Unveiling scale effects in human settlement environment suitability through a novel multi-factor weighting approach

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Geography
• Urban Planning

Background:

• Rural human settlement environment suitability is crucial for land-use planning and sustainable rural revitalization.
• Evaluating natural suitability guides development and ecological protection in rural areas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a refined framework for evaluating the natural suitability of rural human settlement environments.
• To propose an enhanced factor-weighting method for objective and sensitive weight determination.
• To provide a scientific basis for optimizing rural spatial planning and sustainable development.

Main Methods:

• GIS-based spatial analysis in central Hunan, China.
• An enhanced factor-weighting method integrating normalized information entropy (NIE) and coefficient of variation (CV) with a Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC)-driven approach.
• Comparative experiments to assess the hybrid method's accuracy against traditional techniques.

Main Results:

• The hybrid method accurately captures the relative influence of natural factors on suitability.
• A pronounced scale effect was observed, with factor weights becoming more evident at smaller spatial analysis scales.
• Suitability exhibited an east-high, west-low gradient, with terrain relief identified as the dominant influencing factor.

Conclusions:

• The study delineates five functional zones based on suitability index, with tailored development strategies.
• The proposed framework offers a transferable approach for evaluating natural suitability in similar mountainous rural areas.
• Findings provide practical guidance for policymakers balancing ecological protection and sustainable land-use development.