In the context of China's legislation of "ecological civilization", concepts like "ecology", "green" and "low carbon" have become basic requirements for all urban construction projects by the Chinese government. The construction of most new eco-cities is led by local governments. Because of their large scale, long construction period and the investment required, many new eco-cities lack strong financial support from local governments and have to rely on private enterprises. Local governments have shifted the task of solving the environmental problems of the new eco-cities, which are necessary to achieve ecological goals, to private enterprises. Based on the requirements of national policies and the economic interests of private enterprises, these private enterprises had to deal with the contradiction between environmental challenges and economic interests in the early planning stage of new eco-cities. There is relatively little research on private enterprise-led new eco-cities, and there are no suitable working approaches to help private enterprises resolve this contradiction. This paper takes a new eco-city, Zhongshan New City of the developer company China Fortune Land Development (CFLD), as the research object, proposes an Ideal Collaboration Model with the theoretical support of social capital theory. Then, the model is modified by comparing it with the actions of stakeholders in solving environmental problems in practice. The findings show that the modified ideal model can be used as a working approach for solving complex problems, to perfect the process of eco-planning and to facilitate the collaboration of various stakeholders in order to reduce the environmental damage caused by the development of new cities and to avoid future economic losses for the developers. However, public participation seems hard to realize in the early planning stages of the development of new eco-cities.

The scientific objective of this study is to analyse and compare the convergence, divergence, or stagnation of selected regional labour markets indicators in the European Union, employing beta and sigma convergence concepts and the convergence club approach. By analysing seven labour market indicators from the Regional Competitiveness Index, we uncover a complex and heterogeneous landscape of labour market dynamics. Significant beta convergence is observed in three of the seven indicators, while the remaining four display stagnation. However, sigma convergence is not detected in any of the indicators; instead, two show divergence and five exhibit stagnation. Recognizing that these mixed results may stem from the fact that regions belong to distinct “convergence clubs” shaped by path dependency, we separately analyse post-socialist and capitalist regions. The convergence club approach proves useful in interpreting these varied patterns of convergence, divergence and stagnation in EU regional labour markets. Our findings suggest that while certain regions are converging on specific labour market indicators (e.g. gender balance in unemployment, long-term unemployment), others, particularly in terms of overall unemployment rates and labour productivity, are diverging. This underscores the high degree of heterogeneity within EU regional labour markets, driven by structural, institutional and historical factors. The study highlights that labour market convergence is not an automatic process but one that necessitates strategic, long-term interventions. Policy responses must be tailored and sensitive to the unique circumstances and historical trajectories of each region, aiming not only to reduce immediate disparities but to foster sustainable development that aligns with the overarching goals of economic convergence across the European Union.

Internet access in China has sharply increased, but the potential effect of internet access on rural households’ income and inequality in developing countries could be more complex. To fill in this gap, this study uses data from the China Family Panel Survey in 2014, 2016 and 2018 to examine the impact of internet access on rural households’ income. Ordinary least squares and instrument variable regression results reveal that internet access is correlated with increasing rural households’ income, and this effect among wealthy rural households is smaller than that among poor households. The mechanism analysis reveals that internet access increases labour supply and the probability of working in secondary industry. In addition, internet access changes rural residents’ subjective assessment of employment and social security, and internet access related to learning, working, social interaction, entertainment and business positively affects income. Furthermore, internet access has a larger effect for small families. Finally, the impact of internet access does not change across regional disparities. Our findings indicate that improving rural internet infrastructure, reducing the cost of internet usage and guiding rural households to use the internet can help enhance internet access among rural households, subsequently increasing households’ income.

What contributes to innovation quantity and quality in a given geographic space? This paper provides a novel perspective by exploring the effect of civil organizations. A straightforward framework is constructed to understand the institutional context of government behaviors in China. Using regional data from 2010 to 2022, this paper discovers that civil organizations positively correlated with innovation output. Notably, Olson organizations prove to be more predictive of patent output compared to Putnam organizations. Moreover, significant impacts are observed in the domain of low-quality patents, such as utility models and design patents. Additionally, Olson organizations exhibit a positive impact on green innovation. With firm-level data, this paper finds limited evidence supporting the role of local exchange of ideas and knowledge. The promoting effect of civil organizations on innovation appears to stem from the "favor exchange mechanism" rather than the "knowledge sharing mechanism."

For decades, China's urbanization has primarily involved trans-regional migration from inland areas to major city regions along the coast or within the interior. As urban-rural disparities diminish, China has transitioned to intra-regional urbanization. However, there remains a gap in understanding the effects of this transition of urban-rural relations within China. This study focuses on counties as the fundamental research unit, examining net migration of the Huang-Huai-Hai Area. The spatial differentiation and its influencing factors were analyzed using ArcGIS and linear regression techniques. The results indicated a shift in the net migration trend of counties' populations in the Huang-Huai-Hai Area around 2010. The phenomenon of “counterurbanization” after 2010 changed the underlying rationale for population net migration. Counties' net migration was affected by both their relationship with cities and internal county factors. The close connection with cities promoted population growth in the counties. In-situ urbanization was vital for county development. The industrial structural adjustments were pivotal in population retention. The healthcare and education resources affected the migration patterns. The “counterurbanization” in this area could create new urban-rural dynamics. The revitalization of county populations meant significant implications for rural revitalization. This study, which is one of the first studies ever of the phenomenon of counterurbanization in a developing country, can provide insights for the development of integrated urban-rural areas and rural revitalization efforts.

Through a mixed methods approach, this paper explores how coworking as a phenomenon manifests itself in Sweden, and, using the foundations of agglomeration economy theory as a lens, discusses what impact the occurrence of coworking spaces might have on local and regional development in Sweden's rural regions.Our findings show that the occurrence of coworking providers in Sweden is much more widespread than previously known, as there are far more spaces than popular aggregation sites suggest -our study found that for Sweden they only show 14-18 percent of the actual number of spaces available. In our interviews with members and owners, we used Duranton and Puga's (2004) pillars for agglomeration as a sorting mechanism, which showed that sentiments that fit the themes "matching", "sharing" and "learning" crop up frequently when respondents explain their experiences. There is reason to go forward from this first, small study to explore how agglomeration economies at the micro level may influence surrounding society and regional economic growth in rural regions.We argue that the emergence of these spaces in rural regions might be a factor in the development of local economies by enabling agglomeration economies at the micro level. We also make the suggestion that gaining accurate information about the number and characteristics of coworking spaces in rural regions will allow for better informed policy decisions and labor market legislation when it comes to regional development.

Based on the concept of teleworkability, its sluggish determinants of industry structure and workplace culture, and the change in people’s valuation of rural amenities that happened during the pandemic, this paper analyzes their possible influence on counterurbanization during the pandemic in Sweden and Slovenia. We found signs of open (migration) as well as “hidden” counterurbanization (unregistered rural living) in both countries, stronger in Sweden than in Slovenia, and we found indications that industrial structure and national workplace cultures contributed to differences in the strength of the counterurbanization. In both countries, we found indications that the pandemic contributed to a shift in people’s relative valuation of rural vs. urban amenities. Thus, while the sluggish factors contributed to differences in teleworkability between Sweden and Slovenia, the chock implied similar reactions in the shift of the valuation of amenities. Ever since the counterurbanization of the 1970s, studies of the phenomenon have almost solely been completed within countries, and the few international comparisons that have been completed have been based on comparing the results of the national studies. This study is one of the very first ones that compares counterurbanization and its driving forces in two countries within the same analytical framework.

This study investigates the relationship between social capital and small business entrepreneurship in China. Unlike previous studies that focus solely on rural or urban residents, this paper pays more attention to the differences between them. According to our study, social capital has both positive and negative impacts on small business entrepreneurship. Based on the data drawn from China General Social Survey, we find that the impact of social capital differs significantly between rural and urban areas. In rural China, residents who have higher social capital tend to have entrepreneurial behaviors, while higher social capital leads to lower intention of small business entrepreneurship in urban China. Individuals whose parents have the experiences of small business tend to have small business entrepreneurial activities; individuals who are better educated tend to find regular jobs instead of having their own small business. The results suggest that small business entrepreneurship in rural China might be “entrepreneurship by necessity.”.

Based on a historical overview of spatial networks and mobility, and the development of spatial theory, this review discusses current rural problems in Europe and the need for a new rural policy. The development toward a post-urban world, that is, a world where the traditional urban–rural dichotomy is dissolving and is replaced by city-regions and vast, declining peripheries, means a division of rural areas into two types: those becoming integrated into the growing city-regions and the peripheries, where exploitation of natural resources is a main activity. We claim that a policy that only focuses on rural areas would fail. The reason is that endogenous rural development is simply not possible in current Europe. What is required is better urban–rural development policies oriented towards maximizing the development potential of each region, combining people-based with place-based approaches, and empowering local stakeholders to take greater control of their future. Regional science has an important role to play in providing decision-makers with evidence-based research that meets the challenges of the post-urban world.