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Effects and mechanisms of urban-rural integration in promoting common prosperity of residents in rural tourism destinations: a flow-based case study from China

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Rural tourism destinations are complex spaces where urban–rural flow elements converge and key arenas for understanding how common prosperity is realized through urban–rural interactions. Existing studies have mainly examined urban-rural integration through macro-level statistics or single flow elements, with limited attention to residents in rural tourism destinations as micro-level actors. They also provide an insufficient explanation of how multidimensional flow elements shape common prosperity. Against this background, from the perspective of flow, rural tourism destinations were situated within dynamic networks of urban–rural flow elements, and Jiangnan Town and Hecun Township in Tonglu County were selected as case studies to compare the mechanisms through which urban-rural integration affected the common prosperity of residents in endogenous and exogenous rural tourism destinations. The results showed that urban-rural integration influenced common prosperity through the multidimensional flows of population, capital, facility, information, and social elements, but these effects were neither uniform nor linear. The pathways to common prosperity differed markedly across tourism development models. Exogenous rural tourism destinations relied more on external resource inflows and market linkages, whereas endogenous rural tourism destinations depended more on local social collaboration and endogenous accumulation. Meanwhile, multidimensional flows facilitated resource transmission, opportunity diffusion, and benefit sharing through social relational networks such as kinship relations, geographical relations, and occupational relations, thereby promoting common prosperity. Overall, by incorporating residents’ well-being into the study of urban-rural integration, this study has revealed the dynamic process through which multidimensional flow elements shape common prosperity and has extended the micro-level explanatory pathway of urban–rural relations theory.

Source: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-026-07842-4

Authors: Man Wei, Tai Huang

Institutions: Soochow University, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics

Language: English

Topic: Regional Development and Environment

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, No poverty, Reduced inequalities, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,890