Globally speaking, Asian countries, especially East Asian countries, are facing acute national depopulation situation and severe rural shrinkage development. Based on the continuous surveys of town and village development in Japan, South Korea, and China, this study aims to provide an overview of social policies that have been implemented in the past or more recently in these three countries in response to rural shrinkage, and to outline the core philosophy of these practices to cope with the repercussions. In this paper, we analyze the overall process of rural depopulation and the present features of town and village development in three countries. We subsequently present the social policies over the last few decades and summarize them into four major groups. Furthermore, we highlight that the focus of social policies is not to seek possible ways to reestablish growth but to provide positive support and effective reform to adjust and satisfy the changing needs of towns and villages under the circumstances of shrinking development, including the optimization of public resource allocation, exploring institutional innovation to valorize abandoned assets, and developing endogenous potentials for future sustainable development. Qualitative methods from a combination of literature review, policy review, and field surveys have mainly been adopted in this research. The study of East Asian practices may be instructive for other Asia-Pacific countries, as well as European countries that have been experiencing or will eventually face the challenges of rural shrinkage.

Equitable access to healthcare services is essential for residents’ well-being and social equity, requiring the rational spatial distribution of healthcare facilities in urban planning. Compared with major studies on the spatial accessibility and equity of healthcare services in first-tier cities, second-tier cities, which form the foundational structure of the global urban system, have not be given sufficient attention. Therefore, this study takes Karamay District in Karamay as a case study to analyze the spatial equity of healthcare services using place-based accessibility measures. For accessibility calculations, we employ the Gaussian two-step floating catchment area method to separately analyze the accessibility to hospitals and primary healthcare (PHC) institutions, considering factors such as the number of facilities, population, distance, and transportation modes. Second, we utilize global and local Moran’s I for spatial analysis to identify areas with varying levels of accessibility. Furthermore, considering the spatial equity for different social groups, this study innovatively proposes an analytical framework for assessing healthcare accessibility and equity across age groups using residential-level data and an adjusted search radius in second-tier cities, typically those with small-scale urban areas. The results reveal significant spatial clustering in healthcare accessibility, similar to that observed in most first-tier cities, as well as notable differences in the spatial distribution between hospital accessibility and PHC accessibility. Regarding age strata, results show that the elderly have lower access to hospitals but higher access to PHC institutions, which is opposite to the situation observed for children. Overall, second-tier cities demonstrate better equity in healthcare accessibility compared to first-tier cities, particularly regarding hospital accessibility. However, there are minor inequities in PHC accessibility for children aged 0–12 years. Our findings may provide valuable insights and essential data support for healthcare resource allocation and land use planning in second-tier cities.

Improving local identity is the key to rural sustainable development. Facing the issue of rural hollowing and aging, rural human settlement requires targeted enhancement in conjunction with the living willingness and local identity of villagers. Firstly, this study summarizes the dynamic evolution characteristics of rural human settlement development and population contraction in Yunnan Province from 2001 to 2021, based on the “Production-Living-Ecological” theory. Secondly, the paper selects detailed survey data from 40 administrative villages in Yunnan Province in 2015, analyzes the characteristics of villagers’ living visions in typical villages through questionnaire data, and constructs a comprehensive local identity index model based on multilevel living-visions to quantify the degree of villagers’ identification with rural human settlement construction. Thirdly, the paper analyzes the correlation between the local identity index and the comprehensive human settlement evaluation and analyzes the factors of rural human settlement development that affect the local identity in depth. The results reveal that: (1) rural construction in Yunnan Province cannot adapt to the changing needs of villagers, and the development of rural human settlement is accompanied by a trend of relative shrinkage of the rural population. (2) The local identity index of villagers is weakly correlated with the development of rural human settlements. (3) The rural human settlement factors that influence rural local identity include a dual cohesion–centrifugal trend. The findings suggest that rural development depends on the primary and secondary relationship between cohesion and centrifugal trends, providing a reference for the coupling of rural construction and local identity and promoting the return of rural population to achieve sustainable development.

On the basis of fully understanding the key characteristics and problems of China’s township master plans, this article clarifies the requirements of the territorial spatial planning system reform for the governance system of townships and towns, urban–rural integration and high-quality development, and points out the necessity of overall planning for township-level territorial spaces in China. Then, based on the study of international experience and the division of administrative powers between county-level government and township-level government, it proposes the positioning features of overall planning for township-level territorial spaces, including the communication and implementation of municipal and county planning, innovating the control methods concerning the use of town seat space, and coordinating and guiding the formulation of detailed plans. It also indicates that the key content of overall planning for township-level territorial spaces must include natural resource management, development and utilization of territorial spaces, spatial pattern of town areas, spatial layout of town seats, management and control of village construction, etc.