Rurality evaluation and spatial autocorrelation type classification based on quality of life in metropolitan suburbs

Rurality is an important indicator which reflects rural development, reveals its internal difference and measures rural area space. The degree of rurality is the representing evidence of rural regional type differentiation and reflects the multifunctional evolutional tendency of urban-rural space profoundly. What constitutes development and how it should be measured is a very important question. In this research, we constructed the index system of income and expenditure of daily living based on the theory of quality of live, used the comparative analysis method of urban and rural indicators to classify the rural grade, used the local spatial autocorrelation method spatial correlation analyzing the rural indicators of 184 evaluation units in Qingpu district, divided the rural types of Qingpu district in 2016 according to the combination types produced by space superposition, and put forward the corresponding management measures. The results showed that it was an effective method to judge the degree of rural development in the context of urban-rural integration by selecting income and expenditure indicators that represented the quality of life of rural residents to construct a rurality evaluation system, and used the comparison of indicators between urban and rural areas to judge the regional rural nature. The differentiation of rural spaces in Qingpu district was obvious, and the rurality increased gradually from east to west. According to the evaluation results of the comprehensive index and grade of rural nature in Qingpu district in 2016, the total area of rural first class area was 75.94 km2, accounting for 11.60% of the total area, mainly distributed in the eastern and central areas of Xiayang and Xujing. The total area of rural secondary area was 28.01% of the total area of 187.28 km2, mainly distributed in Xianghuaqiao and Huaxin in the north and northeast of central China. The total area of rural third class area was 140.36 km2, accounting for 21.00% of the total area, mainly distributed in Baihe town and Zhujiajiao town in the middle and north. The total area of the rural area was 264.94 km2, which was mainly distributed in Jinze and Liantang in the west of Qingqu district. The types of rurality in Qingpu district had various and different ways of development based on quality of life. According to the degree of local spatial agglomeration and dispersion of rural comprehensive index, 184 evaluation units of village area in Qingpu district can be divided 10 rural types. According to the results of rural classification, countermeasures and differentiated management measures were adopted. The results enrich the theory of rural geography and provide scientific reference for the sustainable development of rural areas.