Regional spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of rural construction areas in the Nanxi River Basin via GIS

Abstract To make sure that regional reconstruction goes smoothly, it is important to know how rural construction areas in a river basin change over time and space and what factors affect those changes. This study focuses on the rural construction areas in the Nanxi River Basin. Through geographic information systems’ spatial analysis methods, the construction area morphology, center of gravity migration, and agglomeration degree are analyzed to reveal its spatiotemporal evolution from 1990 to 2020. The geographical detector is used to explore the interaction of multidimensional driving factors such as natural geography, socio-economic development, and cultural heritage protection. The research results show that (1) the rural construction area in the Nanxi River Basin shows an evolution trend of “agglomeration expansion and northward shift of the center of gravity.” (2) Cultural, economic, and natural factors all play a part in how rural construction areas change over time. Cultural factors, like the distance between farms and the layout of educational resources, have the most significant impact, followed by economic and natural factors. (3) The study also suggests a “cultural gene-natural base-economic potential” model that can help us understand how to protect cultural heritage and boost the economy at the same time. This result has direct guiding significance for the implementation of China’s rural revitalization strategy. It can give natural resource planning departments a scientific way to figure out the best way to use land and give cultural heritage management agencies a way to come up with safe development plans. It also provides a reference for the sustainable development path of resource-rich villages around the world.