Chinese-style modernization is inherently a modernization of nationwide common prosperity. Achieving nationwide common prosperity constitutes an essential requirement of this development path. From the perspective of nationwide common prosperity, promoting high-quality development requires cultivating both a system of growth drivers and a system of regional growth poles. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period and beyond, policymakers could optimize the modern urban system, with urban agglomerations, metropolitan areas, and central cities as the primary components, to build a composite regional growth pole system. This requires both implementing multiple measures to fully leverage the growth pole function of key regions, and coordinating the relationship between key regional growth poles and other regional growth poles to ensure the latter also play their due role.

Understanding new quality productive forces hinges on two key aspects: whether there has been a qualitative change in the composition of production factors, and whether there has been a qualitative transformation in the form of industrial carriers. From a long-term historical perspective, human society has thus far experienced a superimposed four-dimensional evolution of productive forces: natural productive forces, tool productive forces, energy productive forces, and data productive forces. In reality, only three civilizational breakthroughs have been driven by new quality productive forces: the agricultural civilization driven by tool productive forces, the industrial civilization driven by the superimposition of energy productive forces onto tool productive forces, and the information civilization driven by the superimposition of data productive forces onto tool and energy productive forces. As human productive forces advanced from one-dimensional to two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and finally four-dimensional, wealth growth shifted from natural growth, arithmetic growth, and multiplicative growth to exponential growth. The underlying logic behind this progression is technological driving forces. Natural forces alone can only drive natural wealth growth; the superimposition of natural forces and tool forces leads to arithmetic wealth growth; the triple superimposition of natural, tool, and energy forces triggers multiplicative wealth growth; and the quadruple superimposition of natural, tool, energy, and data forces ignites exponential wealth growth. Therefore, it can be boldly anticipated that the new model of urban wealth growth in the future will be an exponential growth driven by the integration of 4P, and an affluent human society is highly likely to become a reality within the next 50 years.

China’s industrial system is undergoing a strategic transformation from being “comprehensive in scale” to becoming “strong in quality.” Achieving this shift requires deepening the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy and advancing three fundamental transitions: from scale-based advantages to quality-based advantages, from factor-driven growth to innovation-driven growth, and from industrial coordination to ecosystem-level coordination. The key to this leap lies in strengthening breakthroughs in critical core technologies, promoting high-end upgrading of the industrial structure, and enhancing the efficiency of integrated and synergistic development. At the same time, China must improve institutional safeguards and foster a business environment characterized by high-standard openness, ultimately building a self-reliant and controllable, secure and efficient, globally competitive modern industrial system.

Elevating the development capacity of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle represents a pivotal initiative in China’s high-quality territorial spatial planning. In alignment with the CPC Central Committee’s strategic blueprint for regional coordination, this analysis examines the strategic significance, key priorities, and policy measures for advancing the region’s development. The focus should be on enhancing five critical dimensions: optimizing resource allocation, strengthening internal-external circulation integration, driving innovation through source-driven mechanisms, facilitating green and low-carbon value conversion, and ensuring emergency backup security. Furthermore, it is essential to reinforce strategic guidance, infrastructure development, and major productivity layout support for the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle.

As a comprehensive industry with a long industrial chain, strong driving effect, and great market potential, the cultural tourism industry is becoming an important force in stimulating urban economic growth and enhancing people’s well-being. Based on surveys and research, combined with the analysis of actual transaction data from the Meituan platform, it can be seen that urban cultural tourism consumption in China shows development characteristics and trends such as the deep integration of “technology and cultural tourism” adding new momentum to tourism consumption, cross-city consumption becoming an important engine driving growth, and a shift from sightseeing to in-depth vacationing, experiences, and leisure. At the same time, it also faces challenges such as uneven regional development and declining consumer prices. It is recommended to focus on the following areas to enrich urban cultural tourism consumption formats and scenarios, better meet the diverse, multi-level, and multifaceted spiritual and cultural needs of the public, and promote urban innovation during the 15th Five-Year Plan period: cultivating and developing the performance and event economy to fully leverage multi-format synergy; innovating diversified service consumption scenarios to create immersive consumer experience spaces; fully exploring the consumption development potential of cultural tourism markets in various cities and vigorously developing the nighttime economy; and developing new scenarios and products that align with group preferences to discover and meet the cultural tourism consumption needs of middle-aged and elderly groups.

Major national strategic regions are the driving force for high-quality development, and digital innovation, as the core engine of regional economic growth, has obvious geographical characteristics. In order to reveal the mechanism for major regional strategies to create high-quality development power sources through spatial concentration and industry innovation concentration, based on the digital economic core patent authorization data and multi-dimensional economic geographical characteristics data at the city level of China from 2008 to 2023, and build an interactive model for empirical testing, the research found that: China’s digital innovation activities have shown high-intensity spatial agglomeration in major national strategic areas such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Chengdu-Chongqing region, and this agglomeration trend continues to increase over time; Considering the geographical nature of the growth pole effect of digital innovation, major regional strategies and digital innovation form complementary strengthening mechanisms in promoting regional economic growth;Digital innovation forms a complementary regional economic growth mechanism with economic and geographical characteristics such as the tilt of science and education resources, high employment density, regional integration, and institutional and environmental effects in major national strategic areas, which together creates a growth pole effect. This study provides theoretical inspiration for enhancing regional economic development momentum and optimizing the efficiency of resource spatial allocation in the digital economic era.

Based on the realistic context and potential connotation theory of consumption in China, and from the perspective of structural stickiness in the consumption distribution of sub-units under systemic consumption shocks, this study constructs a measurement indicator for regional household consumption potential. Using prefecture-level data in China from 2000 to 2023, this paper evaluates the consumption potential of urban and rural residents across provinces or regions, and examines its spatiotemporal evolution and spatial network characteristics. The findings are as follows: First, there is regional heterogeneity and structural differentiation in household consumption potential, showing an overall gradient pattern of “highest in the central region, followed by the eastern region, and relatively low in the western region.” Moreover, low-consumption groups exhibit greater potential, while high-consumption groups show less. Second, urban and rural consumption potential differ in level, evolution path, and network characteristics. Urban potential follows a path of “low-level concentration—rapid improvement—high-level diffusion,” whereas rural potential remains consistently low with internal differentiation. Although the urban–rural gap has narrowed, the rural network shows lower connectivity efficiency. Third, the spatial network of consumption potential exhibits a stable “core–periphery” structure, with a continuing trend toward flattening and polycentric development. The convergence in urban–rural network density reflects deepening market integration, yet the rural network demonstrates relatively insufficient resilience. The study provides key policy leverage points and decision-making references for narrowing regional and urban–rural consumption gaps and building a sustainable long-term mechanism for consumption promotion.

As a critical spatial vehicle of modernization, the evolution and development of mega-cities constitute a complex process characterized by institutional embeddedness and strategic interaction among multiple actors. In response to the shifting priorities of mega-cities—from pursuing economic growth to enhancing developmental efficiency—this study examines suburban new towns through the duallinkage perspective of internal factor absorption and external spillover effects. An analytical framework centered on “center–periphery” interaction and evolution is constructed. Essentially, the functional transition of suburban new towns is not merely a spatial restructuring, but a dynamic process through which strategic arenas affirm their secondary centrality via duallinkage mechanisms. The study reveals that the acquisition of “centrality” in suburban new towns is jointly shaped by authority delegation, rule reconfiguration, resource accumulation, and identity formation. Simultaneously, the repositioning of suburban new towns inevitably encounters practical obstacles, including ambiguous spatial boundaries, interadministrative bargaining, inefficient resource absorption, and a lack of identity networks. To overcome the constraints imposed by institutional and geographical marginality, this paper proposes a threedimensional pathway encompassing the reaffirmation of subjective positioning, institutional integration of development mechanisms, and strategic refinement of spatial governance.

The "elderly migrant grandmothers" bearing the responsibility of inter-generational care represent a unique phenomenon in the process of urbanization and family structure transformation in China. Based on a qualitative survey of 15 respondents, an analytical framework of "emotional drive—subject adjustment—relationship alienation" is constructed to reveal the micro practices and deep dilemmas of unpaid emotional labor in their families. Research has found that under the triple structural emotional drive of "downward family mentality," extended motherhood, and urban-rural guest mentality, "elderly migrant grandmothers" engage in sustained subject adjustment through deeply embedded physical obedience and inner narrative in daily life. However, this adjustment did not lead to true integration, but instead resulted in a disconnect between urban and rural emotional experiences, instrumentalization of the body, and a relationship alienation of "physical presence but absence of self". This study critically applies the theory of emotional labor to the field of Chinese families, revealing the hidden emotional exploitation and gender age inequality in intergenerational support, and providing a theoretical basis for constructing an urban social support system for elderly caregivers.

Intrinsic capacity of older adults is a key indicator of healthy aging, and the housing environment, as the core setting of their daily life, is closely linked to older adults’ intrinsic capacity. Drawing on data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this research employs Growth Curve Models to systematically examine the impact of age-friendly housing environments on the trajectory of intrinsic capacity among older adults, and further explore how this effect varies by living arrangement. The results show that older adults’ intrinsic capacity declines progressively with age and accelerating over time. Clear heterogeneity emerges between those living alone and those living with others: older adults living alone exhibit relatively lower levels of intrinsic capacity in early old age but experience slower decline, surpassing those living with others around the age of 90. Additional analyses indicate that age-friendly housing environment significantly promote older adults’ intrinsic capacity, effectively delaying functional decline. However, this positive effect diminishes with increasing age. Moreover, the health gains associated with age-friendly housing are stronger and more enduring among older adults living alone. These findings highlight the need to strengthen multi-level support systems and promote the expansion of age-friendly housing environment; enhance complementary measures to build comprehensive age-friendly living environment; and advance more differentiated strategies particularly targeting the needs of older adults living alone.

Urban regeneration is regarded as a crucial pathway to promote social consumption and economic revitalization. Based on spatial production theory, this study employs historical analysis and case study methods to systematically examine how post-industrial Britain transformed urban spaces into tools for capital appreciation by constructing standardized consumption landscapes and "shopper-first" transportation networks. The research indicates that while this model stimulated consumption in the short term, it led to the marginalization of small and medium-sized businesses, the erosion of local cultural context, and the privatization of public spaces, highlighting the inherent contradiction between spatial production and spatial justice. Britain’s experience serves as a warning that urban regeneration must guard against spatial homogenization and the loss of publicness, shifting governance from a growth-oriented approach to an inclusive and equitable model of "spatial good governance." For China, it is essential to focus on cultural heritage and distinctive character, ensure the diversity and inclusivity of public spaces, and establish collaborative governance mechanisms to achieve high-quality urban development.