Abstract
A quantitative analysis of rural development is required to comprehend the spatial differentiation of a rural area and promote rural sustainable development under the pressure of urbanization and industrialization, especially areas with dramatic changes in rural socioeconomic development of China and other developing countries. Taking Wuhan as the case study, this paper developed an index system including rural settlement, land, industry and human settlement environment for evaluating the level of rural development. Then, using the exploratory spatial data analysis, the principal component analysis and the cluster analysis, this paper analyzes the spatial differentiation and correlation and categorizes the types of rural development. The results are as follows. (1) The spatial differentiation of the level of rural development in Wuhan City’s new urban districts is obvious and the areas with a high level of rural development are mainly distributed at the intersection of the new and central urban areas and gradually decrease outward. (2) There is a significant spatial agglomeration of the developed rural areas and the structure of the spatial change in these areas resembles a certain continuity, specifically a circle of “central heat surrounding cold”. (3) Rural development in the new urban areas can be divided into the following five types: the ecological leisure type, the traditional farming type, the balanced development type, the industrial-and-agricultural mixed type and the industrial promotion type. The corresponding development path is proposed in combination with different types of rural development to provide a theoretical basis and decision-making reference for rural revitalization.
Highlights
A rural area is a complex system under the mutual influence, function and transformation of nature, social, economic and human activities, which reflects the character, function, position and the role of a rural area, as well as its population, resources and environment [1,2,3]
(1) The spatial differentiation of the level of rural development in Wuhan City’s new urban districts is obvious and the areas with a high level of rural development are mainly distributed at the intersection of the new and central urban areas and gradually decrease outward
The study of rural development is helpful to comprehend the spatial differentiation of rural areas and it is critical for guiding the rural transformation and reconstruction
Summary
A rural area is a complex system under the mutual influence, function and transformation of nature, social, economic and human activities, which reflects the character, function, position and the role of a rural area, as well as its population, resources and environment [1,2,3]. With the acceleration of global urbanization [5], the global population is projected to increase by 1.76 billion and 86% of this growth is expected to occur in the cities and towns of developing countries during 2000–2024. The above projections from the United Nations Population Division suggest that in developing countries, during this period, there will be a rural growth of about 190 million rural dwellers in total [6]. The emergence of the current post-urban world has a fundamental change in urban–rural relations, accompanying rural issues, which include rural decline, rural depopulation and exodus, land abandonment, rural poverty and environmental pollution in deteriorating countrysides, have swept both developing and developed countries, as well as hindered rural sustainability [7]. The study of rural development is helpful to comprehend the spatial differentiation of rural areas and it is critical for guiding the rural transformation and reconstruction
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