Rural Development and Restructuring in Central China’s Rural Areas: A Case Study of Eco-Urban Agglomeration around Poyang Lake, China

Abstract

This study aims to provide a scientific reference for rural reconstruction and revitalization in the areas covered by Eco-Urban Agglomeration Around Poyang Lake. Rural development and restructuring is a comprehensive process involving multiple elements and a long-time sequence. Accordingly, scientific knowledge concerning the evolution and characteristics of the spatial and temporal patterns of rural development and reconstruction is crucial for successively facilitating rural revitalization and ensuring the sustainable development of rural areas. In this study, a framework of rural development and restructuring was constructed for areas around Poyang Lake Eco-Urban Agglomeration based on the data regarding population, land, and industrial elements in the rural regional system, as well as the data of counties covered by Poyang Lake Eco-Urban Agglomeration. For this purpose, the entropy value and other research methods were used to analyze the level of rural development and the degree of rural reconstruction, as well as to identify the characteristics of rural reconstruction types. The study results revealed the following: (1) Rural Comprehensive Development Level has increased from 0.218 to 0.347, and the geographical development gap of the countryside has narrowed; however, the development level of each region and each factor continues to remain uneven. (2) The results demonstrated a wave-like advancement in the Rural Comprehensive Restructuring Degree, with a decreased Rural Population Restructuring Degree, an increased Rural Industry Restructuring Degree, and a decreased Rural Land Restructuring Degree. (3) Rural restructuring in the study area can be divided into six zones according to the level of rural development and the degree of rural restructuring, with Type I and Type III being the main types. Based on the above results, this research proposes optimizations for different rural development and reconstruction type zones.