Analysis of characteristic and influencing factors of rural settlement landscape pattern in metropolitan suburbs

Abstract: To reveal the differentiation characteristics and influencing factors of rural settlement landscape spatial pattern in metropolitan suburbs, statistical analyses of landscape pattern index was performed to determine different characteristics of rural settlement landscape spatial pattern of Qingpu District in Shanghai. Then multiple logistic regression model and factor analysis were performed respectively to interpret the different landscape spatial pattern according to natural, spatial and social economic factors. The results showed that the spatial pattern of rural settlement landscape was east-west differentiation. In the east region, rural settlements landscape spatial pattern presented the characteristic of small scale, dense distribution and regular morphology. Meanwhile, in the west region, rural settlements landscape spatial pattern presented the characteristic of large scale, spare distribution and broken morphology. Influencing factors of rural settlements landscape spatial pattern included geo-spatial and social-economy factors. The factors of influencing the differentiation of rural settlement landscape spatial pattern based on the geo-spatial factors in Qingpu District included explanatory variables of scale, distribution and shape. The explanatory variables of scale differentiation were the cultivation radius, distance to the nearest national roads and city center. The explanatory variables of distribution differentiation were the distance to the city center, nearest town center and nearest major rivers. The explanatory variables of shape differentiation were the distance to the nearest national roads, nearest highway and nearest provincial roads. Therefore, our results suggested that the primary factors to shape rural settlement landscape spatial pattern in this region were network of traffic and the degree of urbanization. The factors of affecting the differentiation of rural settlement landscape spatial pattern based on the social-economic factors in Qingpu District included social investment and infrastructure construction. The developed traffic network served as a strong external force to guide the selection of the settlement location. The rapid urbanization enhanced the outreach of rural communities, especially in urban and rural areas connected by transportation network. The rural space was taken into the framework of urban development, which accelerated material flow between urban and rural areas, ultimately resulting, spatial reconstruction of the rural settlement. The continuing and increasing investment of government in this region improved the rural agricultural production environment, achieved the reallocation of resources, and also resulted in high standard for development of rural land space. As such the rural economy was developed and residents' income level increased. Thus, the urbanization can be viewed as a process of upgrading urban and rural industries and industry restructuring. The relocation of the urban industry accelerated the development of rural industrialization, which broke the traditional rural settlements space distribution principles and also changed the environment of the settlement space homogeneous dispersion. As a result, rural industry development eventually changed rural population and settlement spatial differentiation. The development of rural industrialization improved the living standards of rural residents and changed villagers' views of outside world. Those changes impacted their life behavior or activity space, causing rural settlement landscape spatial difference and rural surplus labor transfer. The movement of rural surplus labor force from the township to the center of the town resulted in diffusion of the center of the district and town construction to the surrounding villages and towns, and promoted rural homogeneous space transition into the diversification, and exacerbated by the differentiation of the settlement space. The migration of agricultural population to other industry provided favorable conditions for change of agricultural land ownership and land consolidation. It also created an opportunity for the rural settlement spatial structure reorganization. In conclusion, these above-mentioned factors changed the inherent nature and form of rural settlement landscape, making the rural settlement landscape spatial pattern dissimilation, hollowing and fragmentation. It deeply changed the intrinsic quality of rural settlements landscape spatial pattern in that region. Our results have important guidance to plan the rural landscape protection and urban and rural land regulation in metropolitan suburbs.