This study focuses on Hohhot (the capital city of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northern China), a representative arid-semi-arid town in northern China. Against the backdrop of concurrent rapid urbanization and ecological constraints, it undertakes a systematic investigation into the spatiotemporal evolution and driving mechanisms of ecological asset utilization efficiency, aiming to furnish scientific evidence for sustainable development in ecologically fragile urban areas. Employing a “technology-scale-structure” analytical framework and constructing an “input-output-benefit” evaluation system, this research integrates the super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM) model with spatial analysis methodologies to conduct multidimensional assessments of ecological asset utilization efficiency across all administrative districts and counties from 2000 to 2020. Empirical results demonstrate an overall upward trajectory in Hohhot’s ecological asset utilization efficiency, with comprehensive efficiency increasing from 1.132 in 2000 to 1.397 in 2020. However, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency exhibit significant asynchrony, reflecting inherent tensions between technological advancement and scale expansion. Spatially, efficiency distribution manifests substantial spatial clustering and heterogeneity, with identified hotspots demonstrating temporal migration patterns. Peripheral counties exhibit distinct “technological isolation” phenomena and diseconomies of scale. Mechanism analysis reveals that industrial structure optimization constitutes the primary driver of efficiency enhancement, while the catalytic effects of economic development and governmental investment exhibit diminishing marginal returns. Urbanization maintains a moderate influence, transitioning from extensive spatial expansion toward intensive functional upgrading. This study recommends a synergistic enhancement of ecological asset utilization efficiency through strategic pathways, including the following: First, advancing green industrial transformation. Second, establishing regional technology-sharing platforms. Third, implementing systematic ecological compensation mechanisms. Fourth, adopting spatially differentiated governance approaches. These measures are projected to foster coordinated environmental and economic development. This research provides theoretical underpinnings and policy implications for urban ecological asset management in arid and semi-arid regions globally.

This preprint has been withdrawn at the request of the authors due to the following serious scientific errors that cannot be corrected by updating the paper: 1. A fundamental error in a core scientific term; 2. Outdated empirical data and multiple substantive inconsistencies in the figures and tables; 3. Insufficient methodological information for model construction and indicator weighting; 4. Fundamental problems in the alignment between the research questions, results, and conclusions.

Rapid urbanization is widely regarded as a major pathway to rural development through improved market accessibility, infrastructure provision, and urban–rural functional linkages. Yet long-term empirical evidence has not sufficiently tested whether urban proximity enhances or erodes the resilience of rural territorial systems. Drawing on multisource remote sensing imagery, a harmonized nighttime light series, socioeconomic statistics, and key informant interviews spanning 1985–2025, this study reconstructs the spatiotemporal evolution of rural territorial system resilience in Quzhou County, a representative agricultural county on the North China Plain. An integrated element–structure–function framework conceptualizes rural resilience along three dimensions—element support capacity, structural resistance, and functional adaptability—extending the analytical focus from assessing system states to examining underlying mechanisms. The results show that the county-wide mean resilience index declined from 0.4832 to 0.2897, a cumulative decrease of 40%, with a 26.7% decline during 2015–2025 alone. The coefficient of variation across townships followed a nonlinear rise–fall–rise trajectory, indicating widening disparities, brief convergence, and renewed divergence, and reached a study-period maximum of 0.3859 in 2025. The combined area share of the low and relatively low resilience classes increased from 10.89% to 79.27%, whereas that of the high resilience class contracted from 17.50% to 7.82%, remained low, and ultimately fell to zero in 2025. Spatially, townships surrounding the county seat experienced the sharpest declines, contrary to the conventional expectation that proximity to urban centers strengthens rural resilience. Policy interventions yielded only temporary rebounds, and no township achieved systemic recovery during the study period. Instead, the system exhibited interconnected deterioration characterized by resource depletion, structural fragmentation, and functional homogenization. These findings motivate a “proximity paradox” hypothesis in urban–rural integration: when urban expansion erodes the resource base of surrounding rural areas, disrupts their spatial organization, and reduces their functional redundancy, geographical proximity to cities may shift from an enabling condition for resilience to a source of resilience loss. Accordingly, this study proposes a coordinated governance approach integrating the conservation of critical resources, the restructuring of settlements into a three-tier hierarchy, and spatial zoning into four functional categories. This approach provides an empirical basis for overcoming persistent rural decline and implementing differentiated spatial governance in agricultural plains undergoing rapid urbanization.