Revitalization paths for different types of rural settlements based on life cycle theory: A case study of a township in the farming-pastoral ecotone of northern China

The scientific classification of rural settlements types and the formulation of realistic revitalization development paths are essential for rural revitalization. Rural settlements show obvious life cycle characteristics in their development process, and it is necessary to formulate differentiated revitalization paths for different types of rural settlements. Therefore, a case study is conducted in Ke Town, farming-pastoral ecotone of Northern China, based on life cycle theory. This paper evaluates the current situation of rural settlements from the perspective of “factors-functions”. Through social network analysis, the connection strength and degree centrality are measured for rural settlements, and classifies them into five types accordingly. And we introduce the life cycle theory to delineate the development stages of different types of rural settlements. Finally, we identify the advantageous factors of rural settlements and analyze the characteristics of inter-village population mobility by means of triangular model and field research. We use this as a guide to formulate revitalization paths for different types of rural settlements. The results show that the “factors-functions” spatial correlation network is characterized by obvious spatial differences, where rural settlements show weaker connection strength and higher degree centrality. Analyzing the combination of connection strength and degree centrality, rural settlements are classified into five types: suburban integration (11.11 %), characteristic protection (5.00 %), agglomeration and upgrading (16.11 %), maintaining status quo (26.67 %), and relocation merge (41.11 %). Meanwhile, rural settlements are divided into four stages: growth, maturity, decline, and transformation. We focus on the characteristics of different types of rural settlements at different stages and propose multiple revitalization paths. It can effectively solve the development dilemma of rural settlements in the region caused by differences in resource endowment and ambiguous functional positioning. This paper provides theoretical guidance for classifying the rural settlements types and formulating rural revitalization paths in the farming-pastoral ecotone.