Editorial: Moving towards sustainable development: exploring the impact of land-use policies on land green utilization efficiency

Editorial on the Research Topic
Moving towards sustainable development: exploring the impact of land-use policies on land green utilization efficiency

Introduction

In the face of persistent sustainable development challenges, such as accelerated urban-rural integration, continued population growth, and mounting urban land scarcity, the efficient utilization of land resources has become paramount. A central inquiry for governments and academic researchers globally is how macro- and micro-level land policies can transform land-use practices, optimize territorial spatial structures, and thereby enhance land green utilization efficiency (LGUE). This Research Topic, entitled “Moving Towards Sustainable Development: Exploring the Impact of Land-Use Policies on Land Green Utilization Efficiency”, compiles 24 articles that rigorously investigate the influence of land policies on utilization efficiency.

Research on land-use policies and LGUE has surged in recent years, yet several research gaps and unresolved issues remain. First, most studies focus on examining the impact of individual land-use policies, lacking analysis of the synergistic effects of policy combinations. This results in relatively one-sided research conclusions. Second, despite repeated discussions on the measurement, spatiotemporal evolution, and impacts of LGUE, the field still lacks a unified, multidimensional evaluation framework that considers long-term ecological resilience and social equity. Finally, a systemic disconnect exists between land-use policies and the behavioral responses of micro-level stakeholders, leaving internal transmission mechanisms unclear. Identifying these open questions is crucial for shifting from static policy evaluation toward a more dynamic and forward-looking understanding of sustainable land governance.

Responding directly to contemporary development themes and policy evolution demands, the Research Topic contributions employ a combination of qualitative and quantitative scientific methods. They examine the effects of land policies, fiscal land dependence, land property rights, and market-oriented land factor reforms on various critical dimensions, including utilization efficiency, ecological efficiency, and environmental risk. From a methodological perspective, the papers utilize frontier techniques to precisely measure the regional disparities in land utilization efficiency and analyze its spatio-temporal dynamics and evolution. This Research Topic features studies that assess how the development of the digital economy and related policies influence green utilization efficiency and resource allocation efficiency, reflecting the needs of the current era and the digital economy’s emergence as a major pillar of macroeconomic development. In summation, this Research Topic offers valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and relevant practitioners into land-use research, sustainable policy formulation, and practical implementation strategies.

The relationship between land use and green efficiency under urbanization

The acceleration of urbanization necessitates an evolution in urban spatial structures, marked by phenomena such as polycentric development, urban-scale expansion, and heightened population density. Against this backdrop, researchers have rigorously investigated the impact of these urbanizing processes on land utilization efficiency and regional landscape ecological risk. The core objective of this line of inquiry is to clarify the coordination mechanisms required to achieve a secure equilibrium between efficient land utilization and environmental sustainability.

Guo et al. (Paper 16), utilizing city-level panel data from 2000 to 2020, investigated the impact of urbanization on regional landscape ecological risk (LER) in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, highlighting inherent human-land conflicts. Their findings show that the LER in cities along the lower and middle Yangtze River went up from 0.2508 in 2000 to 0.2573 in 2020, and that medium-risk cities always made up more than 30% of the total. Only Wuxi, Suzhou, and Changzhou were able to completely separate economic growth from LER. These cities are examples of how to balance urbanization and ecological security in the area.

Furthermore, other scholars have sought to disentangle the mechanisms and phased characteristics through which urbanization affects land green utilization efficiency (LGUE). Yang et al. (Paper 18), employing a multi-perspective analysis that includes mechanism, threshold, and heterogeneity on panel data from 30 Chinese provinces, found that urbanization promotes LGUE through industrial agglomeration and structural optimization. They further established a threshold effect: the positive contribution of economic development to LGUE intensifies as the urbanization process deepens. However, they found that this beneficial effect was more pronounced in eastern China.

Addressing the heterogeneous nature of urban development, Wang et al. (Paper 20) documented a significant paradox in Northeast China: simultaneous population shrinkage and land spatial expansion. They discovered a negative correlation between changes in population and land utilization intensity at the county level. The matching degree between population and land use was strong only in regional central cities, decreasing progressively toward surrounding areas. Complementing this, Jiang et al. (Paper 22) analyzed the effect of urban polycentricity and scale expansion on urban economic efficiency (UEE) from the perspective of urban and spatial economics. Empirical evidence indicates that polycentricity substantially enhances UEE, especially in economically advanced and densely populated urban areas, by optimizing resource allocation, augmenting innovation capacity, and upgrading industrial structures, whereas scale expansion demonstrates a detrimental effect. These findings collectively advocate for shifting policy focus from merely emphasizing scale expansion to strategically prioritizing spatial optimization and the moderate guidance of polycentric development to ensure sustainable land utilization.

The impact of land finance dependence and resource misallocation on land green utilization

China’s rapid urbanization and industrialization have been characterized by an excessive reliance on land finance, a policy leveraging revenue from land sales, which has consequently led to structural flaws in the land factor market, most notably land resource misallocation. Against this backdrop, it is crucial to investigate the effects and underlying mechanisms of land finance, land resource misallocation, and factor distortion on overall land utilization efficiency. The conclusions drawn from such research are vital, offering critical reference points for policymakers seeking to advance land management institutional reforms, optimize land-use structure, and introduce novel land policies for sustainable development.

Guo (Paper 2) analyzes the impact of China’s policy reliance on land finance on UGEE using city-level panel data. The findings indicate that land finance dependence significantly inhibits UGEE, with this negative effect being particularly pronounced in non-resource-based cities and those designated as key environmental protection areas. Mechanism analysis suggests that the land finance dependence indirectly affects UGEE by weakening environmental regulation stringency and exacerbating local government debt risks.

Given China’s ambitious commitments to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, land-use optimization plays a pivotal role. Wen et al. (Paper 4), using data from 274 Chinese cities spanning 2010 to 2022, investigates the impact of land resource misallocation on regional carbon emission performance. Empirical analysis confirms that land resource misallocation is a critical structural impediment to enhancing carbon emission efficiency. This barrier operates through two primary channels: hindering industrial structure upgrading and suppressing green technology innovation. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the adverse effect of misallocation on carbon efficiency is more pronounced in the central and western regions, small and medium-sized cities, and non-resource-based cities. These findings provide a solid basis for implementing differentiated land-use and carbon reduction policies.

Land property rights reform and rural land utilization efficiency

The dual structure of China’s rural land system and the persistent ambiguities in property rights remain significant impediments to the free flow of land factors and the enhancement of land utilization efficiency. Relevant studies in this Research Topic follow policies like collective forestland tenure reform, urban-rural integration, and the digital economy. They aim to investigate how deepening property rights security, fostering the land transfer market, and facilitating the bidirectional flow of labor and capital factors between urban and rural areas can optimize rural land resource allocation. The ultimate goal is to achieve notable improvements in both forestry and agricultural production efficiency. These studies provide institutional and practical pathways for constructing a unified urban-rural factor market, realizing rural revitalization, and advancing agricultural modernization.

Wei et al. (Paper 6), utilizing micro-level panel data from 13,536 households across 18 counties in 9 Chinese provinces, examined the impact of the collective forestland tenure reform on household forestry production efficiency. The research established that the reform significantly enhanced farmers’ efficiency. Mechanism analysis revealed that this improvement was channeled through three factors: increased production inputs, expanded operating scale, and improved credit availability. Finally, the efficiency-enhancing effect of the reform showed considerable heterogeneity across households with different livelihood strategies and forest types.

Liu and Liu (Paper 15) constructed a provincial-level index for urban-rural integration in China and explored its effect on rural land utilization efficiency (RLUE). They confirmed the study demonstrated that the reform markedly improved farmers’ efficiency was mediated by two key mechanisms: an elevated land transfer rate and enhanced labor mobility between urban and rural areas. While the efficiency gains were more pronounced in the Eastern and Western regions of China, the study identified an issue of “central collapse”, where the effect was less significant in the central provinces.

Xu et al. (Paper 23) investigated the direct boosting effect of Land Transfer (LT), a key market-oriented factor policy, on Food Security (FS) and its underlying complex mechanisms. Their major contribution is the empirical confirmation of the positive link between LT and FS, alongside the validation of the dual mediating roles played by environmental regulation and green technology innovation in this causal chain. This means that LT is not just about concentrating land; it also ensures the quality and long-term viability of grain production by improving and standardizing environmental management through larger operations. Furthermore, the study revealed that the FS-enhancing effect of LT is stronger in major grain-producing areas. Policy implications emphasize the necessity for the government to continue deepening rural land system reforms, accelerate the construction of the land transfer market, and strengthen the policy synergy between environmental regulation and agricultural technology innovation to ensure LT effectively serves national food security and sustainable development goals.

The critical role of land policy in ecological security and functional coordination

Ecological security and food security have been elevated to strategic planning priorities for China’s future development. Consequently, the effective implementation of land-use policies is particularly crucial in ecologically vulnerable zones, protected areas, and water conservation regions. In practice, various land protection and ecological compensation policies, such as the ecological protection red line policy and the grassland ecological compensation policy, are being rolled out in batches. Investigating the impact and mechanisms of these policies on economic development and ecological function is therefore a question of paramount practical significance. The conclusions drawn from these studies offer scientific evidence and policy recommendations for perfecting the land governance system and achieving national ecological and food security objectives.

Facing mounting pressures on national food security due to land degradation and ecological constraints, the ecological protection red line policy (ERP) provides a crucial institutional guarantee for safeguarding grain production capacity. Xu (Paper 7) analyzed the promoting effect of the ERP on food security, discovering that this positive impact is strengthened through the mechanisms of land transfer and land reclamation. The policy implications of this work suggest that the government should strictly adhere to the ERP, establish a resilient cultivated land security system, and enhance the synergy between land transfer and reclamation to improve cultivated land quality and production capacity.

Ouyang et al. (Paper 12), using survey data from 542 herdsmen in Inner Mongolia, applied a difference-in-differences model to analyze the effect of the grassland ecological compensation policy on grassland ecosystems. Their findings indicate that the policy either had a negative stimulus or was ineffective in controlling overgrazing behavior among full-time and low-level part-time herdsmen, but it exerted a significant inhibitory effect on high-level part-time herdsmen. They confirmed that non-pastoral employment serves as a key moderating variable in enhancing policy effectiveness. The authors recommend that the government optimize subsidy standards and formats, adopt differentiated incentive measures, and actively develop the labor transfer market in pastoral areas to leverage non-pastoral employment in mitigating overgrazing.

Land use profoundly influences the production-living-ecological space (PLES), making the study of land development’s impact on regional sustainable development relevant. Liu et al. (Paper 19) selected Duolun County, Inner Mongolia, as their case study and, based on meteorological and soil data from 2000 to 2020, investigated the spatio-temporal evolution of PLES development suitability and spatial conflicts. They found that the comprehensive PLES suitability in the study area exhibits a spatial pattern of high in the southwest and low in the northeast. Furthermore, the incoordination of PLES suitability is the main constraint limiting the county’s territorial spatial development, with the current land use pattern being the critical factor affecting the PLES coupling coordination degree.

Water and land resource scarcity and environmental pollution pose major global challenges for karst regions, severely threatening their sustainable development. Zhang et al. (Paper 21), using panel data from 54 counties in typical karst areas of China from 2010 to 2020, applied the DPSIR-SDGs model and a coupling coordination model to evaluate the sustainable development level of water and land resources. The study concluded that water and land resource sustainability in China’s karst regions is in a state of medium coupling but insufficient coordination, with urbanization processes and industrial structure optimization identified as the primary driving factors.

Regional disparity, dynamic evolution, and policy adaptability of land utilization efficiency

Given the vast territory of China, significant heterogeneity exists across different regions in terms of economic foundations, industrial structure, resource endowments, and policy implementation effectiveness. Consequently, investigating the spatio-temporal differentiation, regional disparities, spatial agglomeration, and dynamic convergence of land utilization efficiency within specific geographical areas carries substantial theoretical and practical significance. Scholars have employed advanced spatial econometrics and statistical analysis methods to uncover the drivers and evolutionary patterns of efficiency gaps, thereby assessing the adaptability and efficacy of policies across diverse regional contexts.

Wang et al. (Paper 1) examined the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and driving factors of interprovincial industrial green efficiency (INGE) in China from 2005 to 2022. By constructing a comprehensive evaluation system encompassing seven dimensions and 36 indicators, including land resources, they utilized the Geodetector method to identify that industrial governance is the dominant driver of INGE. The study confirmed a trend of INGE first rising and then slightly declining, affirmed the significant East-West regional disparity, and found a positive spatial correlation. Policy implications emphasize that the government should optimize industrial structure according to regional differences and intensify institutional investments, such as industrial governance and green finance, to boost the land and resource utilization efficiency of the industrial sector.

Wang et al. (Paper 14) analyzed the regional disparities and dynamic convergence characteristics of land use efficiency (LUE) in the Yangtze river economic belt (YREB) urban agglomerations under the goal of carbon neutrality. This study innovatively integrated carbon sequestration capacity into the LUE evaluation framework. Using the Dagum Gini coefficient and a spatial convergence model, they analyzed the sources and evolution trends of regional disparities. The results reveal significant spatial heterogeneity and a U-shaped temporal trend in LUE, with inter-regional disparity and hyper-variation intensity being the main contributing conflicts. Policy recommendations stress that efforts to enhance LUE in the YREB must be tailored to the specific regional contexts of different city clusters (YRD, MRYR, and Chengdu-Chongqing), considering factors like economic development, industrial structure, and fiscal capacity, to formulate differentiated yet collaborative land policies.

Fan and Zhao (Paper 17) investigated the impact of land use policies on the green utilization efficiency of 14 border cities in Northeast China. Their work reveals pronounced spatial heterogeneity in the land use patterns of border cities and establishes that the cities’ functional orientation (industrial, port, or ecological) dictates their level of green efficiency. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that energy intensity and industrial structure are critical factors suppressing efficiency. Policy implications strongly advocate for implementing differentiated and adaptive land policies based on city types: for instance, industrial cities must leverage digital transformation to drive technological upgrading, while ecological cities should prioritize protection-oriented intelligent development to achieve regional collaborative carbon reduction goals.

Digital policy-driven land green efficiency and resource allocation

The application of digital technologies, encompassing the digital economy, digital finance, and digital rural construction, is acting as a new core factor of production and a national strategy, profoundly reshaping conventional patterns of land utilization. Scholars contributing to this Research Topic primarily investigate how digital policies serve as essential tools for achieving a green and highly efficient transformation of land utilization. These studies reveal the inherent driving logic of digital technology regarding the efficiency of land allocation and agricultural green productivity. The conclusions drawn from this research provide new institutional and technological pathways for policymakers to achieve the integration of digital technology with the real economy, overcome limitations of traditional development models, and consequently realize agricultural modernization and the sustainability of the ecological environment.

Jiang et al. (Paper 3) investigated the promoting effect and mechanism of the digital economy and 5G infrastructure on urban land green utilization efficiency (ULGUE). This study positions the digital economy as a general-purpose technology, confirming its significant boosting effect on ULGUE. Mechanism analysis explicitly identifies green technology innovation and resource utilization efficiency as its two major intermediary channels. Furthermore, the study found that the impact of the digital economy exhibits significant spatial spillover effects and regional heterogeneity, with the strongest effects observed in the eastern regions and early pilot cities. Policy implications recommend that governments should implement regionally differentiated green strategies and deploy digital infrastructure in a targeted manner to achieve sustainable urban transition.

Wang (Paper 9) examined how rural digital development activates agricultural land transfer from the dual perspectives of resource mismatch and labor mobility. The study’s contribution lies in empirically confirming the significant and sustainable promoting effect of rural digital development on agricultural land transfer. Mechanism analysis reveals a dual transmission path: first, by alleviating the triple mismatch of labor, land, and capital to optimize resource allocation; second, by accelerating labor mobility to increase the supply of transferable land. Moreover, the study points out that digital development possesses a “latecomer advantage” in less-developed regions, such as the central and western areas, capable of effectively balancing regional inequalities. Policy implications suggest that governments should leverage the advantages of digital technology, prioritize support for less-developed regions, and thus optimize the market-based allocation of agricultural land factors.

Li and Qu (Paper 10) investigated the direct impact, intermediary mechanisms, and threshold effect of digital economy development on agricultural land production efficiency. The study’s contribution is confirming the significant promoting effect of the digital economy on agricultural production efficiency, and clarifying that its primary mechanism is realized by facilitating agricultural labor transfer. Concurrently, the study found that the digital economy’s influence exhibits an increasing threshold effect (measured by the level of digital economy development), and the effect is stronger in major grain-producing areas. Policy implications suggest that governments should increase investment in rural digital infrastructure, particularly targeting less-developed Western regions, and construct a regionally differentiated development system to continuously enhance agricultural land utilization efficiency.

Zhang et al. (Paper 11) utilized the Digital Rural Construction (DRC) pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment to study its causal effect and mechanism on Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity (AGTFP). The study contributes by empirically confirming that DRC has a significant boosting effect on AGTFP. The core mechanism analysis, for the first time, integrates land factors and technical factors: DRC enhances AGTFP through three pathways—improving land finance, mitigating land resource misallocation, and promoting agricultural technology innovation. The study found that the effect of DRC is stronger in the Central and Western regions, non-major grain-producing areas, and regions with low land transfer efficiency. Policy implications suggest that the government should direct more resources towards less-developed regions and utilize DRC to primarily address the structural inefficiency issues of land resources.

Li et al. (Paper 13) investigated how digital finance (DF) regulates and enhances the positive impact of Intensive urban land utilization (IUUL) on Urban Ecological Resilience, thereby unlocking the ecological value of land. The study’s contribution lies in the first-time construction of the “IUUL × DF” interaction model, confirming that DF can significantly boost the ecological benefits of IUUL. Mechanism analysis reveals a triple intermediary role: DF strengthens the promoting effect of IUUL on green innovation, rationalization of industrial structure, and overall upgrading. Policy implications emphasize that at the macro level, synergy between intensive land utilization and DF should be strengthened; at the micro level, financial institutions should develop green financial products to support firms in accelerating green innovation and industrial structure optimization through digital technology.

Conclusion and future directions

The twenty-four articles compiled in this Research Topic provide systematic evidence that the improvement of LGUE hinges upon the synergistic interplay among institutional design, technological innovation, and factor marketization. While the empirical findings are primarily rooted in the Chinese experience, the underlying mechanisms offer a transferable framework applicable to global sustainability debates. Digital policies in particular serve as critical enabling tools to mitigate resource misallocation by providing a strategic blueprint for other emerging economies striving to balance urban resilience with agricultural productivity. Furthermore, the identification of institutional impediments such as excessive reliance on land-based finance and administratively driven distortions offers a vital warning for developing regions aiming to bypass carbon-intensive growth trajectories. Ultimately, the emphasis on policy adaptability and land property rights reform establishes a fundamental cornerstone for food security and ecological governance that extends well beyond national borders. These findings collectively underscore that sustainable land governance is not merely a localized challenge but a global imperative necessitating synchronized institutional and technological responses.

To advance cutting-edge research on sustainable land governance, future academic exploration should priorities several directions. Firstly, there is an urgent need for comprehensive cross-regional and transnational comparisons to distinguish universal patterns of land use from outcomes shaped by specific institutional contexts. Scholars should also turn to long-term longitudinal assessments to accurately capture the common lag effects and non-linear trajectories inherent in land reforms. Furthermore, examining interactions across different spatial scales is crucial for revealing how macro-level national land planning ultimately influences micro-level plot utilization. The integration of emerging digital technologies and big data presents a pivotal opportunity to refine land use efficiency metrics and support real-time policy adjustments. Ultimately, these research endeavors should catalyze innovative reforms in fiscal and land policies. Such reforms are essential for establishing sustainable local governance systems capable of internalizing environmental costs and promoting green investment, thereby modernizing land use practices and ensuring fundamental ecological and environmental improvements.

Author contributions

SZ: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing. LQ: Investigation, Writing – review and editing. CW: Investigation, Writing – review and editing.

Funding

The author(s) declared that financial support was not received for this work and/or its publication.

Conflict of interest

The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Generative AI statement

The author(s) declared that generative AI was not used in the creation of this manuscript.

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