Land-Use Transition of Tourist Villages in the Metropolitan Suburbs and Its Driving Forces: A Case Study of She Village in Nanjing City, China

Yibei Chai,Yi Hu,Tianqi He,Kaiyang Jia,Ting Feng,Weifeng Qiao,Yahua Wang

doi:10.3390/land10020168

Abstract

In the context of the transition from “Native-rural China” to “Urban-rural China”, suburban villages have undergone rapid reconstruction of format, industry, and function. Aiming to reveal the evolution characteristics and driving forces, this study selected She Village, located in suburban areas of Nanjing, to analyze the changes of both dominant and recessive morphology of land use by employing participatory rural appraisal, remote sensing, and geographic information systems. The results showed that She Village witnessed three stages, including industrial development, ecological restoration, and service industry development, from 1980 to 2018, with more diversified management modes, multifunctional land use, and intensified land fragmentation. The drivers included natural resources, population growth, policy of Grain for Green, urban market demand, etc., the intensity of which showed trends of “increase–increase–increase”, “increase–decrease–decrease”, “periodically intermittent”, and “increase–decrease–increase” in turn. The tourist villages undergo three stages of industrial development, agricultural development, and service industry development, with periodical characteristics driven by top-down policies, the endogenous force of the village, and the radiation and diffusion of the city. This research deepens the understanding of the development process of suburban villages and provides a reference for land policy making and planning in other similar villages.

Highlights

With industrialization, urbanization, informatization, and agricultural modernization, the once-solidified urban–rural dualistic structure is being deconstructed [1]
Over the last 40 years or so, She Village witnessed a rapid transformation of land-use quantity and spatial structure (Table 1, Figure 3 ). 1 During 1980 to 2000, the land use change of She Village mainly featured the conversion between forest land and other land-use types
This paper studied land-use transition from a dual perspective of dominant and recessive morphology and emphasizes the influence of urban radiation and diffusion on suburban villages, which can fully show the evolution of land use in suburban villages and contribute to a better understanding of rural urbanization

Summary

Introduction

Urbanization, informatization, and agricultural modernization, the once-solidified urban–rural dualistic structure is being deconstructed [1]. The production factors between rural and urban areas have turned into a two-way flow from a one-way flow, and China has been transferred from “Native-rural China” to “Urban-rural China” [2], in which the rural system has been characterized by rapid reconstruction of economic, social, and comprehensive dimensions [3]; heterogeneity [4]; consumerization and capitalization [5] of rural space; and multifunctionalization of agriculture and village [6], etc. In research of rural transformation, land-use change, as a projection of social and economic development spatially, can directly show the stages and issues of rural transformation and development [11,12]. The current theoretical research on land-use transition at a village scale largely focuses on the coupling relationship between land-use transition and rural transformation [13] and rural economy [14], on the relationship between land-use transition and rural revitalization [15]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion