The emergence of the information society has made two major limitations of traditional socio-economic increasingly evident: its emphasis on temporal and spatial dimensions while neglecting social relationships, and its focus on natural and economic capital while overlooking social capital. Using literature analysis and empirical evidence, this study examines the evolution of research from social capital theory to the practice of community construction and from social relationship network theory to the development living-circle planning. The results indicate the following: (1) The emergence of social capital theory reflects a renewed recognition of the importance of social communities. Trust mechanisms, participatory networks, and norms of reciprocity inherent in social capital contribute significantly to community construction and governance. Social relationship network theory focuses on connections and interactions among individuals and highlights the influence of network structure on individual behavior and decision making. Both social capital and social relationship networks operate at three levels: micro, meso, and macro. The interaction between these two dimensions continuously reshapes the social relationship system and constitutes an important form of “soft power” in the development of a high-quality society. (2) As innovative assets, social relationship networks derive their value from their capacity to transform social capital into innovation capital and to address uncertainties in innovation processes that formal markets or bureaucratic systems often struggle to manage, primarily through informal governance mechanisms. Innovation is therefore not merely a technical challenge but also a dynamic process involving the formation and evolution of social relationship networks. (3) The scarcity of social capital and the weakening of interpersonal relationships have resulted in significant social deficits and growing inequality. Strengthening interpersonal relationship networks, fostering supportive neighborhood mutual-assistance systems, cultivating a cohesive collective ethos, maintaining stable family lifestyles, and preserving a balanced relationship between market and family values are critical issues that must be addressed in the pursuit of high-quality social development in the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Based on these findings, this study proposes several key pathways for reconstructing robust social relationship networks, including innovating institutional frameworks for network development, deepening the construction of resilient community commonwealths, optimizing the planning and design of urban social spaces, and strengthening social relationship networks through digital intelligence technologies. Finally, potential directions for future research in this field are outlined. Overall, this study proposes strategic goals, key tasks, and implementation pathways for reconstructing robust social relationship networks, offering both theoretical insights and practical guidance for high-quality social development.
The Central Urban Work Conference held in July 2025 indicated that China’s urbanization has entered a stage of stable development, placing new demands on the quality of the public space environment. As an important paradigm in contemporary urban spatial research, scene theory holds significant theoretical and practical value for reconstructing public space systems and stimulating the dynamics of urban-rural development. Based on a synthesis of the conceptual connotations of scene theory, this study employed CiteSpace and VOSviewer to conduct a bibliometric analysis and visual mapping of 289 studies on scene theory in public space published in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI) and Web of Science databases from 2007 to 2024, to clarify research progress and identify future development trends. The findings are as follows: (1) From the perspective of research evolution, the development of this field can be broadly divided into three stages. From 2007 to 2015, the field was in an exploratory stage, with studies focusing primarily on preliminary discussions of cultural symbols and urban-rural spaces. From 2016 to 2021, it entered a stage of interdisciplinary integration, during which research shifted toward urban-rural spatial transformation and the expansion of localized applications. From 2022, the field entered a stage of rapid development, propelled by policy support that has advanced the reconstruction of cultural tourism and digital spaces. In comparison, international research began earlier and has maintained a relatively stable developmental trajectory. In contrast, domestic research received relatively limited attention before 2015, began to grow after 2016, and has accelerated since 2022, demonstrating strong developmental vitality. (2) From the perspective of research actors, international studies on scene theory and public space have emerged earlier and have generally incorporated scene theory as an analytical lens into topics such as urban studies, cultural consumption, and spatial governance, exhibiting clear interdisciplinary characteristics. Although domestic studies started later, the advancement of practical agendas, such as urban renewal, cultural-tourism integration, and digital governance, has gradually shifted the research focus from theoretical introduction to localized application and the construction of diversified scenes. (3) In terms of research hotspots and themes, the field has preliminarily formed a hotspot network centered on "scene theory-public space-scene making" and extended through themes such as "urban renewal-rural space-regional culture". However, a systematic and comprehensive theoretical framework is yet to be established. Major research themes were concentrated in areas such as public space development, public spaces in historic districts, urban public space renewal, scene-based construction of park cities, and the optimization of cultural scene spaces. Simultaneously, the research content showed a transition from single-dimensional planning and design toward the integration of multiple scene values. Overall, the evolution of this field has moved from "cultural symbol research" to "the expansion of localized applications", and further to "digital scene construction", indicating a shift in scholarly attention from explaining the physical form of space toward a people-centered emphasis on scene experience and value creation. Overall, research on public spaces from the perspective of scene theory relies predominantly on element identification and empirical induction. There remains a lack of systematic reviews and clear explanations regarding how scene elements are perceived in practice, and how such perceptions further influence the modes of public space use and the manifestation of public value. In response, this paper proposes an analytical framework of "scene elements-experience process-value outcomes". From the dimensions of elements, processes, and outcomes, it seeks to integrate and advance the directions for deepening scene theory in public space research, thereby enhancing its explanatory power and integrative capacity, and providing a new perspective for systematically understanding the comprehensive value of public space.
Against the intensifying trend of global population ageing, senior residential tourism (SRT) has become an increasingly salient later-life practice that combines spatial mobility with in situ adaptation. To systematically clarify its behavioral logic, this study adopts an embodied perspective and, following the motivation-process-aftereffects structure, conducts a structured synthesis of existing studies. On this basis, an analytical framework is developed that centers on the dynamic interplay among three interdependent dimensions—body, perception, and context—across the entire SRT trajectory. The main findings of this study are as follows. (1) In the motivation stage, SRT decisions are shaped by the joint influence of bodily needs, perceptual drives, and contextual push-pull factors. Bodily needs constitute the foundational drivers and are primarily reflected in health maintenance and comfort compensation. Perceptual drives capture deeper motivational forces, including escape from everyday fatigue and routine constraints and pursuing self-realization. Contextual push-pull dynamics reflects comparative evaluations between places of origin and destinations, through which individuals weigh differences in conditions and constraints as well as the perceived balance of benefits and risks. Together, these forces contribute to the emergence of residential tourism intentions and their translation into concrete decisions. (2) In the process stage, cross-regional adaptation is characterized by sustained interaction among bodily practices, perceptual adjustment, and contextual embeddedness, through which older adults seek a relative balance between mind and body states and the surrounding environment. Bodily practices tend to evolve from passive activation in the initial period to more agentic forms of construction and active expression as daily rhythms become stabilized and routines are re-established. Perceptual adjustment typically shifts from novelty and ambivalence toward familiarity and a sense of belonging, reflecting a gradual renegotiation of emotions and meanings in everyday life. Contextual embeddedness emerges through ongoing adaptation to both the physical environment and social relationships. These dimensions remain interdependent, making adaptation an ongoing interactive process rather than a linear transition. (3) In the aftereffects stage, health gains, well-being reshaping, and contextual symbiosis are produced through interactive processes and are further externalized into differentiated behavioral intentions. Such intentions commonly include rooting, pendular living, and loose multilocal living. Moreover, these aftereffects may feedback into subsequent destination choices and patterns of stay, thereby contributing to an iterative cycle of updating over time. By linking motivations, processes, and aftereffects through the embodied interplay of body, perception, and context, this study offers an integrative pathway for understanding the complexity of senior residential tourism. The proposed framework provides a conceptual reference for future research and informs destination development, service provision, and policy optimization aimed at supporting later-life mobility and well-being.
City diplomacy, as a vital driving force and dynamic manifestation of deepening ties between China and Global South nations, offers fresh perspectives for understanding the mechanisms of bilateral cross-border tourism. Utilizing panel data from China and Global South nations from 1992 to 2019, this study applies an extended gravity model and a two-way fixed-effects approach to explore the relationship. The findings reveal the following. (1) The scale of city diplomacy aligns positively with tourism flows, with sister-city partnerships fostering exchanges between China and Global South nations. (2) Effects are asymmetric, with stronger promotion of Chinese outbound travel than inbound visits. Each additional sister-city pair corresponds to an estimated 22,520 outbound trips from China and 11,840 trips from Global South countries. (3) Institutional distance influences this relationship negatively, more strongly for Chinese outbound tourism, reflecting sensitivity to institutional risks, while inbound visitors appear more influenced by cultural appeal. (4) City diplomacy operates through dual pathways, viz. political trust and economic symbiosis thereby shaping policy environments, trade, investment that support tourism. (5) Variation in economic development and industrial structures across Global South nations result in heterogeneous effects, with greater impact in lower-middle and upper-middle income countries. It most effevtively promotes outbound tourism from China to tourism-oriented destination, while exerting prominent pulling effect on inbound tourim to China from resource-rich nations. This study contributes to theory by employing the emerging perspective of city diplomacy to move beyond state-centered frameworks, broadening insight into the forces driving mechanisms of cross-border tourism. Practically, the findings offer empirical support for optimizing city twinning strategies and advancing tourism cooperation policies between China and Global South nations, while serving as a useful reference for advancing South-South collaboration.
As an important proponent of Mazu culture in South China, Nansha Tianhou Palace is undergoing a structural transformation from a “historical field,” centered on ritual practice and spatial order, to a “fluid field” shaped by digital media and platform-based dissemination. Against the backdrop of increasing cultural heritage mediatization, this study aims to explore how traditional religious spaces are reorganized in the interaction between physical settings and digital platforms and how cultural meanings are reconstructed through mediated communication processes. Specifically, this study considers tourist perception as a key analytical entry point for examining the relationship between spatial experiences and communications effectiveness. Methodologically, this study adopted a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach. A total of 3,838 items of user-generated content from Weibo and Xiaohongshu, spanning 2020 to 2025, were collected and analyzed, together with 22 semi-structured interviews involving tourists, local believers, and site managers. Grounded theory was employed to conduct open, axial, and selective coding, whereas word frequency and sentiment analyses were used to identify patterns in user perception and communications tendencies. Based on these methods, this study constructed an integrated analytical field transformation model consisting of four interrelated dimensions: content translation, spatial carriers, experiential feedback, and communications innovation. The findings revealed a significant shift in focus on cultural engagement. Tourists increasingly prioritize architectural landscapes, visual spectacles, and shareable content over their participation in core rituals. In this process, the cultural capital embedded in traditional belief systems is reconfigured into highly visualized and symbolic media content, leading to a transition in communications dynamics from offline place-based participation to online recirculation. Further analysis demonstrated that this transformation exhibits a structural tendency characterized by “visual enhancement and ritual attenuation.” Cultural meanings are often compressed into easily consumable landscape symbols, resulting in a disjunction between online popularity and offline religious experiences. Platform algorithms and traffic-driven mechanisms accelerate the conversion of cultural capital into media capital, shifting the logic of communications toward visibility, interactivity, and circulation. In addition, we identified the cyclical mechanism underlying this transformation. Offline ritual practices and spatial experiences serve as primary sources of cultural content, which is amplified and redistributed through digital platforms. User participation and feedback during sharing and reinterpretation generate new layers of meaning, which in turn reshape spatial organization and event planning at the physical site. This feedback loop constitutes a dynamic process of continuous field adjustment and evolution, highlighting the mutual construction of the physical and digital domains. Theoretically, this study contributes to the expansion of Bourdieu’s field theory by incorporating the concept of “media capital,” thereby providing an increasingly nuanced framework for understanding cultural transformation in the digital age. It further clarifies the mechanisms through which different forms of capital circulate and interact within hybrid cultural spaces: cultural, symbolic, and media. Practically, the findings offer insights for optimizing digital content design, spatial organization, and visitor experiences at cultural heritage sites. Generally, this study proposes a replicable analytical framework to examine how traditional cultural spaces negotiate authenticity, visibility, and communicative effectiveness under algorithm-driven dissemination.
Against the backdrop of fluid mobility, emerging home spaces characterized by rural summer retreats and seasonal residency have garnered increasing attention. Under the temporal dynamics of the cyclical movements of "migratory bird" residents, the construction logic and evolutionary processes of their home spaces offer new theoretical perspectives for understanding the relation between home and place and support the high-quality development of rural tourism destinations. This study uses Shanbao Village in Zunyi City and Pingba Village in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, as case sites. Via in-depth interviews and participatory observation, drawing on semi-structured interviews with 33 middle-aged and older rural summer migrant sojourners aged 55 and above and applying grounded theory coding, the study analyzes the structure and functions of home spaces using the temporal milestones of "inflow-adaptation-integration" in the construction of home by rural summer migrant sojourners. Furthermore, it examines the evolution of home space functions during continuous sojourning across three temporal domains: short-term (1-2 years), medium-term (3-5 years), and long-term (≥ 6 years). The findings reveal the following: 1) The homes of rural summer migrant sojourners are constructed from physical dwelling homes during the inflow stage, emotionally accumulated homes during the adaptation stage, and life-course homes during the integration stage. These dimensions interact and reinforce each other, collectively building the complete meaning of home. A physical dwelling home provides the foundation, an emotionally accumulated home imbues it with warmth, and a life-course home solidifies its significance. Temporality, via the continuous accumulation of memories, elevates transient experiences into a sense of enduring belonging, making the rural space an irreplaceable "place" in the sojourners’ life stories. 2) The construction of homes among rural summer migrant sojourners exhibits dynamic characteristics across temporal domains. In the short-term domain (1-2 years), climate adaptation dominates, and homes function as material carriers for summer retreat. In the medium-term domain (3-5 years), social networks solidify and stable social relationships are formed. In the long-term domain (≥6 years), physical and mental balance and satisfaction are achieved, leading to a "continuous return" urban-rural amphibious living pattern, in which rural space transforms into a spiritual home with emotional continuity and a sense of permanence. 3) The temporal evolution of home among rural summer migrant sojourners reflects the gradual deepening of functional needs, value demands, and emotional connections to home within this migrant group. The evolutionary process unfolds in three stages: from "physical dwelling" to "emotional attachment" and finally to "life meaning." Its essence lies in the transformation of temporary spaces into homes of temporal depth via cyclical practice. This study focuses on rural summer migrant sojourners, embedding a temporal evolutionary perspective to analyze how they construct home spaces during seasonal mobility. It expands the temporal dimensions of home analysis and moves beyond the traditional singular spatial perspective of home research, offering a new theoretical lens for understanding home, place, and belonging in a mobile society. In addition, this research provides a basis for rural summer tourism destinations to formulate social integration policies targeting migrant sojourners, thereby promoting high-quality development and the comprehensive revitalization of rural tourism.
The seasonal migration of elderly sojourners constitutes a unique "leisure-volunteering" practice field against the dual backdrop of population aging and enhanced spatial mobility. Adopting a mobility perspective encompassing spatiotemporal mobility, social-relational mobility, and the mobility of identity and meaning, this study developed a theoretical framework for the volunteer service behavior of elderly sojourners. Taking Sanya City, Hainan Province, as a case study, in-depth interviews with 25 elderly sojourners and participatory observations were conducted to examine the influencing factors, processual dynamics, and generative meanings of their volunteer service behavior. The findings reveal that 1) this behavior is influenced at three levels—individual, social, and place—through seven factors: value embodiment, physical and mental pleasure, personality traits, social interaction, social responsibility, place attachment, and place support. It emerges as a composite practice shaped by the interaction of individual pursuits, social connections, and spatial empowerment, forming a multidimensional explanatory framework of "Individual Needs—Social Networks—Spatial Environment." 2) Behavior evolves in three stages: Initiated by leisure experiences, it transitions from sporadic spontaneity to standardized and regular engagement. Driven by place-based emotions, this develops into deep participation and conscious action. Following the logic of "adaptation—integration—emotional bonding," elderly sojourners establish profound connections with the local socio-spatial context, transforming from passive "environment enjoyers" into active "co-constructors of the city" and reconstructing human-place relationships. 3) Behavior is not a simple sum of influencing factors, but results from the synergistic interaction of individual, social, and place-based factors. Four core mechanisms of human-place interaction—flexible matching of demand and resources, accumulation of cross-regional social capital, coupling of individual and social values, and place attachment as a driving force—collectively propel its generation and continuous evolution. This study transcends the narrow view of elderly migration as mere retirement or consumption behavior. Volunteer mobility services demonstrate the strong agency and adaptive resilience of the elderly in new environments. Moving beyond traditional individualistic paradigms, it emphasizes that this behavior is essentially the mutual constitution of individual agency and local socio-spatial contexts, achieving "bidirectional empowerment"—injecting new meaning into the elderly's life course while flexibly supplementing local governance systems. This study offers a new perspective for understanding the local integration of mobile populations in an aging society. By integrating volunteer service behaviors into the study of elderly mobility, this research enriches active aging theories while extending the conceptualization of mobility to the micro level.
Within the dual context of national land-use planning and rural revitalization, examining the relationship between village planning, its implementation, and rural tourism development not only facilitates the rational development of rural tourism resources but also has important practical implications for promoting rural industrial revitalization and achieving common prosperity. This study utilizes township-level statistical and geographic data from Hainan Province for the period 2013-2022 and employs a spatial panel econometric model to examine the spatial spillover effects of village planning on rural tourism resource development. (1) The formulation and implementation of village planning across townships in Hainan Province have steadily improved over time, exhibiting a spatial distribution pattern characterized by "concentration in the west, dispersion in the east, and sparsity in the center". (2) Rural tourism resource development in Hainan Province has steadily expanded over time, displaying a spatial pattern of "dual-core, block-like aggregation", with the northern and southern regions maintaining a leading position throughout the study period. (3) At the township level, the formulation and implementation of village planning significantly influence the development of rural tourism resources. Village planning not only directly promotes the development of local rural tourism resources through measures, such as resource identification, effective utilization, and infrastructure construction, but also facilitates tourism resource development in neighboring areas through the diffusion of planning policies, resource flows, and technological learning. However, empirical studies on the impact of the number of village plans at the township level on rural tourism resource development remain limited. Under conditions of limited resources, planning policy formulation should shift from a quantity-oriented approach to a quality-oriented approach. Existing studies have analyzed the policy framework of village planning, the role of participatory planning, and innovations in village planning management systems from a public policy perspective and have developed evaluation systems for assessing the quality and implementation effectiveness of village planning. However, few studies have provided statistical evidence demonstrating the policy effects of village planning formulation and implementation. This study addresses the limitations of empirical extrapolation from case studies and provides quantitative evidence for the effectiveness of village planning as a rural governance policy tool, thereby advancing methodological approaches from theoretical propositions to statistically validated empirical analysis. Despite its contributions, this study has several limitations. First, the research was limited to Hainan Province as the study area. Although Hainan Province possesses abundant rural tourism resources and development experience that may serve as a reference for similar regions, further studies across different regions are required to enhance the generalizability of the findings. Second, due to data constraints and considerations of analytical coherence, this study was unable to empirically examine the heterogeneous effects associated with different village types and varying levels of planning implementation, nor could it conduct an in-depth analysis of the underlying mechanisms linking village planning and rural tourism resource development. Future research will involve selecting representative villages for field investigations and case-based analyses.
Taiwan’s direct investment has long been a major contributor to regional economic development in Chinese mainland and an important source of cross-border capital. However, recent geopolitical and economic disruptions, including shifts in China–U.S. relations, the COVID-19 pandemic, and persistent cross-strait tensions, have accelerated the relocation of Taiwanese-funded enterprises, posing challenges to regional economic stability. Therefore, understanding how Taiwanese manufacturing firms strategically respond to external shocks is essential for advancing theoretical discussions and informing policy formulation. Guided by Global Production Network theory, particularly the concept of strategic coupling, this study examined how Taiwanese manufacturing enterprises interacted with regional institutional environments and how such interactions influenced their investment resilience. Employing a comparative case-study approach, we investigated the electronics and information manufacturing industry in Xiamen and the garment and accessories sector in Quanzhou. Data were obtained through questionnaires, in-depth interviews with 16 enterprises across multiple production-chain segments, and fieldwork with local industrial associations and government agencies. The findings yielded two major insights. First, investment resilience under external shocks is strongly shaped by the strategic coupling between firms and regional institutional settings. In Xiamen, electronics and information firms, characterized by high fixed-asset investment and technological intensity, displayed high spatial stickiness. Their deep integration with local institutions facilitated a transition from dependent to reciprocal coupling, supported by the localization of key production stages, technological upgrading, equipment modernization, and strengthened collaborations with universities and research institutes. In contrast, Quanzhou's garment and accessories manufacturers, operating with lighter assets, transitioned from dependent to cooperative coupling by leveraging the mature industrial ecosystem and strong market foundations of the region. These firms diversified beyond export-oriented models toward a balanced domestic–international market orientation, driven by the growth of e-commerce, live-streaming sales, and increased automation. Second, the degree of alignment between firm attributes and regional conditions plays a crucial role in shaping investment resilience and serves as a buffer against external disruptions. In Xiamen, compatibility with high-tech resources, university–industry linkages, and technology-oriented policy support enhanced regional embeddedness and spatial stickiness. In Quanzhou, alignment with extensive light-industry supply chains, abundant labor, and rapidly developing e-commerce platforms fostered greater flexibility and market responsiveness. These relational assets, developed through strategic coupling, reinforced both operational and strategic adaptability. Moreover, the investment resilience of Taiwanese enterprises exhibited multi-scalar characteristics: globally, firms reconfigured supply chains in response to U.S.–China trade tensions; regionally, cross-strait relations influenced technology transfer and talent flows; locally, deep embedding in innovation systems and institutional frameworks strengthened long-term rootedness. Theoretically, this study constructs an analytical framework that links micro-level firm strategies with macro-level investment resilience through the lens of strategic coupling. It elucidates how coupling evolves under external shocks and reveals the heterogeneous pathways through which industrial characteristics, regional resources, and institutional environments jointly shape resilience outcomes. These insights provide valuable implications for understanding cross-border investment dynamics in developing economies and guiding regional policy-making.
This study investigates the spatiotemporal evolution of co-agglomeration and the spatial follow-up effect between high-tech manufacturing and service industries in the Nanjing Metropolitan Area, China's first cross-provincial metropolitan region. Using firm-level data from 2012 to 2022 and spatial analysis methods—including kernel density estimation, bivariate spatial autocorrelation, local collaborative location quotient, and the geographical detector—we identified distinct patterns and mechanisms. The results revealed a stable, Nanjing-centric "R&D-Manufacturing" spatial division of labor. Electronics and communications equipment manufacturing exhibited robust synergistic agglomeration with scientific research and information services, maintaining a strong locational lock-in to Nanjing's innovation-rich core. In contrast, pharmaceutical manufacturing showed a dispersion trend toward peripheral cities, such as Chuzhou and Huaian, driven by cost advantages. Crucially, a major spatial follow-up effect was confirmed, with high-tech service firms consistently located near manufacturing clusters. This effect demonstrates sectoral and temporal heterogeneity, was stronger for scientific research than for information services, and was more pronounced in 2012-2017. Geographical detector analysis identified the technological complexity of manufacturing as the key driver. Electronics and communications equipment manufacturing (high complexity) exerted a substantially stronger attractive force on co-locating services than pharmaceutical manufacturing. Although the strength of this spatial linkage has attenuated slightly over the past decade, it has remained statistically significant, indicating a path-dependent relationship for knowledge-intensive interactions. The findings suggest that coagglomeration dynamics are shaped by a tripartite mechanism involving institutional coordination, market-driven cost considerations, and technology cycle dependencies. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of dynamic spatial-industrial interactions within metropolitan areas, particularly across administrative boundaries, moving beyond static co-location measures. It provides empirical evidence for policymakers to foster specialized innovation clusters and strengthen cross-jurisdictional collaboration, helping optimize regional innovation systems and guide spatial planning of new, quality productive forces in similar metropolitan contexts.
Urban-rural integration has become a central strategy for promoting regional coordination and rural revitalization in China. In rapidly urbanizing metropolitan regions, industrial networks increasingly function as critical channels through which capital, knowledge, and institutional arrangements reshape the spatial relations between cities and rural areas. While existing studies have explored urban industrial networks and rural development trajectories separately, limited attention has been paid to the long-term evolution of integrated urban-rural industrial networks at fine spatial scales, particularly from the perspectives of capital flows and multidimensional proximity. To address this gap, taking the Pearl River Delta (PRD) from 2001 to 2020 as an empirical case study, this study examines the spatiotemporal evolution and driving mechanisms of the urban-rural industrial network. Based on enterprise investment data covering city-, town-, and village-level units, we construct weighted directed industrial networks for four stages spanning 2001-2020. Intra-urban investment ties are excluded to better highlight cross-level urban-rural interactions. A series of network indicators have been calculated to characterize the spatial structural features of the PRD industrial network and the functional transformation of dominant industries. Furthermore, the Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) is employed to analyze the driving forces of investment tie strength by examining the effects of Geographic Proximity (GP), Institutional Proximity (IP), Corporate Proximity (CP), and Social Proximity (SP). The results show that the urban-rural industrial network in the PRD goes from being fragmented to integrated. At the network level, capital linkages have intensified significantly, structural efficiency has improved, and the regional configuration has shifted from segmented clusters to cross-regional integration. At the spatial level, investment ties evolved from exhibiting an early short-distance dominance to a multi-scalar configuration, reflecting a higher level of regional integration. Nevertheless, capital concentration continued to strengthen, reinforcing the region’s core-periphery structure. In terms of industrial composition, investment patterns shifted from production-oriented sectors in the early stages to the knowledge-driven sector. In contrast, the functional structure of leading industries evolved from exhibiting internally circulating activities to industrial chain coordination. The QAP regression results indicate that geographic and institutional proximity played dominant roles in the early stage but declined markedly after 2011 (standardized coefficients β ≈ 0.45-0.55). During 2016-2020, the standardized coefficients for institutional and geographic proximity fell to 0.040 and 0.154, respectively, suggesting that the investment network gradually moved beyond administrative and spatial constraints toward a more market-oriented network-driven mechanism. Corporate and social proximity maintained statistically significant and marginally positive effects throughout the study period. Building on these findings, this study proposes policy recommendations regarding financial mechanisms, spatial layout, and industrial structure to enhance the development of urban-rural industrial networks. By integrating flow-space theory with complex network analysis and combining village-scale data with QAP-based proximity analysis, this study enriches the analytical framework for industrial networks under urban-rural integration and deepens the understanding of the spatial organizational logic in China’s urban-rural integration process, providing scientific evidence for optimizing regionally coordinated development strategies.
Although traditional street vendors and night markets have long been embedded in stable spatial patterns shaped by pedestrian flow, localized social relations, and regulatory rhythms, emerging platform-led formations such as Nanjing’s "Ghost Market” reveal a new mode of informal spatial production driven by algorithmic visibility, real-time coordination, and virtual-physical interactions. These dynamics have generated a distinctive form of informal retail space that blends high flexibility with rapid large-scale agglomeration. Using the "Ghost Market” as a representative case, this study investigates how digital infrastructure has reconfigured informal retail in the mobile Internet era. Drawing on six months of mixed-method fieldwork, including digital ethnography (platform observations, participation in vendor WeChat groups and Douyin channels), semi-structured interviews with vendors and regulatory actors, and repeated on-site observations of spatial layout, crowd distribution, and operational rhythms, the spatiotemporal evolution of the "Ghost Market” is reconstructed and its underlying formation processes are identified. The findings indicate that platform logic fundamentally alters informal vendor decision-making processes. First, site selection has shifted from a passive dependence on physical footfall to the active pursuit of algorithmic visibility. This enables vendors to attract customers, even in marginal spaces, such as administrative boundaries or unused roadways, while reducing regulatory risks and maintaining operational flexibility. Second, platform-mediated coordination substantially enhances vendors’ collective self-organization and mobilization. Social media and messaging applications facilitate real-time enforcement information circulation, coordinated relocation across districts, and synchronized movement of vendors and consumers. Third, flow-oriented logic transforms informal retail from a livelihood-based practice into a hybrid, spectacle-driven “Internet celebrity” event, producing spatial formations that are temporary, mobile, symbolically charged, and deeply shaped by online circulation. However, the forces that enable rapid agglomeration also generate new governance dilemmas. Platform-enabled agglomeration amplifies preexisting externalities such as noise, traffic congestion, waste accumulation, and safety hazards at scales that exceed conventional enforcement capacity. Simultaneously, they also exhibit weak embeddedness owing to their fluid locations, late-night operations, and transient user groups, which limit community ties and undermine opportunities for local negotiations. Furthermore, the sustainability of platform-driven informal spaces is similarly fragile: once digital attention dissipates, popularity rapidly declines, revealing the volatility of platform-driven informal spaces. Based on these findings, this study proposes a more adaptive governance approach suited to the mobile Internet era. Instead of relying on binary crackdowns or tolerance, authorities should identify low-risk spaces where flexible nighttime operations can be accommodated, selectively use digital platforms for basic coordination and safety notifications, and support lightweight vendor self-organization, while focusing regulatory efforts on bottom-line supervision. Such strategies can balance informal economic vitality with spatial order in rapidly evolving platform-mediated environments. This study contributes to urban research in three ways. First, it conceptualizes digitally mediated informal retail as a new spatial formation, characterized by the paradoxical coexistence of flexibility, scalability, and instability. Second, it identifies platforms as active spatial intermediaries that reshape site selection, organizational capacity, and symbolic production of informal spaces. Third, it advances governance debates by arguing that traditional approaches—either tolerating or eliminating informal retail—are insufficient in the platform era. Instead, adaptive strategies should leverage digital coordination, enable negotiated regulation, identify low-risk operational zones, and support grassroots organizational logic.
To reveal the evolutionary patterns and influencing factors of the trade dependency network in electronic and communication products among the G20 countries, this study selects trade data from five key years (2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023) sourced from UN Comtrade, covering critical phases including the pre-financial crisis period, the post-crisis restructuring, the rise of the digital economy, the pre-pandemic peak, and the post-pandemic geopolitical adjustment era. Based on these data, we construct a trade dependency network and adopt a multilevel analytical framework (overall network, community, and node) that combines complex network analysis and the Temporal Exponential Random Graph Model (TERGM) to systematically explore spatiotemporal evolutionary characteristics and driving mechanisms. The network as a whole exhibits distinct small-world characteristics of “high clustering, short average path length, and strong reciprocity,” with the “core-periphery” structure continuously solidifying and the degree of trade dependency among countries significantly deepening; even amid geopolitical conflicts and the COVID-19 pandemic, core dependency relationships remained stable, reflecting the inherent resilience of the global electronic and communication industry supply chain. The community structure has evolved from a “multi-polar dispersion” pattern to a “bipolar regionalization” pattern, with core nodes such as China, the United States, and Germany consistently dominating the network’s spatiotemporal layout: China has gradually upgraded to a dual hub integrating “technology export” and “intermediate product supply,” with its influence on regional cooperation continuously enhanced, while the United States maintains its core position in technological dependency, although its global radiation scope tends to shrink toward regional clusters. Germany steadily retains its role as a key hub in Europe, highlighting the synergistic efficiency of regional core cooperation. Network evolution is jointly driven by internal and external mechanisms: internally, the reciprocity effect promotes asymmetric two-way dependency, reflecting the complementary division of labor between core and peripheral countries in the global production network, and exacerbates core-periphery polarization, with dependency relationships mainly concentrated among key core nodes. The temporal dependency effect strengthens path dependency, rooted in long-term supply chain collaboration and technological lock-in. Externally, geopolitical dynamics drive the regionalization of dependency relationships by shaping countries’ risk perceptions and cooperation preferences. Countries with similar levels of economic development are more likely to form stable dependency relationships because of compatible demand structures and industrial support capabilities, while high-R&D-investment countries dominate the technological dependency hierarchy through core technological advantages, further consolidating the asymmetric network structure. This study makes important contributions to the existing literature: it fills a gap in the dynamic research on trade dependency networks of electronic and communication products, a critical ICT sub-sector, revealing unique characteristics of “strong technological lock-in and high regional stickiness” that distinguish this network from semiconductor or digital service networks; it clarifies the differentiated and synergistic driving logic of geopolitics, economic development, and R&D investment, supplementing the global production network (GPN) theoretical framework for analyzing technology-intensive industries; and it demonstrates the incremental value of TERGM in capturing intertemporal evolutionary patterns of trade networks, overcoming the limitations of static analytical methods and providing a more comprehensive empirical reference for understanding the evolution of global trade relationships in technology-intensive industries.
Cross-border metropolitan fringes are critical spaces wherein geographical proximity, functional interactions, and institutional differentiation intersect to reshape regional population structures. Under the integrated development strategy of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Zhuhai-Macao fringe area has gradually evolved into a representative case of cross-border population agglomeration. Existing studies have predominantly focused on macroscale urban systems or single driving factors. However, research on population agglomeration at the township scale in boundary regions remains limited. The spatiotemporal evolution and multidimensional mechanisms of population agglomeration have not yet been sufficiently explored.. To address this gap, this study systematically examines the spatial evolution and driving mechanisms of population agglomeration in the Zhuhai-Macao fringe area from 2000 to 2020. Based on data from the 2000, 2010, and 2020 national population censuses, combined with multi-source spatial datasets, this study constructed a township-level analytical framework. A three-dimensional analytical framework integrating geographical, functional, and institutional dimensions was established to interpret the mechanisms of population agglomeration. A spatial classification system comprising directly connected, adjacent radiation, and peripheral receiving zones was developed based on the cross-border accessibility and spatial proximity. The population concentration index, rank-size distribution analysis, standard deviational ellipse, and geographical detector model were employed to measure the spatial structure and quantify the explanatory power of different driving factors across stages. The results reveal several key findings. 1) The total resident population in the Zhuhai-Macao fringe area increased from approximately 1.34 million in 2000 to 2.45 million in 2020, while the overall spatial pattern evolved from a monocentric structure concentrated in the eastern core to a polycentric configuration characterized by a stable core, a strengthened intermediate belt, and an expanding periphery. Both the concentration and imbalance indices declined over time, indicating a gradual weakening of excessive concentration; however, the rank-size structure exhibited stage-specific fluctuations, suggesting structural adjustments within a relatively stable hierarchical system. 2) Significant spatial differentiation emerged among zone types. Directly connected zones such as Gongbei and Hengqin maintained strong agglomeration advantages; adjacent radiation zones, such as Qianshan, Nanping, and Meihua, experienced rapid growth and became secondary population clusters; and peripheral receiving zones expanded steadily with land and industrial support but remained relatively less dense. 3) The driving mechanisms of population agglomeration display a clear stage-based transformation. In 2000, geographical factors-particularly land endowment and locational accessibility-had the highest explanatory power. By 2010, functional elements such as employment resources had become increasingly important, facilitating spatial redistribution beyond the traditional core. By 2020, institutional factors demonstrated a strengthened explanatory capacity, while the explanatory power of traditional geographical and functional indicators showed an overall declining trend and a narrowing gap among the variables; this indicates that population agglomeration in the later stage was no longer dominated by a single factor but was shaped by the coordinated adjustment of geographical conditions, functional capacities, and institutional arrangements. These findings enrich the understanding of population agglomeration mechanisms in cross-border adjacent regions by introducing an integrated analytical framework that combines geo-function and institutions at a fine spatial scale. This study highlights the dynamic interplay between the structural decline in traditional location-based advantages and the increasing role of institutional coordination in shaping spatial restructuring. The results provide empirical evidence for optimizing cross-border corridor development, improving public service allocation, and enhancing multilevel collaborative governance in the Greater Bay Area.
Amid accelerating globalization and deepening of regional scientific and technological cooperation, Macao has emerged as a distinctive and strategic nexus between China and the Portuguese-speaking world, assuming an increasingly important role within international science and technology cooperation networks. Although its engagement in global cooperation began relatively recently, Macao has attained internationally competitive standards in several research domains and contributed significantly to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s development as an international center for scientific and technological innovation. However, the structural configuration and evolutionary dynamics of its international cooperation network remain insufficiently examined. This study applies social network analysis and develops a two-dimensional "structure-behaviour" analytical framework to examine the spatio-temporal evolution and structural characteristics of Macao’s international cooperation network, revealing the following key features: 1) International scientific and technological cooperation plays a crucial role in shaping Macao’s scientific development landscape, and its cooperation network exhibits clear stage-based evolutionary characteristics. Macao’s international cooperation network has continued to expand, and its geographical reach has progressively widened. Meanwhile, its cooperation model has shifted from an early "single-centre radiation" pattern to a "multi-polar interconnected" structure, forming a more complex, multilayered network system. 2) The cooperative network displays the coexistence of concentration and diffusion. Macao’s international science and technology cooperation network demonstrates a typical "core-periphery" structure accompanied by "small-world" properties and presents a stratified, concentric pattern. As cooperation channels increase, the network becomes more interconnected, and high-quality knowledge flows and preferential attachment become more pronounced. 3) Macao’s international cooperation exhibits a clear structural divergence between publication-based and patent-based networks. The publication cooperation network displays a relatively inclusive pattern, whereas the patent cooperation network shows a trend toward the concentration of technological capacity, indicating further consolidation of the core-periphery structure. 4) Leveraging its cultural and linguistic advantages, Macao serves as a critical bridge between mainland China and Portuguese-speaking countries, thereby establishing a distinctive competitive position. This study offers theoretical insights into the developmental pathways of small economies within global innovation networks and provides policy guidance for Macao to optimize its international cooperation strategies and strengthen its capacity for sustainable development.
