]. Starting from land eco-ethics, Zhao [41] tries to regulate the behavior of land resource utilization through the binding force of ethics and morality and puts forwards the basic understanding and proposition of land eco-civilization.

Fluctuating growth stage (2012–2022): 529 articles were published in this stage, accounting for 94.80% of the total number of articles, with an average annual volume of 48.09 articles, with the core keywords being ecological civilization (110 articles), ecological civilization construction (86 articles), land use (48 articles), territorial spatial planning (32 articles), land remediation (21 articles) and overall land use planning (19 articles). In 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made the strategic decision to “vigorously promote the construction of ecological civilization”, which led to a high level of attention being paid to the topic of ecological civilization and the number of studies published on land use [42]. Land use, as a fundamental element of ecological civilization, has also seen a rapid increase in the number of articles published around its research [43,44]. This stage of the research focuses on land reclamation, land planning, etc., in the context of ecological civilization. For example, Long et al. [45] explored the coupling of environmental protection planning and land use planning based on the perspective of ecological civilization construction. Li and Gong [46] focused on exploring how to open up various land remediation models in the context of ecological civilization, enhance the ecological service value function of land, and guide the transformation and development of land remediation to ecological governance. Notably, the number of published articles on this topic showed a precipitous decline in 2019, followed by a rapid recovery. The reason for this phenomenon may be that the impact of policy and other factors led to a sudden shift of research focus.

4. Analysis of the Current Status of the Research

4.1. Analysis of Scholar Collaboration Networks

The degree of scholarly collaboration in academic research is an important indicator to judge the research progress of the discipline and can reflect the intensity of collaboration in the field [47]. Therefore, in this study, the word frequency statistics function of CiteSpace is used to summarize the top 10 researchers in terms of the number of papers published (

Table 1. Top 10 researchers of land use research under the background of ecological civilization in China.

Ranker	Number of Papers Published	Centrality	Year	Researchers
1	4	0	2017	Lin, J.
2	3	0	2017	Ye, Z.J.
3	3	0	2013	Yan, J.M.
4	3	0	2013	Zhang, D.
d	3	0	2013	Liu, Y.S.
6	2	0	2016	Liu, W.
7	2	0	2013	Long, H.L.
8	2	0	2018	Lyv, T.G.
9	2	0	2020	Yang, L.S.
10	2	0	2013	Zhang, Y.

) and draw the scholar collaboration network map (Figure 3). According to Price law, the minimum number of core scholar publications in a given field is $\mathrm{m}=0.749*\sqrt{{\mathrm{n}}_{\max }}=$ 1.498 (${\mathrm{n}}_{\max }$ is the number of papers by the scholar with the highest number of publications). Therefore, researchers with 2 or more publications are positioned as core researchers in the field. The researchers with 3 or more articles are “Lin” (4 articles), “Ye” (3 articles), “Yan” (3 articles), “Zhang” (3 articles), and “Liu” (3 articles), respectively. The centrality of all the researchers is 0, indicating that the degree of cooperation among researchers in this research field is low, and central and scholarly researchers have yet to emerge. In terms of scholarly collaborations, a small number of collaborative relationships exist between researchers, mainly the Lin-centred collaborative network, but the level of collaboration is low, and a close academic community has not yet been formed for inter-team communication. On the whole, the number of papers published in this field is generally low, the core research team has not yet been formed, and the research researchers are scattered and independent.

4.2. Analysis of Research Institution Collaboration Networks

As a platform for researchers to conduct research, issuing institutions can reflect interinstitutional cooperation. The analysis of the issuing institutions led to a table of the top 10 major research institutions (

Table 2. Top 10 research institutions for land use research under the background of ecological civilization in China.

Ranker	Number of Papers Published	Centrality	Year	Research Institutions
1	13	0.04	2008	Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resource Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
2	9	0.01	2009	Information Center of Ministry of Land and Resources of People’s Republic of China
3	7	0.01	2013	School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China
4	7	0.01	2009	Chinese Academy of Land and Resources Economy
5	6	0.02	2016	College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University
6	6	0	2013	Information Center of Ministry of Land and Resources of People’s Republic of China
7	6	0	2013	School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University
8	4	0.02	2008	China Land Surveying and Planning Institute
9	4	0	2017	College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
10	4	0	2014	College of Land Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing)

) and a map of institutional cooperation networks (Figure 4). Comparing the number of papers published by each institution, we found that the highest number of articles (13 articles) was from the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGSR), accounting for 2.33% of the total number of articles published. Other institutions with 7 articles include the “Information Center of Ministry of Natural Resources (9 articles)”, the “School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China (7 articles)” and the “Chinese Academy of Land and Resources Economy (7 articles)”. In terms of centrality, “Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS (0.04)”, “College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University (0.02)” and “Chinese Land Surveying and Planning Institute (0.02)” “have a high degree of centrality and a certain role as a bridge in the field.

It can be found from the cooperation network of research institutions that there is less cooperation between research institutions but still forms a certain scale of cooperation network. Additionally, among the few collaborating institutions that are mainly concentrated in geographic proximity or different research institutions within universities, the “Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS”, “Information Center of Ministry of Natural Resources”, “Chinese Academy of Land and Resources Economy” and other research institutions cooperate more closely, but the volume of publications is insufficient, and the overall academic cooperation network is more dispersed.

4.3. Analysis of Published Papers

CiteSpace software was used to conduct a “journal cocitation” analysis to find the journals that published papers in the field of land use under the background of ecological civilization (

Table 3. Top 10 journals for land use research under the background of ecological civilization in China.

Ranker	Journal Name	Number of Articles Published
1	China Land	20
2	Natural Resources Information	19
3	China Land Science	14
4	Natural Resource Economics of China	11
5	Land & Resources	11
6	Ecological Economy	10
7	Shanghai Land & Resources	9
8	Zhejiang Land & Resources	8
9	Planners	8
10	Bulletin of Soil and Water Conservation	7

). The journal with the highest number of papers is China Land (20 articles), accounting for 3.58% of the total number of articles, while other journals with 10 articles or more include Natural Resources Information (19 articles), China Land Science (14 papers), Natural Resource Economics of China (11 articles), Land & Resources (11 articles) and Ecological Economy (10 articles). Additionally, an analysis of the top 10 journals in terms of the number of papers published shows that they are mainly related to land science, resource environment, ecological economy, spatial planning, and other related fields, showing a trend of cross-disciplinary research, which will be a hot direction for future research.

4.4. Analysis of Research Methods

Through the statistical analysis of research methods (

Table 4. Top 20 research methods on land use research under the background of ecological civilization in China.

Ranker	Research Methods	Numbers	Ranker	Research Methods	Numbers
1	Policy analysis method	179	11	TOPSIS model	16
2	Theoretical analysis method	49	12	Obstacle degree model	15
3	Entropy method	44	13	Land use dynamics model	15
4	Single case study method	35	14	Kernel density estimation method	12
5	ENVI remote sensing image method	34	15	Cold hot spot analysis	11
6	ArcGIS spatial analysis	27	16	Super-SBM model	11
7	Coupling coordination degree model	25	17	Land transfer matrix method	7
8	Geographic detector	20	18	Land use transfer matrix method	7
9	Multiple regression model	17	19	Factor analysis method	5
10	Bibliometric analysis method	16	20	Analytic hierarchy process method	5

), it is found that qualitative analysis is the main method of land use under the background of ecological civilization in China, and quantitative analysis is the auxiliary method. In qualitative analysis, the research methods used most frequently by scholars were the “policy analysis method” (179 times) and “theoretical analysis method” (49 times). The main research contents were in three aspects: (1) Scholars mainly explored the theoretical sources and rationality of optimizing land use under the background of ecological civilization in China [48,49]. (2) Through the analysis and interpretation of the historical evolution of ecological civilization construction policies, scholars have proposed the guiding significance and content of land use types [50,51]. (3) Under the relevant policies of ecological civilization construction, scholars have formulated land use development plans for different regions [52,53].

For quantitative analysis, the most frequently used research methods were the “entropy method” (44 times) and the “ENVI remote sensing image method” (34 times). The research contents were divided into two aspects: (1) Scholars evaluated and analyzed the land use status by constructing the index system [54]. (2) With the help of remote sensing, some scholars are devoted to exploring the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and dynamic trends of land use under the background of ecological civilization in China [55,56].

4.5. Analysis of Highly Cited Literature

The frequency of citations of literature is closely related to the academic influence of the relevant research, and high citations reflect the academic influence and knowledge centrality of the relevant literature in the field of ecological civilization research [57]. Therefore, in this paper, we collate the high-frequency citations of land use research under the background of ecological civilization (Table 5) and analyze the research content of the relevant literature to further understand the knowledge base of this field of research. As seen from Table 5, among the top 10 high-frequency cited studies, the paper named “Classification Evaluation and Spatial-temporal Analysis of ‘Production-Living-Ecological’ Spaces in China” published by Liu et al. [58] has the highest number of citations (508 times), which much higher than the number of citations in the subsequent literature. This paper analyzes the dialectical relationship between land use types and land use functions on the basis of the theory of ‘production–living–ecological’ spaces and establishes a system for classifying and evaluating ‘production–living–ecological’ spaces, revealing the pattern of ‘production–living–ecological’ spaces and changing characteristics in China between 1990 and 2010. Other papers with more than 200 citations include Lin et al.’s [52] “Construction of the Spatial Planning System: With Discussions on the Relationship Between Spatial Planning, Territorial Spatial Regulation, and Natural Resources Supervision”, Yan et al.’s [59] “Cognition, Direction and Path of Future Spatial Planning based on the Background of Multiple Planning Integration” and “Reshaping and innovation of China land consolidation strategy” by Yun et al. [60].

In general, the research content of the high-frequency cited literature can be divided into three parts: spatiotemporal evolution patterns and measurements, spatial planning, and land reclamation. First, in the area of spatiotemporal evolution patterns and measurements, Liu et al. [58] constructed a classification and evaluation system based on the theory of production-living-ecological space and then analyzed the evolution pattern and change characteristics of production–living–ecological space in China, while Jin et al. [61] focused on the evaluation system of production–living–ecological space for urban clusters to explore the change characteristics of the evolution pattern of production–living–ecological space in urban clusters. Second, in spatial planning, Lin et al. [52] focused on the relationship between the spatial planning system, unified land use control, and improved natural resource supervision system in the context of ecological civilization construction to build a national spatial planning system; additionally, Yan et al. [59] based on the context of “multiregulation” reform and the perspective of ecological civilization construction analyzed the essential perception of spatial planning, clear reform orientation and proposed reform paths for future spatial planning. In addition, Long et al. [45] used the environmental carrying capacity evaluation method to explore the spatial convergence effect of the “three boundaries and four zones” of land use planning, environmental function zoning, and ecological red lines in environmental protection planning. In contrast to other researchers, Zou [62] focused on the reconstruction of the spatial planning system under the framework of natural resource management and proposes holistic governance ideas, eradicating conflicts among multiple spatial plans and supporting the construction of an ecological civilization. Finally, in terms of land remediation, based on a review of the theoretical foundation and practical exploration of land remediation in China over the past 20 years, Yun et al. [60] proposed reshaping suggestions in terms of innovative concepts and other major problems of land remediation based on the low level of comprehensive land remediation practice and the low level of land ecological remediation practice; additionally, Feng and Yang [63] took China’s socioeconomic transformation as the entry point, sorted out the basic direction and strategic focus of comprehensive rural land improvement, and put forwards policy recommendations such as agricultural land improvement as a precursor and integration into ecological civilization construction. In addition, Wang and Zhong [64] focused on analyzing the problems of insufficient ecosystem thinking and imperfect technical systems in land remediation and put forward suggestions for the ecological transformation of land remediation, while Feng [65] focused on analyzing the coordination of human–land relations in the process of land remediation and the sustainable use of land resources.

Table 5. Table of highly cited literature on land use research under the background of ecological civilization in China.

Ranker	Scholar	Paper Title	Journal Name	Cited Volume
1	Liu et al. [58]	Classification evaluation and spatial-temporal analysis of “production-living-ecological” spaces in China	Acta Geographica Sinica	508
2	Lin et al. [52]	Construction of the spatial planning system: With discussions on the relationship between spatial planning, Territorial spatial regulation, and natural resources supervision	City Planning Review	304
3	Yan et al. [59]	Cognition, direction and path of future spatial planning based on the background of multiple planning integration	China Land Science	219
4	Yun et al. [60]	Reshaping and innovation of China land consolidation strategy	Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering	206
5	Feng and Yang [63]	Key research fields and basic directions of Chinese rural-land comprehensive consolidation in transitional period	Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering	154
6	Long et al. [45]	Spatial interlinking of land use planning and environmental protection planning From the perspective of ecological civilization construction	Economic Geography	99
7	Jin et al. [61]	Research on the evolution of spatiotemporal patterns of production-living-ecological space in an urban agglomeration in the Fujian Delta region, China	Acta Ecologica Sinica	97
8	Wang and Zhong [64]	Problems and suggestions for developing ecological construction in land management work	Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering	96
9	Zou [62]	Logic and conception of spatial planning system reconstruction under the framework of natural resources management	Planners	89
10	Feng [65]	Man-nature harmonization theory and regional sustainable land resource use	Journal of Nanjing Agricultural University (Social Sciences Edition)	88

Table 5. Table of highly cited literature on land use research under the background of ecological civilization in China.

Ranker	Scholar	Paper Title	Journal Name	Cited Volume
1	Liu et al. [58]	Classification evaluation and spatial-temporal analysis of “production-living-ecological” spaces in China	Acta Geographica Sinica	508
2	Lin et al. [52]	Construction of the spatial planning system: With discussions on the relationship between spatial planning, Territorial spatial regulation, and natural resources supervision	City Planning Review	304
3	Yan et al. [59]	Cognition, direction and path of future spatial planning based on the background of multiple planning integration	China Land Science	219
4	Yun et al. [60]	Reshaping and innovation of China land consolidation strategy	Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering	206
5	Feng and Yang [63]	Key research fields and basic directions of Chinese rural-land comprehensive consolidation in transitional period	Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering	154
6	Long et al. [45]	Spatial interlinking of land use planning and environmental protection planning From the perspective of ecological civilization construction	Economic Geography	99
7	Jin et al. [61]	Research on the evolution of spatiotemporal patterns of production-living-ecological space in an urban agglomeration in the Fujian Delta region, China	Acta Ecologica Sinica	97
8	Wang and Zhong [64]	Problems and suggestions for developing ecological construction in land management work	Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering	96
9	Zou [62]	Logic and conception of spatial planning system reconstruction under the framework of natural resources management	Planners	89
10	Feng [65]	Man-nature harmonization theory and regional sustainable land resource use	Journal of Nanjing Agricultural University (Social Sciences Edition)	88

5. Analysis of Research Hotspots

5.1. Keyword Co-Occurrence Analysis

Keywords are the core of research results, and the more frequently the keywords appear, the more frequently the research around the keywords [66]. Therefore, this paper sorts out 20 keywords with high word frequency in land use research under the background of ecological civilization through the word frequency statistics function of CiteSpace, which can reveal the research hotspots in this field to a certain extent (

Table 6. Top 20 frequency keywords for land use research under the background of ecological civilization in China.

Ranker	Frequency	Centrality	Year	Keywords	Ranker	Frequency	Centrality	Year	Keywords
1	117	0.42	2007	Ecological civilization	11	9	0.03	2015	Multi-plan integration
2	88	0.36	2009	Ecological civilization construction	12	9	0	2013	Ecological environment
3	49	0.12	2002	Land use	13	8	0.01	2017	Land planning
4	32	0.05	2017	National spatial planning system	14	8	0.01	2018	Rural vitalization
5	23	0.17	2008	General land use planning	15	8	0.02	2016	Use control
6	22	0.07	2010	Land consolidation	16	8	0	2019	Intensive land use
7	15	0.02	2013	Territory resources	17	7	0.01	2013	New urbanization
8	14	0.08	2013	Intensive land use	18	7	0.02	2012	Ministry of land and resources of People’s Republic of China
9	13	0.07	2010	Land resources	19	7	0.01	2017	Spatial planning
10	10	0.02	2014	Land use plan	20	6	0	2013	Land consolidation planning

). In terms of keyword frequency, the keywords with high word frequency are ecological civilization (117 times), ecological civilization construction (88 times), land use (49 times), national spatial planning (32 times), general land use planning (23 times), land use (22 times), etc. In terms of centrality, ecological civilization (0.42), ecological civilization construction (0.36), general land use planning (0.42), ecological civilization construction (0.36), land use planning (0.17) and land use (0.12) have a strong centrality and play a bridging role among the keywords. The analysis of the keywords and their related literature reveals that the network relationships linked by the keywords span a large period of time and have a complex structure and that the keywords involve ecology, economy, rural areas, agriculture, spatial planning, land improvement, and rural revitalization, which indicates that the research objects and research contents of land use research under the background of ecological civilization show diverse characteristics.

5.2. Keyword Clustering Analysis

The keyword clustering analysis reveals that the keyword clusters of land use research under the background of ecological civilization are mainly divided into “#0 Ecological civilization”, “#1 Intensive land use”, “#2 Land use”, “#3 Ecological civilization construction”, “#4 Use control”, “#1 Intensive land use”, “#2 Land use”, “#3 Ecological civilization construction”, “#4 Use control”, “#5 Land resources”, “#8 Land ecosystem”, “#9 Economic transformation and upgrading”, “#10 Plain afforestation”, “#11 Building ecological civilization”, “#15 Land use plan” and “#20 System of land and resources of People’s Republic of China” (Figure 5). Based on the content of the literature on arable land use under the background of ecological civilization and the keyword nodes shown in Figure 5 and Table 6, the current research themes were grouped into two categories: “ecological civilization construction and land use” and “national spatial planning”.

First, in “Ecological civilization construction and land use”, specifically “#0 Ecological civilization” in “#0 Ecological civilization”, “#1 Intensive land use”, “#2 Land use”, “#3 Ecological civilization construction”, “#11 Building ecological civilization” and five other keyword clusters. As a fundamental element of ecological civilization construction, land use plays an extremely important role in the construction of ecological civilization. Bai et al. [67] used the entropy weight method—the PSR model—to investigate the coordination between ecological civilization construction and intensive land use in the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration and found that the level of intensive land use showed a steady upwards trend, while the degree of ecological civilization construction generally showed a fluctuating upwards trend. Moreover, Kong et al. [68] explored the spatial classification system of China’s national land based on the perspective of ecological civilization and finally proposed a spatial classification system comprising land use classification, spatial control classification, and the “multiregulation” difference coordination mechanism and provided policy suggestions for the establishment of China’s future spatial planning standards. In addition, Yun et al. [69] explored the changes in land use in China and the impacts from an ecological civilization perspective and found that although land use development plays an important role in promoting social and economic development and ensuring food security, overreliance on land resource development has led to a series of ecological problems, making environmental pollution, strict adherence to the ecological red line for arable land, and strengthening territorial spatial planning necessary. What is not used in the same way as other researchers’ studies is Zhai [70], who used the construction of ecological civilization as a conceptual guide to deeply analyzed the problems and causes of rural land, and analyzed in depth the problems and causes in the process of rural land use and development, combined with the specific requirements of building an ecological civilization, built a framework for a comprehensive land use system, and put forwards targeted countermeasures and suggestions for the effective use and protection of rural land. In contrast, Guo et al. [71] proposed using and managing land from an ecosystem perspective and shifting from focusing only on quantitative management to placing equal emphasis on quantity, quality and ecology to improve the overall functional characteristics of land.

Second, “National spatial planning” specifically contains 7 keyword clusters: “#4 Use control”, “#5 Land resources”, “#8 Land ecosystem”, “#9 Economic transformation and upgrading”, “#10 Plain afforestation”, “#15 Land use plan”, and “#20 System of land and resources of People’s Republic of China”. The spatial planning system is not only an important part of the construction of ecological civilization but also the basis for all kinds of development and construction activities. In particular, Zhang [53] proposed revising the current Spatial Planning Law and formulating a Spatial Planning Law that includes the construction of ecological civilization based on the perspective of ecological civilization construction and the Netherlands’ Territorial Space Planning Law and focusing on exploring the legislative path of territorial spatial planning law. Feng [72] applied the SWAT model to construct a multiobjective optimization model with hydrology, soil and water conservation, and economic development as the main components and found that the model is applicable in the southern mountainous region of Jinan, helping it to rationalize the use of land use resources in each classification area and protect the ecological environment. As the spatial function of the land is the basis for human–land coupling and territorial spatial planning, in contrast to the concerns of other researchers, Zhou [48] focused on the research of the function of land and space in the context of ecological civilization, and the research suggests that the theoretical construction, weighing mechanism, content expansion, technical innovation and conceptual transformation of the function of land and space should be promoted in the future. Meanwhile, optimizing the spatial development pattern of the country and increasing the natural ecosystem and environmental protection are important tasks in the construction of ecological civilization. Long et al. [45] evaluated the interface between the “three boundaries and four zones” and the environmental function zoning based on the perspective of ecological civilization construction, providing a reference for the preparation of environmental protection planning and land use planning. In addition, Ding [73] analyzed the characteristics of the spatial restructuring of rural areas in southern Jiangsu based on the perspective of ecological civilization, and after an in-depth analysis of the problems of imbalance of interests, spatial chaos, and ecological fragility in the spatial restructuring of rural areas, he proposed countermeasures and suggestions for the spatial restructuring of rural areas in southern Jiangsu from various aspects, such as the construction of an interest coordination mechanism, the intensive use of space, the reshaping of the characteristics of water towns and the construction of ecological patterns.

5.3. Burst Word Analysis

The Burst terms function can focus on the more influential research areas over a period of time [74]. Data analysis through CiteSpace revealed that the only keywords that emerged from this research were “Intensive land use” and “National spatial planning” (

Table 7. Analysis of keyword emergent terms in land use research under the background of ecological civilization.

Keywords	Strength	Begin	End	1999–2022
Intensive land use	4.58	2013	2014	▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▃▃▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂
National spatial planning	10.09	2019	2022	▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▃▃▃▃

). The analysis found that “national spatial planning” had the highest strength and longest impact period, at 10.09 and 4 years (2019–2022), respectively, while the strength of “intensive land use” was only 4.58, with a duration of 2 years (2013–2014). The emergence of “National spatial planning” lasted from 2019 to 2022, which indicates that under the background of ecological civilization construction, national spatial planning research will become a hot research topic and a frontier direction in the future.

6. Discussion

6.1. Research Researchers and Institutions Are Scattered, Core Researchers and Institutions Have Been Formed

According to the word frequency statistics function and the function of drawing cooperative network mapping of CiteSpace, it is found that the research researchers and research institutions in the field of land use research under the background of ecological civilization are relatively scattered and have not yet formed research researchers and research institutions with high publication volume, which makes the research in this field lack authoritative and influential research individuals and has not formed mature research teams. The small number of collaborative teams does not change the current research divide in the field, and each researcher and research institution is in a state of independent research, which not only affects the exchange of academic thinking and ideas in the field but also further hinders the expansion of research content in the field. The reason for this phenomenon may be the lack of an effective academic platform for communication in this field, which makes it difficult for scholars to learn from each other. Meanwhile, due to the lack of research depth in this field, leading to the lack of authoritative scholars, academic cooperation is mainly limited to research institutions located close to each other or scholars within the same research institution.

6.2. The Research Fields Show That Interdisciplinary and Highly Cited Literature Has a Central Role

The field of publishing papers is characterized by diversity. The analysis of journal cocitations shows that the research base of land use under the background of ecological civilization shows strong interdisciplinary characteristics, mainly involving land science, resources and environment, ecological economy, spatial planning, and other related fields, and the research methods in a large number of research results are very rich due to the characteristics of each discipline, which also highlights the future development direction of the field. In addition, the highly cited literature highlights, to some extent, the influence and centrality of the paper in the field, which benefits further understanding of the research base in the field. Among them, Liu et al. [58] published the most cited paper, “Classification evaluation and spatiotemporal pattern of ‘production–living–ecological space’ in China”. This paper not only theoretically divides land use types into production, living and ecological spaces but also constructs a relevant evaluation index system, which plays a guiding role in the research of this field. The research content of the top ten highly cited studies can be categorized in detail into three areas: spatiotemporal evolutionary patterns and measurements, spatial planning, and land reclamation, which to some extent indicate the three main lines of current research in the field, around which the rest of the research is mainly focused. Furthermore, this shows that these three research areas are not only the core content of current research in this field but also the hot spots for scholars in this field to carry out research in the future.

6.3. The Research Lineage Has Obvious Stage Characteristics, and the Research Hotspots Show a Diversified Trend

From the characteristics of annual publication volume and keyword distribution, the field of land use research under the background of ecological civilization is characterized by distinct stages. Prior to 2012, there were extremely few publications in the field, keywords were scattered, and most keywords and clusters had not yet been generated. In 2012 and beyond, as the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) brought “ecological civilization construction” to the forefront of the national strategy, the number of papers published in this field increased dramatically, the number of keywords and categories also increased, and a systematic research system was gradually formed. In this system, the research hotspots are divided into 12 keyword clusters, such as “#0 Ecological civilization” and “#1 Intensive land use”, which are further divided into two parts, such as “ecological civilization construction and land use” and “national spatial planning”, which shows that although the hotspots of research in this field are scattered, the core content of the research is centred on “ecological civilization construction and land use” and “national spatial planning”. This is similar to the analysis results of highly cited literature, indicating that the core research content in this field is relatively stable. The fact that “national spatial planning” is the largest burst intensity until 2022 indicates that ecological civilization construction and national spatial planning will be a hot topic of research in this field for a long time to come.

6.4. Prospect of Land Use under the Background of China’s Ecological Civilization Construction

To strengthen the construction of ecological civilization, China’s constitutional amendment passed in 2018 has written “ecological civilization” into the Constitution, which marks that the construction of ecological civilization has officially become a national strategy. As the carrier of various terrestrial ecosystems, land use optimization is of great significance for China’s ecological civilization construction. Firstly, in view of the soil pollution problem, the Chinese government tries to prevent and control the soil pollution problem by carrying out large-scale land greening actions, adjusting the land use structure and other way, so the pollution in the process of land use should be a hot issue for scholars. Secondly, the academic community should pay attention to the issue of territorial spatial planning and comprehensive land management in different regions. The Chinese government has given full play to the control role of the ecological red line in land development and utilization, organized the preparation of territorial spatial planning for administrative regions at all levels, and accelerated the comprehensive improvement of land by regions to make rational use of land resources. Finally, for regions with serious land ecological environment damage, the government should promote land ecological restoration by issuing relevant policies, and scholars should focus on the theory, technology, and case study of land ecological restoration.

6.5. Research Contributions and Deficiencies

The main contributions of this paper are that bibliometric and content analysis methods are used to clarify the research in this field, analyze the current situation and research hotspots in this field in depth, and indicate future research directions in this field in the absence of comprehensive literature on land use research under the background of ecological civilization. Meanwhile, this paper also has certain shortcomings: (1) this paper only uses the CNKI database as a literature source, which is a relatively single source of data, but it can still adequately summarize the research lineage, current situation, and hotspots in this field. In the future, data sources (such as Web of Science, Scopus, and other databases) can be expanded to carry out the comparison between Chinese and international research. (2) As the literature data are mainly in Chinese papers, the translation into English may have some linguistic deviations, and we have improved the accuracy of the language expression of the paper by various means, such as professional retouching.

7. Conclusions

Based on CiteSpace software, this paper visualizes and analyzes the 558 articles in the field of land use research under the background of China’s ecological civilization in the CNKI database, which clarifies the research lineage and current status of the field and promotes the academic community’s overall grasp of the research hotspots and future trends in the field. Overall, the findings of this paper are as follows: (1) At present, research in this area is relatively mature, and the scale of research is relatively stable and can be divided into a nascent start-up stage and a fluctuating growth stage. (2) The researchers and research institutions are scattered, the volume of papers published is insufficient, there are only a small number of collaborative networks, and no core researchers and research institutions have been formed. (3) Based on the analysis of the published papers, it is found that research in this field involves many different disciplines, such as land science, resources and environment, ecology and economy, and spatial planning, and shows a cross-disciplinary trend. (4) Highly cited literature has a strong academic influence in the field, and its content as a whole can be categorized into three sections: spatiotemporal evolutionary patterns and measurements, spatial planning, and land reclamation. (5) Although the hotspots of land use research under the background of ecological civilization can be grouped into 12 keyword clusters, they are summarized in detail in two sections: “ecological civilization construction and land use” and “national spatial planning”. (6) Intensive land use and territorial spatial planning are the only emergent terms in this field, with territorial spatial planning emerging until 2022 as a future research hotspot and frontier.

In the future, the following three areas will be worthy of continued in-depth research and consideration: (1) Strengthening theoretical research and promoting the construction of a theoretical analytical framework on ecological civilization and land use. (2) Increasing multiscale case research based on differences between different regions and emphasizing cross-disciplinary research. (3) How to ensure that territorial spatial planning is compatible and coordinated with social and economic development and ecological environmental protection under the background of ecological civilization construction.