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Currently, many countries are experiencing robust urban development, whereas rural areas remain relatively underdeveloped. This pronounced urban–rural gap reflects the imbalance and inequality inherent in the development process, indirectly undermining broader social equity and justice. Against this backdrop, urban–rural integration is viewed as a crucial strategy for fostering coordinated development between cities and rural areas while safeguarding social equity and justice. By ensuring the orderly flow of resources between urban and rural regions and leveraging urban advantages to propel rural development, urban–rural integration plays a pivotal role in narrowing the urban–rural gap. In support of this objective, the Chinese government has released multiple key policy documents, thereby laying a solid institutional and policy foundation for urban–rural integration.
From a research perspective, evaluation studies on urban–rural integration in China have evolved through concepts such as “urban–rural integration” and “urban–rural overall planning,” finally converging on the current notion of “urban–rural integration.” Nevertheless, there remains no unified consensus in the academic community on the construction of an urban–rural integration evaluation index system, and systematic studies and comparative analyses across multiple dimensions remain insufficient. Accordingly, exploring the connotations, evaluation criteria, assessment methods, measurement tools, and influencing factors of urban–rural integration holds considerable significance for guiding higher-quality development in this domain.
This paper takes the Chengdu Plain Economic Zone in Sichuan Province, China, as its research object. The region is confronted with salient challenges—such as unbalanced urban–rural development, pronounced industrial homogeneity, and insufficient interconnectivity—throughout its urban–rural integration process. Drawing on a comprehensive review of relevant literature and theoretical research, the study establishes a four-tiered evaluation framework comprising economic integration, social integration, spatial integration, and population integration as the primary indicators, and extends these dimensions into 16 secondary indicators, including regional GDP, the ratio of per capita disposable income between urban and rural residents, the coverage of basic medical insurance, the ratio of per capita consumption expenditure of urban and rural residents, road network density, the proportion of non-agricultural employment, and the degree of urban–rural population interaction. Subsequently, using the entropy method and the geographic detector factor analysis technique, this study conducts a detailed investigation into the spatiotemporal evolution of urban–rural integration levels and their influencing factors within the economic zone.
The results show that, from 2012 to 2021, the overall urban–rural integration level in the Chengdu Plain Economic Zone displayed a trend of fluctuant growth, rising from a relatively low-to-medium level to a medium-to-high level. Nonetheless, notable disparities persist across different dimensions. Spatially, the central subregions exhibit higher levels of urban–rural integration, followed by the northeastern areas, whereas the southwestern parts lag behind. Further geographic detector analysis targets six key dimensions—economic development level, population structure, policy investments, natural conditions, social conditions, and information development—by selecting eight representative variables for empirical testing. Findings indicate that urbanization rate, GDP per unit of land, the urban–rural income ratio, and the employment structure between non-agricultural and agricultural sectors are critical determinants of the spatial variations in urban–rural integration within the Chengdu Plain Economic Zone.
Based on these findings, the study proposes several policy recommendations. First, establishing and refining coordination mechanisms to facilitate the rational flow of urban and rural resources is essential. Second, optimizing the spatial layout of cities to nurture a multi-center development structure is advocated. Third, promoting resource complementarity enables industrial synergy. Fourth, strengthening infrastructure construction enhances regional connectivity. Fifth, encouraging talent mobility and sharing can optimize human resource allocation. Finally, advancing cultural exchange and integration fosters common regional prosperity. Through these integrated measures, cities and rural areas can forge closer ties, narrow the urban–rural gap, and ultimately achieve holistic social equity and sustainable development.
| Keywords | urban–rural integration;urban–rural inequality,;social equity,;spatiotemporal patterns |
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| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
