Does the transfer of state-owned land-use rights promote or restrict urban development?

Urbanisation has significantly influenced socioeconomic development while land transfer, as a carrier, has played an important role in the process of urbanisation. However, urbanisation has led to an unbalanced development of regional cities and a widening gap between rich and poor. We explored the influence mechanism of land transfer on urban development by quantitative and qualitative investigations of land benefits. Firstly, we employed game theory to analyse the relationships among the government, developers, and consumers. Developers have been the greatest beneficiaries of land transfers, whereas the consumers' interests have mostly been affected negatively. Then, we applied a coupling coordination model to 21 cities located along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to verify the theoretical mechanism and analyse the relationship between land transfers and urban socioeconomic benefits. The results show that government-led and market-led land transfers could promote urban development. The latter could be more sustainable than the former. For the sustainable development of land transfers and urban-rural integration, the government should control land prices and regulate the relationships between developers and consumers by formulating laws and reforming land systems.