The development of urban agglomerations dominated by the service industry is an important driving force for further sustainable economic growth of China. Spatial analysis marked by population density and regional integration is an essential perspective for studying the human development index (HDI) in China. Based on Bayesian estimation, this paper examines the influence of a spatial factor on HDI by using a spatial hierarchical factor model within the framework of Sen Capability Approach theory, overcoming the neglect of spatial factors and their equal weight in traditional measurement of HDI. On this basis, the HDI including the spatial factor was measured based on the panel data from 2000 to 2018. The results reveal that (1) provinces with high population densities and regional integration have higher rankings and low uncertainties of HDI, which can be attributed to the improvement of education weights; (2) HDI has a certain spatial spillover effect, and the spatial association increases year by year; (3) robust test by using nighttime lighting as an alternative indicator of GDP supports that the spatial correlation is positively related to HDI ranking. The policy recommendations of this paper are to remove the obstacles for cross-regional population mobility and adjust the direction and structure of public expenditure.

Urban land use is characterized by pronounced externalities. In most developing countries, economic welfare considerations drive the changes in land use intensity, leading to the spatial reallocation of resources and thereby affecting the enhancement of urban welfare. This study combined multi-source data to construct a panel dataset of 284 prefectural-level and above cities in China from 2011 to 2022, and employed the spatial Durbin model, spatial heterogeneity model, and spatial mechanism model to systematically analyze the spatial spillover effects of urban land use intensity (ULUI) on urban welfare (Human Development Index, HDI), its heterogeneity, and the underlying influencing mechanisms. The study concluded that: (i) Both HDI and ULUI have shown certain improvement despite some distinct regional heterogeneity; (ii) ULUI significantly contributes to local urban welfare, yet exerts a negative spatial spillover effect on neighboring cities, and the effective boundary of this spillover effect is 400 km. (iii) Spatial spillover heterogeneity analysis revealed that the spillover effect of ULUI on HDI is negative for non-eastern and non-megacities, whereas it is positive for eastern and megacities, though the estimated coefficients are relatively small. (iv) In terms of the spatial influencing mechanism, industrial rationalization, industrial advancement, and economic agglomeration in the market dimension, as well as expenditure scaling, expenditure structuring, and public serviceability in the non-market dimension, are essential channels for ULUI to affect the HDI of both local and neighboring cities. The results indicate that the current “land-based” land use is not conducive to the enhancement of regional welfare, and there is an urgent need for better understanding the principles of factor allocation and agglomeration, establishing cross-regional synergistic mechanisms, and fully leveraging the comparative advantages of geographic conditions and scale effects across different cities, so as to improve the urban space welfare.

Whether rural public expenditure can be effectively absorbed and transformed into agricultural economic resilience at the local level is a critical issue affecting the long-term stable development of agriculture. From a cultural–geographical perspective, this study constructs a Rural Public Expenditure Absorption Capacity Index (ACI) encompassing three dimensions—geographical location, sociocultural structure, and institutional environment. Using panel data from 30 provinces in China covering the period 2011–2023, and employing a two-way fixed-effects model, a moderating effect model, and a Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) model, this study systematically investigates the effects and underlying mechanisms of rural public expenditure on agricultural economic resilience. The results indicate that: (1) rural public expenditure is significantly and positively associated with agricultural economic resilience, and this finding remains robust after a series of robustness and endogeneity tests; (2) the resilience effects of rural public expenditure exhibit significant regional and structural heterogeneity, with significant effects observed only in eastern China and major grain-consuming regions. Across different expenditure categories, all types of expenditure promote agricultural economic resilience except science and technology expenditure, which exhibits a negative effect; (3) the moderating effect of absorption capacity demonstrates clear structural heterogeneity. Specifically, a significant positive matching effect exists between medical and health expenditure and absorption capacity, whereas education expenditure exhibits a negative moderating relationship; and (4) the GTWR results further reveal significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the interaction effects between rural public expenditure and absorption capacity, displaying an overall dynamic evolution pattern characterized by “synergistic enhancement—regional differentiation.” From a cultural–geographical perspective, this study provides empirical evidence on the local embeddedness mechanisms through which rural public expenditure influences agricultural economic resilience. It also offers policy implications for optimizing the structure of rural public expenditure, improving local fiscal resource absorption capacity, and promoting the sustainable development of the agricultural economy.