Construction of cultivated land protection agglomeration area based on regional coordinated development: A case study of Zhuhai city, Guangdong province

The construction of cultivated land protection agglomeration area is an innovative exploration to promote regional coordinated development in the New Era. Taking Zhuhai city as the research area, according to the main line of 'relationship analysis, subject determination, bottom line control and overall coordination', this paper constructs the evaluation system of main controlling factors of cultivated land agglomeration in three dimensions of resource endowment assortativity, service function assortativity and regional coordinated development assortativity, and uses Criteria Importance Though Intercrieria Correlation, three-dimensional magic cube model, Logistic model, coupling coordination degree model and spatial autocorrelation model. The spatial decision model of cultivated land agglomeration and the spatial layout decision model of cultivated land agglomeration protection are constructed to plan the optimal spatial layout of cultivated land agglomeration under multi-objective trade-off. The results show that: (1) The zoning process must comprehensively account for natural resource conditions, ecosystem service functions, and planning coordination, with evaluation results revealing significant spatial heterogeneity in controlling factors across Zhuhai. (2) Medium-to-high potential zones for cultivated land aggregation constitute 43.24% of the total area, demonstrating significant spatial clustering at 99.90% confidence level. Further optimization through spatial decision-making models identifies priority areas including Northwest Youji Mountain (Nanping town), Lianzhou town, central Baijiao town, Pingsha town, and Hongqi town. (3) Three distinct types of conservation zones are delineated totaling 59.84 km2: resource endowment-oriented (65.85%), service function-oriented (1.05%), and regional synergy-oriented (33.10%), with tailored consolidation strategies proposed for each category. This research offers guidance for balancing urban expansion and cultivated land preservation within the institutional framework of major land requisition-compensation policies in the New Era.