Food security has received extensive academic attention in recent years. However, research results analyzing cultivated land pressure from the perspective of urbanization are relatively few. This study used Jiangsu Province as the study area and analyzed the spatial pattern evolution of cultivated land pressure from 2005 to 2019 by constructing a formula for a cultivated land pressure index. The study used a spatial econometric approach to analyze the spatial relationship between urbanization and cultivated land pressure. Based on the spatial Durbin model, the impact of urbanization on the pressure on cultivated land is analyzed. According to the results, Jiangsu Province showed an obvious north–south divergence in the spatial distribution of the cultivated land pressure index, with the low-value areas of the cultivated land pressure index mainly distributed in northern and central Jiangsu, and the high-value areas mainly distributed in southern Jiangsu. The urbanization level and cultivated land pressure level in Jiangsu Province showed obvious spatial clustering characteristics, and there was a certain overlap between the high- and low-value clustering areas of the two, with significant positive spatial correlation features. The total urbanization had no significant effect on the cultivated land pressure. Population urbanization and industry urbanization showed a significant negative effect on cultivated land pressure in Jiangsu Province, while land urbanization showed a positive effect. Both population and land urbanization had a significant negative spatial spillover effect on cultivated land pressure. Plausible explanations of these results were provided and policy implications were drawn.

Assessing the impacts and drivers of urban expansion on terrestrial carbon storage (TCS) is important for urban ecology and sustainability; however, a unified accounting standard for carbon intensity and research on the drivers and economic value of TCS changes are lacking. Here, urban expansion and TCS in the Yangtze River Delta were simulated based on Patch-generating Land Use Simulation and Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs models; scenario simulation; Literature, Correction, Ratio, Verification carbon intensity measurement; and land use transfer matrix methods. The results showed that (1) from 2000 to 2020, urbanization and TCS loss accelerated, with 61.127% of TCS loss occurring in soil, and land conversion was prominent in riverine and coastal cities, mainly driven by the urban land occupation of cropland around suitable slopes, transportation arteries, and rivers. (2) From 2020 to 2030, urban land expansion and TCS loss varied under different scenarios; economic losses from the loss of the carbon sink value under cropland protection and ecological protection were USD 102.368 and 287.266 million lower, respectively, than under the baseline scenario. Even if urban expansion slows, the loss of TCS under global warming cannot be ignored. Considering the indirect impacts of urbanization, the failure to establish a regional development master plan based on ecosystem services may affect China’s carbon targets.

This study aims to summarize the patterns of spatial differentiation and impact factors on tourism development. This research used the Central Plains as the study area to analyze the spatial differentiation patterns of tourism development from 2005 to 2018. The study used spatial econometric methods, such as the spatial Durbin model and the geodetector model, to explore the impact factors of tourism development. According to the results, the spatial differentiation characteristics of domestic tourism and inbound tourism were similar, and the spatial agglomeration of both had significantly narrowed. The study also found impact factors in the study have a differential influence on domestic tourism and inbound tourism, with a strong spatial spillover effect on domestic tourism compared to inbound tourism. For a long time, domestic tourism has been impacted mainly by tourism policies and economic levels, inbound tourism has been impacted by tourism policies, and the level of openness to the outside world does not have a major impact on inbound tourism. Reasonable explanations are provided for these results and policy implications are drawn.

In the context of rural development and transformation, it is crucial to identify the impact of rural multifunctionality on non-point source (NPS) pollution. This study applies the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), geographical detector, and principal component analysis in Liyang, a typical hilly subbasin in China, in order to assess the rural multifunctional development that influences the spatial differentiation of NPS pollution and detect the interactive effects of rural multifunctionality. The R² and NSE demonstrated that the calibrated SWAT model successfully simulated NPS pollution in Liyang. The village scale was identified as the optimal research scale for examining the rural multifunctional development on NPS pollution distribution. The rural multifunctional indicators, such as the proportion of vegetable farming, sowing area, and grain farming, would influence NPS distribution. The number of family farming cooperatives, the area of pond farming, and the nature reserves area were also significant. The rural multifunctionality in Liyang could be classified into five categories: grain production, mixed agriculture, ecological conservation, leisure tourism, and industry and business function. The superposition of rural multifunctionality has a strengthening effect on NPS pollution, especially when the ecological conservation function is combined with the grain production or modern agriculture function. The study could provide NPS pollution control strategies for policymaking in rural multifunctional development.