Abstract:

Coordinated urban and rural development, optimal rural settlement and better living quality of farmers are the major contents of the concept of new urbanization. Based on the theory of the Society-Economy-Nature Complex Ecosystem (SENCE), a complete set of rural settlement construction evaluation index system has been set up, which consists of five sub-goal layers, that is, eco-environment, infrastructure, public service, living conditions, and economic development. By referring to how to evaluate sustainable development and urban human settlement,  Fully Arrayed Polygon Aggregate Index Method was adopted to calculate evaluation indices of the five sub-goal layers, separately, and then aggregate index of rural settlement. Results show that both the Beijing-Tianjin region and the coastal region of Southeast China were the highest in the four sub-goal layer indices (infrastructure, public service, living condition, and economic development index) and aggregate index of rural settlement, followed by the regions of Northeast China, North China and Central China, and the region of West China at the end. But in terms of the eco-environment index, a reverse order was found. That is, West China >Northeast China and North China > Beijing-Tianjin, coastal region of Southeast China and Central China, In the end, based on the calculation of aggregate indexes of rural settlement, the provinces of the country are sorted into four grades of regions: excellent, good, ordinary and poor, and strategies for improvement of rural settlement in different grades of regions are brought forth with a view to providing some guidance for construction of rural settlement by grade.

Key words: rural settlement, complex ecosystem, Fully Arrayed Polygon Aggregate Index Method, bygrade guidance