Identification of spatial coupling between cultivated land functional transformation and settlements in Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China

• DOI: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2020.102236
• Publication Date: 2020-08-31T09:11:20Z
• Authors: Xinyuan Liang; Yangbing Li
• Keywords: Human settlement; Rural settlement; Agricultural land

Abstract Understanding the relationship between cultivated land transformation and settlement development is of considerable significance to the agricultural utilization and rural development in the context of global rural revitalization. This paper tries to reveal intensive land use under the background of population contraction in China's mountainous areas and its transformation trend by defining the cultivated land functional transformation (CLFT). Given the representativeness of land-use change in mountains, Caotangxi watershed in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) was taken as a case study, and ArcGIS spatial analysis techniques were used to explore the spatial coupling relationship between CLFT and settlements development in mountainous areas. The results show that: (1) CLFT shifts from the low elevation area of