With the intensification of socioeconomic activities and climate change, land use conflicts are becoming more and more serious, posing major obstacles to the sustainable use of territorial space. This study conducted research on land use conflict and zoning control with a view to contributing new ideas for the prevention and resolution of land use risks. By analyzing the positioning and drawing upon fundamental theories, a novel research paradigm was proposed. An empirical study was conducted in the Gan River Basin in Jiangxi Province by applying the comprehensive evaluation method and geographical detector, and the basin was divided into six types of zones according to the intensity of land use conflict and the hierarchy of ecosystem service values. The results of the empirical study showed that the areas of intense conflict, low conflict and weak conflict accounted for 1.57%, 29.16% and 69.26% of the basin area, respectively. Of the intense conflict areas, 4.42% of the areas in the lower Gan River Basin were in intense conflict, while only 0.37% of the right bank of the middle reaches was in intense conflict. The driving factor analysis showed that precipitation, the population density and policy planning had a greater influence on land use conflict and that land use conflict was more likely to occur with the interaction of precipitation and the nighttime light index, population density and NDVI. The superimposed image analysis revealed that the land use conflict was intense at the junctions of urban areas and cropland and at the junctions of cropland and forests in the middle and upper reaches of the basin, which were mainly caused by the demand for urban expansion and the spread of agricultural production areas. The results of this empirical study are in agreement with the actual situation in the Gan River Basin, proving that the research paradigm proposed in this study is scientific and applicable. Moreover, we emphasize that this paradigm can be adapted in its application according to different research objects and continuously improved in response to the evolution of the territorial spatial management system. This study is of positive significance for the implementation of territorial spatial planning and provides a scientific basis for the further enhancement of the system of territorial spatial governance.
