Emerging rural spatial restructuring regimes in China: A tale of three transitional villages in the urban fringe: Fid-Bau Portal

Emerging rural spatial restructuring regimes in China: A tale of three transitional villages in the urban fringe

Zhang, Xiaoling / Pan, Mingmin

Abstract China's rapid urbanization process has pushed rural villages into an urban-rural integration movement. Several modes and approaches have been applied to remake space in rural China, which differ greatly in restructuring outcomes. In response, this article builds on the insights of regime theory to develop a conceptual framework to reveal the mechanism behind China's rural spatial restructuring and seeks to explore the underlying reasons that affect the outcomes. It is found that resource adequacy, the quality of resource coalition, and the effectiveness of implementation determine the rural regime's capacity to manage spatial restructuring. Case studies from Hua County, Chaohu City, and Shenzhen are used to illustrate the conceptual framework's application and facilitate a comparative analysis from the perspective of rural regime capacity. The findings provide a critical rethinking of the “sustainable remaking of rural space”, which could therefore shed light on the rural governance of countries in the global south generally.

Highlights • The conceptual framework reveals the mechanism of China's rural spatial restructuring • New insight into regional resource coalition in rural China • Identifies the importance of rural regime capacity in spatial restructuring projects • Resource adequacy, coalition quality and implementation effectiveness determine rural regime capacity