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This chapter summarizes the theoretical perspectives and empirical studies in the volume and draws up some final conclusions. The methodology is meta-analysis of the chapters in the volume. The main conclusions are that ordinary citizens, professionals, and administrators alike generally are willing to reform urban and rural-urban policy into a more sustainable direction but that the affected political and governance systems have difficulties in responding to this. The editors’ advice is to further develop collaborative governance involving a broad range of stakeholders and perhaps also to start using the wide range of economic incentives available to decision-makers today to further a more sustainable development in rural-urban catchments. We hope that this concluding analysis will feed the debate on these critical issues.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of rural-urban income gap on agricultural growth in China and its dynamics over time and across regions since reform and opening up.

Two types of indices are constructed to measure the rural-urban income gap: the intra-provincial index and the inter-provincial index. A provincial panel data from 1978 to 2010 and growth accounting method are used to estimate the size of the adverse effect of rural-urban income gap on agricultural growth in China.

The empirical results show that both indices of rural-urban income gaps are negatively associated with agriculture output, but the inter-provincial rural-urban income gap produces a larger adverse effect than the intra-provincial rural-urban income gap. Growth accounting analysis further shows that such adverse effects are decreasing over time and are larger in the central provinces. The results represent resource diversion effects of rural-urban income gap on agriculture.

This paper bridges the gap in existing literature on the relationship between sectoral income gaps and agricultural growth, which confirms Schultz's argument that agricultural activities are efficient even in developing countries and the rural resources diverted out by income gap are not surplus. The results imply that equalized rural-urban and regional policies are required to maintain sustainable agricultural growth in China.

In this final chapter, we explore the ever-evolving 21st century landscape where ethics drive community development toward resilience and progress. Drawing inspiration from the subheadings mapping our journey, we traverse international case studies spanning Canada, Brazil, Sweden, Kenya, China, Australia, Antarctica, and India. Through these global insights, we uncover the impacts of dynamic forces on communities worldwide, navigating ethical dilemmas and opportunities. We present strategies tailored to diverse continent-specific needs, explore inclusive governance models, and highlight the transformative power of ethical engagement. This journey underscores the vital role of resilience and concludes with a global call to embrace ethical approaches for inclusive community development and a sustainable future.

This paper aims to develop an empirical understanding of the local identity changes of Chiang Mai heritage city from residents’ perspectives from when the city was pushed forward to inscription on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites during a period of transformation in tourism development. The indicative themes of identity change are proposed in a conceptualised model of the multiple stages of identity change in transformational tourism development.

This study applied the qualitative approach to gain insight on local residents in Chiang Mai. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with local residents who underwent transformational experiences with the city, including life-changing tourism experiences with mixtures of senior citizens who were born in the city, migrants and local experts. Site observations and secondary data supplemented the interviews were used in triangulation with identity changes during the transformational tourism period.

This study’s findings revealed identity changes in locals’ way of life regarding tradition and culture and the increased urbanisation. The indicative themes that caused local identity changes included tourism demand, national policy and new critical emerging issues of capitalism and education are underlined. The way of life in local community transition, tradition and culture has been distorted by effective destination marketing, However, the positive perspectives of identity changes were explored in this study.

This study fills a research gap, given that few scholars (Gu and Ryan, 2007; Lean, 2009; Lemmi et al., 2018; Reisinger, 2015; Robledo and Batle, 2017; Willson et al., 2013; Xue et al., 2017) have conducted in-depth studies on identity change problems that are caused by rural to urban transformational tourism development.

The paper is a synthesis of the 2017 Global Food Policy Report, and the purpose of this paper is to put into perspective the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2016 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2017.

The paper presents an overview of recent changes in the global context for food security and nutrition, and synthesizes research findings on major issues that arise in an urbanizing world. Based on its findings, the authors present policy recommendations and areas for future research for food security and nutrition.

Urbanization is linked with dietary changes to more energy-dense diets, and, the triple burden of malnutrition is increasing, particularly in rapidly urbanizing developing countries. Rural-urban linkages are key to improving food security and nutrition in both rural and urban areas, and traditional agricultural value chains linking farms to cities are undergoing a “quiet revolution.” Governance to enhance food security in the context of rapid urbanization faces various challenges in the institutional, administrative, and political realms, especially for the informal economy in developing countries. To address the unique challenges of urbanization, policies will need to create enabling environments, promote efficient and inclusive value chains, improve governance, and promote tailored programs. Research gaps that need to be filled include better, updated, and disaggregated data on food security and nutrition, as well as an enhanced understanding of enabling environments.

The paper highlights the increasingly relevant issue of rapid urbanization, especially in developing countries, for food security and nutrition, and synthesizes recent research in this area.

In urban planning, peri-urban areas are often addressed with an urban-centric view on development, disregarding the multifunctional and dynamic opportunities that these spaces offer. As a consequence, we argue that land use functions such as agriculture do not reach their full potential, despite the increasing enthusiasm for peri-urban and urban agriculture. This chapter has a twofold structure: first it explores the opportunities and challenges for agriculture in peri-urban areas; and second, it studies success factors for envisioning processes promoting peri-urban agriculture in urban policy and planning.

Through action research, we gather and compare data from two envisioning processes in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Kortrijk. Both processes were initiated by the local authorities, with the purpose of developing a spatial vision for agriculture in peri-urban areas.

Results show that in both contexts, pressure on farmland is a key issue. In addition, we highlight that multifunctionality is rather complex, both in practice and from a governance perspective, but nevertheless promising as a territorial concept in envisioning processes. Regarding the envisioning process itself, the analysis shows that clarity and consensus on the objectives of the process, delineation of the study area, policy support, clear leadership, and inserting sound and reliable data into the process are important success factors.

This chapter provides insight into the visions, plans and strategies needed to embrace the potential of agriculture in peri-urban areas, through the exploration and valuation of participatory envisioning processes. Future research is needed to explore the implementation phases of envisioning processes in urban planning.

This chapter aims to analyse the evolution of competing paradigms and theoretical frameworks that have pervaded the debates on the present and future of agricultural and food systems and their associated rural areas. From this global overview, we will extract common features of paradigms that are being reproduced over time as well as highlight the innovations introduced. Particular attention will be paid to discuss the responses and contributions inspired by European Mediterranean-based research, setting up the framework that underlines the subsequent chapters of the volume.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Chinese municipal infrastructure management using urban landscape design smart technologies and to propose an adaptive approach to introduce the best policy and architectural sustainable planning in the country.

The topic of urban environment design is deemed significant as no universal model for the implementation of landscape design ideas in China have been proposed yet.

The study presents the authors' socioeconomic and socio-ecological vision of the strategies closely related to sustainable development concept. Besides, the paper provides a comparative analysis of the developed vision and other studies' approaches to determining Chinese cities' readiness for the implementation of smart services, architectural and territorial planning in conformity with the laws of nature. The study uncovered the main directions and residents' preferences for the introduction of urban environment design technologies in the cities of China for sustainable management of territories.

Step-by-step recommendations were developed for municipal infrastructure management. The article proposes directions for sustainable architectural planning and urban landscape design in compliance with the principle of harmonious human–nature coexistence and environmental safety.