Evaluating rural livability in Lishui District of Nanjing under the interaction of "Production-Living-Ecological Space"

Production, living, and ecological space are three of the most important components in the rural living environment system. The interactions among the three spaces are outstanding in the rapidly urbanizing areas with a concentrated population and frequent production activities. It is very necessary to clarify the impact of the interactions on rural livability. Taking Lishui District of Nanjing in China as an example, a rural “Production-Living-Ecological Space” classification index system was built using land use and POI (point of interest) data. Three spaces were identified comprehensively, according to the entropy weight, linear weighting, and spatial analysis function of ArcGIS. Then, an evaluation system of rural livability was established to consider the functions of the “Production-Living-Ecological Space” and the interaction among them. The rural livability of each town was classified in 2010 and 2018. The levels of rural livability were also analyzed in the towns. A systematic analysis was made to clarify the influence of the interaction of the “Production-Living-Ecological Space” on the evaluation of rural livability. The interactivity indicators were removed from the rural livability evaluation system. The livability scores were calculated without considering the interaction of the “Production-Living-Ecological Space”. The results showed that: 1) The production space was dominant in the rural “Production-Living-Ecological Space” in 2010 and 2018, which was mostly distributed in the periphery of the living space. The ecological space was the second, which was clustered in many areas of the district. The living space was the smallest near the intersection of traffic roads. The composition and distribution of the “Production-Living-Ecological Space” varied greatly in each town. The distribution of production, living, and ecological space roughly overlapped with that of arable land, rural settlements, and water and forest meadows. The area of rural living space generally increased. The newly increased living space was mainly concentrated in the middle of each town, especially in Yongyang, Shiqiu, and Zhetang. By contrast, the area of production space decreased, where Zhetang, Yongyang, and Shiqiu had the greatest decrease among the eight towns. 2) The overall level of rural livability was not high in 2010 and 2018, where the average score declined slightly in the eight years. The high and low livability areas were located in Hefeng and Baima Town in 2010, respectively, whereas, those were located in Yongyang and Dongping Town in 2018, respectively. Among them, Hefeng Town was ranked the first in the study area in 2010, in terms of livability levels, but Baima Town was ranked the last. Until 2018, Yongyang Town shared the highest livability score, whereas, Dongping Town was the lowest. The livability rank of Yongyang Town increased, while that of Dongping and Shiqiu Town decreased during the eight years. 3) The livability score of Zhetang Town was higher than that of Hefeng Town, whereas, the livability score of Baima Town was higher than that of Jingqiao Town, without considering the interaction among the “Production-Living-Ecological Space”. It was exactly the opposite after considering the interaction, indicating more in line with local reality. Therefore, the interaction among the “Production-Living-Ecological Space” posed a certain influence on the livability of the countryside, indicating a new idea for the study of rural livability. Among the towns with “high” livability, Yongyang Town should maintain the integrity of the ecosystem and adhere to the innovation-driven development strategy for the modern industrial system. Hefeng Town should maintain ecological health to strengthen the construction of public facilities. Among the towns with “relatively high” livability, Zhetang Town should pay attention to the rational layout of production, living, and ecological space, in order to strengthen the construction and protection of ecological space. Honglan Town should focus on the industrial transformation and upgrading in the future construction, in order to reduce the negative impact of production space on the living and ecological space. Jingqiao Town with its “relatively low” livability should continue to introduce effective policies, and then reduce the negative impact of production and living space on ecological space for the better protection of water areas. Among the towns with "low" livability, Shiqiu Town should rationalize the production and living space layout, in order to reduce the pollution from production activities via the policy measures. Dongping Town should strengthen the construction of public facilities and roads, with an emphasis on the industrial transformation for better ecological environment protection. Baima Town should focus on the infrastructure to optimize the production and living space layout for the sound transportation system. The finding can provide a strong reference for Lishui District, in order to enhance the rural habitat environment and rural revitalization.