Multifunctional Role of Land-Use Planning in Peri-Urban and Urban Agricultural Drylands: The Mediating Effect of Urbanization Level

The phenomenon of rapid urbanization indeed presents a complex array of challenges for land-use planning, especially in the context of agricultural drylands transitioning into peri-urban and urban lands. Urbanization trends in 2020 reached about 60%, with projections indicating that urbanization will increase to about 70% by 2030. The transformation from rural to urban characteristics affects not only the physical agricultural drylands but also the socioeconomic and ecological dynamics of the region. The shift from rural to increasingly urban characteristics brings about multifaceted challenges and opportunities for land-use planning, and multifunctional landscape shows a wide diversity of ecosystem functions, which is generally ensured by landscape biodiversity. The aims and objectives of the study were to promote sustainable development, enhance food security, support urban resilience, protect agricultural land, integrate peri-urban and urban systems, promote efficient land usage, and ensure environmental safety. Here, we incorporated primary data obtained using a close-ended survey questionnaire through a nonprobability convenience sampling technique. The sample size of the study comprised 680 participants, and we employed a structural equation model in two steps for analytical purposes: confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis. The findings revealed that amenity, landscape and recreational value, and proximity significantly affect peri-urban areas and urban agricultural drylands (B = 0.204, p-value = 0.00 < 0.05; B = 0.204, p-value = 0.00 < 0.05; B = 0.124, p-value = 0.051 < 0.01; B = 0.28, p-value = 0.00 < 0.01; B = 0.445, p-value = 0.00 < 0.01; B = 0.197, p-value = 0.00 < 0.01). The existing large rural lots in China's Tianjin region were found to negatively affect the level of urbanization (B = −0.25, p-value = 0.00 < 0.01) and urban agricultural dryland (B = −0.256, p-value = 0.00 < 0.01). A mediating effect of the level of urbanization was also found (B = 0.045, p-value = 0.01 < 0.05; B = 0.026, p-value = 0.041 < 0.05; B = −0.032, p-value = 0.03 < 0.05; B = 0.128, p-value = 0.02 < 0.05). We conclude that amenity, landscape and recreational value, and proximity significantly influence peri-urban areas and agricultural drylands. This study enlightened the urban professional planners, which includes urban designers, landscape designers, and architects, along with Chinese social planners, although no mediating effect on the level of urbanization was observed between land-use planning and peri-urban areas. Land-use planning in peri-urban and urban agricultural drylands should be multifunctional, integrating urban food systems into urban planning, promoting sustainable land management, and considering the mediating effects of urbanization levels to enhance urban resilience and sustainability. The limitation of the study outlined the impact of peri-urban agriculture within the context of the Tianjin region of China. Therefore, the outcome of the current study may not apply to other regions. As such, we recommend repeating the current study in regions other than China of developed and developing countries.