Abstract
Eco-village development has been considered by the Chinese central government as part of its rural revitalisation campaign and it is seen as a crucial/main solution to the increasingly serious rural issues caused by urban–rural inequality. A significant number of eco-villages are being or will be developed with government leadership and support under the guidance of a corresponding assessment. However, the latest Chinese eco-village assessment, the Evaluation for the Construction of Beautiful Villages (ECBV), has been found to have limitations related to the assessment process, method, and indicators, meaning that it cannot be used to perform a balanced evaluation of the social, economic, and environmental aspects of an eco-village. As assessing an eco-village is as essential as building it, it has become necessary to balance the criteria and improve the ECBV assessment so that it can review existing achievements, guide further development, and ensure better outcomes. Thus, this paper aims to: (1) identify the limitations of ECBV through a case study of a carefully selected Chinese eco-village, Zhenghu Village, by repeating the assessment process and analysing the assessment results, and (2) propose three possible solutions to improve the assessment by applying a revised ECBV assessment, the components of which are adopted and revised from an internationally recognised sustainability assessment, the Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs). The results of the case study confirm the limitations of the ECBV assessment. Besides, the research outcomes of these three possible solutions can improve ECBV assessment and also provide ideas for the improvement of other existing assessment methods. Moreover, other developing countries may apply the research process and method introduced in this paper to formulate or improve their own eco-village assessments.
Highlights
Introduction nal affiliationsRecent studies have revealed that worldwide urbanisation has caused some adverse effects on the social, economic, and environmental aspects of rural development, including “rural hollowing” as the workforce leave rural areas in order to achieve a better standard of living in urban areas [1,2], the skewing of the population towards the elderly and children [3,4], and farmland abandonment [5,6]
This paper aims to identify the limitations of the current Chinese eco-village assessment, Evaluation for the Construction of Beautiful Villages (ECBV), and to propose solutions
Efforts to maintain the rural population during times of rapid urbanisation cannot be assessed through the ECBV as it only assesses the current number of permanent residents each year, rather than over a longer period of time
Summary
Introduction nal affiliationsRecent studies have revealed that worldwide urbanisation has caused some adverse effects on the social, economic, and environmental aspects of rural development, including “rural hollowing” as the workforce leave rural areas in order to achieve a better standard of living in urban areas [1,2], the skewing of the population towards the elderly and children [3,4], and farmland abandonment [5,6]. Many developed countries have started the transition in rural areas to cope with these negative facets of rapid urbanisation processes for decades [7,8,9] These issues have been recognised in China and in other developing. Asian countries, which have led to extra economic and social pressures such as housing affordability in urban areas [10,11,12] To solve these rural issues as a matter of urgency in China, the central government learned from other Asian countries, including Japan and Korea, which had experienced. In addition to the rural development policies, recent studies have indicated that the principles of eco-village development are consistent with the strategies of the rural revitalisation campaign in China, which was formulated to develop rural areas in their economic, social, and environmental aspects, and to reduce urban bias [19,24,25]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
