Deciphering how promoting land consolidation for village revitalization in rural China: A comparison study

As an efficient toolkit to relieve and resolve rural issues, land consolidation (LC) has been suggested as a promising policy instrument for sustainable rural development. Villages are the most basic units of rural planning and development. However, few studies have examined and compared the relationships between LC and rural revitalization at the village level. Given the sophisticated experience of Eastern China in LC practices, this study, based on theoretical analysis of the relationship between land use and village revitalization, compared two Chinese villages in this region with distinct spatial locations from neighboring cities to analyze and reveal the mechanisms of LC in promoting local revitalization. The results show that under the combined effect of internal and external factors, LC programs have been successfully implemented in the two case villages, during which the interactive mechanism between various aspects, mainly involving industry, habitat, and governance, has been created to promote local revitalization. In the absence of changes in resource endowments, policy support and the efforts of local elites are the key factors for the success of LC in the two villages. However, due to different economic and socio-cultural conditions between the two villages, there are also differences in their revitalization mechanisms. Parts of the lessons learned from the case villages can be useful for villages with similar situations in plain areas. These findings can advance the understanding of how to promote LC for village development and serve as a reference point for other developing countries and regions with similar socio-cultural backgrounds eradicating poverty and revitalizing localities through LC.