With the advancement of industrialization, globalization, and informatization, various subsystems within rural areas are constantly exchanging material and energy, and the population, land, and industry are important components and core elements of rural cultural, resources, and economic systems, respectively. Among them, the population is an important support for the development of rural industries, the land is the basic carrier for the development of rural industries and the lives of rural populations, and industry is the development path that promotes the prosperity of rural populations and the improvement of rural environments. Based on the 3 subsystems of population-land-industry, the evaluation index system of the rural regional system development in the water source area of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was constructed. The spatial and temporal pattern and evolution mechanism of the coordinated development of the rural regional system from 2000 to 2020 were explored, and the development types were divided by the average trend line. The results show that: 1) The rural regional system development level and coordination level has improved in 2000—2020, both present “East and west high, low in the middle, high and low values staggered distribution” spatial pattern, gradually developed into the northern county of Hanzhong City, Hanbin District of Ankang City, the Danjiangkou Reservoir area surrounding counties as the core of high level concentrated area, and has formed the Hantai District-Hanbin District-Dengzhou City horizontal development axis. 2) Rural regional system coordination type can be divided into 4 types: low coordination level-population development leading, coordination level-population development leading, coordination level-land development leading, high coordination level-industry development leading, and land and industrial development is the main driving force of spatial differentiation to promote the rural regional coordination level improvement. 3) Resource and environmental conditions determine the spatial pattern of rural regional coordination in the water source area in the initial stage, and under the regulation of industrial development and regional policies, the reconstruction of human activities, resources allocation and economic pattern in the water source area is continuously promoted. This study reveals the interaction and mutual influence between human activity intensity, land use change, and industrial and economic integration development in rural areas of water source regions. It can provide methodological and theoretical references for the implementation of rural revitalization strategies in ecologically fragile and extremely poor areas, as well as for the sustainable development of rural areas.

Technology-oriented enterprises are the primary drivers of urban innovation spaces and have become a key force for countries to enhance their comprehensive national strength. This study utilizes Point of Interest (POI) geographic big data to quantitatively analyze the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of technology-oriented enterprises in China. The findings are as follows: 1) The overall distribution of technology-oriented enterprises in China exhibits a gradient decline from east to west, conforming to the distribution pattern of the Hu Line, with a micro-scale clustering model of “three cores-two rings-multiple nuclei”; 2) Large enterprises are concentrated north of the Yangtze River, mainly in the Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, while medium-sized enterprises dominate in the Pearl River Delta and the southern part of the Yangtze River Delta, and micro-enterprises prevail in the central and western regions; 3) Manufacturing, scientific research and technical services, information transmission, software, and information technology services are the three leading industries among technology-oriented enterprises. Manufacturing is characterized by high-density core areas in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, scientific research, and technical services form high-value clusters in the east, dumbbell diffusion in the middle, and single-core block distribution in the west. Information transmission, software, and information technology services are primarily distributed along the eastern coastal area , Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Economic Belt; 4) Market environment, industrial policy, and economic strength significantly impact these enterprises, with larger enterprises relying more on human capital and small and micro enterprises depending more on government policy support, market environment, and economic conditions. All industries are most affected by policies, with manufacturing also influenced by market structure and industrial layout, and the service industry highly dependent on talent, economic level, and industrial environment.

The rural transformation and development is a crucial lever for achieving rural revitalization, and the population migration of rural areas directly impacts the trajectory of rural transformation and development. This paper constructs a theoretical analytical framework for examining the relationship between the population migration of rural areas and the rural transformation and development, considering 3 migration types in terms of the migration-in, migration-out, and migration return. Based on a questionnaire survey of the population migration of rural areas and the rural transformation and development in Zhejiang Province, this article adopts the GIS analysis, the spatial autocorrelation, and multiple linear regression models to investigate spatial characteristics of the population migration of rural areas and its effects on the transformation and development. First, the result shows that the population migration of rural areas in Zhejiang Province has a significant spatial differentiation with 3 patterns in terms of the migration-in, migration-out, and migration return. A spatial pattern characterized by a gradual enhancement from south to north and from east to west is observed. Second, both the migration-out and migration return in Zhejiang Province show positive spatial autocorrelations, which indicates the presence of high-value clustering or low-value clustering. High-value clustering areas of population migration of rural areas are observed around the Hangzhou Bay urban agglomeration. In contrast, low-value clustering areas are identified in the southwestern periphery of Zhejiang. Third, socioeconomic characteristics of the migration population of rural areas, migration patterns, migration objectives, and their contributions and facilitations of the rural transformation and development are main factors that influence the rural transformation and development. Moreover, the migration-in, migration-out, and migration return exert varying degrees of influence on the rural transformation and development.

Global warming causes change in tree growth and even the whole forest ecosystem. The Jigong Mountain is located in the transitional zone between north subtropical zone and warm temperate zone. Tree growth in the Jigong Mountain is sensitive to climate change. However, the relationship between the radial growth of Pinus massoniana at the edge of the distribution and climate change is not clear. In this paper, the response and stability of whole ring (RW), early-wood (EW) and late-wood (LW) radial growth data of Pinus massoniana to climate change at peak of Jigong Mountain were analyzed. The results showed that the residual chronologies of RW, EWW and LWW of Pinus massoniana in the Jigong Mountain contained more climate information, and there was a high correlation between RW and EWW and LWW chronologies. The response of RW and EWW chronologies to climate was better than that of LWW chronology. There was also a certain difference between RW and EWW and LWW chronologies and the climatic factors. RW and EWW were mainly affected by the temperature and precipitation in the early and late growing season of last year, and the combination of water and heat in the spring was the main limiting factor affecting the radial growth of Pinus massoniana in this area. LWW was mainly affected by the precipitation in last autumn and the combination of water and heat in the early growing season. After the abrupt change of annual mean temperature in the Jigong Mountain in 1994, the annual ring index of RW and EWW increased obviously, but the annual ring index of LWW did not change visibly. The response of RW and EWW to temperature was enhanced while the response of LWW to temperature was not obvious. Therefore, through the analysis of different indexes of the annual rings of Pinus massoniana at Peak of the Jigong Mountain, we can deeply understand the different responses of radial growth of Pinus massoniana to temperature changes, and provide a scientific basis for forest renewal, protection and management in the western Dabie Mountains.

The hypsometric index (HI) plays a crucial role in quantitatively evaluating tectonic activity, geomorphic features, and the evolutionary stages of watersheds. In this study, the global spatial autocorrelation Moran’s I index was utilized to assess the spatial distribution pattern of HI, with calculations performed on a 2 km × 2 km grid. Through hotspot analysis and GIS spatial analysis, the characteristics and control factors of HI in the Lanping Basin were investigated. The results reveal the following: 1) HI in the Lanping Basin exhibits an aggregated distribution pattern. Across all grid cells, HI values range from 0.198 to 0.746, with an average of 0.495. This indicates that the basin has reached a mature stage of geomorphic evolution. High HI regions are predominantly located in the Chongshan Mountain, the Longma Mountain, and Xuebangshan uplift belt, while low HI ones are mainly found in the river valleys of the Lancang River, the Bijiang River, and the Yangbi River. Overall, HI gradually decreases from west to east. 2) The correlation between HI and the size of the grid area is weak. However, HI exhibits significant correlations with topographic indexes such as elevation, relief, slope, roundness index, and precipitation. This suggests that HI is not scale-dependent and is unaffected by the grid size. Instead, it is influenced by the shape of the basin, topography, and climate. 3) The order of HI in different lithological areas of the Lanping Basin is as follows: igneous rock area (0.532) > metamorphic rock area (0.503) >sand shale area (0.494)>carbonate area (0.470)>loose rock area (0.446). This indicates that areas with stronger rock corrosion resistance tend to exhibit more mature geomorphic development and evolution. The correlation between HI and structural factors highlights the distance from the main fault as an important factor controlling the spatial differentiation of HI. As the distance from the main fault increases, structural activity weakens, leading to a gradual decrease in HI. In conclusion, the geomorphic evolution of the study area is the result of the interplay between tectonic uplift, precipitation erosion, and lithology resistance. This study provides important support for future endeavors focused on natural disaster prevention, water conservancy project construction, and ecological environment conservation.

The traditional flood risk evaluation takes into account the effects of regional flood risk solely, based on proximity to water or the number of partial river network systems, without considering the impact of river network system connectivity. To address the problem, this study proposes a three-dimensional comprehensive evaluation system for assessing the connectivity within a river network system. The flood risk assessment index system, which considers the connectivity of river systems, is developed based on this framework. Furthermore, a more objective game-theoretic combination weighting method is employed to determine the optimal weights, and the cartographic method for thematic mapping is applied by integrating natural and administrative boundaries. In the case of the Xiangjiang River Basin, this study investigates the feasibility and superiority of the system compared to the conventional flood risk assessment approach. The findings indicate that: 1) The structural connectivity and comprehensive connectivity of the Xiangjiang River Basin increase from south to north, and the functional connectivity of the northern rivers is stronger than that of the southern rivers. The hydraulic connectivity of the main stream is higher than that of the tributaries, and the hydraulic connectivity of the downstream tributaries is higher than that of the upper and middle reaches. 2) The overall flood risk in the Xiangjiang River Basin increases from south to north, and the medium risk area and the lower risk area account for 59.25%. The medium risk area is concentrated in the northern part of the Xiangjiang River Basin, and the southwest and central part of the south of the Xiangjiang River Basin, accounting for 25.01%. The low and lower risk areas are concentrated in the southern mountainous area and the western edge area, accounting for 22.48% and 34.24% respectively. The high and higher risk areas are concentrated in the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River, accounting for 9.34% and 8.94% respectively. 3) The traditional flood risk assessment underestimates the flood risk in the upstream area of the basin and overestimates the flood risk in the downstream area. However, combined with the actual flooding situation in the Xiangjiang River Basin in recent years, we found that considering the river system connectivity is more objective and delicate than the traditional way to portray the flood risk evaluation results. The results of this study can further improve the scientificity of flood risk evaluation.

As the primary industry, agriculture bears essential responsibilities such as ensuring food security, maintaining social stability, and protecting the environment. High-quality agricultural development is the cornerstone of high-quality economic development in China, and it is also necessary to accelerate the construction of agricultural power. Comprehensively measuring the high-quality development level of agriculture in the Yellow River Basin will help to exert the ecological protection barrier of the Yellow River Basin, ensure national food security, promote agricultural modernization, and accelerate the construction of agricultural power. An evaluation index system for high-quality agricultural development was constructed based on the new development concept. Taking 76 prefecture-level cities in 8 provinces (regions) in the Yellow River Basin as research objects, the AHP-entropy method was used to measure the high-quality agricultural development level in the Yellow River Basin from 2016 to 2020. Dagum Gini coefficient and Kernel density estimation describe its spatiotemporal evolution law. The results shows that: 1) The overall high-quality agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin shows an upward trend but is still at a low level between 0.25 and 0.35. The high-quality agricultural development in the upper, middle, and lower reaches shows a spatial distribution pattern of “high on both sides and low in the middle”. The development level of each dimension is generally low, especially the innovation dimension, which has the lowest development level, indicating that agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin lacks endogenous growth momentum. 2) The Dagum Gini coefficient shows that the intra-regional differences in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin are constantly shrinking, showing an overall downward trend, and the inter-regional differences generally appear as upstream-downstream>upstream-middle reaches>midstream-downstream. Inter-regional differences are the primary source of differences in high-quality agricultural development levels in the Yellow River Basin, followed by intra-regional differences, with hypervariable density differences making the most negligible contribution. 3) Kernel density estimation shows that the center of the distribution curve of the entire basin moves to the right, indicating that the level of high-quality agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin is gradually improving. The distribution curves in the upper, middle, and lower reaches all have a right tail, indicating that the level of high-quality agricultural development in some regions is significantly higher than that in other cities in the same area. The distribution curves changed from single peak to bimodal or multi-peak after 2018, indicating that the high-quality agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin has polarized and stratified characteristics after 2018, showing a pronounced gradient effect. Accordingly, it is necessary to adhere to the development strategy of promoting agriculture through science and technology, assisting agriculture through science and technology, and empowering agriculture through science and technology. Downstream regions must fully play their role as “leaders” and promote the construction of systematic projects for agricultural innovation-driven development and high-quality development. Taking the coordinated development of agriculture in the upper, middle, and lower reaches as an essential focus to promote the high-quality development of agriculture in the Yellow River Basin, each region must capitalize on its unique advantages, adapt to local conditions, and coordinate as a whole to promote the overall high-quality development of agriculture in the Yellow River Basin. Central regions should leverage the spillover effect and radiation driving role on the surrounding areas, smooth the channels and mechanisms for cooperation and exchanges between regions, and truly achieve “point-to-area” assistance.

Immersion tourism context are crucial to the formation of memorable and extraordinary tourism experiences, and interaction is an important dimension in immersion tourism context, so it is valuable to explore the tourist multiple interactions and their group influence paths in immersion tourism context. This study analyzes the concepts and dimensions of tourist multiple interactions in immersion tourism context based on “context-cognitive-affective unit-behavioral unit” combined with CAPS theory, and explores the grouping paths of the influencing factors of tourist multiple interactions by using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Firstly, the concept of immersion tourism context is proposed according to the existing literature, which is a virtual or real space integrating technology, narrative and interaction that deeply integrates culture and tourism. Second, based on the CAPS theory and the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, a scale of 3 dimensions and 15 question items of tourist multiple interactions including cognition interaction, emotion interaction and behavior interaction was developed. Finally, among the 6 influencing factors of destination elements, destination charm, consumer innovativeness, tourist involvement, place identity and place dependence, a total of 11 grouping paths were extracted using the fsQCA, which were categorized into 4 types of logics, including place attachment logic, situational participation logic, image cognition logic and deep experience logic. This study provides an effective reference for future academic research related to tourist immersion experience, tourism context, and tourist interaction, as well as practical insights for immersion scene development, management, and marketing in tourism destinations.

Under the dual influence of climate change and human activities, grassland degradation and land desertification in the Mongolian Plateau are intensifying, posing a threat to the sustainable economic development and regional ecological security of China and Mongolia. Based on the long-term series remote sensing data of nearly 40 years, the pattern dynamics and influencing factors of grassland net primary productivity (NPP) in typical areas of the Mongolian Plateau were discussed, and the comparative analysis between China and Mongolia was further carried out considering the differences in development models and policy orientations between China and Mongolia. The results showed that: 1) From 1982 to 2020, the average annual NPP of grassland in typical areas of Mongolia was significantly lower than that of China, about 4/5 of that of China; grassland NPP in typical areas of Mongolia showed an increasing trend, grassland was mainly restored, and the growth rate of NPP in China was about twice that of Mongolia, and showed significant performance. 2) From the first stage (1982—1999) to the second stage (2000—2020), the proportion of NPP increase in grassland NPP in typical areas of China and Mongolia increased by 19% and 22.1%, and the proportion of significance increased by about 19.7% and 10.8%, respectively. 3) The increase of grassland NPP in typical areas of China and Mongolia is mainly caused by climate change, followed by the combined effect of climate change and human activities, while the decrease of grassland NPP is almost entirely caused by human activities. The differences are: the increase of grassland NPP in Mongolia shows the driving evolution characteristics from two-factor to single-factor, while China shows continuous three-factor driving characteristics. The decrease of grassland NPP in Mongolia was manifested as a single-factor feature driven by human activities, while in China, it was manifested as a three-factor driving feature dominated by human activities. 4) Precipitation is the main factor affecting grassland recovery in China, human activities are the main drivers of grassland degradation in the two countries, but due to the differences in policies between the two countries, Mongolia’s regional grassland NPP reduction area accounts for a much larger proportion than China’s. Therefore, China needs to continuously strengthen ecological engineering construction and policy implementation to promote grassland restoration; Mongolia needs to learn from China’s experience, improve the industrial structure and management measures of animal husbandry, and accelerate grassland ecological protection and governance with policy guidance.

Population as a foundamental driving force in the development of socio-economic. Hunan Province as a typical province in the central region, the total population has witnessed a remarkable “shrinkage” phenomenon in recent years. The birth rate has dropped precipitously, and the issue of population aging and declining birth rate has becoming increasingly severe. Simultaneously, there is a pronounced trend of people migrating to large and mega-cities. As a result, the majority of counties have transformed into areas experiencing population shrinkage. This article systematically analyzes the population change trends and spatial pattern changes in Hunan Province from 2000 to 2020, based on data from the fifth to the seventh national population censuses and the statistical yearbook of Hunan Province, from a multi-scale spatial at the provincial, county, and major function-oriented zone levels. The results results indicate that: 1) From 2000 to 2020, the total population of Hunan Province has exhibited an inverted “U”-shaped demographic trajectory characterized by initial rapid growth, peak, followed by sharp decline, with negative population growth emerging in 2020. Spatially, a unidirectional migration pattern has formed whereby population flows shift from county-level administrative units (rural areas) to municipal districts (major urban centers); 2) At the county level, the intensity of population shrinkage exhibits a significant distance-decay pattern radiating outward from municipal districts. During 2000 to 2010, slight population shrinkage predominates in county-level units. However, after 2010, the scope and depth of shrinkage expanded significantly, 24 county-level units experienced persistent shrinkage, with 52 newly emerging population shrinkage county-level units identified; 3) Since the implementation of the major function-oriented zone planning, this planning has also has a profound impact on the spatial distribution of population.Due to the specific functions assigned to each geographical areas in this planning. The population flows into and aggregates in key development areas. In addition, both the main agricultural product producing zones and the key ecological function zones consequently undergoes passive population shrinkage driven by functional constraints. Finally, this article puts forward some suggestions on the balanced development of population space in provinces.

The assemblages of macro-plant remains excavated in archaeological sites reflect both the intentional and unintentional utilization of plant resources by ancient populations and the anthropogenic landscapes they managed, controlled, and exploited. At present, the application of ecological methods to conduct multivariate statistical analysis of plant remains has emerged as a significant focus in archaeological sites and to reveal the utilization and development of plant resources by the ancestors under the perspective of anthropogenic landscapes, is becoming a new research growth point in the international field of paleoethnobotany. However, this area of research remains underemphasized in China. To this end, this paper utilizes biodiversity indicators (richness and evenness) and introduces for the first time the concept and research methodology of starchy plant assemblages (rice, foxnut, water chestnut, acorns, foxtail millet and broomcorn millet). The data base of macro-plant remains from 20 sites dated to 8200—3200 a B.P. in the lower Yangtze River region was statistically analyzed. Several tendencies can be shown from the results. The mean richness of plant species gradually increased and the mean value of evenness showed a decreasing trend during 8200—3200 a B.P. There were ephemeral changes in the proportions of each starchy plant. Among the starchy plants, rice experienced a rapid increase in its starch contribution between 7000—5300 a B.P. and remained the dominant starch source from 7000—4300 a B.P. The richness and evenness of plant resources as well as the starchy plant assemblages varied across different regions, including the Zhejiang-Fujian hilly region, the Ningshao Plain, the eastern Jianghuai region, and the Taihu Lake region. In the Taihu Lake region, where resources were relatively scarce, more diverse plant resources were exploited compared to the resource-rich Ningshao Plain. During the Liangzhu period, centre sites and peripheral sites also differed in plant abundance, evenness, and starchy plant assemblages. The diachronic changes in anthropogenic landscapes and starchy plant assemblages, as well as the regional differences, centrally reflect the ability of the ancestors to adapt to different environment, exploit different habitats and to select and intensively manage certain plants at different times. The ancestors in the Taihu Lake region, faced with relatively limited environmental resources, climate change, and growing population pressure, intensified their anthropogenic intervention and management of settlements and surrounding wetland habitats. This. The directional guidance and continuous refinement of management behavior led to a continuous increase in rice yields within this environment, further solidifying rice as the primary starch source and establishing a regional model characterized by paddy fields as the dominant landscape and rice cultivation as the leading economic activity. The exploitation of wetland habitats, land allocation, specialization of labor force and redistribution of resources ultimately promote the development of regional social complexity.

Tourism leisure street blocks are fusion development spaces with distinct cultural characteristics and sufficient tourism and leisure functions, which have attracted the attention of government departments and academic communities. Therefore, exploring their development paths is of great significance to meet the high-quality cultural and tourism consumption needs of tourists and residents, enhance the competitiveness of urban tourism, and promote sustainable economic and social development. This paper takes the National Tourism Leisure Street Blocks as research objects, evaluates the development degree of tourism leisure street blocks from the citywalk network influence perspective, uses software ArcGIS to visualize the spatial layout characteristics of tourism leisure street blocks’ citywalk network influence, extracts the core development elements with the help of network textual analysis method, and identifies the development paths of tourism leisure street blocks and the relationship between development elements through fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. The results show that : 1) Tourists pay more attention to national tourism leisure street blocks, and the blocks with high citywalk network influence are mainly distributed in Chongqing, Fujian and Guangdong, representing great regional differences. 2) A single element is insufficient to become a necessary condition for shaping the development path of tourism leisure street blocks, prosperous development is the result of configuration effect of the core development factors. Three equivalent development paths are formed through 5 elements’ configuration, which are the path of product intensive driving, dual-drive path of facility & format, the assisting path of culture & marketing. 3) There is a mutually exclusive relationship between conditional variable culture empowerment and product driving, and a synergistic relationship between facility support and format innovation. Therefore, scientifically and reasonably launching products and innovating formats by all means will help the tourism leisure street blocks gain a higher citywalk network influence.

Folk migration is a historical and social phenomenon worthy of study. However, most of folk migration in Chinese history does not have detailed written records and accurate data. Folk migration has left many traditional villages, whose settlement forms contain information on the “genes” of their folk groups and their evolution. Thus, traditional villages can be used as side evidence to reveal historical migrations. However, there is still a lack of means to study traditional settlement morphology on a large geographic scale, which makes it difficult to obtain overall universal patterns. Currently, artificial intelligence techniques for satellite remote sensing images show strong potential in earth observation. Applying these techniques is a promising way to restore the wholeness of traditional settlement patterns. In this study, we propose a remote sensing-based AI method to explore the evolution of traditional settlement morphology on a large geographic scale. In detail, a self-supervised deep learning model, called convolutional autoencoder, is applied to automatically extracting the folk prototype information of settlement forms from building footprint data and remote sensing images. The extracted folk prototype information is represented as feature vector format, which then is input to KMeans clustering algorithm to categorize the folk prototypes. In addition, cosine similarity is used to calculate the similarity space of the selected villages, in order to discover the topological relationship between the folk prototypes. Hanjiang River Basin area is taken as the study area and the traditional villages of Hakka and Teochew folk groups are the research objects of this study. The result of the convolutional autoencoder is combined with historical records of folk migration, in order to restore the process of the evolution of the settlement morphology. The results show that the prototypes of Hakka and Teochew villages exist in the basin of the Hanjiang River, and show a pattern of morphological gradual change along the migration path. From the data-driven perspective and historical records’ perspective, this article demonstrates that the Hakka and Teochew settlement prototypes derived from the migration-driven cultural fusion process have created a transitional settlement form “Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix”, which combines the characteristics of Hakka and Teochew prototypes, and thus complements the existing knowledge of traditional settlement morphology. In detail, from the data-driven perspective, Type 2 is recognized as the transitional type between the Type 1 and Type 3 in the feature similarity space. Also, the villages of Type 2 are mainly located between the villages of Type 1 and Type 3 in the geographic space. From the historical records’ perspective, the villages of Type 1 and Type 3 are recognized as Hakka and Teochew villages. And the villages of Type 2 are identified as the settlement form of “Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix”. In summary, the settlement form of “Hundred Birds Toward the Phoenix” is recognized as the transitional form between the Hakka and Teochew settlement prototypes. Using traditional villages as a medium, this article provides a feasible tool for exploring the morphological evolution of folk settlements on a large scale without manual survey and labelling. Currently, the method proposed in this article automates feature extraction, but the input remote sensing images of traditional villages still need to be manually selected by the researcher. In order to further improve the automation of traditional settlement pattern recognition, in the future, this study will combine other artificial intelligence tools to achieve automatic selection of traditional village remote sensing images and combine them with the method in this article to form a set of automated processes, which will further break through the limitations of traditional surveys, and bring more data for the study of historical population migration.

Population aging exerts a substantial influence on urban economic development, and the assessment of its economic repercussions and spatial differentiation represents a new direction in the geography of human-land relations. Utilizing the vulnerability analysis framework, we developed an index system encompassing three dimensions: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. This system enabled us to evaluate China’s urban economic vulnerability to aging (UEVA), examine its spatial differentiation characteristics, and produce vulnerability type maps. The results show that: 1) Between 2010 and 2020, the exposure index rose from 0.346 to 0.498, with high exposure areas primarily located in Sichuan-Chongqing, Jiangsu-Anhui, and northeastern China. The sensitivity index declined from 0.494 to 0.454, with low sensitivity regions concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Shandong Peninsula, and most provincial capitals and municipalities. The adaptive capacity index increased from 0.122 to 0.205, forming a circular structure centered on the Yangtze River Delta and decreasing inland. 2) From 2010 to 2020, nationwide UEVA trends showed improvement, albeit with a significant increase in northeastern China. Spatial distribution of vulnerability revealed low vulnerability cities clustered in southeastern coastal region, provincial capitals, and municipalities, while medium- to high-vulnerability cities prevailed in northeastern region and border areas of Shaanxi-Gansu-Sichuan, Inner Mongolia-Hebei, Hunan-Guizhou, and Henan-Anhui. 3) UEVA manifested a pronounced spatial gradient, wherein eastern region exhibited significantly lower economic vulnerability compared to central-western and northeastern regions. It is also characterized by the larger urban size and the higher administrative hierarchy, the lower the vulnerability. 4) Per capita GDP growth effectively mitigated UEVA, though GDP growth rates showed no mitigating effects. 5) In 2010—2020, spatial evolution of vulnerability types exhibited distinct ‘improvement in the east, and more vulnerability in north and northeast China’ characteristics.

The elderly population is emerging as the fastest-growing demographic group within China’s aging population. This article utilizes data from national population censuses conducted in 2000, 2010 and 2020 at the county level. Using indicators such as the aging coefficient, concentration of the elderly population, and spatial auto-correlation, the study aims to examine the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of the aging population in China, as well as its influencing factors. The conclusions are as follows: 1) The scale and proportion of the elderly population in China are increasing, marked by an accelerated aging rate and a notable aging trend. There is a significant urban-rural difference in the aging of the population, with urban areas experienced higher levels of aging compared to rural areas. 2) In terms of space, the aging level in the eastern coastal areas is higher than that in the central and western inland areas. The spatial pattern of aging population has not broken through the Hu Line, and there is a certain degree of stability. Additionally, notable differences in ageing exist in terms of gender, and between ethnicity and non-ethnicity groups. Aging demonstrates strong spatial correlation, with increasingly prominent spatial clustering characteristics. 3) In the past 20 years, the influencing factors of aging population in Chinese counties have shifted from demographic and natural factors to encompass multiple factors including population, nature, social and economic factors.

This study systematically analyzes the spatiotemporal pattern evolution characteristics of wildfires in the Da Hinggan Mountains by comprehensively applying spatial analysis and Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) methods, based on the MCD64A1 burned area dataset. Additionally, by constructing a logistic regression model, this research deeply reveals the key driving factors influencing wildfire occurrence in this region. The research results show that during the period of 2001—2021, the overall burned area of wildfires in the Da Hinggan Mountains showed a significant decreasing trend. In terms of seasonal distribution characteristics, wildfire occurrences were mainly concentrated in spring and autumn, with the burned area in spring accounting for 73% of the annual total. In terms of spatial distribution characteristics, spring wildfires in the Da Hinggan Mountains exhibit a significant clustering pattern, primarily concentrated in the northeastern and central regions of the study area. The spatial distribution of summer, autumn, and winter wildfires is relatively centralized, with the central part of the study area as the core region. Further analysis shows that wildfires in spring and autumn have a high degree of spatial clustering. Monitoring data over the past 20 years indicate that the burned area has shown an upward trend in 37% of the study area, while a downward trend has been observed in 63% of the area, demonstrating remarkable spatial heterogeneity. The influencing factors were ranked by their impact on wildfire occurrence probability as follows: settlement density > monthly total precipitation > water system density > monthly average saturation vapor pressure deficit > vegetation type > slope aspect > monthly average wind speed > slope gradient > road network density > altitude. These findings highlight that anthropogenic factors, humidity-related variables, and vegetation types are critical drivers of wildfire occurrence in the Da Hinggan Mountains, providing a scientific basis for regional wildfire prevention and ecological management.

This article delves into the study of 546 traditional villages and 629 intangible cultural heritage (ICH) items in 36 prefecture-level and above cities along the Grand Canal. Through the application of methods such as kernel density estimation, spatial autocorrelation analysis, centroid models, spatial mismatch index, and geographic detectors, a comprehensive analysis is conducted on the spatial distribution patterns of traditional villages and ICH along the Grand Canal, revealing the spatial relationship and identifying the key influencing factors. The main conclusions are as follows: 1) The spatial arrangement of traditional villages and ICH along the Grand Canal demonstrates positive spatial autocorrelation and clustering features, aligning with findings from prior research. Traditional villages manifest three levels of density clusters with notable north-south distribution distinctions, while ICH exhibits elevated density in both the northern and southern regions, with planar clustering in the central area, resulting in the formation of four clusters (two high and two secondary). 2) By employing a bivariate spatial autocorrelation model to analyze the kernel density of traditional villages and ICH, a minimal level of positive spatial correlation is observed. This could be attributed to the limited spatial overlap and substantial spatial mismatch between traditional villages and ICH within the canal basin. 3) The centroids of traditional villages and ICH along the Grand Canal exhibit varying degrees of deviation, highlighting notable internal spatial disparities. An analysis of spatial mismatch indicates that traditional villages are predominantly clustered in the central and southern areas of the canal, whereas ICH is primarily concentrated in the northern and central regions. This contrasts with the north-south spatial mismatch pattern observed in the Yangtze River basin. 4) The spatial disparities in the distribution of traditional villages and ICH along the Grand Canal stem from a multifaceted interplay of factors. Natural geographic elements play a significant role in shaping the spatial distribution variations, while socio-economic and historical-cultural factors exert more intricate influences on the landscape. In summary, future research endeavors should focus on uncovering the mechanisms that impact the spatial dynamics between traditional villages and ICH along the Grand Canal. It is essential to explore the interactions among various influencing factors, as well as to examine the spatiotemporal evolution patterns and consequences of the distribution of traditional villages and ICH across diverse spatial scales.

Perceiving street vitality from multiple dimensions and exploring the relationship between the built environment and multidimensional street vitality are fundamental to enhancing street vitality. With the Futian District of Shenzhen as the study area, this study is based on Baidu heatmap data, Dianping data, and POI data to perceive street vitality in 3 dimensions: social vitality, economic vitality, and cultural vitality. Combining the XGBoost and SHAP analyses, the nonlinear relationship between multidimensional street vitality and the built environment is examined. The results show that: 1) There are significant spatial distribution differences in street vitality across different dimensions. The overall spatial distribution of social vitality and economic vitality exhibits a multi-centered spatial structure, while cultural vitality shows a multi-centered patchy structure. The spatial distribution differentiation between social vitality and economic vitality is minimal, while the differentiation between economic vitality and cultural vitality is large. 2) The built environment significantly impacts multidimensional street vitality. Among them, the importance of 4 built environment indicators, including functional density, distance to the nearest business circle, distance to the nearest subway station, and building density, is higher for multidimensional street vitality, and their cumulative explanatory power reaches 60%. 3) The built environment exhibits evident nonlinear effects and threshold effects on the multidimensional street vitality, with both commonalities and differences in its impact across different dimensions. Overall, multidimensional street vitality demonstrates a positive correlation with functional density, building density, floor area ratio, and bus stop density, while demonstrating a negative correlation with the distance to the nearest subway station. Additionally, there is an observed positive correlation between a high functional mix, a high green view ratio, and cultural vitality, while there is a negative correlation between social and economic vitality. These research findings can provide a basis for enhancing street vitality, optimizing urban resource allocation, and promoting sustainable urban development.

As a recent theoretical trend in human geography abroad to reflect on the binary divide between nature and society/culture and to explain the intra-action between the two with the concept of socio-nature, the social construction of nature has theoretical applicability to the study of agricultural heritage. Firstly, as a bridge between human society and natural ecosystems, agriculture is inherently an important area for the study of the social construction of nature. Secondly, as a unique land-use system and agricultural landscape formed through the long-term synergistic evolution and dynamic adaptation of farmers and their environment, agricultural heritage implies a richer and more typical social construction process than that of general agricultural production activities. Again, the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) project initiated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) essentially constitutes a challenge to the dichotomous heritage narratives of nature and culture in the mainstream international heritage conservation practice, and is therefore a typical target for the study of the social construction of nature in the field of heritage. In conclusion, the social construction of nature can provide a new theoretical perspective for the study of agricultural heritage as a socio-ecological system. Does the theory of social construction of nature only involve the binary relation between society/culture/human and nature? How can the concept of place be integrated into this theory? It was found that although human-nature interaction is the core interest of the study of the social construction of nature, it does not mean that the social construction of nature only demonstrates this dual relationship. The relevance of the social construction of nature to the construction of place determine that the social construction of nature is a network of relationships in which “human-nature-place” are closely interconnected. This does not mean that the place is a third party independent of human and nature, but rather aims to illustrate that the social construction of nature will change the materiality and social attributes of nature. After being constructed, nature, through its subjectivity and agency, can also shape the characteristics and meaning of the place and delineate the human-land relationship. Based on the “human-nature-place” relational network, the study on the social construction of Longji Rice Terraces, which was recognized as a GIAHS in 2018, and its place effect in the context of tourism reveals that the mechanism of tourism interest linkage between people and terraces, the history of terraces, and the boundaries of the terraces constitute 3 important socially constructed objects. Moreover, those are interdependent and closely integrated in the process of social construction, encompassing rich interactions and multiple constructions of natural-social elements, which profoundly induced the material changes of the Longji Terraces, as well as the competition among diverse stakeholders revolves around the question “whose terraces” regarding the identity of the heritage subject. Ultimately the 3 objects, as a force of production and reproduction of the place, jointly influenced and shaped the nature and meaning of the Longji area, making it a place that dynamically reorganizes with the changes in the relationship between people and the terraces.

This paper takes the coastal zone of Haikou as the research area, selects remote sensing images from 1987, 2004 and 2021, and uses the random forest method to supervise the classification of remote sensing images to analyze the changes in the spatiotemporal distribution of land use in the coastal zone of Haikou over the past 35 years, as well as the speed and structure of the changes, and reveals the driving mechanism of social economy and natural environment on the land use changes in the coastal zone of Haikou. The results show that: 1) From 1987 to 2021, the dynamic evolution of comprehensive land use in the coastal zone of Haikou was drastic, among which the construction land expanded significantly (increased by 189.16 km²), the cultivated land decreased the most (decreased by 81.50 km²), and the water area and water conservancy facilities changed the least. 2) The temporal and spatial distribution of the coastal zone of Haikou City has changed significantly. Construction land extends from the central part to the east and west sides, cultivated land loss is concentrated in the west, and grassland is distributed on the east bank of the Nandu River and fluctuates and decreases; land conversion shows a single-item agglomeration feature, with 77% of the transferred-out area flowing to construction land, and the transferred-out areas of grassland, forest land, and cultivated land are 1.73, 2.37, and 2.88 times the transferred-in areas, respectively. 3) In the single-factor driving force of the coastal zone of Haikou City, the dominant position of the largest driving force economic indicator (GDP) from 1987 to 2004 was replaced by the climate factor (precipitation) from 2004 to 2021, and the influence of road proximity decreased by 90%; in the interactive driving force, the synergistic effect of natural-social factors was significantly enhanced (the driving force index increased from 0.535 in 1987 to 0.844 in 2021). The research results can provide a scientific basis for the ecological environment protection and land resource planning of the coastal zone of Haikou City.

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region is one of the most entrepreneurial regions in China. Investigating its spatio-temporal differences in entrepreneurship and the underlying impact mechanisms is of great significance for optimizing resource allocation and strengthening local innovation and entrepreneurial development alliances. Based on open-source data from 2 platforms include Qichacha and Tianyancha, this paper calculates the entrepreneurial rate of 41 cities in the YRD from 2002 to 2022 and identifies its spatiotemporal patterns. By differentiating types of entrepreneurship, this study constructs an analytical framework that incorporates multiple factors such as regional institutions, financial environment, infrastructure, and foreign direct investment. Using a Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) with time fixed effects, the paper explores the influencing factors of regional entrepreneurship and its spatial effects. The findings are as follows: 1) During the observation period, entrepreneurial activity in the YRD steadily increased, with opportunity-driven entrepreneurship (ODE) exhibiting significant spatio-temporal differentiation, and all entrepreneurship rates displaying dynamic dispersal characteristics. 2) The spatial patterns of entrepreneurship differed significantly across periods. In 2002, cities with higher entrepreneurial rates in the YRD followed a Z-shaped distribution, with a trend of diffusion towards inland areas in 2012, and by 2022, Jinhua City had stood out prominently. 3) Government attention to entrepreneurship, urban innovation capacity, and improvements in infrastructure had a significant positive effect on ODE. However, enhancing urban entrepreneurial services had a stronger positive effect on necessity-driven entrepreneurship (NDE) compared to ODE, while the role of urban financial development had the opposite effect. The entry of foreign capital suppressed ODE but indirectly promoted NDE. 4) The optimization of the urban financial environment not only helps improve local entrepreneurial levels but also promotes entrepreneurship in neighboring cities through spillover effects.