Research on rural settlement reconstruction model based on integration drivers and suitability evaluation

Abstract: In order to solve the contradiction between land supply and demand in the process of rural development, protect farmers' legitimate rights and interests, reduce disputes in the process of rural settlement integration and promote the implementation of Rural Revitalization strategy. In this study, we took the Sihe village of Tongwei County in the Loess Hilly Region of Middle Gansu Province as the case study area, and based on participatory rural appraisal (PRA), we conducted household survey in Sihe village in July 2017 and December 2017, respectively. Two surveys lasted for 16 days in total. During survey, information about farmers' family situation, income and expenses, residence, production, behavior willingness, etc. were obtained. Specifically, household questionnaire survey was first conducted in the nine communities of Sihe village. A total of 190 effective questionnaires were obtained, meaning that 76.92% of households gave effective responses (80 households had already moved out of Sihe village and 57 households refused the interview). On this foundation, with the help of SEM（Structural Equation Modeling）and SE (Suitability Evaluation) method, we analyzed the farmers' integration intention and driving mechanism for rural settlement, and explored the reconstruction model of rural settlement on the basis of suitability evaluation. The results showed that: 1) Among the 190 sample households, only 39 households were willing to integrate, accounting for 20.5%, and 151 households were unwilling to integrate, accounting for 79.5%. 2) Farmer household integration was affected by many factors. Farmer household income, household non-farm income, housing construction time, and traffic accessibility were the important driving mechanism for the formation of rural settlement integration intention. Other factors had influence but not significant. 3) For the Sihe village with 168 households in the suitable residential area, accounting for 51.38% of the Sihe village farmers, more than half of the farmers were in the unsuitable residential areas, and there is a need for more suitable residential areas, with a certain degree of renovation potential and the larger improvement space of rural settlement quality. 4) Construction of rural settlement reconstruction model based on integration motivation and suitability evaluation including ecological transformation mode, off-site relocation mode, old village renovation mode and transformation and upgrading mode, were used to reconstruct the existing settlement space. Among them, the ecological transformation model was suitable for the farmers who had already moved out. The remote relocation model was suitable for the farmers who were willing to integrate in the inappropriate residential areas and the more suitable residential areas. The old village renovation model was suitable for the farmers who were not willing to integrate in the inappropriate residential areas. The promotion mode is suitable for farmers who were living in suitable residential areas and had the intention of integration. After the reconstruction of rural settlements, the number of homestead sites in the Sihe village would be reduced from 354 to 275, and the area would be reduced from 102 105.63 m2 to 79 708.79 m2, the saved land was 22 396.84 m2. This paper can provide a method and case study for the optimization and integration of the spatial pattern of rural settlements in the Loess Hilly Region of central Gansu.