Land management includes the actions of different stakeholder groups at different scales, from local measures to regional land use strategies to land use policies. For sustainable land management (SLM), particularly in its planning stage, it is essential to know stakeholders and, ideally, to involve them in decision-making, or at least to understand a given situation from their perspective in an attempt to target their problems and interests in solution development. Although stakeholder analysis (SA) has been adopted in various projects with the aim of grasping stakeholders' perceptions and encouraging their deeper involvement in land management, the "how to" remains unclear. Current guidelines for SA remain vague and fail to lead practical application. One reason is the complexity of land use itself. SA is case specific for each project and requires highly flexible project management that adjusts methods and instruments according to given conditions. This article provides a practical example and discusses experiences from a sustainable rubber management project in Southwest China. This case study shows how, to a certain extent, "usage-oriented" SA can support joint decision making in SLM. With a more general aim, we reflect on the process and its management. As a result, we identify some core management issues: the heterogeneity of stakeholder groups with their multiple interests, stakeholders' involvement in decision making, the necessity of iteration, and adjustments with respect to cultural context.

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) that aims at the co-production of knowledge in the process of addressing sustainability problems requires effective communication among scientists and practitioners. In international TDR cooperation, it is recognized that particular attention must be paid to intercultural communication, to enhance knowledge integration and mutual learning. However, there is little knowledge about the role of communication in TDR and how TDR group members with diverse socio-cultural backgrounds can communicate effectively. In this paper, we present a theoretical analysis on transdisciplinary communication, with a particular focus on group dynamics and intercultural communication. On this basis, we develop a framework for TDR communication that encompasses topics and indicators for successful communication. This framework was applied in a Chinese–German project conducted in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China, to guide the transdisciplinary communication processes. We focused on the development of trusted relationships among scientists and practitioners in the TDR team, while simultaneously accomplishing various tasks, such as problem framing and scenario development. In this study, we provide insights into intercultural communication in TDR, particularly in the context of Europe–Asia transdisciplinary cooperation. Our findings show that power relations, translator roles and researchers’ mindsets influence effective communication and successful knowledge integration. In the future, additional attention should be paid to improving the supporting system and institutional arrangement for transdisciplinary communication.

There are debates on choices between the bottom-up and top-down urban regeneration approaches, and the former is often considered to be better quality since it includes mass stakeholders. This research aims to extend the understanding of the government-led top-down urban regeneration approach with a case study of the Eastern Suburbs in Chengdu, China. A qualitative interview-based approach was adopted. The results show that the top-down approach is efficient and brings high-quality results for large-scale post-industrial transformation with inclusive stakeholder management. There are several possible ways to involve stakeholders: actively or passively, participating in the whole process or some stages, and engaging fully or partially, according to the demand on site.