Sustainability of Chinese Village Development in a New Perspective: Planning Principle of Rural Public Service Facilities Based on “Function-Space” Synergistic Mechanism

Abstract

Public service facilities are important carriers of sustainable rural development. However, the “holistic” planning principle for cities has resulted in the inefficient use of public service facilities in villages. Under the guidance of the sustainable development of rural areas in China, relying on the theory of “destination attractiveness” in tourism studies, this research puts forward the assumption that the real logic of the operation of rural facilities lies in the synergistic attraction between function and space for villagers. This study applied research methods such as field survey, questionnaire survey, importance–performance analysis, space syntax, and Spearman correlation analysis. It builds the “demand-frequency” coupling model of the facilities and explains the functional attractive attributes and degrees of four types of facilities in the coupling between different demands and use frequencies. Through analyzing the accessibility and traffic potential of rural facilities and the correlation between facility numbers and their spatial distribution characteristic parameters, the study reveals the synergistic mechanism between the functional and spatial attraction of the “selected facilities”. It is to clarify the planning principle of rural public service facilities based on villagers’ demands, to put forward the basic guarantee framework for different combinations of “functional attributes and spatial distribution” under the goal of good facility operation, and to achieve the goal of improving the resource efficiency and upgrading the level of the rural living environment. Eventually, it contributes to the sustainable development of rural China with theoretical and methodological support.