Identifying constructive-balanced-destructive conflicts and zoning control of land use in Nanchang City of China

Land-use spatial conflicts can be accurately identified for the territorial space and high-quality development in modern agriculture. Taking Nanchang City as a case study, this study aims to identify the constructive, balanced, and destructive land-use spatial conflicts, according to the relative state of the functional competitiveness. Furthermore, some features were also evaluated to distinguish between constructive and destructive conflicts in the land use. Subsequently, the combination features of the "present type-historical status" were integrated to assess the spatial conflict risk, particularly for the zoning control. The control strategies were proposed after assessment. The results demonstrate that: 1) A shrinking trend was observed in the overall scope of the areas with the strong competitiveness in the cultivation, and the medium competitiveness in the ecological functions, during the period from 2010 to 2023. This shrinking trend also slowed down in 2020. Meanwhile, an outstanding expansion trend was also found in the areas with the medium competitiveness after construction. A pattern of the initial radiation was presented followed by the subsequent expansion. 2) The conflict areas were generally expanded from 2010 to 2023. Nevertheless, the conflict areas on the outskirts shared the fragmented contraction. The number of the highly conflicted areas increased gradually over time. These highly conflicted areas were characterized by the conflicts between cultivation and construction, which were distributed along the fringes of the central urban area. The number of the moderately conflicted areas decreased gradually, where the conflict types were between cultivation and ecological functions, as well as between cultivation and construction. 3) The balanced conflicts were dominant among the constructive, balanced, and destructive conflict types from 2015 to 2023. The destructive conflicts showed an upward trend from 2015 to 2020. There was a higher proportion of the units, compared with the constructive conflicts. The number of the constructive conflicts increased significantly by 2023. While the number of the destructive conflicts decreased significantly. Balanced conflicts also played a pivotal role in the mutual transformation among constructive, balanced, and destructive conflicts, as well as between conflict areas and land-use advantages. 4) According to the current situation of the different constructive, balanced, destructive conflicts and the historical variations in the functional competitiveness, five types of the risk classification areas were defined at the grid scale, while three types of the management areas were found at the administrative region scale. Among the risk classification area, the prevention monitoring area was the zone currently in the dominant position, with the highest proportion of the grid numbers among the five zones. There were the relatively low proportions of the active maintenance area and the guide conversion area. The second and third highest proportions were the mitigation and the coordination governance area, respectively. In the management area, Anyi County, Donghu and Xinjian District were identified as the dynamic area, while Honggutan District, Jinxian County and Nanchang County were identified as the strict area, and Qingshanhu, Qingyunpu and Xihu District were identified as the emergency area. Finally, the conflict control strategies were proposed, according to the different areas of the risk classification. The land use spatial conflicts can be classified to determine the policy direction whether "mitigation" or "guidance". The finding can provide a scientific basis to optimize the layout of the territorial space for the high-quality development in modern agriculture.