No abstract

China is currently at a crucial stage of rural revival and transformation growth. Accurate measurement of rural development status is able to provide decision-making services for rural revitalization plan implementation. To address this issue, combining with effectiveness concepts and on the basis of the widely recognized “production–living–ecology” perspective of rural development in the world, this study proposes an innovative technical evaluating system for rural effectiveness. We constructed a rural effectiveness evaluation index system and measurement model, as well as a four-quadrant approach to identify the effectiveness of villages, selecting Xintai county, a typical resource-depleted city, for empirical analysis to verify the evaluation technical system. The results show that (1) 220 villages had comprehensive effectiveness, accounting for 27.8% of the total; the amount of effectiveness for villages in terms of the production, living, and ecological dimensions were 204, 229 and 195, respectively, and they clearly displayed heterogeneity in terms of spatial distribution. (2) The following are village effectiveness dominant types: the function dominates the comprehensive effectiveness. For each dimension, there is a functionally dominant type. (3) Bivariate Moran′s I analysis revealed the relationships’ internal effectiveness. In the same dimension, there was a conflict between efficiency and function. In each dimension, trade-offs were found between the production function, ecological function, living efficiency, as well as production efficiency, ecological function, and efficiency. Synergies were found among the production function and ecological efficiency. Living efficiency had synergies with production efficiency and ecological efficiency. This research enriched the theoretical approach of assessing rural development status and can help guide the rational conversion of village elements to achieve village transformation and sustainability development, as well as providing technical assistance for the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.

Because the relationship between cultivated land and the surrounding land types is not taken into account, there existed a deviation in the assessment of cultivated landscape ecological security. A novel methodology assessing the cultivated landscape ecological security is presented in this study, in the grid scale adjusted cultivated landscape ecological security index by the cultivated land disturbance index and the surrounding environment index. This method was applied in Xintai City, Shandong Province. The results demonstrate that (1) between 1985 and 2015, there was a constant loss of 173.2 km2 cultivated land, the bulk of which was converted to building land, primarily on the outskirts of cities. (2) The landscape ecological security of cultivated land has decreased; the bulk of high-risk grids are located in central metropolitan areas and mining districts, and have a tendency to spread out over time. (3) We applied a three–dimensional model to generate a spatial combination of cultivated land and presented zoning suggestions for regional cultivated land use and management. This assessment technique reduces errors that may occur when relying solely on landscape features for cultivated ecological security evaluation. The evaluation’s results more accurately reflect the impact of human activity and urban growth, are more consistent with local features, and have a higher quality of reference value.

Scientifically diagnosing the spatial conflict of resource-based cities and clarifying the coupling coordination relationship between the intensity of spatial conflict and the dynamic degree of land use is of great significance for the transformation of urban areas and the rational use of regional resources. Based on the characteristics of a resource-based city in Xintai, the study constructed a spatial conflict measurement model from the dimensions of spatial pressure, spatial exposure, and spatial risk from the perspective of ecosystem service value. We then used the coupling coordination model to explore the relationship between change in the spatial conflict level and the dynamic degree of land use. The results showed that from 2009 to 2020, the spatial conflict index in Xintai remained stable, with a change of only 0.0018, and the changing trend of different conflict levels was different; the spatial pattern of conflicts was distributed in circles, and the conflict levels gradually weakened from the center to the surrounding areas. From 2009 to 2020, the average dynamic degree of land use in Xintai was 23.14%, with significant differences in spatial layout. The land use characteristics were mainly arable land to woodland, land reclamation, land restoration, expansion of construction land, and afforestation. According to the analysis of the degree of coupling coordination, the coupling coordination relationships between different spatial conflict changes and the dynamic degree of land use are significantly different. The weakened area is dominated by coordination relationships, with 774 units, accounting for 43.75%. According to the analysis of land use type changes and behavior-dominant factors, land use adjustment in Xintai mostly served the goals of ecological protection and economic development, and had a positive impact on the governance of spatial conflicts, but land use patterns in some areas still need to be optimally adjusted. The research is expected to provide a scientific basis for the rational use of regional land, the governance of spatial conflicts, and optimization of the spatial structure.

Under the context of rapid urbanization, the problem of land use conflicts (LUC) has been highlighted, and the implementation of policies has become the main way to coordinate and manage LUC. However, previous studies have only confirmed the indirect effect of policy factors on LUC, and research on how to effectively detect their indirect effects is still insufficient. The study constructs a comprehensive LUC index based on land use characteristics to measure the intensity of LUC in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The town development level (TDL) under the Main Functional-Oriented Zones Planning (MFOZP) is used as an intermediate variable. Using a geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model to explore the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the impact of TDL on LUC under the MFOZP, the effect of MFOZP on the evolution of LUC is analyzed in depth. The results show that (1) from 2010 to 2020, the LUC in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei changes slightly, and the conflict hierarchy is dominated by potentially out-of-control and basically out-of-control, with an average share of 23.63% and 31.48% respectively, and the LUC structure is in an imbalanced trend. Spatially, it is generally high in the south and low in the north, with the serious out-of-control areas concentrated in core cities such as Beijing and Tianjin. (2) In the context of MFOZP, the TDL in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei varies significantly. In the last decade, the overall layout is high in the east and low in the west. (3) The TDL based on MFOZP has a certain inhibitory effect on LUC. Among them, the ecological environment subsystem has a significant inhibitory effect on LUC, while the economic development, livability, and resource utilization subsystems have a positive effect on LUC. However, the positive effect tends to weaken. The study aims to provide a scientific basis and theoretical reference for LUC management and optimal land use pattern.