Utilization Quality Evaluation and Barrier Factor Diagnosis of Rural Residential Areas in Agricultural Regions of the Northeast Plain: A Case Study of Wangkui County, Heilongjiang Province, China

Conducting quality evaluations of rural residential areas and effectively improving their utilization levels is an important aspect of correctly handling the relationship between humans and the land and achieving high-quality rural developments. Taking Wangkui County, Heilongjiang Province, as an example, this study aimed to achieve the “intensive, humanistic, and green” development of rural residential areas. An evaluation index system of utilization quality was constructed using three aspects: intensive land utilization, human settlement environment quality, and ecological environment quality. The comprehensive evaluation results were classified using a multidimensional combination matrix and targeted optimization plans were proposed. Additionally, an obstacle diagnosis model was constructed to identify the factors that hinder the high-quality utilization of rural residential areas. The results demonstrated the following: (1) The utilization quality of the rural residential areas in the study area was mainly at a medium level, followed by low and high levels, with proportions of 20.18%, 51.38%, and 28.44%, respectively. The utilization levels gradually decreased from the town centers to the surrounding areas. (2) Based on the evaluation results, there were 23 combinations of rural residential areas in the study area, which were classified into four types: coordinated control, key development, single leading, and transforming and upgrading. Optimization plans were proposed for the different types. (3) From the perspective of identifying the barrier factors, the top five factors that hindered the high-quality utilization of rural residential areas were the traffic land density, aggregation index, green-coverage rate of built-up areas, completeness of public service facilities, and the proportion of secondary and tertiary industrial land area. This study provides a significant reference for the evaluation of the utilization quality of rural residential areas in plain agricultural regions to effectively raise their levels of intensive land utilization, improve their settlement environments, enhance their ecological quality, and achieve a development of high quality.