**1. Introduction**

The land is an indispensable and scarce resource to meet human production and life. Land-use conflicts (LUCs) describe the incoordination of land-use structure when meeting the diverse human demands under the deterioration of the natural environment, which is a sensitive indicator of human–environment interaction [1]. Its essence is the process of game and competition between the human system and natural system in time and space in the same area [2]. It is a manifestation of the uncoordinated development of the human–environment system, which will have many negative effects. LUCs are common in different regions of the world. Due to the rapid population growth and accelerating urbanization process, the demand for different land-use types is increasing [3]. The kinds of LUCs are also more and more diverse. Similar to the conflict between construction land expansion and essential farmland protection, there is a conflict between ecological land protection and production land expansion. The conflict between the increase in land demand and the degradation of land quality is becoming more and more prominent [4].

**Citation:** Liang, T.; Du, P.; Yang, F.; Su, Y.; Luo, Y.; Wu, Y.; Wen, C. Potential Land-Use Conflicts in the Urban Center of Chongqing Based on the "Production–Living–Ecological Space" Perspective. *Land* **2022**, *11*, 1415. https://doi.org/10.3390/ land11091415

Academic Editors: Li Ma, Yingnan Zhang, Muye Gan and Zhengying Shan

Received: 26 July 2022 Accepted: 26 August 2022 Published: 28 August 2022

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The drastic spatial change in land use is one of the most critical manifestations of LUCs. The disorderly spatial pattern of PLES in the same region will place tremendous pressure on limited land resources and cause waste of spatial resources [5]. The LUCs pose severe challenges to the sustainability of the land system and regional coordinated development, which raises excellent concerns about LUCs.

It is widely believed that the multifunctional of land-use, land resource scarcity, and diversity of human needs are the fundamental causes of LUCs [1,6–9]. It occurs when different land users pursue their incompatible interests, they will compete for the scarce land resources. With the competition of spatial resources by humans, a series of LUC problems are caused, such as the land spatial pressure increasing, the landscape ecological stability weakening, spatial interference strengthening, etc. [10]. These problems were widespread in the world, especially in the rapid urbanization area. Therefore, how to identify the spatial–temporal evolution characteristics and the potential risk of LUCs scientifically is the essential work and the core focus of LUCs research [11]. It was of great significant to alleviate the negative influence of conflict on land sustainability, promote the optimal allocation of regional land resources, and coordinate man-land relations [12].

"Production–living–ecological space" (PLES) is a theory proposed by the Chinese government in the strategy of ecological civilization construction, aiming at realizing sustainable utilization and focusing on the perspective of land multifunctional utilization [13]. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 14th 5–Year Plan of the CPC Central Committee on National Economic and Social Development both proposed the goal of developing the nation's PLES. According to the muti-functional attributes of the land, the urban center of Chongqing (UCC)'s land was divided into ecological–production space (EPS), production–ecological space (PES), living–production space (LPS), and ecological space (ES). The EPS is the space with ecological and production function, and the main function is ecological. The PES is the space that is used primarily for agricultural production function and has an ecological function at the same time. The LPS is the space that meets the needs of human life and entertainment, and contains the highest economic value. The ES is the space that has ecological functions such as regulating the atmosphere, conserving water source, water and soil conservation, etc., but does not have a production function. Therefore, understanding LUCs and their evolution characteristics can provide a scientific guide for the optimization of the PLES. Although the importance and necessity are acknowledged, there is still a lack of effective analysis of LUCs for UCC.

Compared with existing studies that focus on regional land use, and land-cover change, analyzing regional land-use conflicts can better reflect the interaction and relations between human and land resources [14]. As early as the 1970s, the study of LUCs began to attract wide attention over the world. It mainly studies the contradiction between human needs and economic development [15]. "Land management, land-use relations and conflicts" was one of the five main topics of the Urban Fringe Symposium organized by the English Countryside Association in 1977 [16]. With the ongoing concern for ecological civilization construction, the study of LUCs has gradually became the focus of scholars [17–19]. The number of studies on LUCs from different perspectives is gradually increasing [20,21]. The recent decade of research on LUCs has reached a new height. The research topics of LUCs are mainly as follows: (1) the LUCs patterns [22,23]; (2) the LUCs identification and intensity diagnosis [24,25]; and (3) the LUCs evolution and driving mechanism [1,26]. Based on the existing research, the LUCs identification methods mainly include game theory [27], participatory mapping [28], stress state response (PSR) model, multiobjective comprehensive assessment [2,29,30], and landscape ecological risk (LER) assessment [21,31]. These studies have provided many references for the identification of LUCs in this study, but there are few related studies on the central city area and from the PLES perspective.

Chongqing plays a vital role in the construction of ecological civilization in China. It plays a supporting position in the development of the western region in the new era, an exemplary role in the green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and a key

role in driving the development of the Belt and Road. Furthermore, Chongqing is also the youngest municipality with rapid urbanization in China. Due to the intensification of urbanization and rapid economic development, the dramatic changes in land-use structure have caused an imbalance of production, living, and ecological spaces [1]. The degree of LUCs in the UCC has further deteriorated. The man-land relations are becoming increasingly tense. Therefore, we selected the urban center of Chongqing (UCC) as a study area, because this area is the economic and cultural center of the whole of Chongqing. We analyzed the spatial evolution characteristics of LUCs and potential risk in the past 20 years in the UCC from the perspective of the PLES. Our study expanded the research perspective of LUCs identification, and provided a reference for those regions in the world whose development orientation is "ecological priority and green development", so that urban managers and policymakers may be better informed when developing pertinent land-use policies and strategies at different levels. It is helpful to relieve the level of LUCs in the rapid urbanization area, promote optimized land spatial patterns, the rational use of land resources, and the coordinated development of man-land relations in the world [11]. Our aim includes the following three objectives.

(1) Based on the LER assessment method, to construct the evaluation model of LUCs from the PLES perspective;


#### **2. Materials and Methods**

#### *2.1. The Study Area*

Chongqing is the youngest municipality in China and is located inland in the southwest of China. Chongqing is an essential strategic fulcrum of China's western development. It is geographically located at the connection point of the "Belt and Road Initiative" and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. It has a unique and vital development navigation orientation in the pattern of national regional economic development, and opening to the outside world. The UCC is the political, economic, and cultural center of Chongqing, and this area is essential for the development of the city and surrounding areas. The UCC includes nine districts: Yuzhong District, Shapingba District, Beibei District, Yubei District, Jiangbei District, Nan'an District, Banan District, Dadukou District, and Jiulongpo District, with a total area of 5466 km<sup>2</sup> (Figure 1). The topography of the study area is complex and diverse, with hills and low mountains as the main ones and few flat dams. The principal rivers are mainly the Yangtze River and the Jialing River. According to the Seventh National Population census, Chongqing has a population of 32.0542 million, with a GDP of CNY 2500.279 billion. The UCC has a considerable population and a solid economic foundation. Its population and GDP accounted for 32.27% and 39.5% of the total urban population, respectively [32]. With the rapid growth of the economy and people, the LUCs of the PLES and the tension of man-land relations in the UCC are evident, and need to be paid more attention.

#### *2.2. Data*

The data of administrative districts of the study area were derived from the Remote Sensing Monitoring Institute of Chongqing Planning and Natural Resources Survey and Monitoring Institute. The land-use data used for three phases from 2000 to 2020 were obtained from the Data Center for Resources and Environment Science and Data Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (http://www.resdc.cn/ (accessed on 9 July 2022)). The resolution of the land-use data is 30 m × 30 m. The types of land-use include six types of the first order: cultivated land, woodland, grassland, water area, residential land, and unused land, and 25 types of the second order. The social–economic data mainly come from the Chongqing Statistical Yearbook (2021).

the PLES and the tension of man–land relations in the UCC are evident, and need to be paid

**Figure 1.** Location of the study area. **Figure 1.** Location of the study area.
