Evolution and driving forces of rural functions in urban agglomeration: A case study of the Chang-Zhu-Tan region

doi:10.1007/s11442-019-1665-3

Abstract

Abstract:

As the Rural Revitalization Strategy is gradually implemented, China’s rural areas are set to have more diverse function requirements. This paper selects the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan region (Chang-Zhu-Tan) consisting of 23 county-level units) as a case study and looks at its economic development, agricultural product supply, social security and ecological service functions during 1996-2016. It then constructs an index system to evaluate the temporal evolution of the region’s rural functions. SPSS 19.0 and DPS 7.05 software, as well as Pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis, system clustering, optimal segmentation of ordered samples and other methods, are used to study the evolution traits, regional differentiation characteristics and driving forces of rural functions in the region. The results show, first of all, that the overall evolution trend is increasing in functions with periodic characteristics, the key nodes being 2000 and 2008. Second, there is clear geographical differentiation in the evolution of rural functions. The economic development function shows rapid growth in the urban agglomeration’s center and relatively weak growth at the periphery; the agricultural product supply function and ecological service function are concentrated in county-level units with abundant cultivated and forest land; and the social security function displays similar geographical differentiation to the economic development function. Overall, there is an obvious discrepancy in the degree of development of rural functions among county-level units of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration; the rural functions of the agglomeration and peripheral county-level units have different development traits; and county-level units display functional differentiation. Third, rural functions have evolved as a result of interactions between various factors, such as natural resources, socio-economic conditions and local transport conditions. The new driving forces caused by urbanization are ultimately leading the evolution of rural functions toward multi-functional comprehensive development.

Key words: rural functions, sequential evolution, regional differentiation, driving forces, rural revitalization, Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan

TAN Xuelan, OUYANG Qiaoling, AN Yue, MI Shengyuan, JIANG Lingxiao, ZHOU Guohua. Evolution and driving forces of rural functions in urban agglomeration: A case study of the Chang-Zhu-Tan region[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2019, 29(8): 1381-1395.

Figures/Tables 6

Table 1

Index systems for measuring rural functions of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration"

Subsystem	Indicator	Weight	Indicator attribute	Data source
Economic development function	Gross regional product	0.336	﹢	GRP/total area
	Average fiscal contribution	0.346	﹢	Regional fiscal revenue/total area
	Industrial structure	0.018	?	Output value of secondary and tertiary industries/GRP
	Agricultural employment structure	0.028	?	Non-agricultural rural labor force/total rural labor force
	Number of agricultural workers	0.181	﹢	Rural statistical yearbook
	Per capita output value of agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries	0.091	﹢	Output value of agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries/total population
Agricultural product supply function	Quality of cultivated land	0.271	﹢	Effective irrigated area/area of cultivated land
	Coefficient of cultivated land	0.106	﹢	Area of cultivated land/total area
	Area of crop land	0.253	﹢	Rural statistical yearbook
	Per capita grain consumption	0.140	﹢	Total grain output/total population
	Per capita meat consumption	0.115	﹢	Total meat output/total population
	Per capita fresh subsidiary agricultural product consumption	0.115	﹢	Total output of fresh fruit and vegetables/total population
Social security function	Income level	0.068	﹢	Per capita net income of rural residents
	Social consumption level	0.309	﹢	Total retail sales of consumer goods/total population
	Urbanization level	0.189	?	Non-rural population/total population
	Engel’s coefficient	0.088	?	Food expenditure/total living expenses
	Rural power facilities	0.056	﹢	Rural electricity consumption/rural population
	Health service level	0.290	﹢	Number of beds in healthcare institutions per 10,000 people
Ecological service function	Afforestation area	0.410	﹢	Rural statistical yearbook
	Area of water and soil conservation	0.494	﹢	Rural statistical yearbook
	Area affected by natural disasters	0.047	?	Rural statistical yearbook
	Fertilizer intensity	0.049	?	Volume of fertilizer applied/area of cultivated land

Table 1

Figure 1

Table 2

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

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	Error function	Time intervals
Economic development function	0.288	1996-1999, 2000-2007, 2008-2016
Agricultural product supply function	0.637	1996-2001, 2002-2007, 2008-2016
Social security function	0.152	1996-2004, 2005-2007, 2008-2016
Ecological service function	0.272	1996-2001, 2002-2008, 2009-2016