Prof. Xia Li (Academician of International Eurasian Academy of Sciences,  Distinguished Young Scholar of National Science Fund, Professor at East China Normal University) was invited to deliver a lecture, entitled Simulator and Optimizer of Geographical Simulation and Optimization System and Its Applications in Spatial Planning on April 17, 2019.

On the eve of the lecture, Prof. Jinfa Jiang (Deputy Party Secretary of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics) warmly met with Prof. Li, and introduced the major research directions of our institute to him and the main work and ideas in serving social-economic development of Jiangxi province, especially land spatial planning and ecological civilization construction, and warmly invited Professor Li to Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics and our institute for guidance and exchange.

First, Prof. Li elaborated the background of spatial planning from five aspects: the historical evolution of spatial planning, the new development model of resource constraints, the establishment of spatial planning management organization, the requirements of scientific and technological innovation, and the requirements of spatial planning on geographical theory and method. The theory and method of GeoSOS were introduced from the existing problems of spatial planning.

Second, based on the fact that the resources and environmental problems involve a lot of spatial information, the conventional spatial method has great limitations, so it is difficult to effectively analyze the complex resource and environment system. The theory and method of the geographical simulation system were introduced in detail, and especially the practical applications of GeoSOS from ant colony optimization, urban growth boundary delimitation, provincial spatial planning, national urban system, agricultural and ecological spatial optimization.

Third, Prof. Li put forward future prospects: using the delineation of flexible urban growth boundaries to provide support for the formulation of urban development strategies; urban extraction based on intelligent algorithms (e.g., deep learning); etc. After the lecture, Prof. Li made in-depth discussion and exchange with teachers and students on the application of GeoSOS in the process of rural reconstruction and land use change.