From static to dynamic: A phased evolution framework for multi-stakeholder collaborative governance in comprehensive land consolidation

Comprehensive land consolidation (CLC) has emerged as a policy toolkit for lots of countries and regions to promote the integrated territorial governance. While multi-stakeholder collaboration is fundamental to CLC’s success, previous studies have typically adopted a static lens, neglecting the dynamic nature of stakeholder interactions and role evolution in a project’s lifecycle. To address this gap, this study develops a phased framework to unpack the dynamic collaborative mechanisms across the CLC lifecycle. Drawing on and extending the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, this study deconstructs the CLC process into three sequential stages: planning, implementation, and operation. Subsequently, the “Tianlifang Future Farm” in Hangzhou, China, is used as a case study to empirically examine this framework, mapping the shifting interplay and power dynamics between government, enterprises, village collectives, and farmers. Research findings reveal that effective governance hinges on stage-specific mechanisms, including a planning revision mechanism to align divergent stakeholder interests within regulatory constraints, a consensus-building mechanism to facilitate low-conflict project execution, and a market-driven mechanism to ensure long-term operational viability. However, two critical weaknesses are identified in the state-orchestrated model that could lead to the marginalization of community interest, namely structural decoupling and skewed benefit-sharing between enterprises and farmers. This study, therefore, proposes targeted policy interventions centered on institutionalized proactive engagement and diversified equity-sharing models are proposed. In sum, this study not only transcends static governance by offering a longitudinal and process-oriednted framework for collaborative land policy, but also provides actionable insights for sustainable global land consolidation initiatives.