Faced with problems such as unordered expansion, inefficient utilization, and the decay of old cities in the current urban development process, many scholars have considered introducing land use mix as a coping strategy. However, due to a lack of understanding of the evolution process and the theoretical connotation of land use mix, it fails to guide its role in practice. Therefore, this study summarizes the theoretical evolution of land use mix from four levels: ideological evolution, conceptual model, quantitative measurements, and influential factors and effects. It is found that after decades of evolution, although the land use mix theory initially formed a certain theoretical and methodological system, there are still some gaps or deficiencies that need to be filled or improved: (1) the theoretical framework lags behind the needs of practice; (2) in the process of evolution, the idea of modern land use mix has been given a deeper meaning; (3) the conceptual model still needs to be further improved; (4) the influencing mechanism is still unclear.

Investigating the characteristics and mechanisms of the spatial and temporal variations of commercial land prices and its major subdivisions has great theoretical and practical significance in the study of urban economy and its spatial refinement management. Unlike general commodity prices, land prices are influenced by geographical location and tend to fluctuate over time. However, most scholars have not explored the influence mechanism of commercial land prices in both time and space. To help bridge this gap, this study takes the sample commercial land prices in the main urban area of Hangzhou from 2006 to 2015 as the empirical research object and investigates the spatiotemporal evolution mechanism of urban commercial land prices through a comparative analysis of the multiple regression analysis (MRA) with ordinary least squares (OLS), the geographically weighted regression (GWR), the temporally weighted regression (TWR), and the geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) models. Results indicate that the land prices of land for financial facilities (Commercial Land Category 1) and commercial-business land (Commercial Land Category 2) in Hangzhou show different spatial and temporal evolutions and are influenced by the common factors of residential land price level (PL), maturity of living services (EN), and plot ratio (FRO) in the district. Meanwhile the main difference between the two influencing factors is the significant difference in sensitivity to locational centrality and industrial structure. Furthermore, we find that the spatial and temporal evolution of commercial land prices has three main mechanism: location selection, point-axis evolution, and function-promoting. Our findings will provide guidelines for scientifically guiding the coordinated development of urban land price and industrial economy and realizing the fine management and allocation of urban spatial resources.

The question of how to implement spatial planning more effective is a fundamental but very difficult one and one that has been of great interest to both the academic and practical community. However, a comprehensive review of the conceptual models and methodological systems for evaluating spatial planning implementation, and the existing practical research results of various types of spatial planning implementation evaluation, are yet to be presented. The study systematically reviews the main research findings in the field of spatial planning implementation from four aspects: conceptual analysis, measurement methods, evaluation frameworks and evaluation methods. This study found three distinct evolutionary features of research in this field: (1) The evaluation concept changes from complete rationality to limited rationality; (2) research methodology changes from a simple closed system to a complex open system; (3) the research perspective shifts from the map to the main body of planning implementation behavior. It is suggested that an important part of future research lies in establishing a system for evaluating the effectiveness based on a single subject who is an actor in the planning implementation process. On this basis, the micro-influencing mechanisms of planning implementation effects will then be explored. Deepening the research to the individual level will help improve planning implementation’s effectiveness.

All over the world, Industrial agglomeration has become a key to improve the efficiency of urban land use and regulate the process of urbanization. Industrial agglomeration, as a universal economic geographical phenomenon, has been extensively studied, but few scholars have discussed the relationship between industrial agglomeration and urban land use efficiency. Based on this, after classifying the type of agglomeration externalities, our study uses OLS and GTWR models to explore the complex mechanism of interaction between industrial agglomeration externalities and urban land use efficiency, especially the spatiotemporal non-stationary characteristics. We found that the impact of industrial agglomeration externalities on urban land use efficiency is significantly unstable in time and space, and the coexistence, substitution and aging mechanism of agglomeration externalities among different types were also observed. Our research can provide reference for city managers to formulate reasonable industrial policies and enterprises to choose the location. Meanwhile, our research has made some contributions to the academic research on urban land use efficiency.

Farmland transfer is a crucial aspect of modernizing China’s agriculture, which has a significant impact on farmers’ income distribution. With rapid urbanization, farmers’ livelihood has changed significantly, and the income effects of farmland transfer will differ among heterogeneous farmers. Based on the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data, this study examines the impact of farmland transfer on farmers’ income growth and income disparity, as well as the income differences in farmland transfer among farmers with different types of livelihood capital. An endogenous switching regression model and unconditional quantile treatment effects are used to correct the selection bias and farmer heterogeneity. The results show that (1) farmland transfer increases farmers’ income. Specifically, farmland transfer-in increases farmers’ income by 21.15%, while transfer-out increases it by 43.33%. (2) The impact of farmland transfer on farmers’ income has a “Matthew effect” and will widen the income gap between farmers. (3) Moreover, farmland transfer exhibits diverse income effects on heterogeneous farmers with livelihood capital. Capital-rich farmers experience the largest income-growth effect from farmland transfer-in, while capital-balanced farmers experience the largest income-growth effect from farmland transfer-out. The policy implications are to further improve the farmland transfer market and enable low-income farmers to participate by improving their qualifications and abilities.

Urban land-use efficiency (ULUE) has been increasingly recognized as an issue of land-use management across the world in the last century as the globe experienced unprecedented rapid urban expansion. However, although a large body of studies was dedicated to analyzing the driving forces of ULUE, literature was rarely focused on the impacts of regional cooperation on ULUE. To bridge the knowledge gap, we used the Chinese trailblazer of regional cooperation–Yangtze River delta (YRD)—as a case to reveal the impacts of regional cooperation on ULUE. Social network analysis and a super efficiency SBM model with undesirable outputs were used to measure regional cooperation and ULUE, respectively. Furthermore, the impacts of regional cooperation on ULUE were examined by using the geographically and temporally weighted regression model. The results show that regional cooperation in the YRD strengthened from 2009 to 2016, among which Shanghai was the core node city in the YRD. Only seven cities maintained good ULUE with a stable trend during 2009–2016. The regression results indicated the positive impacts of regional cooperation on ULUE, which was more evident in the southern cities of the YRD. The potential mechanism to explain the impacts of regional cooperation on ULUE includes co-building transportation facilities and joint development zones. These findings provide insightful implications for improving ULUE by strengthening regional cooperation in Chinese cities.