A Typological Framework for Analyzing Industrial Change and Educational Infrastructure Planning in Rapidly Transforming Areas

Rapidly transforming areas face the challenge of aligning educational resources with shifting population patterns. This study develops a typological framework to analyze how industrial change affects educational resource allocation in rapidly transforming areas. The framework grounds this analysis in two structural logics: differentiation in factor intensity within the secondary sector, and the broader shift in sectoral composition and factor roles as economies mature. Together, these logics generate four development pathways: manufacturing cluster, innovation-driven, urbanized services, and ecological revitalization. Each pathway generates distinct migration patterns and educational pressures. Rapidly transforming areas typically exhibit complex patterns resulting from the overlap among these pathways. Using Deqing County in Zhejiang Province as the primary case and Gaoming District in Guangdong Province as the comparative case, the study applies the framework to distinguish the development logics of different industrial sectors within each administrative region. The cross-case comparison shows that similar aggregate enrollment growth can conceal distinct underlying governance mechanisms. The framework thus provides a systematic analytical tool for educational governance in high-mobility contexts.