Low efficiency of earth kilns used in the carbonising process of wood to make charcoal has been reported as one of the sources of increasing charcoal wastes in the global south. However, the potential link and approaches of converting charcoal wastes-to-valuable energy and for the environmental health is not well known in Africa. Promoting local community capacity engagement in the production and reutilisation of recycled charcoal wastes at the households’ level is one of important measures to maintain environmental services for sustainability since households make decisions on the type of energy used. This paper, presents an approach of converting charcoal wastes to fuel energy for rural households and environmental health in Kilosa District, Tanzania. To achieve the objective of this research, the primary data were collected through interviews held with 298 randomly selected households, Focus Group Discussions and observations. IBM SPSS statistics version 20 Cross tab tools were used in the data analysis. Results revealed that the conversion of charcoal wastes-to-fuel energy approach used in this research demonstrates the ability of recyclable briquettes made from the locally available charcoal pollutants collected at different stages from earth kilns, to selling centers, improves tree harvest behaviour, adds another fuel energy source through reutilisation, and ultimate reduces pollution at the local level. Thus, the study provides a basis for policymakers to adopt charcoal wastes recycling strategies to address matters related to energy and ultimately enhances environmental health for sustainable development in Tanzania and beyond.

Urban trees are valuable resources for urban areas as they have the capacity to reduce ambient temperatures, mitigate urban heat island effects and reduce runoff of rainwater playing an important role in mitigating the impacts of climate change by reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). It also helps to reduce aerial suspended particulate matter, add visual appeal to the urban landscape sequestrating a significant amount of carbon from ambient atmospheric CO2. Carbon storage by urban trees in the ring road area of the Kathmandu Valley was quantified to assess the magnitude and role of urban forests in relation to mitigate the impact of global climate change. A total of 40 sample plots were placed randomly for the detailed carbon assessment. Aboveground and belowground carbon pools were considered in the detailed assessment. Furthermore, quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) were maintained through regular monitoring and capacity building of the field crews while collecting the bio-physical data. The assessment recorded a total of 33 different species of plants in the avenue’s plantation sites in ring road. The mean seedling, sapling, and tree density was found to be 2149585 and 185 per hectare. The mean carbon stock per hectare in the avenue plantation of the ring road area was 24.03 tC ha1 and the existing total carbon stock was 7785.72 tC in 2021. Likewise, the total baseline carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) in the avenue plantation was found to be 28573.60 tCO2e. The carbon dioxide emission from the transport sector in the ring road area in a full movement scenario was 312888.00 tCO2e per annum, while the net emissions was 42547 tCO2e. There was a deficit of carbon dioxide in terms of stock by avenue plantations of 14000.8 tCO2e.This study indicates that the existing urban forest plantation is unable to sequestrate or offset the carbon dioxide that is emitted through the transportation sector. Consequently, open spaces like riverbanks and any other public lands, in which urban forests could be developed has to be planned for the green infrastructure and plantation of the multipurpose trees. The distinct values of forests in and around urban areas have to be recognized in the specific policies and plans for the sustainable management of urban and peri-urban forests to meet the adverse impact of global climate change. In addition, this study provides insights for decision-makers to better understand the role of urban forests and make sustainable management plans for urban forests in the cities like in Kathmandu Valley.

Delimiting ecological space scientifically and making reasonable predictions of the spatial-temporal trend of changes in the dominant ecosystem service functions (ESFs) are the basis of constructing an ecological protection pattern of territorial space, which has important theoretical significance and application value. At present, most research on the identification, functional partitioning and pattern reconstruction of ecological space refers to the current ESFs and their structural information, which ignores the spatial-temporal dynamic nature of the comprehensive and dominant ESFs, and does not seriously consider the change simulation in the dominant ESFs of the future ecological space. This affects the rationality of constructing an ecological space protection pattern to some extent. In this study, we propose an ecological space delimitation method based on the dynamic change characteristics of the ESFs, realize the identification of the ecological space range in Qionglai city and solve the problem of ignoring the spatial-temporal changes of ESFs in current research. On this basis, we also apply the Markov-CA model to integrate the spatial-temporal change characteristics of the dominant ESFs, successfully realize the simulation of the spatial-temporal changes in the dominant ESFs in Qionglai city’s ecological space in 2025, find a suitable method for simulating ecological spatial-temporal changes and also provide a basis for constructing a reasonable ecological space protection pattern. This study finds that the comprehensive quantity of ESF and its annual rate of change in Qionglai city show obvious dynamics, which confirms the necessity of considering the dynamic characteristics of ESFs when identifying ecological space. The areas of ecological space in Qionglai city represent 98307 ha by using the ecological space identification method proposed in this study, which is consistent with the ecological spatial distribution in the local ecological civilization construction plan. This confirms the reliability of the ecological space identification method based on the dynamic characteristics of the ESFs. The results also show that the dominant ESFs in Qionglai city represented strong non-stationary characteristics during 2003-2019, which showed that we should fully consider the influence of the dynamics in the dominant ESFs on the future ESF pattern during the process of constructing the ecological spatial protection pattern. The Markov-CA model realized the simulation of spatial-temporal changes in the dominant ESFs with a high precision Kappa coefficient of above 0.95, which illustrated the feasibility of using this model to simulate the future dominant ESF spatial pattern. The simulation results showed that the dominant ESFs in Qionglai will still undergo mutual conversions during 2019-2025 due to the effect of the their non-stationary nature. The ecological space will still maintain the three dominant ESFs of primary product production, climate regulation and hydrological regulation in 2025, but their areas will change to 32793 ha, 52490 ha and 13024 ha, respectively. This study can serve as a scientific reference for the delimitation of the ecological conservation redline, ecological function regionalization and the construction of an ecological spatial protection pattern.

Abstract: By studying the structural characteristics and carbon storage of the mangrove island ecosystem in the 
Beibu Gulf, this study provides a scientific basis for mangrove ecological compensation in the coastal areas of 
Guangxi, South China Sea. On the basis of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing images and a sample plot 
survey, the object-oriented multi-scale segmentation algorithm is used to extract the mangrove community type information, and one-way analysis of variance is conducted to analyse the structural characteristics of the mangrove 
community. The carbon storage and carbon density of different mangrove ecosystems were obtained based on the 
allometric growth equation of mangrove plants. The analysis yielded four main results. (1) The island group covers 
about 27.10 ha, 41.32% (11.20 ha) of which represents mangrove areas. The mangrove forest is widely distributed 
in the tidal flats around the islands. (2) The main mangrove types were Aegiceras corniculatum, Kandelia obovata + 
Aegiceras corniculatum, Avicennia marina + Aegiceras corniculatum and Avicennia marina communities. (3) 
Amongst the mangrove plants, Avicennia marina had the highest biomass (18.52 kg plant–1), followed by Kandelia 
obovata (7.84 kg plant–1) and Aegiceras corniculatum (3.85 kg plant–1). (4) The mangrove carbon density difference 
was significant. Kandelia obovata had the highest carbon density (148.03 t ha–1), followed by Avicennia marina
(104.79 t ha–1) and Aegiceras corniculatum (99.24 t ha–1). The carbon storage of the mangrove island ecosystem 
was 1194.70 t, which was higher than in other areas with the same latitude. The carbon sequestration capacity of 
the mangrove was relatively strong.

With the rapid development of the digital economy, it is of great significance to explore the impact of digital technology innovation networks on regional economic resilience. Taking 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta as the example, this study used the data of digital technology innovation cooperation patents and economic and social development from 2010 to 2021, and the social network analysis method and economic resilience measurement index, to describe the temporal and spatial change characteristics of digital technology innovation networks and economic resilience in cities in the Yangtze River Delta, and empirically test the influence of the structural characteristics of digital technology innovation networks on urban economic resilience. The results show that: 1) The cooperation degree of digital technology innovation in the Yangtze River Delta was constantly increasing, and it has gradually evolved into a core-periphery structure and a cohesive subgroup structure. The economic resilience of the cities in the Yangtze River Delta has been steadily increasing through the study period, but the spatial differences were gradually increasing. 2) Degree centrality and closeness centrality of digital technology innovation networks in Yangtze River Delta cities had a significant positive effect on the promotion of urban economic resilience, while betweenness centrality had a negative impact on economic resilience. Robustness test also showed that this conclusion is valid. 3) Compared with the central cities, the digital technology innovation network in peripheral cities had a greater impact on their economic resilience, and the degree of intermediary centrality was more significant, which was quite different from that in core cities. This study is useful for clarifying the relationship between digital technology innovation networks and economic resilience, and exploring the path to enhance regional economic resilience.

This paper reviews the social background of "pole-axis system" theory and the "T-shaped" land development and economic layout framework in China, especially the objective conditions that the country cannot implement another "strategic shift" of national development priorities, and the academic contribution of economic geography serving to national strategic development, as well as some concepts, ideas, knowledge and methods to achieve this goal. According to the significance and the scholars' comments of this theory and model in national practice, this paper describes the growth course and academic responsibility of an economic geographer to inspire the academic community to uphold the rigorous attitude of seeking truth from facts to make greater contributions to the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

To accurately grasp and effectively coordinate the strategic goals of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the unprecedented global transformations in a century, while enhancing the country's cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture, and promoting the construction of a new form of human civilization, the Chinese nation objectively needs to establish a strategic space that supports the inheritance and innovation of Chinese civilization. This strategic space will serve as a cultural landmark for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization. To achieve this, we develop a construction index system for the strategic space of Chinese civilization inheritance and innovation by repeatedly examining China's regional development and historical and cultural territory. The index system comprehensively incorporates factors such as historical and cultural inheritance, rural revitalization, ethnic diversity, and ecological protection and diversity across five dimensions: history, geography, culture, society, and ecology. At the national district/county level, the strategic space for the Chinese civilization inheritance and innovation is divided into infrastructure construction area, key construction area, priority construction area, and core construction area based on the comprehensive evaluation results. The evaluation results reveal that the strategic space has formed a core area around Shaanxi and a southern core area around Guizhou. The construction conception of the strategic space for the Chinese civilization inheritance and innovation and its division provides strategic support for advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and facilitating Chinese-style modernization. Additionally, it plays a significant role in preserving the Chinese spirit and promoting rural revitalization as well as coordinated urban-rural development.

Space is a fundamental concept in geography and the traditions of geographical thought. With the continuous advancement of the information technology revolution, our understanding of space is also evolving, leading to the emergence of the concept of the space of flows. This concept has become a new perspective for understanding globalization, global cities, and the spatial organization of socioeconomic activities in the new era. This article reviewed and analyzed the proposition, evolution of the connotation, and expansion in the field of geography of the concept of space of flows. Through application cases at four different geographical scales—global, national, city, and individual—the article demonstrated the unique explanatory power of the space of flows in understanding real-world problems. The space of flows transcends the limitations of the space of places, emphasizing the importance of various "flows" in the spatial organization of urban systems and socioeconomic activities. It explores new epistemological and methodological innovations in understanding space, which is significantly essential for modern geography's innovative development. It also contributes to promoting the interdisciplinary integration of geographical science in the new era.

Implementing large-scale ecological restoration of territorial space is a key strategy for China to halt ecosystem degradation and promote ecological civilization. As a reference benchmark and target guide for ecological restoration, the reference of ecological restoration is a necessary basis for the smooth implementation of ecological restoration projects. However, there is little research focusing on the ecological restoration reference of terrestrial space. Aiming to know what is ecological restoration reference, what are its characteristics, and how to identify it, in this study we discussed the definition, the identification approach framework, and the directions of future research of ecological restoration reference of territorial space. This study suggested that the reference of ecological restoration of territorial space had three basic characteristics: comprehensiveness of indicators, two-dimensionality of space and time, and dynamic adaptability. The identification framework of ecological restoration reference of territorial space includes three major steps: comprehensive ecosystem assessment, reference ecosystem selection, and reference identification under integrated spatial and temporal dimensions. With the focus on the key issues of Nature-based Solutions, integrated protection and restoration of mountains, water, forests, lakes, grasses and sands, and social-ecological system sustainability, we highlighted that ecological restoration reference identification should place great emphasis on systemic thinking, take sustainability as the core orientation for the selection of reference indicators, and pay attention to the social-ecological system integrated perspective, so as to identify ecological restoration reference based on the social-ecological process and oriented to the comprehensive enhancement of social-ecological system sustainability. This study clearly defined the conceptual connotation and identification framework of ecological restoration reference in terrestrial space, and provided theoretical and methodological support for the orderly promotion of ecological restoration projects.

Comprehensive land consolidation is one of the territorial spatial governance tools for precise resource allocation and comprehensive pattern optimization based on regional territorial spatial planning and has both planning and engineering attributes. Exploring the connotation, system, and method of monitoring and evaluation of comprehensive land consolidation has essential theoretical and practical value for promoting standardized management of the land consolidation industry and improving the China Spatial Planning Observation Network. Focusing on the problems faced by comprehensive land consolidation monitoring and evaluation, such as the urgent need for comprehensive coverage of the time series, imperfect value orientation, and lack of support for data methods, this study analyzes the transformation process, theoretical positioning, logical framework and practical path of comprehensive land consolidation monitoring and evaluation by coupling the perspective of "multi-layer structure and whole life cycle". The results show that: (1) Comprehensive land consolidation is an important means to implement the overall territorial spatial planning and regional detailed planning, so comprehensive land consolidation monitoring and evaluation is a crucial component of the China Spatial Planning Observation Network. The monitoring and evaluation of comprehensive land consolidation is based on the experience of traditional land consolidation and has achieved adaptive transformation in evaluation objectives, objects, content, and methods. It is a comprehensive early warning and evaluation method for scientifically evaluating the effectiveness of spatial optimization and utilization. (2) Given the evolutionary trend of multi-scale and full-process implementation of comprehensive land consolidation, it can couple the multi-level structure and whole life cycle perspective to explore the construction ideas of its monitoring and evaluation system, involving the overall planning, unit planning, and program preparation levels of consolidation, and covering the pre-construction, consolidation construction, and post-construction cycles. (3) By constructing a three-level and eight-category analytical framework for monitoring and evaluating comprehensive land consolidation, each type's potential dimensions and indicators are explored, and supporting methods for data collection and system construction, weight determination and result correction, presentation form, and scenario analysis are provided. The practical paths of data, method, and management are also prospected. The research can provide theoretical and application references for local governments to carry out monitoring and evaluation of comprehensive land consolidation.

Promoting community common prosperity is an important aspect of the high-quality development of national parks and the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. This paper employs actor network theory and path dependence theory, using Shennongjia National Park as a case study, to analyze the process of community common prosperity and reveal its influence mechanism and realization pathway. The results show that: (1) The community common prosperity of Shennongjia National Park has gone through a developmental stage, evolving from "initially exploring community common prosperity based on the management system reform" to "comprehensively promoting community common prosperity based on the ecological industry system". The government and national park administration continue to play a key role, while the influence of rural elites diminishes and the role of tourism enterprises strengthens. The connection between villagers and actors deepens, and cultural tourism resources, along with ecological industries, gradually unleash stronger effects. (2) The community common prosperity of Shennongjia National Park is the result of the interplay and collaboration between human actors and non-human actors. The attributes of non-human actors are the foundation, the identification of the problem by key actors is the core, the participation of villagers in stimulating endogenous motivation is the key, and the competition of interests among heterogeneous actors is the driving force. (3) Community common prosperity of national parks is gradually strengthened along a certain path due to the influence of internal and external factors, forming a realization pathway for "generation-creation-locking-unlocking". The emergence of issues and policy opportunities trigger pathway generation; recruitment and mobilization drive pathway creation; difficult-to-reconcile disagreements lead to pathway locking; and innovative development facilitates path unlocking. It is necessary to promote the realization of community common prosperity by mastering the fundamental laws of pathway evolution, scientifically and effectively identifying problems, actively mobilizing villagers to participate in the whole process, and fostering the spirit of creativity and digital thinking. This paper provides a theoretical foundation and practical insights for the high-quality development of national parks and community common prosperity.

Sustainable development is a significant scientific issue of global concern. Geography, as a comprehensive discipline focusing on the coupled relationship between human activities and the natural environment, provides systematic research and solutions for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive reviews. This paper summarizes the theoretical framework and research progress of Geography supporting the SDGs and explores its future key research areas. This article indicates that: (1) Geography, in conducting integrated research on human-nature systems and serving regional and global sustainable development processes, has innovatively proposed and developed theoretical frameworks such as social-ecological systems, pattern-process-service-sustainability, metacoupling, and Classification-Coordination-Collaboration. These research frameworks include elements of human-environment system interconnections, process coupling, spatial coupling, and systematic regulation oriented towards SDGs, forming a comprehensive theoretical framework supporting sustainable development research in Geography, also referred to as "sustainable geography theoretical framework". (2) Geography has made positive progress in supporting the United Nations SDGs research in areas such as multi-source data acquisition, localization of indicator systems and multi-scale progress assessment, analysis of inter-target linkage mechanisms, and SDG achievement pathways. Geography provides important theoretical and methodological support for SDG research. (3) Geography and sustainable development-related research mainly focus on climate-ecological crisis response, sustainable utilization of food-energy-water resources, regional development and planning, human well-being and social governance, and the construction of SDG assessment indicators and databases. (4) In future research, there is a need to innovate and develop sub-disciplines of Sustainable Geography, optimize the construction of SDGs indicator systems, develop SDGs assessment and decision-making models, strengthen artificial intelligence geography, deepen research on human-nature system coupling, and promote regional and global sustainable development in the process of advancing innovation in the discipline of Geography.

The physical geography and hydroclimatic conditions in the arid region of in northwestern China leading to diverse flood-generation mechanisms. Under the influence of global and regional climate change, the spatiotemporal variation of floods and flood-generation mechanism in this region is still unclear and restricts flood prevention and mitigation and the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative in the major regions. Based on the series of the annual maximum flood peak discharge in 58 river basins in the study area from 1961 to 2017, we analyzed and revealed the mechanisms, spatial distribution and interannual variation characteristics of flood in the basin in the past 60 years based on statistical tests and machine learning approaches. The results show that the frequency of extreme floods and the annual maximum flood peak discharge magnitude are increasing, with the maximum increase in the frequency of extreme floods at about 0.84 times/10 years, and the maximum increase in the annual maximum flood peak discharge magnitude at about 29%/10 years compared with the multi-year average, and the largest increase is mainly observed in the eastern Tianshan Mountains and the Qilian Mountains. There are three main flood generation mechanisms, i.e., rain (R), snow (S) and mix (M), the frequency of R and M floods increased significantly, while the frequency of S floods decreased. The contribution of flood mechanisms transformation to the increase of annual maximum flood peak discharge magnitude can reach up to 38%, which is significantly higher than the contribution of a single hydrometeorological factor such as precipitation. The results of this study emphasize the importance of attributing and predicting the changes of flood characteristics in geographically complex region from the perspective of flood mechanisms. Engineering hydrological design in the changing environment also needs to consider the influence of the heterogeneity of flood samples caused by different flood mechanisms on the flood frequency analysis, so as to provide scientific support for flood risk management and response in the basin.

The integrated consolidation of resources within human-environment systems can effectively promote the scientific establishment of resource spatial configurations in courtyards, facilitating regional ecological and economic development. With the intensification of population aging and decline, China, as a large traditional agricultural country, is likely to see most rural living spaces returning to traditional courtyard-style structures in the future. Therefore, based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and the resource metabolism theory, we explored the development scenarios of rural courtyards in China in the future. We also applied the resource metabolism analytical framework with the fundamental characteristics of the micro-geographical, economic, social, and industrial systems of courtyards, systematically analyzing the spatial configuration and flow patterns of courtyard resources. By comprehensively considering the multi-level needs of rural residents in the future, we established a conceptual model of courtyard resource spatial evolution based on an improved version of Maslow's theory, a panoramic resource flow model for courtyards under spatial compound structures, an evaluation indicator system of courtyard resource metabolism, and a future-oriented research framework for resource metabolism in rural courtyards, which systematically elucidated the scientific relationship between courtyard resource metabolism research and spatial function and regional policy. We innovatively put forward the scientific basis and research framework of resource metabolism with independent courtyards as the research object, evaluated the flow pattern of resources in the courtyard from the micro-scale, which is helpful for accurately identifying the optimal allocation path of resources in the region, so that the allocation of resources, ecological benefits, economic benefits, social benefits, and residents' emotional benefits can be maximized. It provides a scientific support for the global integration and diversified value-added of courtyard resources, provides an efficient guidance for the development decision making of rural areas, and promotes the sustainable development of rural human settlements.

Urban, agricultural, and ecological spaces, collectively referred to as the "three types of space," are central elements in China's Territorial and Spatial Planning reforms. These spaces are crucial in bridging the National Main Functional Area Planning and regional coordinated development strategies at a higher level and in guiding land-use control at a lower level. The Pearl River Basin is one of China's most important economic development regions. This basin serves as a crucial region for the case study of evolution of the "three types of space." Understanding this evolution is critical for aligning regional land use with national strategic objectives and optimizing the coordinated development of these spatial elements. Using the National Main Functional Area Planning strategy as a starting point, this study applied a cross-conversion matrix and a multiscale geographically weighted regression model to analyze the evolution characteristics and driving mechanisms of the "three types of spaces" in the Pearl River Basin from 1990 to 2020. Three main results were obtained. First, over the past 30 years, urban space in the Pearl River Basin has expanded considerably, ecological space has slightly increased, but agricultural space has significantly decreased, with marked spatial differences in the evolution of the "three types of spaces" across the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the basin. Agricultural space has fully decreased across all reaches, converting to urban space in the lower reaches and reverting to ecological space in the upper and middle reaches. Second, within different national functional zones, urban space growth is most pronounced in urbanized areas, ecological space recovery is significant in ecological functional zones, and agricultural space has remarkably decreased in major agricultural production areas. Third, the driving factors for the different evolution directions of the "three types of spaces" in the Pearl River Basin vary. Industrial development has significantly driven the expansion of urban spaces, whereas ecological protection policies have effectively promoted the restoration of ecological spaces in key ecological areas. These findings effectively reveal the land-use evolution process in China's socioeconomic development regions over the past 40 years, highlight the risks and influencing factors of rapid urban space development and ecological space threats, and provide an important reference for optimizing land-use patterns in similar key regions of China.

It is a common geographical phenomenon that the birthplaces of talented individuals tend to cluster; however, this has not been fully explored in human geography. Existing studies primarily focus on the spatial mobility of talents after their development, overlooking the influence of the environment in which they grow up. Based on cultural capital theory, this paper examines Chinese pop singers by analyzing their birthplaces and their relationship with local cultural capital. Using GIS methods, such as kernel density analysis, the study visualizes the spatial clustering characteristics of Chinese pop singers and explores the factors influencing the spatial distribution of their birthplaces through a negative binomial regression model. The findings suggest that: 1) The birthplaces of Chinese pop singers exhibit a multi-core spatial structure, with Taiwan, Beijing, and Sichuan as the epicenters. "Beijing-Hong Kong" serves as the main destination for established pop singers, followed by "Shanghai-Chengdu-Taipei". Notably, underdeveloped western regions, such as Xi'an, Urumqi, and Kunming, also show an advantage in nurturing Chinese-speaking pop singers. 2) The spatial distribution of Chinese pop singers' birthplaces differs from China's regional economic development patterns. Regions rich in cultural capital, such as Sichuan and Northeast China, are relatively prolific in producing pop singers. The number of Chinese pop singers from new first- and second-tier cities like Chengdu, Chongqing, Shenyang, and Harbin exceed that of the first-tier city of Guangzhou. The study shows that cultural capital factors have a significant positive impact on the distribution of Chinese pop singers. The rich cultural capital and favorable local music culture have fostered a long-standing music tradition, providing a supportive environment for pop singers. For example, Sichuan, with its rich folk music heritage, such as Sichuan Qingyin, Xiling Mountain Songs, and Dongjing Music, has also established China's first popular music college. 3) The increase in local cultural capital can benefit the growth and cultivation of Chinese pop singers, although the significance varies by type of cultural capital. Educational and cultural capital, on the one hand, enhances singers' musical creativity by embodying cultural capital, shaping habits, cultivating music aesthetics, and acquiring skills; on the other hand, it inspires young students' interest in music. Geographical and environmental factors serve as sources of artistic inspiration for cultural products and create a melting pot for diverse ethnic cultures. The factors of music industrialization reflect the specialization of local music industry networks, such as discovering and cultivating new musical talents and promoting music collaboration and production. This study provides a comprehensive empirical analysis of the role of local cultural capital in cultivating creative talents and offers constructive suggestions for enhancing regional cultural industry strategies.

Currently, global uncertainties and instabilities are increasing significantly. Therefore, research on the evolution of urban industrial network resilience is essential for strengthening the ability of urban industries to withstand major events. This study constructs a network of firms using data on corporate headquarters and branches in Dongguan registered between 1979 and 2020. It analyzes the evolution of urban industry network resilience through interruption simulations and complex network invulnerability. The study empirically examines the resilience of Dongguan's industrial network, focusing on single-node resilience, overall network resilience, and regional network resilience. The results indicate the following: (1) In the single-node simulation attack of the Dongguan industrial network, the impact of urban core nodes on network resilience gradually weakens. The differences between urban core nodes and general town nodes continue to diminish, and the network's resistance to single-node disruptions tends to stabilize. (2) Compared to random attacks, deliberate attacks can cause networks to collapse faster. However, as Dongguan's industrial networks evolved toward a multi-center structure, the impact of targeted attacks on network resilience gradually decreased. (3) The resilience of Dongguan's industrial network to Shenzhen is lower than that to Guangzhou. However, the strength of enterprises inside and outside the city tends to balance, and the resilience level of the regional network is gradually stabilizing. (4) Overall, the evolution of industrial network resilience in Dongguan is characterized by a shift from a single-center network with a low level of resilience to a multi-center network with a higher level of resilience. The innovation of this research lies in two key areas: First, it provides valuable contributions to related research on urban network resilience and industrial resilience by introducing the concepts and methods of interruption simulation and complex network invulnerability. Second, by conducting a long-term, continuous analysis of network resilience, this study explores the evolution of network resilience from a dynamic perspective, offering a fresh viewpoint for existing static network resilience studies. Therefore, based on this research, the study suggests that constructing a multi-centric development structure and strengthening coordination among industries at various nodes can effectively improve the resilience level of the industrial network. Meanwhile, it is important to focus on balancing internal and external forces in the development of urban industries to avoid excessive interference from external industries on local urban industries.

Ecological protection and restoration of territorial space is a national strategy aimed at safeguarding China's ecological security and enhancing people's well-being in the new era of ecological civilization. Establishing a legal framework for ecological protection and restoration of territorial space is a key strategic requirement for China to build the "multiple pillars" of ecological civilization. However, the legal provisions related to ecological protection and restoration are currently dispersed across various environmental laws and basic environmental legislation, making it difficult to provide robust support for the construction of a comprehensive legal system for ecological protection and restoration of territorial space. This study employs a textual analysis to systematically review the history of China's ecological protection and restoration legislation since 1978, tracing the evolution of relevant environmental laws, revealing the legislative foundations for the protection and restoration of national land space, and offering critical insights and references for building a legal framework that promotes integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, waters, forests, fields, lakes, grasses, and sands in the new era. The evolution of legal themes related to ecological protection and restoration of territorial space in China has undergone three stages: natural resource management and utilization (1978‒2011), single-element protection (2012‒2017), and barrier zone ecological protection and restoration (2018‒2023), marking three levels of transformation. From the perspective of legislative objectives, the focus has shifted from legislation concerning individual natural resources elements, such as mountains, water, forests, grasses, and seas, to comprehensive legislation targeting key regional ecosystems. In terms of legislative goals, the shift has been from single-element governance aimed at singular objectives to multi-objective, synergistic protection and restoration of mountains, water, forests, fields, lakes, grasses, sands, and more, through an integrated approach. Additionally, the legislative framework has transitioned from managing natural resources to managing integrated ecosystems. These changes and innovations have laid a foundation for China to establish a legal system for ecological protection and restoration of territorial space, focused on integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, water, forests, fields, lakes, grasses, and sands in the new era. However, challenges remain, such as the absence of legal norms to implement the new concepts and approaches, unclear departmental responsibilities, and insufficient public participation mechanisms. Moving forward, it is essential to fully implement the ecosystem approach, develop a management system with centralized jurisdiction, joint coordination, and step-by-step refinement centered on the "two unified" responsibilities of the natural resources departments, and deepen legislation to enhance public participation. Additionally, leveraging the combined expertise of multiple disciplines and fields will support legislative research and practical exploration, leading to the comprehensive establishment of a legal system for the ecological protection and restoration of territorial space.

The development of urbanization has fostered the rise of instrumental rationality and the decline of value rationality, leading to a diminishing sense of belonging among individuals in fast-paced urban life. As a result, rurality has become a core attraction for rural tourists. Research on rurality has emerged as a key topic in the fields of rural geography and rural tourism. However, relatively little research has focused on how to realize micro-level human-land interactions and achieve a subjective understanding of rurality in rural tourism destinations from a cognitive perspective. Schema theory offers a framework to explore this issue. Amid the confrontation and integration of modernity and provinciality, the rurality of rural World Heritage sites, by preserving the integrity and authenticity of traditional rural social structures, enhances tourists' local attachment and local experiences. This paper uses Hongcun, a rural World Heritage site, as a case study, introducing schema theory to explore the cognitive schema of rurality and its generation mechanism among tourists by conducting a grounded theory analysis of travel notes on Ctrip. Through open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, a model of rurality cognitive schema and its generation mechanism was constructed. The findings are as follows: 1) Tourists acquire a concrete schema of rurality through embodied experiences and behavioral interactions, which resonate with and enrich their existing schemas, facilitating schema integration across time and space; 2) The existing schema, shaped by cultural background and individual experience, serves as the foundation for tourists to form cognitive schemas. The local characteristics of traditional Chinese rural society and the traditional culture passed down through generations are embedded in individuals' existing schemas. Tourists' existing schemas interact with the rural tourism environment, engaging in both top-down and bottom-up cognitive processing through anticipation contrast, uniqueness contrast, feature association, and cross-temporal imagination. 3) The rural cognitive schema consists of four sub-schemas: the natural ecological schema, life schema, cultural schema, and place atmosphere schema. The natural ecological schema emphasizes tourists' perception of the interplay between rural nature and humanity. The life schema pertains to daily life scenes observed at the tourist destination, while the cultural schema refers to the local culture formed through the development and evolution of the destination. The place atmosphere schema captures the abstract perception and impression of the destination, formed through the interaction between tourists' embodied experiences and their existing schemas. The natural ecological schema provides the spatial foundation for both the life and cultural schemas, while the latter two exert external influences on the natural ecological schema, helping shape the rural area's natural and humanistic characteristics. The cultural schema informs and regulates the life schema, while the life schema simultaneously practices and reshapes the cultural schema. Together, these schemas, along with the place atmosphere schema, form a comprehensive cognitive network of rural nature. This study is significant for deepening the understanding of the connotation and formation mechanism of rurality, exploring human-local interaction from a microscopic perspective, and offering theoretical and practical guidance for the development of rural tourism through the mining of rurality and culture.

With the rapid advancement of science and technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a significant force driving scientific development and social progress. In the field of geographical sciences, the application of AI technology is deepening, bringing revolutionary changes to the collection, analysis, and application of big data and spatio-temporal information, and demonstrating innovative and application potential in multiple aspects. This paper systematically reviews the development and application of AI in geographical sciences, providing a detailed introduction to the development trajectories of various AI fields such as machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, planning systems, and large AI models, as well as their applications in geography. It discusses the problems and challenges of AI applications in geography and provides an outlook on the future development of interdisciplinary research between AI and geographical sciences.

Metropolitan areas are pivotal in driving national economic growth, advancing harmonious regional development, and participating in competitive international collaboration. Consistent with international consensus, China's planning policies define metropolitan areas as a one-hour commuting circle. Simultaneously, these planning protocols particularly highlight the importance of industrial specialization and intercity collaboration, with the objective of developing modern urban agglomerations characterized by a well-defined spatial structure, complementary urban functions, and an integrated industrial division. This study uses the 2017 intercity input-output table analysis to examine patterns of industrial division and functional synergy in Chinese metropolitan areas. The findings are as follows: (1) From the perspective of industrial division and functional synergy, Chinese metropolitan areas can be categorized into four distinct spatial structures: the single-center dispersed structure, the core-periphery structure, the peripheral expansion structure, and the multi-center network structure representing an advanced phase in the spatial evolution of metropolitan areas. (2) The spatial network of industrial chains in Chinese metropolitan areas is predominantly governed by the flow of processing and manufacturing links. There is a substantial gap in the processing and manufacturing links between the Beijing and Tianjin metropolitan areas compared to similar types of metropolitan areas, and there is considerable potential for enhancing the productive service links in the Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan metropolitan areas. (3) The essence of transforming Chinese metropolitan areas into functionally complementary industrial cooperation areas is to further refine the spatial network of the industrial chains, strengthen functional synergy between cities, and encourage spatial integration in the metropolitan areas. (4) Single-center dispersed structure metropolitan areas, including Shijiazhuang, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan should initially transition toward a core-periphery structure. In contrast, peripheral expansion structure metropolitan areas such as Nanjing and Hangzhou metropolitan areas, and core-periphery structure urban agglomerations such as Tianjin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Beijing metropolitan areas should progress toward a multi-center network structure.

New quality productive forces are key factors for the national development strategy, important powers to promote the deep integration of the digital economy and real economy, and the new dynamic energies for the development of the cultural tourism industry. New quality productive forces of the cultural tourism industry are the key forces to crack the dilemma of traditional cultural tourism development and enhance the resilience of the cultural tourism industry. There is a great need to build a research framework for digital cultural tourism based on the new round of technological revolution and industrial change. This study took connotation analysis-research progress-hot topics as the logical framework, and systematically examined and summarized the research results of digital cultural tourism from the aspects of conceptualization, development, hot topics, review, and prospect. The results show that: 1) Studies have defined the basic concept of digital cultural tourism from the perspective of digital technology, cultural tourism consumption, and cultural tourism industrialization, and digital cultural tourism has positively contributed to the high-quality development of cultural tourism and cultural tourism consumption experience. 2) The development of digital cultural tourism has gone through three phases of budding exploration, initial development, and explosive growth, and academic research and industrial practice have maintained a close connection. 3) The new generation of digital technologies has profoundly influenced the research content of digital cultural tourism, and the research results of digital cultural tourism are summarized based on subject-object-medium. 4) Digital cultural tourism research presents the development trend of combining qualitative and quantitative research methods, and mathematical and statistical methods, questionnaire survey, experiment, and case study are the main methods of digital cultural tourism research. 5) The study areas are often meso and micro scales, involving specific regions, cultural heritage sites, and tourist attractions. Finally, this study provides a prospect for the future of digital cultural tourism research from strengthening theoretical research, enriching research content, expanding research areas, and innovating research methods. The results contribute to enriching the theoretical system of digital cultural tourism research, promoting the high-quality development of digital cultural tourism, and implementing the digital China strategy.

Concession is of great significance for the construction of China's national park system, and systematic research on community concession is of great value. Based on typical practice cases at home and abroad, the study employs methods such as multi-case comparison to conduct a logical analysis of community concession practices and model comparison. The results indicate that: (1) The practical logic of community concession shows strong consistency. The goal logic is to balance the protection of national parks with community autonomous development by empowering community management. The subject logic is to appoint communities with high stakes in the national parks as concessionaires. The granting logic is non-competitive targeted concession, and the business logic involves the participation and assistance of multiple parties, with both one-level and two-level concession structure coexisting. (2) Community concession differs significantly from non-community concession in terms of guiding philosophy, concession objectives, granting methods, concession structures and support mechanisms, representing a new model of national park concession. Finally, policy recommendations are put forward from the aspects of establishing the top-level design of community concession, strengthening the management system of community concession, and improving the assistance mechanism of community concession.

What governance model can be adopted to better enhance the ecological, social and economic effectiveness of nature reserve governance? Few studies have conducted quantitative comparative analyses based on the community perception perspective. Based on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, 17 communities within and around the Giant Panda National Park were selected. Differences in community perception of State-led, co-managed, and community-based and other elements affecting community residents' perceptions of effectiveness will be compared, by means of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, one-way ANOVA, and stepwise regression analysis. Our study found that: (1) Community residents have the most positive perceptions of the ecological effectiveness of the Giant Panda National Park and the most negative perceptions of the economic effectiveness. (2) The community-based model has the best performance in the three dimensions, while State-led conservation has the second best performance in the ecological and social dimensions, and co-managed model has the second best performance in the economic dimensions. (3) The community residents' perceptions of the effectiveness of the Giant Panda National Park are affected by the combination of the natural geographic conditions, economic and social attributes, and other factors.We point out that all types of governance models have their advantages and disadvantages, and community-based governance is not a "panacea" for all public pond resource problems. Therefore, it is advocated to carry out local adaptation of the selection of nature reserve governance models. The study expands the application scenarios of the IAD framework, deepens the theoretical understanding of nature reserve governance models, and provides empirical insights for community coordination of nature reserves in China.

The green transformation in agricultural production is an important research topic in the field of agricultural sustainable development. Based on the concept of agricultural green development and theoretical analysis in terms of the transformation path, this paper aims to examine the major processes of the agricultural green development practices and assess the effects in reducing chemical products input and increasing agricultural output within the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) in the past 20 years in combination of the methods of literature investigation, semi-structural interviews, questionnaire analysis and decoupling analysis. The results show that since 2015 the provincial-level regions within the YREB issued a set of policies related to the agricultural green development actions, which encouraged the farmers to replace the traditional chemical fertilizer with alternative and organic fertilizer, prevent and control the devastations caused by the diseases, insects and herbs with ecological measures, and reuse the agricultural residues in order to reduce the consumption of chemical fertilizer and pesticides and herbicides in agricultural production. Compared to the other regions in China, the YREB has a five-year lead in terms of achieving the great aims of zero growth and reduction of pesticide and chemical fertilizer use in agricultural production. Nevertheless, the current chemical fertilizer and pesticide usage intensity in the YREB is still more than two times the international average level. Although the chemical fertilizer and pesticide usage intensity in the downstream areas of the Yangtze River is much higher than that in the upstream areas due to the differentiation in terms of multiple crop index and agricultural output density, the chemical fertilizer and pesticide usage intensity appears to gradually disconnect with the multiple crop index and agricultural output density because of the wide application of new technologies for agricultural green development. However, the ongoing agricultural green development agenda within the studu area still faces challenges, including the rising costs in upgrading the production technology and agricultural machinery and equipment and the severe difficulty in overcoming ageing issues and introducing or fostering young talents in agricultural sector.

As one of the important subsystems of the global carbon system, the land use system plays a pivotal role in achieving global carbon neutrality. Based on the theoretical analysis and inductive deduction, this paper establishes a theoretical analysis framework for the carbon effect of the land use system from a social-ecological perspective. It summarizes the research history of the carbon effect of the land use system, basic measurement methods, and simulation prediction method systems. Additionally, it initially establishes an optimized path and toolbox for carbon neutrality in the land use system. Currently, basic research on measuring carbon emissions and carbon sequestration in the land use system has matured, and the research focus has shifted from basic research to comprehensive exploration of influencing factors, quantitative prediction and simulation of carbon emission reduction and sequestration enhancement, and carbon neutrality path research. However, several challenges remain: the lack of regional correction for equivalent coefficients in basic carbon emissions and sequestration measurements; the omission of governance dimensions in the theoretical analysis framework, leading to a dearth of collaborative governance scenario simulation studies for optimizing the carbon effect of the land use system among different stakeholders; and the absence of cost-benefit analysis in carbon effect scenario simulations, etc. In the future, more attention should be given to deepen the research on the complex system theoretical framework and perspective of the carbon effect of the land use system, strengthen the research on the governance mechanism and path of the carbon effect of the land use system, and expand the research on the synergistic path of carbon neutrality of the land use system, etc., which will provide theoretical support and practical reference for optimization of national land space in the context of the dual carbon goals.