Villagers' Satisfaction Evaluation System of Rural Human Settlement Construction: Empirical Study of Suzhou in China's Rapid Urbanization Area.

Abstract

Continuous improvement of rural human settlements is a major realistic requirement of China’s economic and social development in the context of rural revitalization. Tracking and evaluating the phased progress of human settlement construction in stages represent important techniques for ensuring continual improvement. To improve the current objective data-based index system, this paper focuses on the villager-centered evaluation system at the village level. Factor analysis is used to screen the original data from the questionnaire and minimize the dimensions to synthesize common factors on the basis of empirical results. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) according to weight, the satisfaction evaluation system includes five common factors: living support facilities, nonagricultural industry income, agriculture production income, transportation infrastructure, and comprehensive ecological improvement. The results show that construction investment is beneficial, but not directly proportional to the villagers’ satisfaction. Actual improvement is not keeping up with the demand for public fitness, cultural, and recreational facilities. On the other hand, changes in villagers’ lifestyles may reduce the need for commercial facilities; (2) according to the evaluation model, the indicators can be classified into four categories on the basis of the weight assessment score, all of which can provide differentiated construction strategies to avoid duplication and inefficient resource waste. The survey data’s indicators of major differences between villages, such as public transportation and sanitation, need further discussion; (3) the gap between actual improvement actions and villagers’ needs gives an optimization path for rural construction. The experiences of sample villages in well-developed areas can be used as a model for policy formulation in other regions, and a long-term follow-up investigation should be included in future studies.