Network mechanisms and rule-of-law safeguards of comprehensive land consolidation in enhancing production-living-ecological space functions: evidence from township-level panel data in Zhejiang Province

Introduction Whole-region comprehensive land consolidation (WRCLC), as a spatial governance approach integrating “all elements, all regions, the whole process, and the entire chain,” is of great significance for optimizing regional production–living–ecological space (PLES) functions. Methods Existing studies have not yet systematically examined, from the holistic perspective of PLES functions, the spatial network mechanism and safeguard pathways of WRCLC at the macro level. Therefore, based on township-level panel data from Zhejiang Province for 2015–2022, this study comprehensively employs a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model, social network analysis (SNA), and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to systematically investigate the network mechanism and institutional safeguard pathways through which the WRCLC pilot policy enhances PLES functions. Results The results show that the WRCLC pilot policy significantly improved the comprehensive PLES function (by 0.0023 units); this finding is significant at the 1% level and remains robust after a series of robustness checks. Meanwhile, network mechanism analysis reveals that the policy indirectly enhances PLES functions by improving the spatial correlation network. Configuration analysis further identifies three differentiated pathways: the “capital–industry” synergy type, the “human–capital”-driven type, and the multi-element synergy type, revealing the multiple concurrent conditions and factor combination logic underlying policy effectiveness. Discussion Based on these findings, it is recommended that governments, when promoting WRCLC, should pay attention to regional spatial structure and factor endowment differences, strengthen rule-of-law safeguards, and implement differentiated governance strategies to achieve holistic optimization and coordinated development of PLES functions.