Exploring the influences and combined drivers of sustainable development in rural settlements using Fs/QCA

Rural settlement systems are social-ecological systems (SES) that possess various system attributes. At present, only a small number of studies quantitatively disclose the intricate relationships among rural social-ecological system (RSES) subsystems. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the intricate coupling relationship between the internal and external components of the rural settlement system, this study examines the sustainability of rural settlements in China’s Yangtze River Delta region by constructing a multidimensional SES based evaluation framework across 144 county-level units. First, the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method assesses the developmental vitality of rural settlements. Subsequently, the Fs/QCA approach identifies structural coupling pathways between developmental vitality and ecological livability. The results show clear differences in sustainability levels across regions: northeastern counties have higher levels, while southwestern regions have lower levels. The Fs/QCA method identifies multiple high-consistency configuration pathways leading to high sustainability, confirming the complexity, equivalence, and asymmetry of causal relationships within rural development mechanisms. Further findings indicate that robust socioeconomic and external economic subsystems can compensate for deficiencies in natural endowments or locational advantages. Conversely, in resource-dependent counties, synergistic interactions between natural endowments and economic development dominate. By integrating composite evaluation with configuration analysis, this study expands the application of social-ecological systems theory in rural settlement research, offering differentiated pathway guidance for enhancing ecological livability and promoting sustainable rural development.