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Land
Special Issues
Interrelations in Urban–Rural Transects: Planning Sustainable Transformations for Human Wellbeing
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Interrelations in Urban–Rural Transects: Planning Sustainable Transformations for Human Wellbeing

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 April 2025 | Viewed by 4905

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Luca Barbarossa

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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Sustainable Planning and Design for Cities and Landscapes, Department of Architecture, University of Catania 64, Via S. Sofia, 95125 Catania, Italy
Interests: spatial and land use planning; sustainable urban development; landscape planning; sustainable mobility
Dr. Daniele La Rosa

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Laboratorio per la Pianificazione Territoriale e Ambientale (LAPTA), Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, Viale S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy
Interests: urban planning and sustainability; environmental management; environmental impact assessment; climate change; spatial analyses; ecosystem services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Viviana Pappalardo

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), University of Catania | UNICT, 95124 Catania, CT, Italy
Interests: GIS applications for the evaluation of urban and land risks; sustainable and just urban development; green infrastructure planning and environmental policies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Understanding the nexus among ecosystems’ functioning, landscape patterns’ change, and socio-demographic trends is crucial to spatial planning research and the achievement of human health and well-being. The effects of the structure and organization of human settlements on health and quality of life have been explored in the last decades (Bramley et al., 2009; Mouratidis, 2021, Tonne et al., 2021), and this dimension has quite recently also been discussed from the spatial planning perspective (Shekhar et al., 2019; Ala-Mantila et al., 2018). The gradient of well-being, which rises in some contexts from its lowest levels in large central cities to its highest levels on the small-town–rural periphery (Berry & Okulicz-Kozaryn, 2013), is actually challenged by several factors such as environmental challenges and the risks posed by climate change, aging societies, accessibility to green areas, social and health services, and infrastructural and economic gaps (Schwanen, T., & Ziegler, F., 2011, Adger et al., 2022).

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) that provide insights about the effects of spatial planning policies, tools and practices on human wellbeing, as well as on the measurement and monitoring of its diverse aspects. This Special Issue aims to overview the latest frontiers in managing urban–rural interrelations both across the transect, as well as in the urban fringes as a very peculiar in-between space, and to collect the most advanced methodological proposals for assessing human wellbeing based on the spatial features of human settlements.

This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts that link the following themes:

  • Novel interdisciplinary analytical tools, spatially explicit methods, experimental and modelling;
  • Approaches to investigate material and non-material aspects that affect human well-being in the urban–rural transect;
  • Cross-sectional and integrated approaches and scaling of policies and practices with focus on sustainable spatial, environmental and landscape planning;
  • Active mobility networks for improved liveability standards, and the transposition of the DNSH principle in planning for environmental enhancement;
  • Collaboration with communities and local authorities and bottom-up initiatives in urban design practice to shape sustainable transformations.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Luca Barbarossa
Dr. Daniele La Rosa
Dr. Viviana Pappalardo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • urban–rural transect
  • urban fringes
  • human well-being
  • active mobility
  • sustainable urban transformation
  • environmental and landscape planning

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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19 pages, 3588 KiB  
Article
Quality of Life and Attachments to Rural Settlements: The Basis for Regeneration and Socio-Economic Sustainability
by Aleksandra Tešin, Aleksandra S. Dragin, Maja Mijatov Ladičorbić, Tamara Jovanović, Zrinka Zadel, Tamara Surla, Kristina Košić, Juan Manuel Amezcua-Ogáyar, Alberto Calahorro-López, Boris Kuzman and Vladimir Stojanović
Land 2024, 13(9), 1364; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13091364 - 26 Aug 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1049
Abstract
Balanced territorial development and improving living conditions have become the focus of rural development policies. As the number of young people moving to cities or other countries is increasing, rural settlements face serious demographic disbalances and aging societies. Quality of life and place [...] Read more.
Balanced territorial development and improving living conditions have become the focus of rural development policies. As the number of young people moving to cities or other countries is increasing, rural settlements face serious demographic disbalances and aging societies. Quality of life and place attachment are both key variables in enhancing the social and economic capacities of rural and undeveloped communities and reducing youth out-migration. However, this topic remains underexplored, especially among younger generations, who are critical for further socio-economic sustainability. Thus, the main goal of this study was to explore young residents’ perceptions about quality of life, level of attachment to their rural homes, and their interrelationship. This study was conducted among 299 participants in rural areas of Serbia and Croatia. The results identified two quality of life factors: (1) satisfaction with the quality of infrastructure and (2) satisfaction with culture and education. Three attachment factors were extracted, among which place identity was the strongest. Additionally, the influence of quality of life and socio-demographic characteristics on place attachment was confirmed. These results provide new insights that could be very useful in creating strategies and initiatives for rural planning and strengthening rural areas’ social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interrelations in Urban–Rural Transects: Planning Sustainable Transformations for Human Wellbeing)
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20 pages, 8154 KiB  
Article
Diversity and Influencing Factors of Public Service Facilities in Urban (Suburban) Railway Life Circle—Evidence from Beijing Subway Line S1, China
by Jiayue Xun, Min Zhang, Gaofeng Xu and Xinyue Guo
Land 2024, 13(8), 1286; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13081286 - 15 Aug 2024
Viewed by 709
Abstract
The urban (suburban) railway is a fast and convenient rail transit system connecting urban and suburban areas, and a refined analysis of the diversity of public service facilities around its stations can help to promote the intensive use of land around rail stations. [...] Read more.
The urban (suburban) railway is a fast and convenient rail transit system connecting urban and suburban areas, and a refined analysis of the diversity of public service facilities around its stations can help to promote the intensive use of land around rail stations. However, the differences in the diversity of public service facilities in the railway life circle between urban and suburban railway stations and the factors affecting them are not clear. This paper takes the Beijing Suburban Railway Line Sub-center (Line S1) as a case study, uses the Shannon-Wiener index to measure the spatial diversity characteristics of public service facilities, and utilizes a multi-scale geographically weighted regression model to explore the influencing factors. The findings indicate that: (1) Centered on the stations, all six stations show a “less-more-less” ring or half-ring to the left distribution structure of the comprehensive diversity index of public service facilities within their study areas, with an increase followed by a decrease. (2) The influence of each influencing factor on the diversity of market-featured facilities exhibits significant differences. The most substantial spatial heterogeneity is observed in the distances to the nearest subway stations and bus stops. Distances to subway and urban (suburban) railway stations exhibit different spatial distribution characteristics within urban and suburban areas on Line S1. In urban areas, the closer the distance to the subway station or the further the distance to the railway station, the greater the diversity of public service facilities. Conversely, in suburban areas, the opposite is true. The conclusions of this research provide a scientific methodology and improvement measures to facilitate the construction of railway life circles in suburban regions of megacities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interrelations in Urban–Rural Transects: Planning Sustainable Transformations for Human Wellbeing)
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28 pages, 10852 KiB  
Article
Unveiling the Dynamics of Rural Revitalization: From Disorder to Harmony in China’s Production-Life-Ecology Space
by Ningning Liu, Qikang Zhong and Kai Zhu
Land 2024, 13(5), 604; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13050604 - 30 Apr 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1036
Abstract
This study utilizes provincial panel data from China spanning the period from 2011 to 2020 to assess the coupled and coordinated development of spatial functions related to production, life, and ecology (PLE) in rural areas. The assessment is based on quantifying the spatial [...] Read more.
This study utilizes provincial panel data from China spanning the period from 2011 to 2020 to assess the coupled and coordinated development of spatial functions related to production, life, and ecology (PLE) in rural areas. The assessment is based on quantifying the spatial function indices for PLE in China’s rural regions. Additionally, it examines the characteristics of their spatial and temporal evolution, spatial correlation, and driving factors. The findings indicate a modest upward trend in the spatial coupling and coordination levels of these functions across rural China, although a significant proportion of provinces still exhibit a near-disordered decline. Exploratory spatial data analysis reveals a geographical disparity, with higher levels of coupled and coordinated development observed in the eastern regions, lower levels in the west, and noticeable spatial clustering. By employing the spatial Durbin model to investigate the determinants of coupling degrees, we discovered that factors such as regional economic development, urbanization, the urban–rural income gap, financial support for agriculture, science and technology investment level, and agricultural structural adjustments significantly influence the spatial coupling of rural PLE functions. Furthermore, using the geographic detector model, the analysis identifies science and technology investment level, economic development, and financial support for agriculture as key drivers influencing the spatial coupling and coordination of these functions. These findings provide valuable reference points for policies and strategies related to rural management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interrelations in Urban–Rural Transects: Planning Sustainable Transformations for Human Wellbeing)
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8 pages, 1806 KiB  
Brief Report
Sustainable Development and Transformative Change in Tibet, China, from 1951 to 2021
by Ruoxin Yan and Ruishan Chen
Land 2024, 13(7), 921; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13070921 - 24 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1082
Abstract
The Tibet Autonomous Region (Tibet) has undergone significant economic development, poverty alleviation, and improvements in social indicators like life expectancy and healthcare over the past seventy years since its establishment within the People’s Republic of China in 1951, particularly since the 1980s. This [...] Read more.
The Tibet Autonomous Region (Tibet) has undergone significant economic development, poverty alleviation, and improvements in social indicators like life expectancy and healthcare over the past seventy years since its establishment within the People’s Republic of China in 1951, particularly since the 1980s. This article tracks 16 social, economic, and ecological indicators for the past several decades, as well as levels of economic assistance provided to Tibet by other Chinese provinces and the Chinese central government. The results show that since 1951, Tibet has developed rapidly, with nearly all the socioeconomic indicators improved, and the speed of change has been much faster than other provinces in China. Environmental indicators also show a significant improvement regarding biodiversity conservation and tree coverage. However, despite progress in many aspects within Tibet, indicators such as the illiteracy rate and uneven development between urban and rural areas still lag significantly behind the national average. This report provides crucial insights into Tibet’s rapid development and existing disparities, aiming to guide targeted governmental interventions for reducing inequality and driving transformative change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interrelations in Urban–Rural Transects: Planning Sustainable Transformations for Human Wellbeing)
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