Regional Sustainable Development of Yangtze River Delta, China (3rd Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the Special Issue of Land on “Regional Sustainable Development of Yangtze River Delta, China (3rd Edition)”.

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is one of the regions with the most active economic development, the highest degree of openness and the strongest innovation capacity in China, and has a pivotal strategic position in the general situation of China's modernization and the overall opening pattern. The rapid economic development in recent years has accelerated the urbanization of the population, economy and land in the YRD, which has led to great changes in the population structure, economic development pattern, land use structure, urban–rural relationship and ecological environment. The rapid growth of economic scale has also given rise to a series of problems, such as the waste of land resources, unbalanced regional development and ecological damage, which to a certain extent hinder the sustainable development of the YRD. At the stage of high-quality development, the traditional development model is no longer adapted to the needs of the economic development transition period. How to seek higher-quality development, explore development paths from different aspects (e.g., human–land system, ecosystem, and industrial innovation), narrow the regional development gap while encouraging economic development, and guarantee the improvement of residents' well-being and the optimization of the ecological environment is crucial for sustainable development. At the same time, the sustainable development of the YRD region also has an important role to play in guiding the coordinated development of other regions.

This Special Issue of Land aims to provide an exchange platform for researchers' research and practice on the one hand, and to provide theoretical support and practical experience for the sustainable development of the Yangtze River Delta region through the research results of scholars and experts on the other. It seeks contributions in the form of research articles, literature reviews, case reports, futures studies, short communications, project reports, and discussion papers that offer insights into the regional sustainable development of the Yangtze River Delta. Sustainable development involves many aspects, such as the harmonious development of people and nature, the trade-off and synergy of ecosystem services, collaborative ecological and environmental governance, industrial development and innovation network linkage, territorial space optimization and natural resources management, carbon peaking and carbon neutral research. In this Special Issue we hope to publish papers which explore the evolutionary state of human–land relationship through the study of human–nature coordination and promote the coupling and coordination of human–land systems; identify the interrelationships between different ecological service functions and promote the optimization of ecosystem services through the study of ecological service trade-off and synergy; promote the coordination of interests between different administrative subjects and promote the integrated governance of regional ecological environment through the study of ecological environment synergy; promote regional industrial integration development and innovative practical applications through research on industrial development and innovation network connections; promote the optimization and upgrading of land use through land space optimization and natural resource management and provide policy support for land resource management; identify the changes in carbon emissions from different sources and their driving mechanisms through carbon peaking and carbon neutral research; and address the risks brought by climate change. In addition, the integration of regional infrastructure and public services, the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, population migration and spatial pattern changes, food security and sustainable agriculture are also important parts of achieving the regional sustainable development goals, and can promote the regional division of labor and coordination, promote each individual's strengths, give full play to the advantages of regional integrated development, and better achieve sustainable development goals.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following broad topics:

• Coordinated human–nature development in the Yangtze River Delta region (coupling of human–land systems, coupling of land use change and economic and social development, etc.);
• Ecosystem service trade-offs and synergies in the Yangtze River Delta region;
• Collaborative ecological and environmental governance in the Yangtze River Delta region;
• Industrial development and innovation network linkage in the Yangtze River Delta region;
• Territorial space optimization and natural resource management in the Yangtze River Delta region;
• Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the Yangtze River Delta in the context of climate change;
• Integration of infrastructure and public services in the Yangtze River Delta region;
• Urban–rural coordination and rural revitalization in the Yangtze River Delta region;
• Population migration patterns and spatial pattern changes in the Yangtze River Delta region;
• Food security and sustainable agriculture in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Prof. Dr. Wei Sun
Prof. Dr. Zhaoyuan Yu
Prof. Dr. Kun Yu
Dr. Weiyang Zhang
Dr. Jiawei Wu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• Yangtze River Delta region
• sustainable development
• human–earth system coupling
• ecosystem services
• industry development
• innovation network
• territorial space
• climate change
• urban–rural coordination
• food security

• Regional Sustainable Development of Yangtze River Delta, China II in Land (11 articles)