Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Rurality in Urban Suburb Town and Its Driving Factors Based on Land Use Transformation

Rurality highlights the intrinsic differences between urban and rural communities. The comprehensive rurality evaluation index system is difficult to obtain indicators that reflect purely rural or urban characteristics; in addition, most of the data used in the evaluation index system come from statistical data, and the authenticity of the data cannot be guaranteed. Taking 25 towns in Lixia County and Shanghe County in Jinan city as the study area and using land use data and economic statistics data, the rurality evaluation system based on the land use transformation was constructed, the changes of the rurality index and intensity from 2009 to 2015 were calculated, and the driving factors of the rurality were analyzed. The results showed that, from 2009 to 2015, the rurality difference among towns in Lixia County decreased, the rurality difference among towns in Shanghe County increased, the rurality intensity of Lixia County was lower than that of Shanghe County, and the rurality index gap between the two counties was increasing. In 2009, the rurality grade of Lixia County was dominated by weak intensity (84.62%), and the rurality of the county changed greatly in 2015, with a large proportion (76.92%) still being weak intensity. In 2009, the proportion of relatively strong intensity was dominated (33.33%) in Shanghe County; in 2015, weak intensity accounted for a large proportion (41.67%). Changes of rurality intensity in Lixia County and Shanghe County were different. There was a significant correlation between the rurality index and geographical elevation, GDP, and the distance from the center of the town government, the road construction level, the urbanization level, and the education level. This paper can provide an empirical reference for rurality index research.