YANG Guiqing,WANG Liyao,HUANG Huang

Keywords： urban-rural linkage; socio-spatial; urban-rural integration; rural practice; Huangyan District in Zhejiang Province

Abstract：

Strengthening urban-rural linkage is one of the crucial actions for achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This approach aligns with China’s practice of promoting urban-rural integration, emphasizing “the two-way flow of urban-rural factors and narrowing the urban-rural gap.”Among these efforts, recognizing and understanding the coupling between urban and rural social systems and spatial systems is particularly critical for achieving effective spatial planning aims. The mutual promotion and coupling of “socio-spatial” development exhibit three typical process characteristics: if spatial development outpaces social evolution, it will guide changes in the social structure; if there are major shifts in the social structure, it may lead to spatial disorder and resource allocation imbalance; if spatial development aligns with social structural changes, they will achieve coordinated development and mutually reinforce each other. This research is based on the dual contexts of international and domestic perspectives on strengthening urban-rural linkage and urban-rural integration, adopts a theoretical lens of socio-spatial coupling to systematically review 36 planning practices over the past 12 years in Huangyan District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. It summarizes planning methods and implementation paths targeting the socio-spatial evolution characteristics of rural areas, aiming to emphasize the urgency of socio-spatial coupling in strengthening urban-rural linkage and achieving urban-rural integration. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of constructing new urban-rural relationships and driving high-quality development, contributing China’s experience to the localization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

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