The Spatial Pattern Evolution of Rural Settlements and Multi-Scenario Simulations since the Initiation of the Reform and Opening up Policy in China

Abstract

Since the inception of China’s reform and opening-up policy, the rapidly advancing process of urbanization and the primacy accorded to urban development policies have imparted increasingly profound ramifications on rural domains. Nonetheless, antecedent research has predominantly fixated on urban sprawl, overlooking the spatial metamorphosis of rural settlements and the prospective developmental trajectories within the policy paradigm. Consequently, this inquiry endeavors to scrutinize the evolution of the spatial configuration of rural settlements in She County from the advent of reform and opening-up (1980–2020) utilizing remote sensing data. In tandem, through scenario delineation and the utilization of the CLUE-S model, it aspires to prognosticate the evolving trends in the spatial arrangements of rural settlements in She County by 2035. The empirical findings divulge that (1) The temporal progression of rural settlement spatial configurations in She County over the preceding four decades can be delineated into two discernible phases. From 1980 to 2000, alterations in the number, extent, and spatial morphological attributes of rural settlements remained circumscribed. While the count of rural settlements registered a diminution (by 3), the aggregate extent experienced a marginal augmentation (by 8.45%), concomitant with a gradual gravitation towards regular boundaries, manifesting a stochastic distribution throughout the investigation expanse. Conversely, from 2000 to 2020, the quantity and extent of rural settlements in She County underwent a precipitous augmentation (92 and 36.37%, respectively), characterized by irregular peripheries. (2) The CLUE-S model achieved an overall precision of 0.929, underscoring its applicability in emulating fluctuations in rural settlements. (3) Within the new-type urbanization scenario, the cumulative expanse of rural settlements witnessed a decline of 35.36% compared to the natural development scenario, marked by substantial conversions into grassland and urban land usage. Furthermore, orchestrated planning and directive measures have propelled the consolidation of rural settlements in She County, engendering a more equitable and standardized layout. Under the aegis of the ecological conservation scenario, the total rural settlement area recorded a 0.38% reduction vis-à-vis the natural development scenario, primarily entailing competitive coexistence with arable land, grassland, and urban land usage in spatial terms.

Evolving Urban Expansion Patterns and Multi-Scenario Simulation Analysis from a Composite Perspective of “Social–Economic–Ecological”: A Case Study of the Hilly and Gully Regions of Northern Loess Plateau in Shaanxi Province

“…Natural, geographic, social, and economic factors exert distinct influences on urban expansion dynamics. To quantitatively characterize these influences, we draw upon previous research and select a total of nine driving factors for the evolution of urban expansion patterns, including elevation, slope, aspect, distance to water bodies, distance to highways, distance to railways, GDP, population density, and nighttime light data [57][58][59]. Leveraging ArcGIS 10.8 software, we extracted slope and aspect from DEM data, while all distances were computed as Euclidean distances.…”

Can Market-Oriented Allocation of Land Factors Promote the Adoption of Cropland Quality Protection Behaviors by Farmers: Evidence from Rural China

“…During the initial stages of the introduction of China's family contract responsibility system, due to clear property rights incentives, agricultural production incentives for farmers can be improved. However, as time goes by, the problems of fragmentation of cropland operated by farmers and uneven allocation of production factors have limited the expansion of agricultural marginal output and impeded the progress of agriculture [54]. Land transfer facilitates the transfer of land use rights between different entities, hence reducing land fragmentation to some extent and enabling moderate-scale operations [55].…”

“…At the present stage, the phenomenon of rural land transfer in China widely exists without charging physical and monetary land rent, instead of production help, care for the elderly and weak and other forms of human rent, usually considered as a manifestation of the imperfect development of the land transfer market. This paper uses the degree of marketoriented land transfer to measure the level of the market-oriented allocation of land factors, the percentage of marketized land transfer in villages, which is characterized by the proportion of the number of farmers using money rent to transfer land in villages other than the farmers themselves to the total number of farmers in the sample of land transfer [54], which is calculated by the following formula:…”

Leveraging Diffusion Modeling for Remote Sensing Change Detection in Built-Up Urban Areas

“…These methodologies are quintessential for aptly mirroring the subtle alterations transpiring over time, especially against the canvas of swift urbanization, climate change ramifications, and burgeoning infrastructural advancements [11]. The rigorous surveillance of urban locales is instrumental in unearthing invaluable insights into a multitude of urban dynamics including, but not limited to, shifts in landutilization, residential expansions, and the intrusion upon verdant expanses [12]. In light of the progressive strides in remote sensing technology, there has been a palpable surge of interest among researchers toward honing CD methodologies [13], [14].…”