PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2019, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (9): 1305-1315.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2019.09.004

• Subject and Development of Rural Revitalization • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Land use change of typical villages in the loess hilly and gully region and implications for regional rural transformation and development

JIANG Kaisi1,LIU Zhengjia2,*(),LI Yurui2,WANG Yongsheng2,WANG Yu1   

  1. 1. School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130000, China
    2. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Nature Resources Research, Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
  • Received:2019-05-15 Revised:2019-08-19 Online:2019-09-28 Published:2019-09-25
  • Contact: LIU Zhengjia E-mail:liuzj@igsnrr.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.XDA23070302);National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2017YFC0504701);National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41601582)

Abstract:

In-depth research on rural land use change and settlement development is of great significance for exploring the optimization of regional rural system, promoting urban-rural integration, and rural sustainable development. This study took the Nianzhuang gully basin in Yan'an City of Shaanxi Province, China as an example. Based on software technologies such as ENVI and GIS and combining Landsat satellite images, the Markov chain model, and humanistic field survey, this study examined the land use change of typical villages in the loess hilly and gully region and its implications for regional rural transformation and development from the perspectives of change and transfer of land-use types, spatial change of construction land, and social responses. The results show that: 1) With the implementation of a series of ecological engineering measures, the ecological land cover of the Nianzhuang gully basin has been significantly improved. This is mainly represented by the conversion of a large number of slope farmland and dispersed ecological land into forest land, as a result of which the proportion of forest land area increased from 32.34% in 2009 to 50.88% in 2018. 2) Under the influence of the social and economic progress and the development of Yan'an New City, the construction land of the Nianzhuang gully basin has been expanding into the southeast and southwest of the basin. The area of construction land has increased by nearly 75% in the past 10 years. 3) Due to the leading role of human activities, the villages in the loess hilly and gully region are transforming towards ecological and intensive use of land. The results of this study can provide a new reference for an in-depth understanding of regional rural system structure and optimization in the loess hilly and gully region.

Key words: Landsat remote sensing image, land use change, regional rural system development, Nianzhuang gully basin