Landscape Performance for Coordinated Development of Rural Communities & Small-Towns Based on “Ecological Priority and All-Area Integrated Development”: Six Case Studies in East China’s Zhejiang Province

Abstract

Over the last decade, the Chinese government has focused on addressing development challenges in rural areas. The “Ecological Priority and All-Area Integrated Development” concept was thus developed, and it was found to be crucial for rural areas in Eastern Zhejiang Province. A new comprehensive evaluation system was composed by comparing and synthesizing existing Chinese assessment criteria, and landscape performance metrics developed by the Landscape Architecture Foundation. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method (FCE) were used to conduct post-development evaluation on six cases using the new evaluation system. The results of four cases show that ecology should be considered a high priority when dealing with rural community and small town developments. The other two cases emphasizing infrastructure development verified that “coordinating the development of rural communities and small town area” is crucial for building sustainable and livable rural communities, and avoiding redundancy and inefficiency. The newly developed comprehensive evaluation system integrates existing systems with a broader vision and is more holistic in its objectives for the region. The development-led intervention (based on landscape performance evaluation) is conducive to the implementation of a more scientific and comprehensive development model, with predictable performance.

The positive impacts of landscape fragmentation on the diversification of agricultural production in Zhejiang Province, China

“…Since the 1980s, the commercialization of agriculture in Zhejiang Province has developed rapidly, changing from single grain production to the cultivation of higher-profit cash crops, such as tea, fruits, vegetables, and oil plants (Su et al, 2014). In the context of rapid economic development and urbanization, Zhejiang Province is one of the richest and most developed provinces in China (Zhao et al, 2019). The widespread transition from agricultural land to construction land has intensified the fragmentation, irregularity, and isolation of agricultural patches across the region (You, 2017).…”

Benefit Evaluation of Water and Soil Conservation Measures in Shendong Based on Particle Swarm Optimization and the Analytic Hierarchy Process

“…In Shendong Mining Area, the intensive mining activities will inevitably affect and occupy farmers' land, and interfere with the original land surface, vegetation, and water in the mining area, resulting in the aggravation of soil erosion. Soil and water conservation in Shendong Mining Area of the Loess Plateau is mainly based on the micro geomorphic landscape transformation of slope reduction [67], which can lead to terraces suitable for planting and the ridges suitable for trees and grass, optimize the original land structure type [66,77]; improve land use efficiency [78] and create degradable biomaterials for slope cover [79], help make the area more conducive to vegetation growth [39,80], and reduce water and soil loss [3,75,78,[81][82][83]. An increase in forest and grass coverage not only needs favorable terrain conditions, but also requires appropriate plant species to be used for vegetation rehabilitation, as well as workers with mastery of the corresponding technologies to engage in reclamation.…”

Ecosystem service bundle index construction, spatiotemporal dynamic display, and driving force analysis

“…Zhejiang Province is one of the richest and most developed provinces in China (Zhao, Zhao, and Li 2019), and its economy has developed rapidly in recent years. From 2000 to 2018, GDP of Zhejiang increased by 13.09%, and exceeded 5,619.72 billion yuan in 2018.…”