Abstract
As the population continues to shrink in the black soil region of Northeast China since 2000, it is critical to master the impact of population shrinkage on rural functions to realize rural revitalization and sustainable development. In this study, we focused on the impacts of depopulation on the evolution and interrelationship of rural subfunctions. Based on the rural function indexes system, the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) method, spatial analysis method, and mathematical statistics analysis method were used to summarize the spatial and temporal characteristics of rural function development, as well as the effect of population shrinkage in the typical black soil region of Northeast China. The results showed that depopulation varied in the extent and duration between the forested region and plain areas, which both impacted the trajectories of rural subfunctions evolution. For the economic development function and ecological conservation function, the effect of continuous slight depopulation was beneficial, while the effect of rapid depopulation was adverse, which was exactly opposite to the agricultural production function. All forms of population shrinkage were conducive to the development of the social security function. With the deepening population shrinkage, depopulation mainly promoted the collaborative development between subfunctions in this study, except the relationship between agricultural production and social security function. But effects of depopulation on the interrelationship of rural subfunctions varied between the forested region and plain areas in some cases. The results provided evidence for the cognition that population shrinkage had complicated effects on rural subfunctions.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Anríquez G, Daidone S, 2010. Linkages between the farm and nonfarm sectors at the household level in rural Ghana: a consistent stochastic distance function approach. Agricultural Economics, 41(1): 51–66. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0862.2009.00425
Beardmore L, Heagney E, Sullivan C A, 2019. Complementary land use in the Richmond River catchment: evaluating economic and environmental benefits. Land Use Policy, 87: 104070. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104070
Bowns C, 2013. Shrinkage happens in small towns too: responding to de-population and loss of place in Susquehanna River Towns. Urban Design International, 18(1): 61–77. doi: https://doi.org/10.1057/udi.2012.27
Brown I, Castellazzi M, 2014. Scenario analysis for regional decision-making on sustainable multifunctional land uses. Regional Environmental Change, 14(4): 1357–1371. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-013-0579-3
Bruno D, Sorando R, Álvarez-Farizo B et al., 2021. Depopulation impacts on ecosystem services in Mediterranean rural areas. Ecosystem Services, 52: 101369. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2021.101369
Chen Xiwen, 2020. The core of China’s rural revitalization: exerting the functions of rural area. China Agricultural Economic Review, 12(1): 1–13. (in Chinese)
Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2021. The Northeast Black Soil White Paper. Beijing: Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Dai Ruilian, Wang Cheng, Wu Xinyue, 2022. Path of rural sustainable development based on the evolution and interaction of rural functions: a case study of Chongqing Municipality, China. Chinese Geographical Science, 32(6): 1035–1051. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-022-1312-2
Dax T, Fischer M, 2018. An alternative policy approach to rural development in regions facing population decline. European Planning Studies, 26(2): 297–315. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644313.2017.1361596
Dong Wei, Zhou Chuyan, Xia Lei, 2022. Enlightenment of minnesota’s rural sustainable development path to Northeast China under the background of population shrinkage. Urban Planning International, 37(3): 17–25. (in Chinese)
Fan Y T, Jin X B, Gan L et al., 2018. Spatial identification and dynamic analysis of land use functions reveals distinct zones of multiple functions in eastern China. Science of the Total Environment, 642: 33–44. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.383
Gatariće D, Đerčan B, Živković M B et al., 2022. Can depopulation stop deforestation? the impact of demographic movement on forest cover changes in the settlements of the South Banat District (Serbia). Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10: 897201. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.897201
Gong J, Liu D Q, Zhang J X et al., 2019. Tradeoffs/synergies of multiple ecosystem services based on land use simulation in a mountain-basin area, western China. Ecological Indicators, 99: 283–293. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.12.027
Gu X K, Xie B M, Zhang Z F et al., 2019. Rural multifunction in Shanghai suburbs: Evaluation and spatial characteristics based on villages. Habitat International, 92: 102041. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2019.102041
Guan D J, He X J, Hu X X, 2021. Quantitative identification and evolution trend simulation of shrinking cities at the county scale, China. Sustainable Cities and Society, 65: 102611. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102611
Han Xiaozeng, Li Na, 2018. Research Progress of Black Soil in Northeast China. Scientia Geographica Sinica, 38(7): 1032–1041. (in Chinese)
Holmes J, 2006. Impulses towards a multifunctional transition in rural Australia: gaps in the research agenda. Journal of Rural Studies, 22(2): 142–160. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2005.08.006
Hrabánková M, Boháčková I, 2007. Conditions of sustainable development in the Czech Republic in compliance with the recommendation of the European Commission. Agricultural Economics, 53(3): 285–289. doi: https://doi.org/10.17221/980-AGRICECON
Hu X L, Lin S L, 2023. Rural depopulation on agricultural technological choice in China. Ciência Rural, 53: e20210413. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-8478cr20210413
Huang S H, Wang Y, Liu R J et al., 2022. Identification of land use function bundles and their spatiotemporal trade-offs/synergies: a case study in Jiangsu coast, China. Land, 11(2): 286. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/land11020286
Huang Tianneng, Wang Nian, 2022. Spatial-temporal evolution analysis on land use multifunctionality in the China-Vietnam Border Area. Chinese Geographical Science, 32(6): 995–1012. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-022-1316-y
Jiang G H, Wang M Z, Qu Y B et al., 2020. Towards cultivated land multifunction assessment in China: applying the “influencing factors-functions-products-demands” integrated frame-work. Land Use Policy, 99: 104982. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104982
Johnson K M, Lichter D T, 2019. Rural depopulation: growth and decline processes over the past century. Rural Sociology, 84(1): 3–27. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12266
Lambin E F, Meyfroidt P, 2011. Global land use change, economic globalization, and the looming land scarcity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(9): 3465–3472. doi: https://doi.org/10.1373/anas.1100480108
Li D M, Yang Y Y, Du G M et al., 2021. Understanding the contradiction between rural poverty and rich cultivated land resources: a case study of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China. Land Use Policy, 108: 105673. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105673
Li He, Lo K, Zhang Pingyu, 2020. Population shrinkage in resource-dependent cities in China: processes, patterns and drivers. Chinese Geographical Science, 30(1): 1–15. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-019-1077-4
Li Y H, Westlund H., Liu Y S, 2019. Why some rural areas decline while some others not: an overview of rural evolution in the world. Journal of Rural Studies, 68: 135–143. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.03.003
Liao G T, He P, Gao X S et al., 2022. Land use optimization of rural production-living-ecological space at different scales based on the BP-ANN and CLUE-S models. Ecological Indicators, 137: 108710. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022
Liu B C, Fang Y G, 2021. The Nexus between rural household livelihoods and agricultural functions: evidence from China. Agriculture, 11(3): 241. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11030241
Liu Baoyuan, Zhang Ganlin, Xie Yun et al., 2021a. Delineating the black soil region and typical black soil region of northeastern China. Chinese Science Bulletin, 66(1): 96–106. (in Chinese)
Liu Yansui, Liu Yu, Chen Yufu, 2011. Territorial multi-functionality evaluation and decision-making mechanism at county scale in China. Acta Geographica Sinica, 1379–1389. (in Chinese)
Liu Yu, Gao Yunbing, Pan Yuchun et al., 2021b. Spatial differentiation characteristics and trade-off/synergy relationships of rural multi-functions based on multi-source data. Geographical Research, 40: 2036–2050. (in Chinese)
Liu Z, 2022a. Rural population decline, cultivated land expansion, and the role of land transfers in the farming-pastoral eco-tone: a case study of Taibus, China. Land, 11(2): 256. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/land11020256
Liu Z, 2022b. Empirical examinations of whether rural population decline improves the rural eco-environmental quality in a chinese context. Remote Sensing, 14(20): 5217. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14205217
Liu Zhen, Qi Wei, Liu Shenghe, 2021c. The differences of urban-rural population change and the underlying mechanism in the population shrinking counties in China. Scientia Geographica Sinica, 41(7): 1116–1128. (in Chinese)
Liu Ziqiang, Zhou Ailan, Lu Qi, 2012. The transition of rural territorial leading function and the classification of rural development stages. Journal of Arid Land Resources and Environment, 26(4): 49–54. (in Chinese)
Long H L, Ma L, Zhang Y N et al., 2022. Multifunctional rural development in China: pattern, process and mechanism. Habitat International, 121: 102530. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2022
Long H L, Tu S S, Ge D Z et al., 2016. The allocation and management of critical resources in rural China under restructuring: Problems and prospects. Journal of Rural Studies, 47: 392–412. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.03.011
Long Hualou, Tu Shuangshuang, 2017. Rural restructuring: theory, approach and research prospect. Acta Geographica Sinica, 563–576. (in Chinese)
Milestad R, Ahnström J, Björklund J, 2011. Essential multiple functions of farms in rural communities and landscapes. Renewabal Agriculture and Food Systems, 26(2): 137–148. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170510000529
Ni Weiqiu, Xia Yuan, Zhao Ningning, 2022. The functional evolution and coupling coordination measurement of production-living-ecological space in rural areas: taking Heilongjiang Province as an example. China Land Science, 36: 111–119. (in Chinese)
Pérez-Soba M, Petit S, Jones L et al., 2008. Land use functions—a multifunctionality approach to assess the impact of land use changes on land use sustainability. In: Helming K, Pérez-Soba M, Tabbush P (eds.). Sustainability Impact Assessment of Land Use Changes. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 375–404. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78648-1_19
Pinto-Correia T, Menezes H, Barroso L F, 2014. The Landscape as an asset in southern European Fragile agricultural systems: contrasts and contradictions in land managers attitudes and practices. Landscape Research, 39(2): 205–217. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2013.790948
Quaranta G, Salvi R, Salvati L et al., 2020. Long-term impacts of grazing management on land degradation in a rural community of Southern Italy: Depopulation matters. Land Degradation & Development, 31(16): 2379–2394. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.3583
Radel C, Jokisch B D, Schmook B et al., 2019. Migration as a feature of land system transitions. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 38: 103–110. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2019.05.007
Ribeiro Palacios M, Huber-Sannwald E, García Barrios L et al., 2013. Landscape diversity in a rural territory: Emerging land use mosaics coupled to livelihood diversification. Land Use Policy, 30(1): 814–824. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2012.06.007
Rodríguez-Soler R, Uribe-Toril J, De Pablo Valenciano J, 2020. Worldwide trends in the scientific production on rural depopulation, a bibliometric analysis using bibliometrix R-tool. Land Use Policy, 97: 104787. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lnnuuepool.0200.104787
Sheludkov A, Kamp J, Mueller D, 2021. Decreasing labor intensity in agriculture and the accessibility of major cities shape the rural population decline in postsocialist Russia. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 62(4): 481–506. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2020.1822751
Shi Z H, Ma L B, Zhang W B et al., 2022. Differentiation and correlation of spatial pattern and multifunction in rural settlements considering topographic gradients: evidence from Loess Hilly Region, China. Journal of Environmental Management, 315: 115127. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022
Šimon M, Bernard J, 2016. Rural Idyll without rural sociology? Changing features, functions and research of the Czech countryside. Eastern European Countryside, 22(1): 53–68. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/eec-2016-0003
Tan X L, Ouyang Q L, An Y et al., 2019. Evolution and driving forces of rural functions in urban agglomeration: a case study of the Chang-Zhu-Tan region. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 29(8): 1381–1395. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-019-1665-3
Tang Linnan, Liu Yu, Tang Xiumei, 2016. Temporal characteristics and coupling of urban-rural transformation and rural regional multifunction in Beijing: from 1978 to 2012. Human Geography, 31(6): 123–129.
Tong Y, Liu W, Li C G et al., 2022. County town shrinkage in China: Identification, spatiotemporal variations and the heterogeneity of influencing factors. Journal of Rural Studies, 95: 350–361. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.09.029
Verkulevičiūtė-Kriukienė-Kriukienė D, Bučienė A, Beteika L, 2018. Rural landscape status, functions and human factors in the transboundary Nemunas delta region. Area, 50(3): 353–363. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12383
Veteikis D, Šabanovas S, Jankauskaite M, 2011. Landscape structure changes on the coastal plain of Lithuania during 1998–2009. Baltica, 24(2): 107–116.
Wang Minghua, 2021. China Statistical Yearbook (Cunnty-Level). Beijing: China Statistic Publishing House. (in Chinese)
Wang Tingting, Wu Kang, Yao Cuiyou et al., 2022. Complex pathways to population shrinkage: case study of Hegang City, China. Chinese Geographical Science, 32(3): 418–437. (in Chinese)
Wen Q, Shen C T, Xia S Y et al., 2022. Analysis of spatiotemporal variations and effects of regional functions in rural China. Growth and Change, 53(3): 1414–1435. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12628
Wen Yuling, Zhang Xiaolin, Wei Jiahao et al., 2022. Temporal and spatial variation of ecosystem service value and its tradeoffs and synergies in the peripheral region of the Poyang Lake. Scientia Geographica Sinica, 42(7): 1229–1238.
Wiggering H, Dalchow C, Glemnitz M et al., 2006. Indicators for multifunctional land use-linking socio-economic requirements with landscape potentials. Ecological Indicators, 6(1): 238–249. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2005.08.014
Willemen L, Hein L, van Mensvoort M et al., 2010. Space for people, plants, and livestock? quantifying interactions among multiple landscape functions in a Dutch rural region. Ecological Indicators, 10(1): 62–73. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2009.02.015
Wirth P, Elis V, Mueller B et al., 2016. Peripheralisation of small towns in Germany and Japan Dealing with economic decline and population loss. Journal of Rural Studies, 47: 62–75. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.07.021
Xian Zude, 2001. China County Statistical Yearbook. Beijing: China Statistic Publishing House. (in Chinese)
Xie Gaodi, Zhang Caixia, Zhang Leiming et al., 2015. Improvement of the evaluation method for ecosystem service value based on per unit area. Journal of Natural Resources, 30(8): 1243–1254. (in Chinese)
Xu Kai, Fang Yangang, 2021. Rural multi-function evaluation and evolution characteristics in Liaoning Province. Economic Geography, 41(1): 147–157. (in Chinese)
Xue Z C, Zhen L, 2018. Impact of rural land transfer on land use functions in Western China’s guyuan based on a multi-level stakeholder assessment framework. Sustainability, 10(5): 1376. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051376
Yang Ren, Zhang Jing, Chen Yanchun, 2021. Differentiation and dynamic mechanism of rural development in metropolitan fringe based on the functional perspective in Guangzhou City. Scientia Geographica Sinica, 41(2): 232–242. (in Chinese)
Yang Y Y, Bao W K, Liu Y S, 2020. Coupling coordination analysis of rural production-living-ecological space in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Ecological Indicators, 117: 106512. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106512
Zhang Shuying, 2011. China County Statistical Yearbook. Beijing: China Statistic Publishing House. (in Chinese)
Zou L L, Liu Y S, Yang J X et al., 2020. Quantitative identification and spatial analysis of land use ecological-production-living functions in rural areas on China’s southeast coast. Habitat International, 100: 102182. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.0200.102182
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Foundation item: Under the auspices of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2022M713130), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42101212), Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDA28020403)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, D., Wen, Q., Qi, Y. et al. Trade-off and Synergy of Rural Functions Under County Depopulation in the Typical Black Soil Region of Northeast China. Chin. Geogr. Sci. 33, 616–633 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-023-1363-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-023-1363-z