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As the global urbanization process advances, a large number of rural people move to cities in search of better economic opportunities. This has led to the gradual emergence of the phenomenon of "hollowing out" in rural areas[1]. The "population-space coupling theory" proposes that the essence is the asynchrony between population change and spatial change， and scholars call it the imbalance of the "population-space relationship". And they believe that the absolute coupling of population and space can maximize resource utilization efficiency and quality of life [2].The reduction in the total population leads to an imbalance between population and space[3]. However, in some villages in China, although the population is still decreasing significantly, the villages have not shrunk. Instead, these villages have regained vitality through functional transformation and spatial reconstruction[4].Therefore, this study selected Huangyan District in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, China as a case study.In terms of research methods, a combination of big data analysis and questionnaire interviews was used. Big data analysis is mainly based on location service data (LBS), point of interest data (POI) and 1m precision land use data interpreted by remote sensing. Among them, LBS data can clearly identify the flow trajectory of floating population. In addition, this study also selected Shatan Village, Yutou Township, where the population flow is obvious, to conduct a questionnaire survey on the floating population in the village. In total, we collected 156 valid questionnaires.Preliminary results show that: First, the rural population has generally decreased, and it shows the characteristics of being younger and more family-oriented. The number of POIs in rural areas has gradually increased and diversified. In particular, the number of catering service spaces, accommodation service spaces, and living service facilities has increased significantly, indicating that the "population-space imbalance" caused by the decrease in population does not necessarily lead to the decline of the countryside. At the same time, it should be noted that the distribution of new POI points has spatial heterogeneity, mainly concentrated in Shatan Village, Wuyantou Village, etc. We found that the natural environment or historical culture of these villages has obvious characteristics. This shows that rural resource endowment may be the causal mechanism of the difference in the impact of "population-space imbalance".Secondly, at the level of rural settlements, although Shatan Village has had some inflows in recent years, the number is still difficult to offset the large outflow of population. According to the traditional view, the "population-space relationship" is already unbalanced. However, in the past ten years, the village has seen the emergence of high-quality projects such as Zhenshan Hotel, Dou Nei Cafe, Dahuang Mantou, and Liangsu Mantou Mountain. Through the promotion of social networking platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Dianping, they have attracted a large number of tourists to check in and consume, injecting popularity and vitality into the village. Analyzing the mechanism behind it, we found that the inflow population is mainly young operators. Although their number is small, their unique business philosophy and social network have greatly improved the efficiency of drainage. Even potential "business alliances" have spontaneously formed between different operators, enriching the activity experience of tourists. Therefore, this study believes that we should not excessively pursue "absolute population-space coupling", but should focus on the structure and efficiency of "population-space coupling". In particular, the "mobility efficiency" of young migrant population as "key migrants" is higher. Only a small number of young migrant population is needed to bring great changes to the lost countryside. Finally, the research results of this article can provide experience for the development of rural settlements at a similar development stage.
References
[1] Daskalova, G. N., & Kamp, J. (2023). Abandoning land transforms biodiversity. Science, 380(6645), 581-583.
[2] Liu, J., Dietz, T., Carpenter, S. R., Taylor, W. W., Alberti, M., Deadman, P., ... & Lubchenco, J. (2021). Coupled human and natural systems: The evolution and applications of an integrated framework: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Anthropocene. Ambio, 50, 1778-1783.
[3] Zhu, S., Kong, X., & Jiang, P. (2020). Identification of the human-land relationship involved in the urbanization of rural settlements in Wuhan city circle, China. Journal of Rural Studies, 77, 75-83.
[4] Li, Y., Westlund, H., & Liu, Y. (2019). Why some rural areas decline while some others not: An overview of rural evolution in the world. Journal of Rural Studies, 68, 135-143.
| Keywords | population mobility; population-space coupling; key movers |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
