Measuring the role of land consolidation to community revitalization in rapidly urbanizing rural China: A perspective of functional supply-demand

The role of land consolidation in regional development has been a popular topic in the fields of land system science and rural studies for facilitating rural revitalization. Although many conceptual and methodological advances have focused on quantifying the role of land consolidation at the macro- and meso-levels as well as the supply-demand of ecosystem services, addressing its role at the micro-level from the supply-demand perspective remains an open challenge. To address this gap, we develop an integrated conceptual framework to analyze the interrelationship between land use functions and structures and identify the demand from community revitalization for land use functions (LUFs). Using the Dongheng Community in rural China as a case study, an index system is established to measure the role of land consolidation from the perspective of functional supply and demand. The results indicate that the pattern of LUFs’ supply-demand in Dongheng Community has changed considerably since the beginning of the land consolidation program, in which the supply-demand gaps in the industrial production function are the most obvious. In addition, strategies from the perspectives of land use function/type conversion, enhancement, and supplementation have been proposed to narrow the functional supply-demand gap in Dongheng Community. Interestingly, the mismatch of functional supply and demand during the land consolidation program did not seem to have led to the decline of Dongheng, but rather to spur its revitalization and in situ urbanization. Moreover, policy recommendations are proposed in light of the case area. These findings offer new insight into the correlation between land use and rural development at the micro level, potentially contributing to the enhancement of land consolidation initiatives and the amelioration of rural concerns.