The Construction of Resilience in Aging-Friendly Cities Driven by Land Adaptive Management: An Empirical Analysis of 269 Chinese Cities Based on the Theory of Social Ecosystems

In the context of accelerated urbanization and ageing in China, the inefficient use of land resources and ecological space extrusion pose significant challenges to the development of age-friendly cities. Existing studies predominantly adopt a single-disciplinary perspective, and there is a paucity of systematic exploration of regional heterogeneity and the multidimensional influencing mechanisms of the effects of adaptive land management policies. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of social-ecological system resilience in environmental sociology, this study integrates the concept of adaptive land management as a factor in the resilience of old-age-friendly cities. Empirical investigation is conducted to examine the impact of adaptive land management on the resilience of old-age-friendly cities and its spatial differentiation. The entropy weight method and the panel regression model are utilized to analyze the panel data of 269 prefectural-level cities in China from 2010 to 2022. The study posits that effective land management is instrumental in enhancing the resilience of age-friendly cities through optimal spatial allocation and ecological restoration. The promotion effect is more pronounced in the central and western regions and in small and medium-sized cities. The internal dimensions of resilience demonstrate heterogeneity, with economic and social resilience showing significant improvement, and ecological resilience being constrained by natural thresholds with a limited effect. The study also puts forward policy recommendations for further building the resilience of age-friendly cities.