Spatial Governance Strategies for Enhancing Agricultural Livelihoods at Rural-Urban Transition

Dear Colleagues,

With the acceleration of global urbanization and the deep integration of digital technologies, agricultural livelihoods in rural–urban transition zones are undergoing profound reconstruction. Utilizing land spatial governance and resource efficiency optimization as core drivers is no longer a long-term goal, but a tangible reality reshaping agricultural livelihood strategies and practices, thereby transforming traditional land-use patterns and rural development paradigms. The central challenge lies in the alignment between land spatial governance, resource efficiency strategies, and the authentic needs of farmers, particularly throughout the entire process of policy design and implementation. It is imperative for planners, administrators, technicians, and policymakers to incorporate farmers’ inputs, such as production habits, risk preferences, life experiences, and livelihood goals, into the planning process. This would enable the development of more practical guidelines, supportive measures, and development models when formulating land spatial plans and resource allocation policies. In this context, applying a “farmer-centered” approach to land spatial governance and resource efficiency enhancement, which integrates indigenous knowledge and farmer preferences, offers a new path for exploring diversified livelihood support strategies. This governance paradigm can understand and learn from farmers’ interests, demands, risk perceptions, and adaptive behaviors, which is crucial for effectively supporting agricultural livelihoods, achieving rural sustainable development, and upholding humanistic considerations during the rural–urban transition.

This Special Issue will collect papers (original research articles and review papers) that provide insights about the direct and indirect impacts of spatial governance strategies on agricultural livelihoods and sustainable development at the rural–urban transition.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

• Agricultural livelihoods and rural–urban transition;
• The spatiotemporal patterns of agricultural livelihoods;
• The impacts of spatial governance strategies on agricultural livelihoods;
• Farmer heterogeneity and differentiated governance strategies.

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

Prof. Dr. Gui Jin
Dr. Baishu Guo
Dr. Zhihui Li
Prof. Dr. Shaikh Shamim Hasan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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