At the beginning of the 21st century, with the rapid advancement of industrialization and urbanization, production factors such as population, capital, and land between urban and rural areas in China have gradually shifted to non-agricultural fields, the structure and function of rural territorial systems have been reconstructed and transformed therewith. In response to the relatively declining villages, the Chinese government proposed rural revitalization strategy. Taking the human–land relationship as the theoretical basis and functional changes of rural region as the main line, the study analyzes the characteristics of rural reconstruction, interprets the rural transformation mechanism and deconstructs paths of rural revitalization by using the rural reconstruction index, the model of rural transformation measurement and rural spatial transformation effect. The case study shows that: (1) Rural reconstruction in Jianghan Plain is characterized by temporal continuity and spatial imbalance. The periodical changes presents from social-reconstruction-dominated, economic-reconstruction-dominated to spatial reconstruction -dominated. The distribution of high values varied from the U-type to O-type along the main transportation routes, while that of low values alternated between points (hinterlands of the Plain) and lines from spatial viewpoint. (2) The driving mechanism of rural transformation was the coupling effect of the exogenous drivers and endogenous responses. The standardized regression coefficient between the drivers and the changes to rural regional functions is 0.766. The endogenous response is mainly manifested as the negative effect of the rural spatial reconstruction on the territorial agriculture-oriented function. (3) The key path of rural revitalization facilitated the optimization of regional functions through reorganization of the rural elements in Jianghan Plain. It is the strategic choice of rural areas to implement regional function zoning and realize the balance of spatial function. The research results can provide inspiration for theoretical research on rural geography, and provide policy and method support for rural revitalization in case areas.

Under the context of urban–rural mobility driven by rapid urbanization, rural shrinkage is particularly pronounced in the developed regions of China, yet studies exploring its patterns and influencing factors are scarce. This paper uses Zhejiang Province as a case study to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of rural shrinkage from 2000 to 2020. By employing spatial autocorrelation analysis and spatial econometric modeling, the study investigates both population and spatial shrinkage. The findings reveal the following: (1) a marked spatiotemporal imbalance exists in population and spatial dynamics in Zhejiang’s rural areas, where the interplay between population and spatial shrinkage contributes to regional disparities. (2) From 2000 to 2020, population shrinkage shifted from a global shrinkage to a more localized decline in the northeast and southwest, while spatial shrinkage shifted from a global non-shrinkage to a focus on central and southwestern areas. (3) Urbanization significantly negatively impacts rural shrinkage, while the spatial spillover effect of urbanization is notably positive. In contrast, factors related to natural conditions, location, and agricultural investment show significant positive effects but also notable negative spatial spillover effects. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analytical framework for understanding rural shrinkage and offers valuable insights for rural development, infrastructure planning, and spatial governance.

This article aims to contribute to the relationship between accessibility of rural life space and rural livelihood capital and transitions in rural central China. Employing data produced from a household survey, we developed a composite index for accessibility of rural life space incorporating spatial and temporal attributes of a household’s daily activities and then explored the mediation effect of rural livelihood capital and transitions on accessibility. Results revealed a pattern of diversification in terms of life space accessibility undertaken for daily activities across households. Both livelihood capital and transitions had significant mediation effects on the relationship between socio-economic characteristics of rural households and accessibility of rural life space. The effects of livelihood capital on livelihood transitions also influenced the path on rural households’ accessibility of rural life space. One of the implications of this article is to link rural transformation to the context of urbanization and rural access issues from a perspective of daily activity, and then to figure out the best method for rural development policy and service planning.