Untangle the Complex Stakeholder Relationships in Rural Settlement Consolidation in China: A Social Network Approach

Fan Yang,Yunting Li,Ge Wang,Shirui Tang,Guangqing Chi,Cong Ju

doi:10.3390/land9070210

Abstract

Rural settlement consolidation (RSC) has a critical role in facilitating the transformation of human settlement and land use transition in the rural revitalization process. RSC involves a diversity of stakeholder groups with complex and intertwined concerns. It is therefore crucial to identify the key stakeholders and their main concerns to effectively align rural planning and policymaking. However, this line of research remains underdeveloped. This study provides a novel and holistic network perspective for unpacking the complex relationships among different stakeholders. The results indicate: (1) the network of stakeholder concerns is relatively sparse, with 68 concern nodes and 159 concern ties; (2) The village committee, centralized residents, and contractors occupy the core position within the concerns network, while the local government has the majority of strongly connected nodes; (3) The lists of prominent concern nodes and ties are identified by different network indices, including the degree difference, the out-status centrality, closeness centrality, node betweenness centrality, and link betweenness centrality; (4) The main interaction type among stakeholder groups can be classified into five categories: financing, psychological attachment, stakeholder participation, project management, and the improvement in living conditions and infrastructure. This study reveals the relatively weak status of residents, the pivotal role of the village committee, as well as the indispensable part of the contractor and township government, with the aim to provide targeted guidance and decision-making supports for strengthening interactions and cooperation among different stakeholder groups. The findings shed new light on performing the multi-tasks of RSC and facilitating the sustainable management of rural areas.

Highlights

A series of widespread phenomena have emerged that are contributing to rural decline, including population aging and the outflow of rural populations [1], the expansion of scattered built-up land in rural areas [2,3,4], and the growing number of “ghost” villages and areas of abandoned land [5,6,7]
The project was initiated by the village committee after a village committee poll revealed that 180 villagers were willing to participate in the rural settlement consolidation (RSC)
The RSC process in Chenchi Village was a proactive, bottom-up activity promoted by the village committee

Summary

Introduction

A series of widespread phenomena have emerged that are contributing to rural decline, including population aging and the outflow of rural populations [1], the expansion of scattered built-up land in rural areas [2,3,4], and the growing number of “ghost” villages and areas of abandoned land [5,6,7]. Land 2020, 9, 210 expansion and arable land protection [13,14,15,16,17] This trend has been a catalyst for rural settlement consolidation (RSC) in grass-root villages as well as the construction of central villages, especially in developing countries such as China [18,19]. RSC is a multi-task process that reduces the total area of rural residential land [20], accelerates land use transition [21,22], achieves spatial restructuring [23], and improves the environments of rural human settlements [24].

Results

Discussion

Conclusion