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Abstract This paper links urbanization strategies to changes in land use and associated impacts on rural communities and agro-ecosystems in a rural area of China. Energy, monetary and human time variables as well as information on environmental pressures, have been combined to compare different typologies of households and the metabolism of different patterns of land use from an integrated perspective. The results show that urbanization strategies, aimed at shifting the current land use and at displacing the local population, while increasing the economic efficiency is also associated with an increase in fossil energy consumption and environmental pressure, as well as a reduction of the multifunctional characteristic of the area under investigation. Based on these findings the paper also offers a critical discussion of the Chinese rural development policy arguing that the multifunctionality of rural areas should be taken into account by Chinese policy-makers and planners as a viable strategy to achieve rural development targets. Highlights ► Urbanization strategies in China drive the land use change of rural areas. ► Forced migration decreases rural food self-sufficiency and diversification of risk. ► HEPA patterns have higher economic efficiency and energy intensity than LEPA. ► Rural-urban migrations favor the creation of mono-functional agricultural systems.

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Giuseppina Siciliano, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain / University IUAV of Venice, Ca' Tron, Santa Croce 1957, 30135 Venezia, Italy Paru dans : Land Use Policy Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 165-178 Abstract This paper links urbanization strategies to changes in land use and associated impacts on rural communities and agro-ecosystems in a rural area of China. Energy, monetary and human time variables as well as information on environmental pressures, have been combined to compare different typologies of households and the metabolism of different patterns of land use from an integrated perspective. The results show that urbanization strategies, aimed at shifting the current land use and at displacing the local population, while increasing the economic efficiency is also associated with an increase in fossil energy consumption and environmental pressure, as well as a reduction of the multifunctional characteristic of the area under investigation. Based on these findings the paper also offers a critical discussion of the Chinese rural development policy arguing that the multifunctionality of rural areas should be taken into account by Chinese policy-makers and planners as a viable strategy to achieve rural development targets. Highlights ► Urbanization strategies in China drive the land use change of rural areas. ► Forced migration decreases rural food self-sufficiency and diversification of risk. ► HEPA patterns have higher economic efficiency and energy intensity than LEPA. ► Rural-urban migrations favor the creation of mono-functional agricultural systems.

Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China 18th to 19th October 2012 The conference will comprise the academic strand - as part of the international 'Masterplanning The Future' conference. About the Academic Conference Strand: One hundred years have passed since Le Corbusier's Voyage to the Orient. Although he didn't venture into the Far East, his influence - and that of Modernism - is recognizable across the world. This conference will explore Modernism's significance in architecture and urbanism from Europe to India and the Far East. It will explore its lasting, or its fading, influences on China; and China's influence on it. But is also looks at Modernism from the Americas to Africa to Asia; we want to get as many stories of the changing face - and the new face - of "the modern" as possible. Architecture, and indeed the world, has changed massively over the last century, so this conference will explore what contemporary ideas can be drawn from different historical periods and different social circumstances. With the rapidly urbanizing conditions of India and China, what can Modernism tell us about the global urban condition? Indeed, is there such a thing? How has Modernism fared? How are architectural ideas portrayed today and what are the connections with the past? This conference is an international forum within China, bringing together researchers and experts from across the world. In this way, the exchange of ideas and experiences will stimulate a better understanding of modern and vernacular architecture, contemporary and traditional urbanism; and regionalist and universalist design ideals. Themes: Papers are welcomed to address a range of topics, which include (but are not exclusive to) the following: Modernism from the West to the East and across the world.; Modernism and the role of manifestos; Chandigarh: then and now; Metabolism; Asian development; Em