How land is used is connected to some of the most important issues of our time: sustainable development, economic development, reducing territorial inequalities and the rights of future generations, to name but a few. There is growing recognition that a wide range of policies shape how land is used and managed beyond that of land use and environmental planning systems.

The large-scale acquisition of land by investors intensified following the 2007/2008 triple crises of food, energy, and finance. In the years that followed, tens of millions of hectares of land were leased or sold for agricultural investment. This phenomenon has resulted in a growing body of scholarship that seeks to explain trends, institutional regimes, impacts, and the variety of actors involved, among other subtopics, such as impacts on food security and livelihoods.

The withdrawal of rural residential land-use rights is a major initiative in China’s current rural land reform, and it is of great importance in promoting the rural revitalization and urbanization strategy. The Chinese government encourages farmers to withdraw from their residential bases in an orderly manner to effectively revitalize land resources. The study aimed to explore the key factors that influenced the decision of farmers to withdraw from their rural residential lands in different contexts and proposed suggestions for related policy reforms.