Suitability Evaluation of Rural Settlements Based on Accessibility of Production and Living： A Case Study of Tingzu Town in Hubei Prov- ince of China

Rural settlements are the main carriers of agriculture, rural areas and farmers; thus, optimizing the production and living space of rural settlements is highly significant to rural development. Taking the effective allocation of resources as the starting point, a suitability evaluation system of rural settlements, based on accessibility of production and living, was proposed in this study to provide scientific basis for the optimization of production and living space. The accessibility of production and living was measured by an im- proved two-step floating catchment area method, which considered proximity and availability based on the inclination of rural residents. The suitability evaluation system consisted of traditional suitability evaluation and newly proposed limiting factor identification based on the loss score proportion of suitability. Tingzu Town of Hubei Province, China, was chosen as the case study area. Based on the re- suits of the suitability evaluation system, corresponding suggestions on rural land consolidation, industry division, as well as the layout of health care and education facilities were proposed to optimize the production and living space of rural settlements in Tingzu Town. It is found that the suitability evaluation based on accessibility of production and living is more scientific and accurate than the traditional ones which significantly overestimate production and living convenience. Moreover, the limiting factor identification can help us put forward suggestions according to local conditions and bring about the highly targeted optimization of production and living space of rural settlements.

Evaluation and Promotion of the Service Capacity of Urban Public Open Spaces Based on Improving Accessibility:A Case Study of Shenyang City,China

The service capacity of urban public open spaces is an important indicator of the justness and soundness of the allocation of public space resources,such as parks and green spaces,in the process of urban development.Improving the service capacity of urban public open spaces is conductive to healthy,sustainable urban development.In this study,taking Shengyang City,China as a case study,a Gaussian-based two-step floating catchment area method(2 SFCA)is used to calculate an accessibility index and identify residential areas with a poor accessibility to urban public open spaces.Then,a particle swarm algorithm(PSA)is used to optimize the locations of new open space developments.Finally,the optimization results are verified using the analytic network process(ANP).The results show that the service capacity of public open spaces in the center of Shenyang City(covering six districts)is relatively low and exhibits an uneven spatial distribution.In the service scope of the existing urban public open spaces,the accessibility for 48.6%of the residential estates is moderately poor or poor.The layout is optimized when the number of optimization points is set to 8.These points are mainly located in old town areas such as the Tiexi,Huanggu,and Dadong districts.The optimization increases the green space area accessible by motor vehicles(60 min),bicycles(60 min),and walking(30 min)by 4.67%,5.38%,and 8.03%of the study area,respectively.Finally,green space planning recommendations are offered from two perspectives:spatial layout and transport system optimization.