Spatial-temporal Characteristics of Rural Settlements Evolution in China

Abstract:

Based on China land cover dataset (CLCD) and contour extraction algorithm，this paper systematically studies the form and area expansion of rural settlements architecture in China from 1990 to 2020. The results show that in the process of rapid urbanization， the rural population in China is decreasing while the rural settlements are expanding continuously. In 2020， the area of rural settlements in China was about twice that of 1990. Small rural settlements have a faster expansion rate and gradually slow down after a specific threshold. The expansion rate of rural settlements has obvious spatial difference， and the expansion rate in the western China is faster than that in the eastern China. The continuous expansion of rural settlements reflects the encouraging progress in China’s balanced development between urban and rural areas. The “double growth” of urban and rural construction land may have a negative impact on agricultural and ecological land， which should be paid great attention to.

Key words:rural settlements;rural area system;rural man-earth relationship;spatial pattern;spatial-temporal changes