Abstract Taking Yangtze River Delta area as a case, this paper examines the state and mechanism of rural urbanization and the characteristic of land resource utilization under the rural urbanization, then put forward some approach of optimizing, which is theoretic value and practical significance to sustainable utilization of land resources and development between rural and urban areas. Yangtze River Delta area is the earliest and rapidest region of rural urbanization in China. Its characteristic mechanism on rural urbanization consists of three aspects:rural region is the core of rural urbanization; econmic development based on the development of non-agriculture; the population centralization based on the labor force moving to vicinity towns; the space extension based on rural town development. In the past few decades, this population increased and farmland decreased and labor force surplus for productivity improved. At the same time, the towns corporation development for governmental policy changed and capital of production increased. In the dynamical effect of inside and outside which is act on rural, there comes into being a new type of industrial structure, occupational structure and regional structure. They are the outcome of mutual effect and translation continually and they will change to corresponding economical benefit, population benefit andscope benefit. Three structure engendering during rural urbanization will urge land resource utilization changes in form, structure and mode. This paper points out rural land resource utilization is not intensivism and efficiency of land resource utilization is quite low, while area of agro-land is decreasing rapidly and land resource is highly polluted. These are the main factors of obstacles that affect sustainable land use in the rural urbanization. At last, this paper puts forward some countermeasures:there must be land-use planning and regional planning of city system, control the area of land construction in order to make the whole area of agro-land balanced, increase rural land resource intension utilization in order to improve structural efficiency and limited efficiency and enhance the reconstruction of land environment.
2002, Vol. 17 
