Convergence or divergence between small towns and villages: A perspective from changes in built-up land development intensity

Abstract

Small towns and villages are key elements of rural revitalization, which has been a major engine for achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. Previous studies focused on the built-up land development of cities but not on that of small towns and villages. Meanwhile, the relationship between small towns and villages in terms of built-up land development has not yet been fully investigated. In this study, we constructed a holistic mechanism framework for built-up land development in small towns and villages. A panel regression model was used to determine whether small towns impact the development intensity of villages (DIV) based on statistical data of 30 provincial regions in China from 2007 to 2016. The findings suggest a joint influence of internal and external factors on DIV. The scarcity of built-up land is a direct cause of changes in DIV; industrial structure, investment intensity, and village planning can facilitate built-up land development in villages, whereas residential expansion will hinder it. Notably, the relationship between multifunctional use of built-up land and DIV changes from negative to positive due to growing human needs with the country's rapid socioeconomic development. The foremost contribution of this study is to reveal both the convergence and divergence between small towns and villages regarding built-up land development. The built-up land development of small towns converges to that of villages, with the favorable factors accumulating in small towns first and then spreading to villages. Otherwise, a divergence in built-up land development intensity of small towns and villages appears when the favorable factors are excessively concentrated in small towns. Our study has important implications for built-up land development in small towns and villages. The future development of villages should consider both the impacts of small towns and the endogenous growth of villages.