Human-Economic Geography and regional/spatial planning serve as mutual ‘theory-practice’ supports. Particularly, the research in Human-Economic Geography concerning functional zoning, urban spatial structures, resource allocation, and locational theories provides a scientific basis and technical support for the development of regional/spatial plans. For instance, functional zoning research underpins the spatial division of labor and functional orientation; the theory of spatial structure provides the framework methodology for determining urban and regional economic patterns; and the location theory of element allocation serves as a critical basis for productive-force layout. Currently, the external environment is undergoing profound and complex changes. The primary conflict in regional/spatial planning has shifted from ‘development-protection’ to the mismatch between the demand for high-quality development and spatial supply. Under the global context of ‘regionalization’ and China’s population contraction, the innovative development of new regional/spatial planning requires addressing new demands from including building the new development paradigm, implementing new development philosophy, developing new quality productive forces, promoting high-quality development, and constructing new spatial governance model. This necessitates an adaptive transformation in the foundational logic, geographic layout schemes, and technical methods of regional/spatial planning research and formulation. It also raises new requirements for research in Human-Economic Geography regarding the human-land relationship across different scales and types of spaces, the flow and allocation of multiple elements across all fields, the laws of locational selection, and the collaborative spatial governance between government and market. In light of this, this paper proposes new topics for Human-Economic Geography in the coming period, particularly focusing on the evolution of China’s Economic Geography under the new development paradigm, the locational characteristics and layout principles suited to new quality productivity, the locational layout and synergistic linkage of new urban infrastructure, and the sustainable development of priority conservation areas under the requirement of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. Furthermore, promoting integrated innovation between Human-Economic Geography and regional/spatial planning should clarify the differences in transition contexts and practical demands between Chinese and Western research. Future studies should be grounded in the phase-specific conditions of Chinese-style modernization, actively advancing summaries of Chinese-specific theoretical/methodological innovations, to serve and support national major strategies and regional socioeconomic development.

Scenic-town symbiotic space refers to a composite spatial system that emerges from the spatial interaction of economic, social, and cultural elements between scenic spot and town. Additionally, it functions as the geographic spatial carrier that accommodates scenic-town symbiotic relationships. This paper introduces the symbiosis theory to construct the theoretical framework and index system of scenic-town symbiotic space. Theoretical analysis reveals that the scenic-town symbiotic space can be categorized into four types: superimposed, inclusive, overlapping, and separated. Economical, social and cultural symbiosis serve as the dynamic driving forces that propel the operational dynamics of scenic-town symbiotic space. From the perspective of symbiotic relationships, the spatial patterns of scenic-town symbiosis are classified into three fundamental types, namely commensalism, asymmetric mutualism, and symmetric mutualism. Furthermore, these patterns manifest four distinct evolutionary paths: positive, cyclical, stable, and reverse evolution. Then taking Huangshan Mountain scenic spot and its gateway towns as examples, the evolution characteristics and patterns of symbiotic space in scenic spot and towns are discussed, through the application of gravity model, kernel density estimation and Lotka-Volterra symbiosis model. The empirical results indicate that: 1) The development of this space exhibits significant systemic imbalance and co-evolution. During the study period, the development index of the scenic spot experienced short-term fluctuations but long-term stability. The development indices of the gateway towns increased markedly, albeit with substantial internal disparities, while the capacity of the symbiotic environment continued to improve. 2) The symbiotic correlation intensity between Huangshan Mountain scenic spot and gateway towns shows distinct gradient differences. Specifically, the correlation with Tangkou Town was the strongest and most stable, followed by Jiaocun Town, Tanjiaqiao Town, and Gengcheng Town. The symbiotic space between the scenic spot and these towns is characterized by a multi-nucleated, overlapping, and circular spatial structure. 3) In the process of dynamic adjustment of the symbiotic relationship between scenic spot and town, Huangshan Mountain scenic spot and Tangkou Town show a reverse evolution development model of symmetrical mutualism-partialism symbiosis; with Tanjiaqiao Town, it follows a stable evolution model of partial symbiosis; and with Gengcheng Town and Jiaocun Town, it demonstrates a positive evolution model of asymmetric mutualism-partialism symbiosis. This theoretical and empirical investigation holds significant implications for fostering harmonious coexistence between scenic spot and town, optimizing regional tourism spatial layouts, and promoting sustainable development.

Urban parks, as semi-permanent natural entities within urban spaces, are crucial to urbanizationa, acting as vital mediators in the dense fabric of modern cities. Past research mostly addresses history, accessibility, sustainability, ecosystem services, and health. Yet such work tends to remain park-centered, overlooking broader human-nature connections and often treating parks as isolated islands rather than integral parts of the socio-spatial fabric. This paper uses a dialectical perspective on humans and nature, underlining time and space to propose that urban parks serve both as tangible sites and as a geographical method for examining ties among human, nature, and society. To deconstruct these complexities, we analyze 3 theoretical views: anthropocentrism, naive harmony between human and nature, and the more-than-human perspective. Anthropocentrism sees parks mainly for human benefit, while naive harmony presumes seamless nature-urban integration. In contrast,more-than-human frameworks highlight nonhuman agency and socioecological processes that shape and are shaped by parks, revealing hidden tensions within communities and between humans and nature. Further, the paper endorses using urban parks as lens, echoing calls for relational thinking in Human Geography. Rooted in the Chinese context, this lens unveils social transformation, spatial governance, and everyday life, revealing shifting cultural practices and power structures that inform urban change. Parks thus become tangible arenas for studying social and ecological interplay. Finally, this approach reengages Marx’s dialectical stance on human-nature relations while resonating with China’s contemporary vision of ecological civilization. It underscores integrating historical materialism with socioecological imperatives, emphasizing environmental stewardship alongside social justice. By recasting urban parks as a lens, this research enriches urban nature studies and provides ways toward resilient, inclusive, and ecologically aligned urban futures. Ultimately, this reorientation fosters more holistic views of urban ecosystems, guiding integrative and equitable policy-making for long-term sustainability and inclusive development.

Investigating the cooling effects of blue-green spaces and their influencing factors is essential for optimizing urban spatial configuration and enhancing environmental resilience. Using Xi’an as a case study, this study integrates multisource data—remote sensing, evapotranspiration, and meteorological datasets—and applies the InVEST Urban Cooling Model to generate the Heat Mitigation Index (HMI) for assessing the cooling capacity of urban blue-green spaces. Landscape pattern analysis, the Geographical Detector, and boosted regression trees are further employed to reveal the mechanisms through which landscape patterns influence cooling effects. The results are as follows: 1) In summer, surface temperatures in Xi’an are dominated by moderate-temperature zones. Urban heat islands are concentrated in the central urban area and the western industrial park, with a relatively stable spatial pattern; cool islands are mainly distributed along river corridors and in suburban croplands, and appear as scattered patches within high-density built-up areas. 2) The spatial distribution of HMI is highly consistent across different cooling distances: high-value areas outside the Third Ring Road are mostly distributed along rivers or concentrated in contiguous croplands, while high-value areas inside the Third Ring Road correspond to urban parks containing water bodies; low-value areas are primarily located in high-density built-up and industrial zones, forming continuous surfaces, and appear as linear belts in surrounding rural settlements. 3) The cooling effect of blue-green spaces results from the synergistic action of multiple factors. Landscape diversity and patch fragmentation are the core driving factors, each interacting with patch size to enhance cooling capacity. All factors exhibit threshold behavior, and their influence on cooling may be either promotive or suppressive depending on the range of their values.

Trajectory data is widely used to calculate spatial characteristics of human activities and to mine patterns of human behavior. When the time sampling intervals of the original trajectory data vary, the temporal observation scale of the moving object's location changes, which can affect the calculated human activity characteristics and analysis results, a phenomenon known as the temporal aggregation effect. Taking mobile phone data as a representative example, trajectory data is not specifically collected for human dynamics research; the varying time sampling intervals of the data result in widespread temporal aggregation effects. However, there is currently a lack of analysis on the temporal aggregation effects and their underlying mechanisms for typical human activity characteristics. To address this, this study utilized 123 days of intensive sampling mobile phone data from volunteers and selected six typical human activity spatial characteristics from four dimensions for analysis. The results show that: 1) There exists a temporal aggregation effect in calculating typical human activity spatial characteristics based on trajectory data. As the time sampling interval increases, the values of the indicators are generally underestimated, although the extent of underestimation varies across different indicators; 2) Indicators dependent on short-duration activities (e.g., daily travel distance, daily travel frequency, and daily travel spatial structure) are significantly affected, while those focusing on long-duration activities (e.g., maximum daily activity range, number of daily activity anchor points) are less affected. Comprehensive indicators (e.g., activity location entropy) are moderately affected; 3) When the sampling interval exceeds 30 minutes, the variation of indicators, except for daily travel distance, shows good consistency among individuals. These findings enhance the understanding of human activity spatial characteristics based on trajectory data and help improve the scientific foundation of decision-support systems.

This article takes the newly established Yellow River Estuary National Park as a case, explores the supply and demand of carbon sequestration services in the Yellow River Estuary National Park from the perspective of carbon neutrality and its decarbonization effect on the surrounding areas, and simulates the extraterritorial effect of carbon sequestration services in the study area through the ecological radiation force model, and explores its horizontal ecological compensation value from the perspectives of the compensating party and the compensated party, so as to provide some reference for the compensation of carbon sinks in national parks.The results show that: 1) The Yellow River Estuary National Park is rich in carbon sink resources, with a total supply of carbon sequestration services exceeding the demand. In addition to offsetting its own carbon emissions, there is sufficient surplus space to absorb approximately 15.4054 million tons of carbon dioxide from surrounding areas. 2) In addition to the Yellow River Estuary National Park, carbon supply and demand conditions in other counties and districts in Dongying City vary significantly. Only the Hekou District has a surplus space of 4.2328 million tons of carbon dioxide after meeting its own carbon sequestration needs to offset the emissions from other counties and districts. The Kenli District, Lijin County, Dongying District, and Guangrao County all have insufficient carbon sequestration services, and are relying on supplies from other regions to offset their unsequestered carbon. 3) The Yellow River Estuary National Park can build a carbon sink compensation and carbon emission trading system based on the balance of supply and demand of carbon sequestration services and the extraterritorial effect of carbon sequestration services based on the ecological radiation force model simulation, and promote the economic value transformation of carbon sink resources. In order to better realize the ecological protection and regional coordinated development of national parks, it is also of practical significance to effectively utilize the carbon sink function of national parks and enrich their sustainable development path.

The study of extreme climate events in historical periods can provide valuable long-term comparisons and references for the study of modern extreme climate events. The winter of 1742—1743 was an extreme cold winter event under a relatively warm background during the LIA (Little Ice Age), with both its climatic context and cold intensity more comparable to modern extreme cold winter events. Using high-resolution historical documents as primary proxy data, including Qing dynasty archival reports and local chronicles, the daily-to-subdaily weather processes of the winter of 1742—1743 across eastern China were reconstructed in detail. There were at least 13 recognizable cold air processes recorded in this winter, including 10 cold wave processes. This number exceeds modern recorded extremes, characterizing the winter of 1742—1743 as a typical multi-cold-wave winter. In terms of intensity, individual cold waves this year were generally weaker than those during the coldest phases of the LIA but closer in strength to modern extreme cold outbreaks. Climatic background analysis suggests the influence of reduced Barents—Kara Sea ice, a moderate positive NAO phase, and a contemporaneous La Niña event—a combination resembling the setting of the 2007—2008 winter. Comparatively, the winter of 1742—1743 aligns closely with 2007—2008 in terms of synoptic progression and snowfall patterns, while its frequency of cold waves and seasonal cold severity show similarities to 1968—1969, and the intensity of individual cold air events echoes that of January 2016. The reconstruction method used in this article can also be extended to the reconstruction of other winter weather processes during the pre-measurement period, which can be compared with modern cases or simulation results at a more detailed level.

Due to differences in natural environments and levels of socio-economic development across different regions, finding evidence of when human activities began to have a significant and synchronous impact on the earth system has become a key issue in Anthropocene research. As an artificial radionuclide, ¹³⁷Cs is considered as a suitable stratigraphic marker of the Anthropocene because it is widely distributed around the world, closely related to human activities, clearly marked and easily recognized in sediments. The ¹³⁷Cs accumulation peaks of ¹³⁷Cs formed by human activities such as nuclear tests and nuclear accidents, as an important chronological marker, has been widely used for dating lacustrine sediments. Therefore, exploring the regional spatial distribution characteristics and patterns of ¹³⁷Cs can provide significant evidence for a deeper understanding of the temporal characteristics of the Anthropocene and global synchronous signals. This study collected and compiled ¹³⁷Cs data from 79 lakes and wetland sediment cores within China, examining their the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics and and exploreing the starting boundary of the Anthropocene. The results show that: 1) The ¹³⁷Cs sedimentary records in lacustrine drill coresalmost detect the accumulation peak of 1963 in China, indicating that the main chronological marker layer of 1963 is clearly distinguishable and easily recognizable. With distinct chronological characteristics, the ¹³⁷Cs accumulation peak of 1986 in the sedimentary drill cores can be used as a secondary chronological marker, but its reliability needs to be confirmed in combination with other dating indicators. 2) The records of ¹³⁷Cs exhibit significant spatio-temporal differentiation across China, which influenced by multiple factors, including topography, precipitation, environmental factors, erosion by runoff, and various human activities. Overall, the specific activity of ¹³⁷Cs shows a decreasing trend from north to south, and the specific activity values of ¹³⁷Cs reached the highest level in the lacustrine sedimentary of the Chinese region during the period of 1960 to 1980. 3) The main ¹³⁷Cs accumulation peak of 1963 in lacustrine drill cores has clear chronological characteristics and is a reliable chronological layer marker in China, which can be used as a potential stratigraphic evidence to indicate the impact of human activities on regional environments.

Terminal lake is an important component of the oasis ecosystem in the lower reaches of inland rivers basins in arid regions, and its water supply sources is of great significance for maintaining the watershed ecological balance, rationally developing and utilizing resources, and preventing hydrological risks. Based on the analysis of the ion control factors within the water bodies of the Bayin River Basin in the Qaidam Basin, this study adopted the water chemical characteristics method and stable isotope techniques to explore the water supply sources of the terminal lake, Hurleg Lake. The results showed that: 1) The hydrochemical type of water in the Bayin River Basin was predominantly characterized as HCO₃-Ca·Mg type, with its ionic composition primarily controlled by both rock weathering and evaporation-crystallization processes. 2) There were significant differences in δ¹⁸O values among different water bodies in the Bayin River Basin. Lake water exhibited the most enriched δ¹⁸O signature, followed by river water, while groundwater was the most depleted. In Hurleg Lake area, the spatial distribution of δ¹⁸O showed clear variability. The river water at the lake outlet was the most enriched in δ¹⁸O, whereas both the river water and lake water at the inlet were relatively depleted. 3) The water of Hurleg Lake was recharged by both surface rivers and groundwater, with contribution ratios of 86.84% and 13.16%, respectively, during the wet season. Rivers served as a stable and major recharge source for lakes. Under the combined influence of climate change and human activities, variations in riverine input volume and the flux of associated pollutants jointly regulated the lake’s recharge mechanisms, areal extent, and water quality dynamics. These findings provide theoretical support for the optimization and management of water resources in terminal lakes within cold and arid inland river basins.

Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) changes are important for human livelihoods, agricultural production, and economic development. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are friendly neighbors, and also China’s largest trading partner. This region has abundant water resource. However, the changes in TWS are difficult to quantify due to limited measured data. And frequent drought and flood events occur in this region. This research analyzed the spatio-temporal characteristics of TWS changes in the ASEAN region from January 2002 to December 2022 based on GRACE gravity satellite data, and constructed the GRACE-DSI to analyze extreme drought and flood events in the Mekong River Basin. The results showed that: 1) TWS in the Indo-China Peninsula showed decreasing trend of −0.020 cm/month (P<0.05), and human activities such as agricultural irrigation and groundwater extraction are important reasons for the reduction of TWS. While in Kalimantan Island and Sumatra Island, the TWS were significantly increasing (0.023 cm/month, P<0.01 and 0.040 cm/month, P<0.01); 2) The TWS in the northern region of 10°N showed significant seasonal variation, gradually decreasing from November to April of the following year and increasing from May to October, with a seasonal variation range of −25 to 25 cm. The seasonal variation amplitude in the southern region of 10°N was only about 10 cm. The distribution of precipitation showed obvious spatial differences in the study area, with more precipitation in the south and less in the north. Precipitation plays a major role in the change of TWS. The annual precipitation in the northern region of 10°N was 1000-2 000 mm with a rainy season from May to October and a dry season from November to April of the next year. In the southern region of 10°N, the annual precipitation (more 3000 mm in some areas) was much higher than that in the north, but there was no obvious seasonal variation, resulted in a smaller amplitude variation in the monthly TWS anomaly. 3) During the study period of 2002 to 2022, the Mekong River Basin experienced several drought and flood events, such as the flood from July to December in 2011 and the drought event from October 2019 to September 2020. The seasonal distribution of precipitation on the Indo-China Peninsula where the Mekong River located was uneven and the seasonal amplitude showed an increasing trend. Under the background of significant rise in air temperature, potential evapotranspiration showed an increasing trend, which was an important reason for the frequent water drought disasters in the Mekong River Basin. The extreme drought and flood events in the Mekong River can accurately monitored by GRACE-DSI index, and they were affected by ENSO (The GRACE-DSI drought index was negatively correlated with the ENSO-ONI index, r=−0.408, P<0.01).

Ocean plays a critical role in advancing high-quality development. Taking into account the ongoing transformation of the marine industry, this study analyzes the defining characteristics of marine new-quality productivity, and evaluates its development level and trends in China’s coastal regions from 2010 to 2021. It then integrates marine new-quality productivity and marine economic inclusiveness within a unified framework. Using a coupling coordination degree model, the study measures the level of synergistic development between the two. Furthermore, it investigates the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of their coordinated development through methods including kernel density estimation, standard deviation ellipse, and the Dagum Gini coefficient. The research findings indicate that: 1) During the study period, marine new-quality productivity steadily improved, exhibiting a gradient pattern characterized by “rapid progress in some leading areas, steady advancement in most regions, and catch-up efforts in a few lagging areas”. The level of inclusive growth in the marine economy also generally maintained a positive trend, with significant regional development disparities. 2) The synergistic development of the two systems showed long-term positive trends, with their coordination levels primarily transitioning from barely coordinated to primarily coordinated. However, there remains considerable room for improvement to achieve high-quality coordination. 3) The spatial evolution of the synergistic development between the two systems exhibited characteristics of “gradual disappearance of barely coordinated areas, primary coordination areas becoming dominant, and breakthroughs in moderately coordinated areas in scattered locations”. The center of synergistic development remained consistently centered on the Yangtze River Delta region, while the “stronger in the south, weaker in the north” pattern remained largely stable. 4) The Dagum Gini coefficient for the synergistic development of the two systems showed a fluctuating downward trend, with transvariation density being the main source of regional disparities. The marine economy has yet to be fully integrated into the pattern of regional coordinated development, and this integration needs to be actively advanced. Looking ahead to the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, this study provides direction for further promoting the shared benefits of the marine economy and unleashing its growth potential.

Under China’s strategy for coordinated regional development, east-west interregional co-built parks have become an institutional vehicle for optimizing the cross-regional allocation of innovation factors, yet their innovation effects and underlying mechanisms remain underexamined. Using a city-year panel of all Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2010—2023, this study employs Double Debiased Machine Learning (DDML) within a treatment-control framework to identify the causal policy effects of park establishment on urban innovation level and quality and to examine transmission mechanisms. DDML improves robustness by debiasing treatment effect estimation with high-dimensional controls. co-built parks significantly increase both the quantity and the quality of local innovation outputs. The effects display a nonlinear gradient with respect to collaboration distance: long distance > short distance > medium distance, and are more pronounced in resource-based cities and old industrial bases. Policy guidance intensity, information transmission strength, and physical transport efficiency jointly constitute the key transmission pathway through which innovation factors are reorganized across jurisdictions. These findings suggest that effective implementation requires coordinated strengthening of policy steering, information connectivity, and transport links to reduce cross-regional frictions. Overall, this study advances the theoretical understanding of innovation enablement in cross-regional parks and provides empirical evidence for innovation-oriented spatial governance and policy design under east-west collaboration.

Based on Chinese city-level MRIO table of 2012 and 2017, this study use the value-added trade statistical method to account cities’ production- and consumption-based carbon emission and value-added, analyses inter-city embodied carbon and value-added transfer of traditional value chain, simple value chain and complex value chain, and reveals the inequality of the embodied carbon and value-added transfer. The study found that: 1) Cities with high production-based carbon emission are mainly resource-based and industrial cities of the Yellow River, the Bohai Rim and eastern Inner Mongolia, and the cities with high consumption-based carbon emission are mainly the national and regional central cities east of the Hu’s line. Cities with high production- and consumption-based value-added are mainly located in coastal urban agglomerations and inland central cities. 2) Inter-city embodied carbon transfer accounts for about 80% of the total carbon emissions, with over half of this transfer occurring along complex value chains, and the embodied carbon is primarily transferred from resource-based and industrial cities in the north to national and regional central cities across provinces; in traditional and simple value chains, the proportion of net embodied carbon transfer within provinces is relatively higher, mainly manifested as net transfers between resource-based and industrial cities and their transfers to provincial capitals. Heavy manufacturing industry, electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply industry and service industry are the main sectors of embodied carbon outflow, and construction industry, service industry and heavy manufacturing industry are the main sectors of embodied carbon inflow. 3) In the traditional value chain, coastal cities have become high-value areas with net inflows of added value by shifting out service products. Cities with net outflows of added value are widely distributed in the northwest, northeast, and central China. In both simple and complex value chains, driven by the final demand for construction and services from central cities, more resource-based and industrial cities have a net inflow of value-added through the transfer of intermediate goods from heavy manufacturing, mining, and the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas, and water. 4) In the traditional value chain, cities with net outflow of embodied carbon but lost added value account for a relatively high proportion, and are distributed more and more in the northern region. In the simple and complex value chains, most of the embodied carbon net outflow cities obtain added value, but there is still an unequal exchange of lower added value with higher carbon emissions. Yulin, Ordos, Tangshan and Yinchuan suffered from high levels of inequality across all three value chains.

Human sustainable development faces dual challenges from climate change and air pollution, making the coordinated promotion of pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction a global consensus. This study exemplifies the main urban area of Hefei City to investigate the influencing factors of the carbon-pollution synergy effect from the perspective of the built environment. Initially, high-resolution urban carbon emission distributions and PM_2.5 concentration distributions were derived through the inversion of remote sensing data and energy statistics, utilizing nighttime light data corrected with land-use functional coefficients to enhance spatial accuracy. Multi-source spatial data for 2018 were harmonized to a unified 500 m grid to ensure analytical consistency. Subsequently, the coupling coordination degree model was employed to examine the synergy between carbon emissions and air pollution at the urban block scale, revealing spatially aggregated patterns of synergistic intensity. Finally, the XGBoost model, chosen for its superior capability in handling nonlinear relationships and high-dimensional data, was utilized to quantify the correlations between the five dimensions of built environment factors—geographical location, land use function, development intensity, traffic accessibility, and environmental quality—and the carbon-pollution synergy effect. The SHAP method was further applied to interpret the model and assess the contribution of each built environment indicator. The findings reveal two key aspects: 1) A significant synergy exists between carbon emission intensity and PM_2.5 concentration in the main urban area of Hefei City, spatially forming a belt-shaped region encompassing “Xinzhan District-Old Urban Area and Baohe District-Economic Development Zone”, with a gradual decrease towards the northwest and southeast, as confirmed by spatial autocorrelation analysis. 2) The relative contributions of the five types of built environment indicator variables to the synergy effect, ranked in descending order, are: land use function>development intensity>environmental quality>traffic accessibility> geographical location. Notably, the floor area ratio, industrial land proportion, vegetation coverage, public service facility land proportion, and water coverage emerge as the five most influential built environment indicators. This study addresses the gap in block-level research. It holds substantial significance for elucidating the underlying influence mechanisms of the built environment on the carbon-pollution synergy effect. Furthermore, the findings provide a scientific basis for formulating targeted urban planning strategies and policies, ultimately supporting the goal of achieving coordinated pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction.

The social integration of migrants not only concerns the process of individual settlement in destination cities but also affects social stability. However, limited research has examined how the spatial and temporal characteristics of migration influence migrants’ social integration. The life course theory posits that individual’s life trajectory is shaped and constrained by historical time and geographical context, offering a critical theoretical lens to address this gap. Drawing on life course theory, this study uses data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey to focus on re-migrants and delineate their migration characteristics. The results reveal that the primary migrations predominantly involve upward movement within the urban hierarchy, exhibiting a clear “stepwise” pattern. In contrast, onward migrations show fewer upward movements and a substantially higher proportion of downward movements. Employing generalised structural equation modelling, this study finds that both the spatial and temporal characteristics of first and subsequent migrations significantly affect migrants’ social integration. Specifically, compared to those who consistently moved across cities within the same city tier, individuals who first moved across cities within the same city tier and then upward report the lowest levels of social integration, followed by those who moved continuously upward, and those who moved upward and then downward. This study also confirms that longer durations of stay in either the initial or current destination significantly enhance social integration. Additionally, migrants who moved at a younger age tend to integrate more successfully into their destination cities. Beyond direct effects, the spatial and temporal features of migration also exert indirect impacts on social integration by shaping migrants’ socioeconomic status—including income, occupation, and homeownership—in the destination. Compared to lateral migration, upward movements tend to increase migrants’ opportunities to attain higher incomes in the destination, but it also reduces their likelihood of becoming homeowners and obtaining stable employment. This study further finds that migrants who moved at a younger age or stay longer in destination cities are more likely to achieve higher income levels and become homeowners. These findings deepen the understanding of the relationship between geographic mobility and social mobility, highlighting the importance of spatial and temporal characteristics during the migration process. Furthermore, the findings offer valuable policy guidance for improving migrants’ social integration and advancing the construction of new urbanization.

Based on rural settlements database acquired by multi-temporal remote sensing images, the spatial pattern and dynamic changes of the settlements were characterized with landscape ecological indices, kernel density and frequency-area scale class models. Furthermore, the decoupling relationship between rural settlements land and rural population in Jilin Province from 1990 to 2020 was analyzed by integrating demographic statistics and decoupling model. The results indicate that: 1) The scale of rural settlements in Jilin Province exhibited a phased change characterized by “increase followed by decrease”; 2) The regional distribution pattern of settlements was pronounced, presenting a stable configuration of “high density and contiguous high-value areas in the central region, with sparse and scattered clusters in the eastern and western regions of Jilin”, and an underlying trend of aggregation was observed beneath this relatively stable appearance by decreasing NNIs at province, partitions and the prefectural-city scale; 3) Small settlements accounted for an absolute majority, and the area-frequency distribution of settlement sizes showed a stable flattened pattern; 4) The settlement-population relationship shifted into comprehensive negative decoupling across multiple scales. The optimization and regulation strategies are as follows: 1) “Shrinking the countryside and expanding the small city and town” in response to rural-urban migration; 2) Priority should be given to the spatial restructuring of settlements in three prefecture-level cities in the central black soil region, in the following order: Changchun, Liaoyuan, and Siping; 3) A spatially hierarchical structure with clear differentiation, consisting of “towns-central villages-administrative villages”, should be established. This study can provide a basis for black soil resource conservation and for formulating urban-rural land-use planning as well as village revitalization planning in Jilin Province.

In the context of the rural revitalization strategy, an increasing number of urban people are flooding into the countryside, becoming “new villagers”, and they work with local villagers to promote rural development. In rural tourist destinations, the phenomenon of reverse flow from city to village is more prominent, and the social integration of new and old villagers in rural space caused by this phenomenon needs to be further studied by the academic circle. The social integration of new and old villagers can be regarded as a process in which fluid social relations are reconstructed in rural space. Relational place accords equal status to relations and space, exploring space shaped by relations and relations embedded in space, which provides a new theoretical perspective for understanding the social integration of new and old villagers in rural space. This study takes the theoretical perspective of relational place and uses Guinan Village in Guangdong Province as a case study to deeply analyze the process and mechanism of social integration between new and old villagers. It is found that the social integration of new and old villagers is embodied in four dimensions: economic integration, cultural integration, life integration and identity integration, with interactions and mutual influences among integration at different levels. The social integration of new and old villagers presents a period of conflict, shallow integration and differentiated integration. The dimensions of social integration between new and and old villagers exhibit distinct characteristics at different stages. Driven by the combined effects of tourism development, intergenerational accumulation and the temporal dimension, the relational place is formed through entity space and relational space, which promotes the social integration process of new and old villagers. This study pays attention to the dynamic process of social integration between internal and external groups at the scale of rural space. Based on relational place to analyze its theoretical mechanism, it supplements geographical discussions on social integration against the background of mobility and provides valuable suggestions for population flow and management in the context of rural revitalization and urban-rural integration.

In the context of the new development pattern, information consumption plays a pivotal role in promoting the high-quality development of service consumption and facilitating the thorough implementation of the strategy to expand domestic demand. This study investigates the impact of information consumption pilot cities on regional tourism economic development, focusing on the period between 2011 and 2019. Using a robust dataset consisting of panel data from 278 prefecture-level cities across China (not including the data of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), the paper employs the difference-in-differences (DID) method to assess how the establishment of information consumption pilot cities has influenced tourism economies at the regional level. The study examines not only the direct economic impacts but also the underlying mechanisms driving these effects. The findings of this paper suggest that the policy of establishing information consumption pilot cities has had a significant and positive impact on local tourism economies. More specifically, the research reveals that the introduction of this policy has contributed to the growth of regional tourism by stimulating the demand for services and enhancing the overall economic activity within these cities. The robustness of this conclusion is confirmed through a series of sensitivity and placebo tests, which demonstrate that the observed effects are not merely due to other external factors or statistical anomalies. Additionally, the research highlights that the effectiveness of the information consumption pilot cities policy varies across different regions and cities. The positive effects on tourism economic development are especially pronounced in eastern regions of China, where information consumption infrastructure has been more readily adopted, and in cities with a relatively underdeveloped tertiary sector. This suggests that cities in these categories stand to benefit more from the policy, as the introduction of information consumption services helps to bridge gaps in service sectors and drive economic growth. The paper further delves into the mechanisms through which the information consumption policy enhances local tourism economies. It finds that government investments in science and education, coupled with rising incomes among local residents, play critical roles in facilitating this process. As the average income of residents increases, their purchasing power expands, leading to higher demand for tourism services. Simultaneously, increased government support for scientific and educational advancements fosters innovation and the development of new service industries, which are key drivers of tourism growth. This study not only contributes to the theoretical understanding of how information consumption pilot cities impact tourism economics but also provides practical insights for policymakers. It offers valuable recommendations for local governments to design and implement information consumption pilot city programs tailored to regional characteristics, helping to ensure that the tourism industry grows in a high-quality, sustainable manner. By aligning these policies with local needs, China can effectively promote both regional economic development and the high-quality growth of its tourism industry.

Taking Fangchenggang City as a typical case, this study employs the adaptive cycle theory as its conceptual framework and utilizes multi-source data to measure the adaptive cycle attributes of each county-level unit in Fangchenggang from 2012 to 2022. Furthermore, relevant methods are applied to analyze the stages of adaptive cycle evolution and identify constraint factors. The results indicate that: 1) The overall trend of potential, connectedness, and resilience in the tourism system across Fangchenggang’s county-level units shows an upward trajectory. A spatial pattern is observed in which these three attributes are higher in coastal-border areas and lower in inland regions. 2) The identification of adaptive cycle evolution stages reveals that Dongxing City has undergone all four phases—exploitation, conservation, release, and reorganization. In contrast, Fangcheng District, Gangkou District, and Shangsi County have only experienced the exploitation and conservation stages. 3) The interaction between the core system and its environment is identified as the key dimension impeding the adaptive evolution of tourism systems in each county-level unit. The level of government management over the environment and tourism emerges as the primary factor influencing the adaptive evolution of the tourism system. Despite notable progress, coastal-border tourism destinations continue to face development bottlenecks, particularly in establishing a distinctive and competitive tourism brand. Achieving a strategic synergy between “border” and “marine” resources and enhancing adaptability of tourism systems to external environments are critical steps for transforming development weaknesses into strengths and elevating overall competitiveness of this unique category of tourism destinations.