The Effect of Urban–Rural Fringe Landscape Environment Enhancement on the Settlement Intentions of Young Talents

As new urbanization and rural revitalization strategies are implemented, the relationship between urban and rural areas is rapidly changing. Accordingly, rural landscape design is becoming increasingly important for promoting rural development. Located at the intersection of urban and rural areas and offering unique geographic characteristics and developmental potential, urban–rural fringe villages offer a valuable setting for assessing how rural transformation and landscape improvement influence the settlement intentions of regional talents. Drawing upon the Landscape Affordance Theory and the Stimulus–Organism–Response Theory, this study develops a model to evaluate how enhancements in comfort, convenience, safety, and aesthetics within rural landscapes influence the perceptions of livability and settlement intentions of young rural talents. The research utilizes a survey of residents aged 16 to 45 in representative urban–rural fringe villages in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, collecting 230 valid responses. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 26 and AMOS 28 to assess the impact of these landscape attributes on livability perceptions and settlement intentions. This study demonstrates that Perceived Convenience (PCV) and Perceived Aesthetics (PA) have significant positive effects on Design Satisfaction (DS) and Perceived Livability (PL). The research identifies the positive impacts of the four characteristics of rural landscape enhancement on PL, ranking them in order of influence: PCV > PA > Perceived Safety (PS) > Perceived Comfort (PC). Similarly, the positive effects on DS are ranked as follows: PCV > PA > PC. PL is identified as having the strongest impact on Talents’ Intention to Stay (TIS), indicating that improving livability perceptions is crucial for enhancing both design satisfaction and settlement intentions. Our findings demonstrate that improvements to the convenience, comfort, aesthetics, and safety of the landscape environment can significantly affect the settlement intentions of young talents in rural areas. Through field research and empirical data validation, this study highlights the positive effect of enhancements in four key areas of landscape design on the perceived livability and settlement intentions of young talents in rural settings, offering clear guidance for rural planning and design initiatives.