Land-Use Transition of Tourist Villages in the Metropolitan Suburbs and Its Driving Forces: A Case Study of She Village in Nanjing City, China

Abstract

In the context of the transition from “Native-rural China” to “Urban-rural China”, suburban villages have undergone rapid reconstruction of format, industry, and function. Aiming to reveal the evolution characteristics and driving forces, this study selected She Village, located in suburban areas of Nanjing, to analyze the changes of both dominant and recessive morphology of land use by employing participatory rural appraisal, remote sensing, and geographic information systems. The results showed that She Village witnessed three stages, including industrial development, ecological restoration, and service industry development, from 1980 to 2018, with more diversified management modes, multifunctional land use, and intensified land fragmentation. The drivers included natural resources, population growth, policy of Grain for Green, urban market demand, etc., the intensity of which showed trends of “increase–increase–increase”, “increase–decrease–decrease”, “periodically intermittent”, and “increase–decrease–increase” in turn. The tourist villages undergo three stages of industrial development, agricultural development, and service industry development, with periodical characteristics driven by top-down policies, the endogenous force of the village, and the radiation and diffusion of the city. This research deepens the understanding of the development process of suburban villages and provides a reference for land policy making and planning in other similar villages.