Digital Rural Transformation, Ecological Space Optimization, and Sustainable Territorial Resilience: Evidence from China’s Taobao Villages

The rapid development of rural e-commerce has become an important pathway for promoting sustainable rural transformation, yet its impacts on territorial resilience and underlying land-use mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates the effects of Taobao Village development on county-level territorial resilience and examines the mediating role of ecological land-use transition in China. Using panel data from 1,503 counties between 2014 and 2022, we employ a staggered difference-in-differences model, spatial Durbin model, and Bootstrap mediation analysis to identify the causal effects, spatial spillovers, and transmission pathways. The results show that: (1) Taobao Village development significantly improves territorial resilience, with stronger effects observed in central and northeastern China, while the impacts vary considerably across regions due to differences in economic foundations, digital infrastructure, and land-use conditions. (2) Spatial analysis reveals that the resilience-enhancing effects of Taobao Villages are mainly localized, with no significant spillover effects to neighboring counties, indicating the constraints of existing administrative and spatial governance systems. (3) Ecological land-use transition serves as an important transmission pathway linking rural e-commerce development and territorial resilience, suggesting that land-use restructuring induced by digital transformation can generate both development opportunities and ecological trade-offs. (4) The mediation analysis identifies a suppression effect, indicating that although Taobao Village development may initially exert pressure on ecological spaces, ecological optimization ultimately contributes positively to long-term resilience improvement. These findings highlight the importance of integrating digital rural development with ecological sustainability and territorial spatial governance. The study provides policy implications for promoting resilient and sustainable rural transformation through differentiated land-use strategies.