Rural Human Settlements Research Articles

On the Strategy of Shaping Rural Human Settlement Environment in Jiangsu Province from the Perspective of Beautiful Pastoral Country

Beautiful pastoral country construction is an important step for Jiangsu Province to fulfil the mission of “being a leader, a model and a front-runner” in rural revitalization, and it has become an important part of realizing the beautiful province of Jiangsu. By means of data comparison, literature analysis and logical analysis, it is possible to outline the current characteristics of unbalanced regional development, uneven distribution of characteristic resources and mismatch of the “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” policies with the new development requirements in the province, and by referring to the model of rural revitalization in the “six along” areas, systematic thinking and planning of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” policies and other strategies, with focus on the systematic construction of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, is helpful to improve the habitat environment in Jiangsu in all respects. The results show that the strategy of building beautiful pastoral country in northern, central and southern Jiangsu should be adapted to local conditions; Jiangsu should take the lead in the construction of beautiful pastoral country in the “six along” areas; the key to the construction of beautiful pastoral country lies in the industrial development in rural areas. The two should be closely coordinated and driven by each other to jointly achieve the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.

Impact evaluation and driving type identification of human factors on rural human settlement environment: Taking Gansu Province, China as an example

Abstract Evaluating the quality of rural human (RH) settlements and clarifying its spatial differentiation characteristics have the most direct guiding role for the formulation of regional construction policies and the optimization of RH settlements. In this study, the index model of environmental quality of RH settlement was established. ImPACT and trade-off analysis methods were used to quantitatively identify the spatial differentiation of RH settlement and dominant impact human factors of it in Gansu Province in 2017. Then, the driving type of RH settlement environment was identified. Results are as follows. (1) The overall environmental quality of RH settlement in Gansu Province shows a decreasing trend from “west to east.” (2) The environmental quality of RH settlement is mainly affected by eight factors, of which the effect of quantity index per capita is more significant. (3) The trade-off relationship between the environmental quality index and these eight dominant factors is mainly low–low, which indicates that the human factors are the main reason for the environmental quality of the RH settlement. (4) Based on the dominant human factors, Gansu Province is classified into four driving types, of which the proportion of comprehensive type accounts for 77.01%.

Quality evaluation and division of regional types of rural human settlements in China

The improvement of rural human settlements is an important task in the Rural Revitalisation strategy in China. Determining the quality and spatial distribution of rural human settlements and making strategies according to local conditions are conductive to the construction of beautiful rural in China. On the basis of existing theories and research on rural human settlements, this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework of rural human settlements that focuses on infrastructure, public services, quality of life, living standards and environmental health. Entropy method and cluster analysis are used to analyse the quality of rural human settlements and to divide regions among 31 provinces in China. The main conclusions are as follows: (i) China can be divided into four quadrants. Regions with high qualities are mainly concentrated in the first quadrant. The second and third quadrants score the lowest. The quality of rural human settlements in sub-dimensions shows disequilibrium and the quality of life is low compared with other four dimensions. (ii) The 31 provinces can be divided into five categories: demonstration regions, regions with potentials for development, regions with weak points, regions of satisfying basic needs, and backward regions. (iii) Rural human settlements is a large complex system, whose quality is closely related to the conditions of regional development. Long-term follow-up investigation should be the focus of future research. Findings provide scientific guidance for the optimization and improvement mechanism of rural human settlements and rural revitalisation.

Herring gull aversion to gaze in urban and rural human settlements

With an increasing human population and expansion of urban settlements, wild animals are often exposed to humans. As humans may be a threat, a neutral presence or a source of food, animals will benefit from continuously assessing the potential risk they pose in order to respond appropriately. Herring gulls, Larus argentatus , are increasingly breeding and foraging in urban areas, and thus have many opportunities to interact with humans. We recently found that herring gulls take longer to approach food when being watched by a human. However, it is not known whether aversion to human gaze arises from experience with humans, and whether individual differences in responsiveness are a result of differential exposure. Here, we tested whether herring gulls' responses to human gaze differ according to their age class and urbanization of their habitat. We measured the gulls' flight initiation distance when an experimenter approached with either a direct or an averted gaze. Neither gull age class nor urbanization significantly influenced the effect of human gaze on flight initiation distance. However, as recently fledged juveniles responded strongly to the experimenter's gaze, aversion to human gaze may not require extensive exposure to humans to develop. Gulls in urban areas could be approached more closely than those in rural areas, consistent with findings in other species. These results indicate that gaze aversion is present early in development and that exposure to humans may influence gulls' responses to perceived risk from humans. Investigating the processes generating individual differences in responses to humans will provide further insights into human–wildlife interactions and the effects of urbanization. • Herring gulls living in built-up areas differ greatly in their wariness of humans. • We tested whether age and urbanization affected gulls' aversion to human gaze. • Urban herring gulls could be approached more closely than their rural counterparts. • However, gulls in urban and rural areas fled sooner if a person was looking at them. • Gulls may not need extensive exposure to humans to be wary of human eye contact.

Study on the Influence of Social Capital on Farmers' Participation in Rural Domestic Sewage Treatment in Nanjing, China.

Rural domestic sewage treatment is not only an important part of the renovation of rural human settlements, but also a major measure to revitalize those areas. In the absence of extensive participation by farmers, it is difficult to achieve desired results. From the theoretical analysis of the influence of social capital on farmers’ participation, and based on the survey data of farmers in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, this study used a logistic model to analyze the influence of social capital and personal, family, and awareness characteristics of farmers on their participation levels. Social capital plays a significant role in promoting farmers’ participation, and the contribution of its core variables is in the following order: social norms > social trust > social networks. Among the control variables, the need for domestic sewage treatment, participation in environmental training, educational level, and participation in a village cadre significantly enhance farmers’ participation levels. Consequently, promotion of rural domestic sewage treatment should include improvement of farmers’ social trust, social norms, and social networks, to enhance social capital. Publicity and education should be reinforced, and environmental training should be carried out to improve farmers’ awareness and sense of responsibility, leading them to active participation.

Study on the Level and Type Identification of Rural Development in Wuhan City’s New Urban Districts

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.

Land cover change, landscape degradation, and restoration along a railway line in the Amazon biome, Brazil

AbstractRailways are known to have less influence on land use than other transportation systems. However, railways also affect biodiversity, water resources, socioeconomic outcomes, and land prices. In the context of changes in land cover and land use (LCLU) classes, this study analyses the changes arising from the establishment of the Carajás Mining Project in 1984 along the more than 900‐km length of the Carajás Railway (CRW) in southeastern Amazonia. LANDSAT‐5 (1984) and LANDSAT‐8 (2014) satellite images and human settlement layers (1990 and 2015) along CRW were used to assess LCLU changes. Satellite images were analysed with the geographic object‐based image analysis method to detect changes in LCLU classes, including municipalities located less than 50 km from the CRW. The results showed that in 1984, the areas of influence of the CRW consisted of 69% forest cover, 24% nonforest cover, 3% water, and 2% cloud cover. In 2014, forest area dropped significantly to 43%, whereas the nonforest class expanded to 46%. This analysis revealed that the conversion of forests to pastures represents the major landscape degradation that occupy 51% of the study site mainly in rural human settlement areas, which are interlinked with the construction of the CRW. Only 6% of the total area exhibits a trend of restoration marked by secondary vegetation growing. The land occupation model along the CRW is characterized by rural settlements, associated with roads and extensive pasturelands. Construction of this railway in a certain way prevented the fishbone occupation type as observed in the western Amazon.

Study on the Current Situation and Improvement Mechanism of Comprehensive Management of Rural Human Settlement Environment in Dazhou

Under the guidance of the Rural Revitalization Strategy, the comprehensive management of rural human settlement environment is an important path to promote the modernization development of rural areas in Dazhou and make rural people feel happy and satisfied. Therefore, it is necessary for Dazhou to explore the sustainable development strategy of comprehensive management of rural human settlement environment, so as to effectively optimize the rural human settlement environment. Based on the analysis on and discussion about the current situation of comprehensive management of rural human settlement environment in Dazhou, this paper analyzes the difficulties existing in the comprehensive management of rural human settlement environment in Dazhou, such as insufficient construction of supervision mechanism, lack of management funds, lack of complete infrastructure, weak awareness of environmental protection of villagers, and lack of the construction of talent team. It is proposed that for rural human settlement environment management in Dazhou we should establish the long-term management mechanism, system construction mechanism, constraint incentive mechanism, village self-management mechanism, university linkage mechanism and other improvement mechanisms, in order to realize the overall improvement of rural environment.

Spatial differentiation characteristics of internal ecological land structure in rural settlements and its response to natural and socio-economic conditions in the Central Plains, China

Ecological land in rural settlements (ELRS) can directly provide many ecosystem services for rural residents that are related to their well-being. This study selects landscape pattern indices to describe the structural characteristics of ELRS at the county level in the Central Plains region (CP), China. Fragmentation of ELRS in the North China Plain (NCP) is higher than that in the marginal mountainous and hilly areas of the CP, and ELRS dominance is higher in the south than in the north. The stability of household plots in the NCP western margin and woodlands in plain and basin areas is higher than other areas. The grassland and water along the Yellow River and in the vicinity of urban areas show strong stability, while the central areas of the CP and western and southern mountainous areas show poor stability. ELRS diversity shows a progressive spatial pattern from the complexity of the northwest to the homogeneity of the south. Elevation is the most important independent factor in controlling the structure of ELRS, followed by the external morphological structure of rural settlements, road density, and the rural population. Each of the natural and socioeconomic factor affects the structural feature index of ELRS to a different degree but shows a regular control direction. Generally, the ELRS structure in areas of complex topography, obvious urbanization, convenient transportation, and weakening agricultural status tends to be complex. Rural settlements with large populations and densities, small mean patch sizes, poor uniformity and regular shapes help ELRS show integrity and superiority but not stability or diversity. The results will make up for the shortcomings of the research in the field of rural human settlement environments and serve to improve the appearance and optimize the function of villages.

Suitability Evaluation of Rural Human Settlements in Pengxi County Based on GIS

Based on the current hot topic of rural human settlements, this study takes Pengxi county of Suining city as the research object, selects the factors that affect the suitability of rural human settlements, and uses analytic hierarchy process to determine the weight. Based on GIS spatial analysis method, 10m×10m grid is as the basic evaluation unit, which is divided into four types of areas, including unsuitable, generally suitable, suitable and most suitable. The results show that the suitable and most suitable areas account for 53.12% of the total area, and the general environmental suitability is better. This study provides a reference for the construction and development of rural human settlements at the county level in the Sichuan Basin areas.

Evolutionary Game Analysis on the Classification Management of Rural Domestic Waste

In February 2018, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued The Three-year Action Plan for the Rehabilitation of Rural Human Settlements, and in this plan, the classification management of rural domestic waste (CMRDW) was given the priority. Although there has been a successful precedent for the CMRDW model of “collection in household, gathering in village, transshipment in town, treatment in county” created by Jinhua District of Zhejiang Province. However, affected by the quality of rural Chinese residents, related management costs and economic benefits and the government's funds, the CMRDW still hinders. Based on the bounded rationality, this paper constructs a game model of three parties including government, enterprises and rural residents, and establishes an evolutionary stability strategy (ESS) based on the replicator dynamic function to explore a Government-Enterprise-Rural Residents model of waste classification management that tripartite will altogether win and find a development path to form a continuous operation platform.

Policy Suggestions on Government-led Rural Habitat Environmental Governance

The rural settlement of human settlements is the first hardship to implement the rural revitalization strategy. Improving rural living environment as an important aspect to solve the imbalance between urban and rural development and inadequate rural development is the starting point for urban-rural integration and the basic guarantee for rural areas to enter a well-off society. Rural sewage treatment and domestic garbage are the key and difficult points in the renovation of human settlements. Based on the field researchs of the major cities in China, this paper discusses the role of government-led in light of the current situation, combined with the theory of public management and the actual situation of China’s township work, in order to explore a government’s management path for the effective management of rural human settlements.

Evaluation and determinants of satisfaction with rural livability in China’s less-developed eastern areas: A case study of Xianju County in Zhejiang Province

Abstract In addition to now being the new objective of the governance of rural human settlements, ecological livability is also regarded as the key to the rural revitalization strategy in the new era. However, when compared with the previous studies which focused on urban livability, in terms of perspectives and methods, the studies regarding rural livability are expected to further penetrate into the most important issues. Therefore, based on field questionnaire survey results from twelve towns in a less-developed eastern county in China, this study’s goals were to evaluate the characteristics of the satisfaction levels of rural livability, as well as examine the intensity effects of the related determinants, using a structural equation model (SEM). The empirical results of this study indicated that the respondents had an above-average satisfaction with rural livability of 3.559. In regard to the various dimensions of rural livability, the respondents were found to be relatively satisfied with the natural environmental conditions (4.123) and the human social amenities (3.821). However, the respondents were observed to be slightly dissatisfied with the sanitation status (3.404) and public service levels (3.456). The results of this study’s SEM further revealed that there was a significant correlation between all six examined dimensions and the overall satisfaction with rural livability, with public service levels and sanitation status ranking as the top two among all of the dimensions. In contrast, it was observed that the natural environment conditions and human social amenities appeared to have less effect on the overall satisfaction of the respondents. Moreover, different individual socioeconomic attributes were found to also have distinct effects on the overall satisfaction level. The results and discussions presented in this study could potentially provide solid foundations for policy makers to effectively promote the construction of beautiful and livable rural environments in the future.

Advocating integrated water resources management approach for rural human settlements

Advocating integrated water resources management approach for rural human settlements

China’s rural human settlements: Qualitative evaluation, quantitative analysis and policy implications

Building a beautiful and livable countryside is essential to farmers’ wellbeing, contributing to the development of New Socialist Countryside in China. Few of the existing studies have established a sound theoretical framework to evaluate rural human settlements from the perspective of farmers, who are the major beneficiaries of the rural human settlements. Therefore, this paper establishes a theoretical framework to evaluate both hard and soft rural human settlements qualitatively and quantitatively. Based on surveys from 6 provinces (cities) in central and eastern China, the theoretical framework is tested using Structural Equation Model (SEM). The empirical results show that the surveyed farmers are vaguely unsatisfied with their local rural human settlements, making improvement a must. Moreover, there is a significant correlation between rural sanitation, housing condition, rural infrastructure, farmers’ economic burden, social services and rural human settlements, with rural sanitation and social services ranking at the top among the hard and soft human settlement indexes, respectively. Thus, the government should prioritize rural sanitation and social services to improve hard and soft human settlements, respectively. The discussions in this paper could provide solid foundations for policy makers to effectively improve rural human settlements.

MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF WASTEWATER QUALITY OF DIFFERENT RURAL HUMAN SETTLEMENTS IN PUNJAB (INDIA)

An attempt has been made in the present study to investigate the wastewater characteristics from six different rural human settlements in the state of Punjab, India. The six selected rural catchments are located on a radius of about 5-50 kilometers from Phagwara town, Kapurthala district. The study area comprises the villages of the districts of Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar in Central Punjab. The wastewater samples were collected between January, 2012 and July, 2012 and analyzed for BOD5, COD, TSS, TDS, Nitrates, pH, TKN, Alkalinity, Total P, Coliforms, heavy metals (Cd, Ni, Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn and As) and elements (B, Ca, Mg, S and K). The study revealed that the village ponds are the only disposal point where the major portion of the wastewater generated from rural micro watersheds is being disposed. TSS, COD, Nitrates and Coliforms were found to be major pollutants in the wastewaters of rural micro watersheds (all exceeded the surface water quality standards developed by Central Pollution Control Board, India). BOD5 and Ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N) were found to be exceeding these standards occasionally. Investigations also revealed a very low ratio of BOD5 to COD for the rural wastewaters which indicated that the contribution of cattle wastewater is significant in the wastewater originating from rural catchments. Principal component analysis was applied to identify linkages between the individual pollutant parameters generated from the rural micro watersheds.

Study on Activation Mechanism and Sustainable Development of Rural Human Settlements Based on Landscape Construction

The quality of rural human settlement environment is directly related to the quality of urban human settlements, which is a big problem in the development of China's social economy. In the special period of social transformation and the key stage of building a well-off society comprehensively, it is of great practical significance to pay attention to the optimization of rural human settlement environment. China is in the transition from traditional rural landscape to modern rural landscape. However, how to realize the smooth transformation and the sustainable development of rural landscape is urgent and tough issues.

Tracing the sources of lead (Pb) in Brunei Bay, Borneo by using integrated spectrometry ICP-MS and chemometric techniques

The present study aims to define the possible sources that contribute to the level of Pb into the Brunei Bay, Borneo. The cluster analysis has classified the bay into the northern part with heavy and agriculture-related industries; the southern area with a moderate rural human settlement as well as the southwestern area with a more pristine environment and a low level of human settlement. The score plot of spatial discriminant analysis verified a significant influence of the river system toward the estuary, whereas the temporal discriminant analysis has discriminated the seasonal changes. In comparison to elsewhere, the stable Pb isotopic ratios in Brunei Bay showed a fingerprint similar to coal-related sources and of aerosol input. Briefly, even though Pb in the Brunei Bay ecosystem proved to be at a low level, the stable Pb isotopic ratios showed that human and industrial activities are slowly contributing Pb into the bay ecosystem.

Land Use Efficiency and Total Factor Productivity—Distribution Dynamic Evolution of Rural Living Space in Chongqing, China

Research on the land use efficiency of rural living spaces is at the core of conflicts about current rural land use and ecological environment construction in China. It can be effectively dealt with through the rational and healthy use of rural land, by promoting sustainable development and urban and rural coordination. Building on the foundation of ecosystem metabolism and sustainable development theories, this paper utilizes the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Malmquist productivity index to divide the land use efficiency total factor productivity (LUTFP) into Malmquist–Luenberger technical change (MLTECH) and Malmquist–Luenberger efficiency change (MLEFFCH) from the perspective of scale change, and uses Kernel Function to measure and study the distribution characteristics of the dynamic evolution and land use efficiency (LUE) in different functional and productive areas and living space subsystem. The results show that, in the process of land use, desirable output growth in the Chongqing city rural living space is lower than the undesirable output reduction rate. Rural human settlement and construction management appears to damage the environment. The LUE in the obtained results showcases an obvious agglomeration effect in Chongqing. Also, there is a very significant “match-up” effect between the LUE and economic development level. In addition, the paper also finds that the technical change index and efficiency change index work together in rural living space LUTFP. The results presented in this paper can provide a basis for the optimization of regional development strategies and rural land utilization.

Analysis of Identifying "Good Village" Criteria from the Perspective of Rural Experts and Managers in Bonab County

Analysis of Identifying "Good Village" Criteria from the Perspective of Rural Experts and Managers in Bonab County