The impact of land consolidation on rural vitalization at village level: A case study of a Chinese village

Rural land consolidation (RLC) is beneficial to rural development to a certain extent. While acknowledging this relationship, little is known about the extent of the impact of RLC on rural vitalization at the village level and its change. Based on the theoretical analytical framework and multi-source data, this study adopts field investigation and GIS technology in Jinzhuang Village, China, to qualitatively reveal how RLC affects rural development and quantitatively analyze the effectiveness of RLC on local vitalization. The results show that greenhouse-led RLC promotes the spatial restructuring and industrial transformation of Jinzhuang Village. In this process, the restructuring of production-living-ecological space is mutually reinforced and restrictive, and compared with the decrease of the ecological space, the production space has gradually expanded and the living space has increased slightly. On the whole, RLC has boosted the development level of Jinzhuang Village. However, its main contribution lies in the socio-economic aspects, at the expense of the ecological environment, and its positive and negative effects, based on the quantitative analysis, on cultural development almost cancel each other out. Additionally, working in greenhouses for years poses a health risk to tomato farmers. Based on the above analysis and discussion, policy recommendations are provided.