Chinese cities have witnessed significant growth since 1970s, expropriating huge amount of farmland for urban construction. Aiming to balance urban growth and farmland retention, the central government proposed the “Link Policy” in 2005. Under this scheme, farmers are relocated into concentrated communities by consolidating their original settlements into farmland and enabling the transfer of their land quota for urban construction. This paper investigates farmers’ satisfaction on the Link Policy and explores the key factors behind. Taking Ezhou City as a case study, 160 structured interviews with resettled rural residents were undertaken. Using Structural Equation Model, we evaluated farmers’ satisfaction on the policy from five dimensions, namely, farmer’s knowledge on policy, willingness for resettlement, rural livelihood, compensation and respondents’ demographic profile. The results show that farmer’s willingness is the prime factor that affected their level of satisfaction on the implementation of Link Policy. Farmer’s knowledge of the policy also significantly affects their satisfaction; this is followed by household livelihood and compensation for resettlement. Demographic factors of respondents have the lowest loading on the policy satisfaction. This research offers evidence-based policy implications for local government to implement the Link Policy effectively to achieve a sustainable urban-rural development in China’s urbanisation process.

Trust is often considered to be essential for the effective management of risks to public health and safety. Therefore, the relationship between trust and risk perception has been extensively studied, with results suggesting that increasing trust in public authorities lowers perception of risk. However, the literature has a significant case selection bias as most of the research has been conducted in liberal-democratic countries, which have particular systems of public administration and regulation. So, the explanatory power of research on the relationship between trust and risk is questionable when applied to different economic and political contexts. This paper aims to explore the extent to which trust is a factor in managing the risks of urban water consumption in Shanghai, China. Utilising a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, the study finds an unsettled and social-nuanced relationship between trust and risk perception. There are three (not exclusive) conditions under which trust becomes a seemingly insignificant factor in risk management: when people do not perceive that there is a risk; when people believe that they can manage the risk themselves; and when people feel powerless to influence the systems that administer and regulate the risk.

Sustainable development of resource-dependent cities (RDCs) is a major challenge in a number of resource-rich countries. In their early evolutionary stages these cities can experience all the pressures of rapid development. Many subsequently encounter serious difficulties as the resource base depletes leaving a weak and unbalanced local economy, a host of social issues, as well as severe environmental degradation. Although such cities have been the focus of research for almost 100 years, limited attention has been given to the developing economies like China. With rapid industrialization and urbanization and the pressure to develop indigenous energy, mineral and other resources, an increasing number of Chinese RDCs have developed over the past 50 years and many are now characterized by serious sustainability issues. The need for effective development strategies to manage change and to enhance long-term sustainability of these cities has recently attracted much more attention from Chinese policy makers as they also confront overcapacity problems in key industries. This research examines the literature concerning resource-dependent cities and regions and focuses on the contemporary situation in China. It highlights the academic significance of the sustainability transition for these cities, proposes a transition framework and sets out a research agenda for future study.

Under China’s dynamic balance (no net loss) of arable land policy, local governments are required to counteract the loss of farmland to development by reclaiming the same amount of arable land. The policy has resulted in the phenomenon of “linked urbanization”, where two spatially and socio-economically distinct urbanization processes (peri-urbanization and in-situ urbanization) are connected together. This paper uses the experiences of two villages in Changchun, Northeast China, to illustrate this uniquely Chinese phenomenon. More than 600 households were surveyed to understand the process and outcome. It is argued that linked urbanization is an important engine of growth in rural areas but is also unfair to the farmers who have lost their land and livelihoods.