Technological Mediation of Photovoltaic System to Improve Rural Sustainability in the Background of Resettlement and Consolidation: Evidence from the Rural Community and Villages in China

Abstract

Settlement structure is the most essential aspect of rural landscapes and habitations in China. The process of merging rural settlements has given rise to tensions in spatial-social structures, posing significant risks to rural sustainability. However, little research has been undertaken to analyze potential resolutions for the challenges of sustainable development in the context. Based on the technological mediation theory, we used participant observation and interviews to investigate the effects of the photovoltaic system on spatial-social structures, governance patterns, and rural sustainability. By focusing on a representative merger project area situated in Shandong Province, our research revealed that the photovoltaic system improved spatial, social, and governance sustainability in rural areas rather than only the environmental aspect. In the spatial dimension, the photovoltaic system reconstructed domestic spaces and activated scenarios conducive to public life. In the social dimension, it fostered the eradication of disparities in identity and facilitated the reintegration of social networks. In the governance dimension, a large-scale governance pattern supported by mutual interest, collective trust, and the integrated system was developed to successfully resolve emerging problems and ultimately promoted the sustainability of the community–village region. The findings highlight the efficacy of employing technological design as a means to resolve resettlement dilemmas, which could shed light on the elimination of conflicts arising from the interplay between urbanization and sustainability of rural areas.

1. Introduction

Urbanization is one of the most important approaches for rural areas to achieve modernization and is usually characterized by land consolidation and population concentration [1]. It usually includes changes in interactions between people and the land, as well as in the spatiotemporal distributions of natural resources and geographic settings [2,3], which are closely entangled with rural sustainability (defined as the capacity to maintain or improve the state of a community, set of social institutions, or societal practices) [4,5]. The project of merging rural settlements was carried out in Shandong Province, China, as part of the national process for urbanizing rural areas [6]. The project built new apartments in concentrated rural communities for farmers to integrate numerous scattered villages. After farmers’ resettlement from their old bungalows, the villages and homesteads were leveled to supplement cultivated land [7]. This project was generally called “moving upstairs” among local villagers. Whereas a range of social risks was stimulated by the “moving upstairs” project [7,8,9], and governments then tried to amend the policy for addressing them. The central government of China declared that it opposed the destruction of villages and compulsive relocation to rural communities [10]. Nevertheless, the dilemmas of space, community, and governance caused by undertaken mergers have constituted crucial challenges to China’s rural sustainability.

Rural sustainability is an important issue in sociological research, especially in light of current debates on the merger of rural settlements. Some scholars stressed that the organic solidarity mode of modern communities (characterized by well-equipped public spaces where social relationships are bound together with common network norms and institutionalized expectations) after the merger of rural settlements was the ideal pattern of rural sustainability [6]. The merger project might be able to address the problems of land decentralization and waste. Newly built community spaces were coincident with modern public life and accompanied by more social cohesion, which could provide an impetus for the sustainable development of rural areas [11,12,13,14]. Others held critical views, arguing that the loose coupling mode of traditional villages (characterized by abundant private spaces where social relationships are bound together with consanguinity and reciprocity) before the merger of rural settlements was the realistic pattern for rural sustainability [15]. The dwelling spaces constructed by the merger project were not compatible with the needs of rural production. This transformation might also exert an inverse impact on daily routines and social connections, which would irreparably undermine rural regions’ capacity to pursue sustainable development [16,17,18].

Yet since the project of merging rural settlements came to an end due to the requirement from the central government, villages and communities coexisted in many rural regions, with the majority of farmers moving into the communities while some opponents stayed in the villages. These partially merged regions faced the problem of sustainability in a way that neither constituted organic solidarity nor maintained loose coupling. The newly constructed rural communities had a lack of public spaces, service organizations, and social standards. Concurrently, the majority of homesteads in traditional villages were abandoned with a significant number of residents moving out, leading to the disruption of the original neighborly connections. Furthermore, there was an increase in hostility between the relocated and remaining villagers, as tensions arose in the absence of a shared community identity. Therefore, a critical examination of the spatial-social structures during this period of transition is imperative, along with the exploration of viable resolutions for the challenges pertaining to the sustainability of rural areas.

Technology studies offered rich and detailed accounts of the imaginative ways in which rural society interacted with technology [19,20] and might provide an advantageous perspective for resolutions for the challenges of rural sustainability. Some researchers analyzed how a stable technology, the Model T automobile, could be appropriated and redesigned by groups such as farmers in the rural United States who turned their cars into sources of stationary power for washing machines, threshers, and others for home and agricultural use [21]. Kline and Pinch [21] referred to such users as “agents of technological change.” Empirical scrutiny of handloom weaving practices revealed that some weaving communities had economically sustainable livelihoods while also being extremely sustainable both in technological terms and about other elements of the ensemble [20]. Gupta [22] explored the strategic use of both traditional and modern scientific agricultural technologies by Indian farmers to achieve a green revolution. Technology studies demonstrated how sustainable systems were constructed and promoted, with the identities, institutions, discourses, and representations co-produced [23]. However, this area is inadequately combined with the current literature on the merger of rural settlements.

The photovoltaic system (PV) provided a potential technological solution to sustainable environmental problems by utilizing renewable energy sources [24]. It has been seen as an important technology in contemporary China, especially in rural areas. The efficiency of silicon wafer-based modules has been rapidly improving over recent decades, contributing to the reduction of the levelized cost of electricity and making PV very competitive in the field of new energy [25]. China had a prominent role in the literature on photovoltaic technologies in developing countries, as it gained dramatic production growth during a very short period [26]. Shandong was among the top provinces in terms of both yearly new installations and cumulative solar installations in China. Since 2014, with strategic guidance from the central government, it has been one of the most important energy strategies in Shandong Province to reduce coal power capacity and to increase the installed rate of solar energy [27]. In 2014, the cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaics in Shandong was only 600,000 kW. By 2022, it reached 42,699,000 kW [28]. Especially with the “county-wide promotion strategy” [29] in recent years, the number of distributed household PVs in rural Shandong has shown explosive growth. In this, residents or corporations bore the cost of installation and the photovoltaic power was fed into the national grid. The revenue from the power generation would go to the owners. However, relatively little is known about the impact of PV on spatial, social, and other dimensions compared with environmental sustainability, especially in the context of resettlement and consolidation.

Accordingly, several major gaps remain. First, in sustainability studies, the organic solidarity mode of modern communities and the loose coupling mode of traditional villages in rural China have been fully discussed [12,14,17], but scholars have not paid enough attention to the transition phase where villages and communities co-existed. In particular, the potential solutions to the social problems after the end of the merger project have not been investigated. Second, in technology studies, the literature has focused on the impact of PV on environmental sustainability [30,31]. However, other aspects like the possible impacts on spatial, social, and governance sustainability have not been explored. Third, prior research has hardly analyzed how PV’s impacts are shaped by social and cultural factors in the context of rapid urbanization in emerging countries.

This study aimed to develop an integrated framework of technology and spatial-social structures and to analyze their influence on rural sustainability according to a 12-year research program. To our knowledge, this study presented the first empirical analysis on the resolutions for the dilemmas during the transition phase where villages and communities co-existed from the loose coupling mode to the organic solidarity mode, based on a representative merger area in Shandong Province. This study was also innovative in that it investigated the mediation effects of the photovoltaic system in terms of spatial, social, and governance sustainability. We hypothesized that PV could alter lifeworld spaces by changing physical conditions and influence the extension of social networks by mediating human behaviors. This resulted in a transformation of the structure of compression and disruption. Besides, governance capacity and system would be co-constructed with the spatial-social structure, resulting in more resilient rural sustainability. These findings suggested that technological designs were crucial for land consolidation and sustainable development in the context of rapid urbanization in developing countries like China.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Theoretical Framework

From the theoretical perspective of the sociology of space, environmental conditions and social networks both frame spaces and contribute to sustainability [32]. On the one hand, spaces based on environmental conditions represent the whole of physical sites and landscapes [33]. Spatial arrangements determine the pattern of resource allocation and economic development, which dictate the balance among urban, rural, and ecological components [34,35,36]. On the other hand, based on social networks, spaces are the product of social structures and are also filled with social relations [37]. Social relationships can influence people’s well-being and sense of identity, and also serve as the bond that holds localities together to avoid disintegrating [38,39]. Therefore, it is crucial to construct a complex of spaces with both physical and social features in order to achieve the sustainable development of rural areas.

It is worth noting that technology has mediation effects on human-technology relations in terms of spatial-social structures. The technological mediation theory proposes that technology is beyond its own functionality and may have an impact on how humans interact with the lifeworld [40,41]. For one thing, technology can alter the fundamental conditions of the lifeworld and mediate the material surroundings and spaces that people must cope with [42,43]. For another, it can also mediate human behaviors and determine the structure and extension of social networks [44,45,46]. As a result of the mediation effects, some relationships between technology and socio-spatial structures could be depicted. First, technology forms a unity with the space and people are directed at the ways in which technology shapes the space. This relationship can be schematized as human→(technology-world) in the mediation theory. Another relationship schematized as (human–technology)→world is appropriate for the unity of technology and people, which forms a whole in the space. Third, technology constitutes the context for human actions in the space, and the relationship can be schematized as human (technology/world) [41]. From the viewpoint of the mediation theory, technology is not merely a convenient tool; it is also intentional [41] and able to autonomously exert unforeseen effects on spaces and social orders [47,48]. For instance, PV has been treated as a key technology for comprehending how technology mediates physical spaces and social networks. According to Langdon Winner, technology is inherently political [49]. Small-scale localized PVs could act as the material foundation for decentralized geography and social systems in contrast to huge centralized energy sources (like nuclear power) [50]. Families and individuals in the vicinity of a decentralized energy supply system would become more self-reliant, which might further facilitate the decentralization of the community and social power [51]. Rather than approaching technology as a material object opposed to human subjects, or as mere extensions of human beings, mediation theory treats it as a mediator of human–world relations. Practically, this perspective can inform references for designs, because it enables designers to analyze, anticipate, and experiment with the impacts of technology on spatial layout and social actions [52].

Based on the above analyses, the theoretical framework shown in Figure 1 is used to analyze the associations among technology, spatial-social structures, and sustainability after the merger of rural settlements. The physical dimension of sustainability is highlighted in one line, where technology may mediate rural spaces and landscapes and have either positive or negative effects on sustainability. Another line discusses the social dimension of sustainability, including how technology accommodates or disrupts sustainable development by mediating social networks and relationship structures. There is also a possible line that indicates that the governance dimension of sustainability is not just exposed by or the influence factor of spatial-social structures [53,54]. In fact, they are treated as entangled and co-constructed. Technology may have varying effects on spatial-social structures depending on governance contexts, and the spatial-social structure will rebuild the governance mode. The sustainability of the transitional rural region is shaped by spaces and landscapes, social relationships, and governance patterns together.

2.2. Study Area

This study was based on a longitudinal qualitative research program to investigate the developmental trajectory of spatial-social structures during the rural consolidation for up to 12 years. The program was carried out in the community and villages in X town, Shandong Province, China, where the project of merging rural settlements was conducted. X town is located around 36°11.8′ N and 116°45.3′ E. It is hilly and plain, with the topography being flat in the east and mountainous in the west. It is also said to be the hometown of Liu Xia Hui, who was revered as the Sage of Harmony by the ancient Chinese thinker Mencius. The county to which X town belongs was chosen as the urbanization pilot region in 2012, implementing the establishment of a core urban center, new rural communities, an industrial ecological area, and a modern agricultural park simultaneously. The project of merging rural settlements was implemented to coincide with the development of new rural communities. The original 64 administrative villages of X town were arranged into seven new rural communities according to the project of merging rural settlements.

Our research field, community S, was one of the seven rural communities in X town and was merged with eight original administrative villages (see Figure 2A–H). The community covered 425,333 square meters and consisted of more than 1900 homes after completion. The community’s economic service sector was located in the northwest, while the government office, kindergarten, primary school, and nursing home were in the southeast. The leaders of eight previous villages made up the public sector of community S.

There used to be more than 6000 villagers in 1960 households in eight original hamlets. Villagers were instructed to swap their homesteads for community apartments and cover the difference in price on their own due to the merger project. To be specific, villagers were eligible to purchase community flats after transferring their homesteads to the collective. The collective provided compensation based on the registered households and also purchased their land attachments at the third party’s value price. Villagers paid the amount of the apartment’s price that was left over after deducting the compensation. Newcomers from eight villages were asked to alter the original settlement structure and were blended randomly in the community. Between 2012 and 2019, 1720 families, making up 87.8% of the households in eight villages, were relocated in four waves following the mobilization of rural leaders. According to the central government’s request, the administration asked to halt the merger in 2020 throughout the province after the social problems were exposed. At that time, hundreds of residents still did not migrate into the community and were dispersed in their original villages. As land was collectively owned in China, they could not, in principle, renovate or rebuild the homesteads since the village area was reallocated as arable land.

In 2021, rooftop solar power generation systems were introduced in the community and some retained homesteads. In the beginning, PV was considered as a potential technological path for developing the collective economy. Gradually, there was an increase in the establishment number of rooftop solar systems in the community and homesteads, and PV was also frequently utilized in street lighting, charging stations, monitoring equipment, and other settings. The introduction process and mediation effects of PV might be viewed as a unique “social experiment of technology,” which could inform targets to resolve the conflicts between urbanization and sustainability of rural regions.

2.3. Material Source

Identifying the effects of PV on rural life was a complex issue. General evaluations of rural changes before and after the merger project and PV installation had to be conducted both extensively and intensively. Therefore, we mostly conducted the case study by employing the longitudinal qualitative research method, which is powerful and prioritizes the validity and depth of the interviewees’ answers. In order to track changes in the research field, our team initially entered the region in 2010 and engaged in participatory observation and interviewing for about six weeks. We re-entered the field in 2012, following the relocation of the first wave, and performed interviews on the reasons for and challenges associated with “moving upstairs.” There were also two investigations in 2015 and 2018. The study team then performed a series of semi-structured or focus group interviews during three visits to the research field in 2021–2023, around the period that PV was installed. The emphasis in data collection was on the physical settings and spatial characteristics as well as the reorganization of social networks, and the research information was recorded through satellite imagery, photographs, data, and qualitative descriptions. Study details can be seen in

Table 1. Research objects and interview focuses.

Research Time	Interviewee	Quantity	Interview Focus
August–September 2010	Village leaders	7	Basic information on population, land, household income, modes of production and management, neighborhood relations, and living habits; spatial layout of the homesteads; key factors associated with land circulation and collective management; governance in the rural area.
	Representative farmers	21
	Older adults in the hollow villages	6
January 2012, August 2015, July 2018	Village leaders	8	Benefits of relocation and merger; worries of relocation and merger; interactions between community residents and not-relocated villagers; evaluation of the community; prospect of relocation and merger.
	Relocated residents	18
	Not-relocated residents	9
	Security and cleaners	2
	Administrators in town government	4
August–September 2021	Village leaders	4	Motivation for the introduction of PV; technical route of PV; comment of PV by residents/villagers; impact of PV on local economic patterns and governance systems; future planning of PV industry.
	Relocated residents	22
	Not-relocated residents	14
	Managers in PV firms	2
July 2022, January 2023	Village leaders	2	Application and impact of PV.
	Administrators in town government	4
	Relocated residents	21
	Not-relocated residents	14

Note. Abbreviation: PV = the photovoltaic system.

. Apart from the first-hand data gathered through the observations and interviews, some secondary data were also collected from official academic publications, government documents, and media reports to complement the whole picture of the undergoing spatial-social restructuring practices at the study sites.

In the first stage, our research team entered some villages of X town for participatory observation and interviewing, focusing on basic background and local conditions. The key data gathered from the six-week survey are as follows: (1) details about the population, land, household income, means of production, and people’s interactions with the surroundings; (2) the spatial layout of village homesteads; (3) the factors associated with farmers’ and collective income; and (4) information on local governance.

In the second stage of the research, which focused on the project of merging settlements, the research team proceeded into the field three times and conducted sets of focus group interviews. The respondents included the leaders of the villages, representatives of newcomers, people who wished to remain, as well as security guards and other staff hired by the community. The main data collected include (1) the benefits of “moving upstairs,” (2) the concerns of “moving upstairs,” (3) interactions between community members and unmoved villagers, and (4) the discussion on the prospect of the merger project.

We performed another follow-up survey during the third stage, which took place from August to September 2021, when the community’s solar system was implemented. The interviews mainly discussed (1) deliberations for introducing PV; (2) modifications of the technology roadmap of PV; (3) comments on PV by villagers/community members; (4) the impacts of PV on local economic patterns and governance system; and (5) future construction plan for PV.

Then we kept track of the applications and impacts of PV in the study area in 2022 and 2023. Based on the long-term research, our team was able to analyze the social impact of PV in the context of the rural transition from a comprehensive and successional perspective.

3. Results

In the past 12 years, the project of merging settlements and the installation of PV were landmark events in the process of local modernization and transformation. In the face of the compressed and interrupted spatial-social structure caused by the merger project, PV played a significant role in mediating the space, landscape, and social relations in addition to serving functions. As a result, it was treated as a significant governing impetus throughout the risky transition from the loose coupling mode to the organic solidarity mode (Figure 3).

From 2012 to 2019, 87.8 percent of villagers moved to the rural community. The first wave (872 households, accounting for 44.5 percent of the total number of locals, with a purchase price of CNY 860 per square meter for the apartment) moved in November 2012. Given that they were provided CNY 30,000 in subsidy and that the average homestead discount was around CNY 30,000, only this set of villagers did not need to spend additional costs on the new apartment. The second (336 households, 17.1%, 1100 CNY /square meter), third (336 households, 17.1%, 1300 CNY/square meter), and fourth wave of villagers (176 households, 8.9%, 1700 CNY/square meter) were relocated during 2013 and 2019, respectively. The merger project was formally terminated in 2020 by the demands of the authority. More than 200 villagers still maintained their traditional homesteads and refused to move to the community at that time. According to the requirement from the authority, the remaining inhabitants could not rebuild their homesteads but had to wait for them to deteriorate until collapse.

Rooftop household PV was installed in 2021. It was first introduced by the leader of village C and was initially viewed as a feasible technological path to develop the local collective economy as well as a political symbol of ecologicalization. Gradually, the amounts of household PV increased, and solar equipment was extensively deployed in street lamps, monitors, charging stations, and other scenes, playing a significant role in mediating the rural physical spaces and social interactions (

Table 2. Multiple scenarios of the photovoltaic system.

	Name	Quantity	Functions	Mediation Effects	Examples
1	Household PV on public roofs	9	Generating electricity for public places; Generating electricity to increase collective income;	♦ Inviting the collective to provide public services for older adults; ♦ Inviting individuals to gather in public places; ♦ Inhibiting social disputes;
2	Household PV on private residence roofs	103	Generating electricity for private households; Generating electricity to increase private income; Protecting old houses in villages;	♦ Inviting individuals to support public decisions; ♦ Inviting individuals to make better use of home spaces by “flat-roof-to-slope-roof” design; ♦ Inhibiting identity inequality; ♦ Inhibiting leaders from demolishing old villages;
3	Charging station powered by PV	2	Charging for electric vehicles; Increasing collective income;	♦ Inviting social interactions while charging; ♦ Inviting the purchase of clean new-energy vehicles; ♦ Inhibiting charging indoors;
4	Street lamps powered by PV	220	Illumination;	♦ Inviting individuals to walk at night; ♦ Inviting the locals to organize collective entertainment; ♦ Inhibiting hostilities between the community and villages;
5	Control monitors powered by PV	48	Enhancing private security;	♦ Inhibiting disputes and contradictions;
6	Portable lamps powered by PV	N/A	Illumination;	♦ Inviting people to exchange gifts; ♦ Inviting villagers to support public decisions; ♦ Inhibiting social disputes;
7	Cultural tower powered by PV	1	Generating electricity for the state grid to increase collective income.	♦ Inviting local memories; ♦ Inviting visitors to experience local culture.

Note. Abbreviation: PV = the photovoltaic system. The quantities of household PVs were based on the amounts of houses and buildings. The others referred to the amounts of devices. The data were updated until January 2023.

).

3.1. Space and Landscape

3.1.1. Compressed Space Caused by the Merger Project

Living space was condensed and the settlement landscapes were devastated when the village layout was altered to the community structure. The villages were distributed before the merger project, and almost all the villagers lived in “one yard for one family” (Int 2010082411), which indicated loose and independent environments. When the villages were combined, and people began residing in the community, 890,666 square meters of land were preserved by the reclamation of the original rural residential areas. Yet, in the community, the physical spaces were much more condensed, the dwelling areas were significantly smaller, and the people’s activity sites were greatly diminished. In the village, the original settlement landscapes became disorganized as a result of the demolition.

The community’s ethical space was also compressed by the constriction of the living area. Most couples used to live apart from their parents in separate homesteads when residing in the villages. Due to the fact that the merger project only offered subsidies based on household registrations, some families whose father and son had separated but continued to be listed in one registered household were only eligible for one subsidy. Even with different registered households, some families did not have enough money to purchase a second apartment. Consequently, the two generations that previously separated could only live together after “moving upstairs.” The ethical sphere was highly constrained. Particularly, there were a lot of conflicts between the fathers and mothers with their daughters-in-law. Several young and middle-aged families just let older relatives live in the attached garages in order to enjoy independence and reduce disputes. The slang “for cars or for fathers” (Int 2012011410) was a concise summary of local garages by residents.

3.1.2. Expanding the Spatial Dimension of Sustainability with PV

PV formed a unity with the material world, rather than being only used by humans to produce electricity. People were directed at the ways in which PV represented the world. This relation could be schematized as human→(technology-world) in the mediation theory [55]. For example, rooftop household PV created home spaces in old hamlets (Table 2). The homesteads traditionally had flat roof forms since it was local custom to dry grain on the top. Although PV could both be installed on flat and pitched roofs, the former was thought to be a better match for the convenience of installation and maintenance. Furthermore, a novel structure called the “flat-roof-to-slope-roof” design was endorsed when PV and flat roofs were combined. This innovative structure successfully reduced roof corrosion caused by wind, sun, rain, and snow, as well as created a storage space with a certain height. Flat roofs contributed positively to the inclusion of PV as non-human actants in the decision-making process. In addition, PV could assist in reinforcing, restoring, and safeguarding old houses along with bringing about CNY 3000 extra income per year for villagers (

Table 3. Objective and subjective evaluations of the photovoltaic system.

		Data Collected in 2021		Data Collected in 2023
		Residents (N = 36) *	Village Leaders (N = 4) *	Residents (N = 35) *	Village Leaders/Administrators (N = 6) *
Objective questions
Total estimated collective income per year with installed PV **			CNY 50,000		CNY 83,000
Average estimated household income per year with installed PV ***		CNY 3080		CNY 2760
Increased duration of public illumination with PV **			not constructed		4 h
Decreased quantity of recorded neighborhood disputes and contradictions **			2 (first half of 2021 v.s. first half of 2020)		11 (2022 v.s. 2020)
Subjective questions
How about the landscapes after PV was installed?	Obviously improved	17 respondents	3 respondents	22 respondents	5 respondents
	Improved a little	14 respondents	1 respondent	11 respondents	1 respondent
	No change	5 respondents	0 respondent	2 respondents	0 respondent
	Became worse	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent
How about the social interactions after PV was installed?	Obviously improved	18 respondents	4 respondents	25 respondents	6 respondents
	Improved a little	17 respondents	0 respondent	10 respondents	0 respondent
	No change	1 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent
	Became worse	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent
How about the grassroots governance after PV was installed?	Obviously improved	19 respondents	3 respondents	28 respondents	6 respondents
	Improved a little	10 respondents	1 respondent	5 respondents	0 respondent
	No change	7 respondents	0 respondent	2 respondents	0 respondent
	Became worse	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent
Are you satisfied with the effects of PV?	Totally satisfied	10 respondents	4 respondents	16 respondents	6 respondents
	Rather satisfied	20 respondents	0 respondent	18 respondents	0 respondent
	Unsatisfied	6 respondents	0 respondent	1 respondent	0 respondent
	Totally unsatisfied	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent
How many individuals do you think would be satisfied with the effects of PV?	Above 90%	7 respondents	2 respondents	14 respondents	4 respondents
	70–90%	23 respondents	2 respondents	21 respondents	2 respondents
	50–70%	6 respondents	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent
	Less than 50%	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent	0 respondent

Note. Abbreviation: PV = the photovoltaic system. * The respondents were interviewees in 2021 and 2023 follow-up surveys, which came from a random sample. ** The question was answered by village leaders. *** The question was answered by residents who had installed household PV. The difference in the income between 2021 and 2023 came from changes in electricity prices, that was CNY 0.44 per kilowatt-hour in 2021 and CNY 0.3949 per kilowatt-hour in 2023.

). The outdated homesteads got refreshed due to the rehabilitation by PV, and the chaotic landscapes in the villages became more harmonious. In this, the old villages became more organized and gained the capacity to sustain for a long period.

The multi-scene PV applications animated public spaces of the community and placed people in a new sustainable lifeworld (Table 2). First, PV was installed on the roofs of the nursing home unit to provide free electricity for the infrastructure. The lower cost increased the capacity of the communal facilities for older adults to free them from the garage, thus defusing intergenerational ethical conflicts that were difficult for families to resolve. Second, new solar sheds were also constructed to offer locals central locations for charging. Centralized charging eliminated the risk of fire readily brought on by home charging and provided convenience to the residents. Third, without any additional costs, public and private PV-powered monitoring equipment was installed, enhancing the safety of the vicinity. Fourth, PV was then placed on the rooftops of administration buildings, kindergartens, activity centers, and public health facilities. The lower costs of power in public areas enhanced the accessibility of community spaces, encouraging more old and young people to leave their homes and invest their time in local issues rather than family conflicts. This procedure potentially resolved the spatial conundrums and moral dilemmas the merger project had left behind. Fifth, the public sector bought several PV lamps for the locals as souvenirs with public PV earnings. The splendor of the evening scene was enhanced by the lamps that were hung within the apartments or in the courtyards. Sixth, PV-powered street lamps were installed on the main roads, which were once completely dark at night (particularly in village regions). A series of public scenarios were created as a result of the installation of PV in the neighborhood, expanding people’s sphere of movement and generating more activity sites for the development of the community.

Notably, the water tower in village C, which was a conventional industrial architecture, was transformed into a cultural sight utilizing the income from public PV (Table 2). The water tower was constructed in the 1950s. It was a type of water supply mechanism based on Pascal’s law, which had been prevalent in rural China. As the hamlet gained access to tap water, the water tower and its function became obsolete. However, owing to its towering stature, it continued to serve as a tangible reminder of the collective history of numerous settlements. The collective transformed it into a memorial tower of village history with the income provided by PV. The blue and white walls were thoughtfully designed to harmonize with the expansive fields, assuming the role of a symbol of ancient remembrance, accentuated by the presence of colorful flags adorning the surroundings. Moreover, the installed photovoltaic LED lights were said to be a prominent emblem at night. This integration of modernity and tradition made it a cultural landmark that might maintain and increase the cultural sustainability of both villages and the community. To sum up, human→(technology-world) provided hermeneutic relations in which human beings read how PV represented the sustainability of the rural world. The space was organized and extended to enhance sustainability under the influence of PV (Figure 3).

3.2. Social Relationships

3.2.1. Interrupted Relationships Caused by the Merger Project

“Moving upstairs” took the community members out of their customary routines and created discrimination against traditions. The newcomers to the community were anxious to achieve the transformation to modern status, yet this process commonly came with the disruption from the background framework of self-identification and the society. The act of entering community apartments enabled relocated people to mentally leave the rural countryside. “We are no longer villagers, but live upstairs like citizens.” (Int 2012011306). Residents in the community tended to be more or less prejudiced against traditional villagers due to the superior infrastructure and environment. They psychologically and geographically excluded unmoved people in the villages based on the modern meaning of “moving upwards” and regarded them as “conformists” (Int 2015081503). It also implied that they must be disassociated from the traditions as well as the social connections, living customs, and survival philosophies that were concentrated originally in the villages.

Conversely, not “moving upstairs” excluded the villagers from the core social networks. By 2021, there were roughly 240 households dispersed among eight original village areas that were not willing to “move upstairs.” These settlers were likely to be either poor to the extent that they could hardly cover the expense of purchasing and moving, were strongly connected to the complex of homesteads, or were reluctant to demolish their recently restored houses. As a minority, the more they dreaded being weird, the more they spontaneously withdrew themselves from the networks. They “can stay far away from being looked down upon.” (Int 2015081729). Moreover, the infrastructure in the villages could not be assured owing to extensive reclamation. The availability of water and energy power was frequently interrupted, which increased the villagers’ mistrust of the public sector.

3.2.2. Enhancing the Social Dimension of Sustainability with PV

Another relation schematized as (human–technology)→world [55] was appropriate for the unity of PV and residents, and this unity was directed at the world. The homestead PV bridged the identity gap and reduced prejudice caused by “moving upstairs.” In China, especially in the context of the establishment of ecological civilization, PV was often tied with the green and modern development. “Moving upstairs” was not the only way to realize the modernization of farmers. PV also provided the emblem of modern life to the old hamlets. Villager ZN was the first one who decided to install home PV on the homestead roofs. ZN’s parents still lived in the hamlet, but he typically operated a company in the county. His family thought there was no need to “move upstairs” because they had already owned an urban apartment, and the parents did not want to “move upstairs” due to leg pain. He did not believe that staying in a bungalow meant living an unmodern life. “My house is bright enough because PV is installed in and outside the yard. Even by community standards, our equipment is not outdated. It deserves the admiration of every family.” (Int 2021083008). Rather, he actually used PV to bridge the identity gap between the community and villages and to communicate with the outside world, which helped to prevent the deterioration of sustainability brought on by hostilities.

The unity of human and technology reshaped network nodes and social connections, which enhanced regional communication and cohesion. Due to their widespread usage, PV served as the adhesive for network reconfiguration and fostered communication both inside and across the community and villages. PV lamps were carried around by residents and also promoted gift-exchanging to foster closer relationships among locals (Table 2). The portable PV lamps brought a new fashion due to their mobility, usefulness, and beauty. Individuals became likely to purchase new varieties of PV lights as presents when visiting one another. People with PV lamps and road lighting were immersed in a linked structure where the network nodes were rebuilt. The major road with street PV lamps also connected the community and villages and could serve as a vital pedestrian route (Table 2). Public illumination, available until 11 p.m., prolonged walking time and encouraged activities. “Every night after supper, I now walk from one end of the community to the water tower at the opposite end of the original village along the road.” (Int 2022072911). The intentionality of PV invited people to go for a stroll and interact along the main route. The social structure, unlike the traditional distributed architecture, strengthened social connectedness while preserving the diversity of the community and the old villages to enhance the robustness of relationship networks. Accordingly, the area’s capacity for social sustainability was considerably boosted (Figure 3).

3.3. Governance Pattern

3.3.1. Governance Incapacity in the Transition Period

In terms of governance objects, the merger project brought emerging community problems. For instance, the environment of the dwellings was severely damaged by air pollution. Smoke spiraling from yard kitchens was usual in traditional villages, while in the community the dense smog was no longer a pleasant rural sight. The community expected inhabitants to use clean and ecologically friendly natural gas for meals. However, due to the high price of natural gas, many people opted for a different technological solution: a chuanxinhu (a kind of hollow kettle). A chuanxinhu is a kettle with a removable bottom, inner liner, and separate body. Many homes prepared a small wood-burning stove and a chuanxinhu downstairs for cooking and boiling water, engulfing the neighborhood in awfully dense smoke at mealtime. Conflicts were also more intense as a result of resource scarcity. “As our previous yard was spacious, we could easily dry the grains. Now that the community is constrained, we must struggle for the finite area.” (Int 2015081411). In fact, the root of emerging problems was the mismatch between the cost of living with the income of individuals. Before “moving upstairs,” they had their own wood-burning stoves and self-produced vegetables that could be cultivated both inside and outside the farmhouse. Hence, the major daily costs were just for water and electricity. After “moving upstairs,” their expenses dramatically increased without a matching increase in revenue. Supporting daily rigid costs (including community property fee at 30 CNY/household/month, gas fee at 2.7 CNY/cubic meter, and additional expenses for purchasing vegetables) by flexible income from cultivating was challenging.

In terms of governance subjects, the previous governance system was not able to deal with the surging rural affairs. With the villages physically integrated into one community, the basic problem that became apparent was the abrupt rise in governance workload (e.g., dealing with the struggling for fields to dry grains). Traditional governance structures were unable to handle the unexpected rise in governance burdens. In addition, the system strain based on the merger deteriorated these problems. There were eight different groups in charge of the original villages. A clear shared hierarchy was not established for the eight village leaders after the merger. Instead, they directly undermined each other and went their own ways. The extraneous leader designated by the higher authority also failed to win everyone’s respect. Conflicts over governing issues in the vicinity could not be resolved due to a lack of effective leadership.

3.3.2. Large-Scale Governance Pattern for Sustainability

In a third type of human–technology–world relations, which was called the background relation, PV was the context for human experiences and actions. It can be schematized as human (technology/world) [55]. In this, the governance pattern and the spatial-social structure were co-constructed in the background of PV, rather than using their functions. Unexpectedly, instead of creating a decentralized governance pattern, PV presented an opportunity for larger-scale governance by re-centralizing. This large-scale governance pattern, emerging in the expanded and connected spatial-social structure, was driven by mutual interest, formulated by collective trust, and supported by the integrated system. The pattern was helpful to open up prospects for sustainable development by addressing local issues, boosting welfare, and encouraging rural cohesion (Figure 3).

PV, with several scenarios, increased families’ and collective interests to support the governance pattern. With the form of self-owned property (in contrast with renting roofs to PV firms), the collective obtained all economic benefits from PV installed in public spaces (Table 2). These solar panels could produce roughly 210,000 kilowatt-hours of power within 1300 light hours every year. As a result, the collective could receive approximately CNY 83,000 annually through the all-electricity-upload approach (Table 3), which enabled the community to provide more public services for governance objects that were eight times greater than the initial remit. On the other side, the development of household PV also directly benefited individuals. Their variable income from planting was supplemented with a relatively steady and long-term earning. The alignment of private and public interests created a strong basis for the development of governance.

The activation of spaces and the development of social connections consolidated the trust in the public sector to reduce governance costs. People started to believe that the collective could bring them a better life with PV and the related industry. It was worth noting that part of the earnings generated by the public PV was distributed to all rural members aged 80 or older. The older people, whether residing in the community or villages, were invited to gather and celebrate the Double Ninth Festival on 4 October 2022. They also received holiday presents in a warm and happy way. Many older people greatly appreciated the event held by the public sector, with one saying, “this is a pretty excellent action taken by the community” (Int 2023011912) and another saying, “we haven’t experienced this kind of treatment in years.” (Int 2023011916). Through the establishment of public trust, PV increased the capability and prestige of the public sector (Table 3).

The key point of the governance pattern was characterized by the integrated system. In the past, “although the office for the community’s public sector is built, everyone prefers to work separately. Because nobody wants to get in each other’s way.” (Int 2018072902). “Eight villages, eight minds.” (Int 2018071905). As the solar system was installed, the community’s cohesion increased, and every leader had an innate desire to congregate in the public sector. “On the one hand, the new office building for the community’s public sector is bright, and coming here can save electricity for our own homes. On the other hand, rural residents like to gather for fun.” (Int 2022071401). As people gathered, their minds were possibly united, and leaders also became used to cooperating in the shared office. In July 2022, the original manager of village C, who was the first to promote the construction of PV in public places, was appointed as the community’s general leader. Then, in the second half of the year, the public sector engaged in a number of governance initiatives, including environmental and spatial improvement programs. Due to the efforts of the new, convincing leader, community conflicts were significantly reduced and pollution sources gradually disappeared (Table 3).

Overall, PV boosted rural capacity for sustainable development and improved regional, institutional, and social status. As shown in Table 3, most residents and village leaders thought PV improved landscapes, social interactions, and the grassroots governance. The viewpoint of obvious improvement of landscapes was held by 20 respondents and 15 respondents thought that they were improved a little in 2021. Similar patterns emerged in views of social interactions and grassroots governance. More than 80% of samples provided positive acknowledgment about the changes after PV was installed. More and more people were satisfied with the effects of PV and showed a optimistic attitude towards the development of PV in the comparison between 2021 and 2023. In addition, the solar construction in community S was treated as having a pioneering role in the neighborhood. The experience of PV was made known in other counties and towns, where the project of merging rural settlements had also been conducted, and was considered as “a positive reference for these places to solve spatial and social dilemmas” (Int 2023011917) during the transition period.

4. Discussion

Based on a long-term research program under the background of the project of merging rural settlements, we examined the evolution of rural space structures, social networks, and governance patterns during the transition period from the loose coupling mode to the organic solidarity mode. By employing a constructive and empirical approach, our research made significant contributions in bridging technology and rural sustainability. We analyzed three types of human–technology relations and evaluated the mediation effects of PV in the process of sustainable development. In terms of the spatial dimension, the merger project resulted in the compression of both physical and social spaces while PV systems served as a mediator, invigorating new domains encompassing private and public spheres. In terms of the social dimension, there was a rise in hostility between community members with villagers who did not “move upstairs.” PV played a pivotal role in bridging identity inequalities through the symbolic meaning of modernization, thus fortifying social networks by facilitating intimate interpersonal communications. In terms of the governance dimension, unexpectedly, the spatial-social structure constructed by PV activated re-centralized governance with a pattern based on mutual interest, collective trust, and the integrated system. The study suggested that technological designs could help to enhance rural areas’ capacity for sustainable development in the face of the urbanization dilemmas of spatial compression, social disorder, and governance vacancy. If applied appropriately, findings might be extrapolated to applications in similar contexts among developing countries.

Our findings suggested that structures and formations of settlements dominated the spatial aspect for rural sustainability. There are over six million administrative villages in China, where agriculture, rural life, ecological environment, and local culture have developed and changed over time [56]. Settlement structures are a representative complex of physical and social spaces [57]. As a strategy for rural development, land consolidation was extensively discussed in the existing literature globally [58,59,60,61]. The project of merging rural settlements in China was reported as an approach to land consolidation and spatial reorganization in response to issues like dispersed and inefficient space usage, village hollowing, and high costs of rural infrastructure and governance [62]. However, studies about land finance revealed that the real driving force of this project might be the fact that local governments could amass significant fiscal income through the process of the acquisition, exploitation, and transfer of construction land [63]. The central government of China implemented an “increasing vs. decreasing balance” land-use policy to ask local governments to protect arable land and ensure food security [64]. The key requirement of the policy was to achieve equilibrium by balancing urban construction land with rural reclaimed land [64]. Alongside this, local authorities were actively promoted to transform villages into concentrated communities due to the significant difference between urban and rural land prices. Consistent with prior evidence, we found that the project intensified fierce social disputes and severe risks to rural sustainability since land and homesteads were seen as the only source of sustenance by most Chinese farmers [65]. In our case, PV established the physical foundation for sustainability by exerting crucial mediation effects on spatial reorganization under the background of the merging project. On the one hand, PV in the community restructured territorial publicness and provided spatial convenience. On the other hand, the development of PV in private homesteads increased the inhabitants’ validity of protecting the hamlet. In addition, considering that PV was the major industry that the whole region was striving to develop, “villagers who installed PV are also treated as support for the development of the community.” (Int 2022071504). Hence, the community collective also supported the villagers in registering and certifying the ownership of their homesteads. PV drove both parties in the countryside to reach a tacit agreement and collude while carrying out directives from local governments [66]. The structure of coexistence between villages and the community promoted by PV protected the rural landscapes as much as possible and might be a harmonious structure for spatial sustainability during the transition phase.

The social sustainability of rural regions could be improved by PV by means of rebuilding social network linkages. Previous studies have shown that PV is a widely used new clean technology that is anticipated to play a significant part in future energy systems [67]. We further discovered that PV not only incorporated its functional implications for power generation and clean energy but also had an evident mediation effect on human behaviors. This finding showed that PV could also serve as a potentially positive impetus for social sustainability rather than only benefiting environmental sustainability. PV works by converting solar energy into electricity. Nonetheless, they were portrayed as the power to restructure social networks in the script of the combination of the community, villages, and PV’s intentionality. PV lit the main route between the community and villages to invite locals to improve mutual commuting and contacts. The coherence was improved when PV invited residents to assemble. Inviting the exchange of souvenirs improved friendships as well. A few other possible mediation impacts were also essential to take into account. For instance, the installation of PV on village rooftops changed the homesteads’ value in a contemporary sense to lessen the disparity between the community and villages, as well as safeguarding old homes that cannot be rebuilt because of policy constraints. PV became less of just a source of clean energy and more of a potential impetus for social connections due to its mediation effects. Therefore, the technology system was not passive and silent but active and intentional while organizing people’s daily activities, directing social interactions, and redefining rural customs. Rural cohesion kept developing when the spatial-social structure shifted from being compressed and interrupted to being extended and reconnected, enhancing social sustainability and avoiding the collapse of rural society.

Confronting the large-scale structure, PV developed trust to promote agreements and effective governance. The pattern based on mutual interest, collective trust, and the integrated system enabled the re-centralization of rural governance. The leadership of governance groups used to be weak in the context of the transition from traditional villages into modern communities. The innovative leader of village C was essential to the technology establishment process. His imaginaries of technology played a more important role in the entire social action [23]. PV’s components themselves did not have the characteristics of low risks and stable returns. The features belonged to the national power grid with a modest variation in electricity price and the statistically predictable duration of sunshine. The stability of the national grid and sunshine, however, was inscribed on the solar system by the innovative leader after residential PV was connected to the grid. Subsequently, the stability of PV was translated into stable income, and flat roofs were translated into easily installed conditions. In addition, those solar sheds, street lights, and monitoring were further translated into a “serving the people” agenda. As a result of these translations, inhabitants’ trust in the public sector grew over time. In this case, potential collective actions were stimulated, and re-centralized political power was encouraged. It was feasible to negotiate and handle emergent community issues when trust based on consensus was established, allowing the localized leader to acquire a better working position than previously assigned by the town administration.

From the theoretical perspective, this research provided empirical support for the contextual dependence of technological mediation on social actions. Previous studies have demonstrated abundant analyses on the perception aspect of the technological mediation theory [68,69,70], while our research added to the mediation effects on actions. Furthermore, our research suggested that PV could also prompt the reformation of centralized governance structures rather than being naturally treated as a technological basis for decentralized democratic forms, which is contradictory to the literature [50]. The unexpected finding might come from the contextual dependence on technological mediation. The mediation effect is not a fixed quality of technology but rather comes from a complex relationship between designers, users, and technology itself [44]. Hence, depending on how technology is created in the context, it may have various scripts, or as Verbeek’s words, multistability [41]. To be specific, PV encouraged a centralized governance pattern within the particular spatial-social structure presented in our research. The position of the solar industry in revitalizing the economy and the role of rural leaders, as discussed, might be possible mechanisms for the observation.

Lastly, this study was strengthened based on the long-term program that was conducted for up to 12 years to investigate the developmental trajectory of spatial-social structures during the rural consolidation. Although there was a long tradition of continuity and succession in sociological methodology [71], some space and technology studies still paid insufficient attention to temporality [72] due to the lack of prospective standardized study designs and constant access to the research field [73,74]. In other words, it might be usual to skip examining the whole course of the event. However, there could be significant policy bias when policies iterated particularly in the Chinese political system [75]. As the examples in the present case, it could be challenging to locate information, such as accurate policy details for merging, after the project was terminated in 2020. The administrators and managers disputed the compulsory policy requirements asserted during the project. In addition, recall bias could be another important problem without the observation of the whole course. Our study, based on a 12-year program, took advantage of a unique longitudinal qualitative design that protected inference from policy and recall bias. We were able to get precise data on the changes by going into the field before the implementation of the merging project and recontacting the locals several times to prevent bias. In this, our study may add to the important whole-course viewpoint of the qualitative sociological methodology.

The study has limitations. First, the mediation impacts of PV have not been adequately explored because the verification of sustainability is a complex process, where technological mediation may have distinct implications in the short and long term. Second, further quantitative analysis of the results was not conducted. The data of our surveys were only used to be supplementary to the qualitative conclusions since this sample size was relatively small and quantitative results might not be robust if treated independently. Third, the rationale and viability of the land consolidation may be different based on the significant economic discrepancies and various proceeding types of China. Our case study illustrated one strategy to promote rural sustainability, but neither did it imply that all land consolidation projects would necessarily result in similar social conflicts, nor did it indicate that PV would always have positive effects on rural development. Future studies require further follow-up investigations to better capture other kinds of human–technology relations and the mediation impacts of PV on sustainability in the long term. With the analytical issues affecting local sustainability, a systematic and comprehensive scale and series of indicators to evaluate rural sustainability in the context of the merger of rural settlements need to be developed to quantitatively support the qualitative results and provide references for our research program in the following years. Moreover, future studies should use data derived from statistical materials to further analyze the heterogeneity of various communities and villages. For example, district data (e.g., population, illumination intensity, and gross domestic product) might be used to identify the characteristics that influence the installed PV capacity. Interdisciplinary approaches must be incorporated to investigate the rural transition from the loose coupling mode to the organic solidarity mode.