CollectHomepage AdvertisementContact usMessage

Arid Land Geography ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (4): 649-657.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2022.258

• Regional Development • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Partitioning paths for development potential of rural settlements in watershed: Take Fenhe River Basin as an example

HOU Zhihua1,2(),CUI Xiaoqi3,FAN Xiaoxia1   

  1. 1. School of Geography, Taiyuan Normal University, Jinzhong 030619, Shanxi, China
    2. Research Center for Scientific Development in Fenhe River Valley, Taiyuan Normal University, Jinzhong 030619, Shanxi, China
    3. School of Geography, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, Liaoning, China
  • Received:2022-06-01 Revised:2022-07-27 Online:2023-04-25 Published:2023-04-28

Abstract:

Settlements are the concentrated expression of man-land relationship in rural area. Exploration of the development potential and development path of rural settlements is essential to the sustainable development of rural economy. Based on the theory of rural regional system and modern rural development characteristics, this study evaluated the development potential of rural settlements, formulated zoning schemes, and analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of these schemes to explore the path of rural revitalization by taking Fenhe River Basin, Shanxi Province, China as an example. The research results show that: (1) The evaluation system was constructed by considering 11107 rural settlement patches as study objects to reveal the development potential of rural settlement from the aspects of natural environment, resources endowment, ecological protection, socio-economic level, and city driving. (2) The development potential showed a great difference, and its distribution was unbalanced in the Fenhe River Basin. The development potential of the middle and lower reaches were higher than that of the upper reaches, and the development potential of the middle valley basin was higher than that of the mountains and hills of the east and west. (3) The rural settlements were categorized into 5 first-class zones and 12 second-class zones that exhibited obvious characteristics and differences in development potential, development advantage, and development path. The results of this study contributed to the promotion and implementation of the rural revitalization strategy in the Fenhe River Basin and other similar areas.

Key words: rural revitalization, rural regional system, rural settlement, development path, Fenhe River Basin