Practical village planning is not only an important guide for implementing the rural revitalization strategy but also an important support for building a sustainable rural development model. The scientific measurement of rural development potential to effectively identify the future development direction and mode of rural areas is of great significance to realize the implementation of “hierarchical and key points” of village planning. Taking 38 villages in Shapingba District of Chongqing as the study area, this study comprehensively measures the rural development potential from four dimensions: location advantage, resource endowment, economic vitality, and development constraint. Results reveal the following: (1) the spatial distribution pattern of rural development potential in the study area is centered on the central and southern urban development area, gradually decreasing toward the peripheral area. The village development potential tends to be balanced overall, but differences are observed in advantage and development obstacles of villages in the district, and the four sub-dimensions show a large spatial heterogeneity;(2) the 38 administrative villages were divided into four types, namely, core planning area, important planning area, general planning area, and basic control area. Their percentages were 13.16%, 52.63%, 23.68%, and 10.53%, respectively; (3) differentiated planning contents and strategies for different types of areas are adopted to prepare well-detailed and clearly focused village plans to promote sustainable rural development.

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