**Preface**

Land use is the projection of human activities in space, and it has become an important window for insight into the transformation and reconstruction of human society and economy. Rural land use in China is undergoing rapid transformation driven by the rapid development of science and technology. Effectively grasping the change and transformation process of rural land use and its internal mechanism will provide an important reference for revealing the inherent laws of China's rural development. Rural land use is closely related to the rural vitalization strategy and urban–rural integration in the New Era. An in-depth study of China's rural land use and policy reform will provide a basis of knowledge for optimizing urban–rural relations.

Rural land use research provides theoretical and technical support for the development of rural spatial planning and governance. At present, the pattern and state of rural land use in China are obstacles in meeting rural development needs. Carrying out comprehensive territorial improvement in rural areas has become an important measure to optimize the allocation pattern of rural land use, and has already produced a good demonstration effect. Rural spatial governance is the core component of modernizing the national governance system, and its importance in high-quality urban and rural development has become increasingly prominent. Starting from the resource and environmental effects of rural land use, it will be of great practical significance to analyze the inherent laws of urban–rural transformation in China.

This reprint focuses on the changes, effects, and regulation of rural land use in China. The purpose is to point out the main contradictions of rural land use in China and their solutions, aiming to build a cooperative network and a sharing platform for rural land use research from a multidisciplinary perspective so as to further deepen the theoretical innovation and practical application of rural land use research. We hope that the reprint will attract more scholars to pay attention to rapid rural restructuring, especially land use in rural China.

> **Yongsheng Wang, Qi Wen, Dazhuan Ge, and Bangbang Zhang** *Editors*
