Identifying the driving mechanism of comprehensive land consolidation (CLC) on urban–rural development elements integration (URDEI) is of great significance for promoting the coordinated development of urban and rural areas. Based on the composition of urban and rural element systems, this study establishes the theoretical framework of the influence of CLC on URDEI and verifies the framework through empirical cases in Chongqing, China. The results show that (1) CLC promotes URDEI and realizes the rational allocation of urban and rural resources by improving the quality of urban and rural elements and opening up two-way flow channels. (2) The case analysis demonstrates that CLC can improve the quality of rural elements and increase the added value of the flow to the city, which in turn drives urban elements such as talents, technology, and capital to pour into the countryside, therefore forming a realistic path for the URDEI. This study helps understand the role of CLC in the transformation of URDEI and provides a reference for the scientific implementation of land consolidation.

Comprehensive land consolidation (CLC) has become an effective tool for promoting the coordinated development of production, living, and ecological spaces (PLES) in rural China. Given the remarkable territorial differentiation, planning strategies that are geared towards local conditions are indispensable for implementing CLC projects. This study employs the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model to simulate the horizontal competition among PLES in Chongqing. The suitability evaluation index system for PLES was developed using natural ecological data, socio-economic data, and land use data from Chongqing Municipality. The results show that: (1) Based on the principles of productivity, livability, and sustainability, the suitability of PLES in Chongqing is classified into highly suitable, moderately suitable, generally suitable, unsuitable, and extremely unsuitable areas. The spatial distribution of suitability across different levels in Chongqing exhibits certain degrees of overlap, intersection, and clustering. (2) Based on the different resistance relationships, 1031 townships in Chongqing were divided into seven types of CLC areas. The northeastern and southeastern regions of Chongqing Municipality exhibit distinct ecological and functional advantages, whereas the northern and western parts of the city are characterized by greater multifunctionality. (3) Tailored CLC measures are suggested for various suitability scenarios, aligning with local conditions and planned developments. The MCR model and PLES theory integrated zoning methods for CLC are practicable and effective, providing a scientific foundation for the construction of land consolidation plans in Chongqing and important references for regional sustainable development.

Ridge tillage is one of the essential tillage methods in China. It affects the soil structure by altering the soil-water environment. With the rapid development of agricultural mechanization, the mechanized ridge tillage technology that combines modern mechanized agriculture with conservation tillage has become a pertinent agricultural production technology in the hilly regions. However, to date, the effects of mechanized ridge tillage on soil structure have garnered little attention. In this study, a field plot experiment involving the following four treatments: conventional tillage with rice and winter fallow (CK1), conventional tillage with rice-rape rotation (CK2), wide ridge tillage with rice-rape rotation (BT), and narrow ridge tillage with rice-rape rotation (RT) was conducted to study the effects of mechanized ridge tillage with rice-rape rotation on soil aggregate stability and soil porosity. The results indicated that mechanized ridge tillage could reduce the porosity of pores > 30 μm in diameter and increase the porosity of pores < 0.5 μm. Furthermore, mechanized ridge tillage could increase soil aggregate stability; the order of average mass diameter and geometric average diameter was RT > BT > CK2 > CK1. The BT and RT treatments could increase the agglomeration degree of the soil particles, which followed the order of RT > BT > CK2 > CK1. Therefore, mechanized ridge tillage with rice-rape rotation is effective in enhancing soil structure.

General land-use planning has a critical role and a guiding significance for economic and regional social development. To increase the ability of planning to cope with regional economic changes in an orderly manner and to defend the legal status of the planning guidance role, this article takes Rongchang District as a case study. This study combines GIS spatial analysis to select speed indicators, the center of gravity offset theory, and the spatial fit model and analyses the implementation process and the adjustment situation of planning from the perspectives of ‘quantity’, ‘time’, and ‘space’. The main results are as follows: (1) The completion rate of cultivated land and the surplus rate of urban land show that planning can effectively guide the direction of land use, with the results of 101.9% and 15%, respectively. The difficulty of planning implementation lies in the control of rural residential land because the actual annual average withdrawal rate of rural residential land is less than one-third of the planned rate, with an actual withdrawal area of 97.22 hm² per year on average. (2) The results of the spatial coincidence degree and the barycentric offset angle demonstrate that planning plays a prominent role in guiding the direction of land use, although deviations remain between planned and actual land-use demand, with values ranging from 0.9 to 1 and an angle of less than 30° between the implementation process and the target year. (3) From 2013 to 2015, the planning of the study area was adjusted 32 times with an area of 2301.7 hm². This finding indicates that planning is characterized by frequent disorder and that the gap between land use and planning is alleviated at the cost of the planning authority. (4) The degree of the coincidence between the adjusted plan and the land-use change data decreased year by year, reaching 0.99 two years after implementation of the plan, which is closest to the actual land demand. Thus, general land-use planning can guide the direction of land use to some extent, and the adjustment of planning can alleviate the contradictions of land-use demand under the changes of economic development, but the disorder ignores the legal status of planning. Making regular dynamic adjustments to the plan can provide ideas for planning compilation and revision while maintaining economic benefits and guiding functions without losing legal status.