Land use pattern and multifunctional evolution in Hunan Province using "production-living-ecosystem" space

Land use in Hunan Province can share the common challenges on land space protection and development in China. The multifunctional land can be expected to solve the shortage and weak functionality of land resources. Taking Hunan Province as the research object, this article aims to construct a multifunctional evaluation index system using the land use multifunctional mechanism of "element structure space function". Land use multifunctional level was evaluated using entropy and TOPSIS, according to the spatial perspective of "Production-living-ecosystem". At the same time, spatial analysis was used to clarify the evolution characteristics of land use patterns in the region from 2000 to 2020. For example, the land use spatial transfer model and land use dynamic degree were then selected using ArcGIS software. Finally, a systematic investigation was made to explore the dynamic relationship between the evolution of land use spatial pattern and functional transformation using the dual perspective of "space+function". The results show that there were significant fluctuations in the spatial pattern of land use in Hunan Province from 2000 to 2020, where the production and ecological spaces were ever shrinking to expand the living spaces; Among them, the major characteristics were attributed to the significant expansion of living space and frequent conversion between production and ecological space. The main factors were obtained on the spatial fluctuations and reorganization of land use. 2) The regional distribution pattern and production space were distributed mainly in the central area of Changde, Yiyang, and Yueyang in the northern part of the province, as well as the border of Hengyang, Loudi, Shaoyang, and Yongzhou in the central part; The living space was distributed in the core distribution area centered around the Changsha Zhuzhou Xiangtan urban agglomeration and the central urban areas of each city; The ecological space shared the widest distribution area, particularly in the hilly and mountainous areas of the western and southwestern parts of the province, as well as in the Dongting Lake water area located in the northern part of the province; There was the more severe variation in the land use pattern evolution of the surrounding Changsha Zhuzhou Xiangtan area, followed by the mountainous areas on the east, west, and south sides; The dynamic degree results show that there was an upward trend for the overall dynamic change rate of land use. 3) The level of land use in the "Production-living-ecosystem" functions showed an increasing trend per year, with the highest ecological function score and the most significant changes, followed by the production function. Furthermore, the level of land use tended to stabilize during fluctuations. The living function was the lowest, indicating an increasing trend each year; The horizontal differences among regions were shifted from the low to high level relative equilibrium. 4) There was a significant correlation between the land use spatial pattern and functional transformation, especially in the temporal patterns. Finally, a beneficial attempt was made to explore the relationship between them using the multifunctional mechanism of "space+function" in land use; Therefore, it is necessary to further combine the land multifunctional measurement under the "one to many" mechanism, in order to more accurately identify the interrelationships among the "three living" spaces and functions.