Unpacking divergent rural-urban land use dynamics in county urbanization: A comparative socio-spatial analytics approach

This paper examines the evolving rural-urban landscape in China's rapid urbanization, contextualized within post-1978 social transitions. Using a socio-spatial analytics approach and mechanism theory, we compare rural-urban land use dynamics (RULD) in Kunshan and Nanhai, located in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions respectively. The study analyzes factors driving RULD changes through actors' practices, attributing differences to globalization timing, land rights consciousness, and resulting path dependencies. These elements have shaped political-commercial alliances and land development norms, leading to inconsistent RULD over time. Two key arguments emerge: First, contemporary RULD divergence stems from socioeconomic transitions, distinct from environmental constraints in agrarian societies. Second, this divergence reflects cross-scale state-market-society interactions at the macro level, while resulting from multi-scale actor negotiations at the micro level. This research contributes to understanding complex urbanization processes in transitional economies, offering insights into socio-spatial dynamics of rural-urban transformations.