Evolution and mechanism analysis of rural regional multi-function pattern in Jiangsu Province from the perspective of economic gradient

A differentiated path is often required to realize rural revitalization. However, there is a different evolution in the multi-functional pattern of rural areas under different economic gradients. Taking Jiangsu Province as the research area, this study aims to explore the evolution and mechanism of rural regional multi-function patterns from the perspective of economic gradients. The index system was then established to quantify the regional multifunctional level of rural areas using entropy. The index was used to analyze the differences in the rural regional multifunction. A geographic detector was utilized to take the economic gradient as the independent variable. The gradient was divided into three levels. Among them, the counties in the southern, central, and northern Jiangsu were set as 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The functional value of rural regional or each county was the dependent variable, in order to analyze the degree of coincidence between the spatial differentiation of economic gradient and the rural regional function. A systematic investigation was made to explore the spatiotemporal evolution difference and influencing mechanism at the global and local rural functional level in Jiangsu Province from 2010 to 2020, from the perspective of economic gradient differentiation. The results showed as follows: 1) The level of rural regional multifunction increased from 0.278 to 0.441, indicating a continuous upward trend. There was a great variation in the rural regional dominant functions under different economic gradients. Southern Jiangsu was dominated by economic development and social security function, while northern Jiangsu was dominated by agricultural production and ecological conservation function, and central Jiangsu was in a relatively balanced state. 2) Thiel index of rural functional function decreased from 0.011 to 0.009 from the perspective of regional differences, indicating the gradual decrease in the overall difference. In spatial differences, the degree of coincidence between rural regional functional function and economic gradient differentiation increased from 0.301 to 0.349 and then decreased to 0.138. The coincidence of agricultural production, social security, and economic gradient decreased first and then increased. A downward trend was found in the coincidence of the economic development function, ecological conservation function, and economic gradient. 3) Annual precipitation, the proportion of secondary and tertiary industries, and per capita social consumption were the dominant influencing factors on the rural regional multifunction under the economic gradient differentiation. Natural factors also played a basic supporting role. There was a synergistic enhancement among all factors. The driving factors of rural regional multifunction were significantly varied in the economic gradients. In general, the driving factors were dominated by economic factors. The influence of natural factors was gradually weakened from the north to the south.