With the rapid development of urbanization and the widening gap between urban and rural areas, how to effectively enhance the balanced development of urban and rural areas as well as promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas have become heated topics. Based on the basic theory of urban–rural integration and spatial balance, this paper establishes a comprehensive evaluation system. Using a coupling coordination model and an obstacle degree model, this paper selects 32 indicators from aspects of economy, society and ecology to measure the development level of urban–rural integration in 34 prefecture-level cities in Northeast China from 2000 to 2019. We also analyze the spatial pattern, evolution type characteristics and obstacle factors of urban–rural relations. The results show that: (1) The growth rate of urban development in Northeast China is higher than that of rural development. Except for rural ecology, all dimensions of urban and rural areas have increased year by year, but there are large spatial differences within the region. (2) The urban–rural integration development level of Northeast China is growing constantly and the types of urban and rural coordination are all rising to a higher level. Areas with high urban–rural coordination levels are concentrated in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration and the central and southern Liaoning urban agglomeration, with obvious agglomeration effects. (3) In the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, the restrictive degree of the rural social subsystem was higher than that of the urban subsystem. The restrictive factors in the coordinated development of urban and rural areas are relatively stable, and include per capita consumption expenditure, per capita public budget expenditure, books in public libraries per thousand people, etc. (4) The functions of rural social elements should be enhanced, and the social urban–rural integrated development mechanism should be established to promote the integrated development of urban and rural society.

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Study on Spatial–Temporal Evolution Characteristics and Restrictive Factors of Urban–Rural Integration in Northeast China from 2000 to 2019

Urban–rural integration development (URID) is the solution to the excessive urban–rural gap, unequal and insufficient development in urban–rural areas, along with the process of dynamic and balanced urban–rural growth. The promotion of high-quality development and sustainable development in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) depends heavily on the scientific development of an evaluation index for urban–rural integration (URI), the quantitative measurement of the level of URI, and the accurate identification of the spatial layout of URI. The URI indicator system is built using the new development philosophy, and 94 cities in the YRB are used as samples. The spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of the URID in the YRB were studied from 2010 to 2020 using the entropy value method and coupled coordination model. The study shows that from 2010 to 2020, along the YRB, both urban and rural development (URD) levels generally increased. However, regional differences increased and development levels varied, showing a trend of uneven development between provinces. Overall, the degree of URID was increasing and still low, but there are three main types of urban–rural coupling and coordination (URCC) that are relatively stable: barely coordinated, primary coordination, and on the verge of disorder. Primary coordination replaced barely coordinated as the dominant type over time. Finally, it is suggested that urban and rural regions should not be “managed separately” but rather should be viewed as a cohesive organic whole; to drive urban cluster construction and spur rural development, to further close the urban–rural divide, reliance on the city centre is necessary. Concurrently, this encourages the transfer of farm labour and supports the coordinated growth of urban–rural industries; investment in advantageous industries is strengthened; the construction of URIs should be promoted at a more microscopic city and county level; and strong support is provided to achieve high-quality sustainable development of the YRB. It is important to put into practice the new development philosophy, investigate the fundamental causes of the growing urban–rural divide, change the development strategy, and optimize this new development path.

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Measuring the Level of Urban–Rural Integration Development and Analyzing the Spatial Pattern Based on the New Development Concept: Evidence from Cities in the Yellow River Basin

The coupling and coordination of digital economy and urban–rural integration can help narrow the urban–rural gap and help realize comprehensive modernization. Based on the data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, the index systems of digital economy and urban–rural integration were constructed, respectively, by using the entropy method, and the coupling coordination degree between digital economy and urban–rural integration was calculated by using the coupling coordination degree model. The spatio-temporal evolution characteristics were analyzed by using the spatial Durbin model, and the influencing factors of the coupling coordination degree were deeply decomposed. The results showed that the coupling coordination degree of digital economy and urban–rural integration has been significantly improved in the whole country during the decade, with the overall spatial distribution characteristics of “high in the east and low in the west” and “high in the south and low in the north”. The growth momentum of the backward provinces was relatively better, which have more obvious characteristics of positive spatial agglomeration. The level of economic development, government support, technological innovation and industrial structure had positive promoting effects on the coupling coordination degree. Except for the negative spatial spillover effect of government support, the three other factors all had promoting effects on the coupling coordination degree in neighboring provinces. The effect intensity of influencing factors also had regional heterogeneity.

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Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Influencing Factors of Coupling Coordination Degree between Urban–Rural Integration and Digital Economy

As a new economic system composed of data-driven, platform-supported, and network-coordinated economic activity units, the platform economy provides a new impetus for the integrated development of urban and rural areas. This paper uses China’s provincial panel data from 2011–2021 to measure the development level of the platform economy and the urban–rural integration development index using the entropy weight method and empirically tests the direct and indirect effects of the platform economy on urban–rural integration development. The research finds that (1) the platform economy has a significant role in promoting the development of urban–rural integration. After introducing a series of robustness tests such as instrumental variables estimation, the results are still significant. (2) Regional innovation capability is an important transmission mechanism for the platform economy to enable urban–rural integrated development. The platform economy can indirectly promote urban–rural integrated development by improving regional innovation capability. (3) There is a significant mesomeric effect between the traditional factors of production and the platform economy and the mesomeric effect of capital, technology, land, and labor factors increased in turn. (4) The digital twin platform is a kind of digital land generated in the platform economy and has become an important place and value source for products in the digital era.

De Zhou

Papers

Review of urban-rural integration evaluation: Connotation identification, theoretical analysis, and system reconstruction