The human settlement of urban villages in a mountainous city of China: in-depth survey, comprehensive evaluation and policy implications

Rapid urbanization and lagging urban renewal are key factors contributing to the spread of informal settlements and the deterioration of human settlements globally. A comprehensive assessment of human settlement provides a foundation for curbing the spread of informal settlements and treating urban villages (UVs). However, current research lacks in-depth survey and systematic assessment of the human settlement in UVs, as well as research cases combining field investigations and empirical bases. Therefore, our paper delves into an in-depth UVs field study in a mountainous western Chinese city, Lanzhou, and establishes a multilevel UVs human settlement evaluation system with 4 systems, and 27 indicators, and realizes a fine-scale human settlement evaluation by using entropy weighting method and coupled coordination degree model. The results show that: (1) UVs are distinguished by a multi-center distribution pattern in Lanzhou. The human settlement is best in UVs in the center of the old town and worst along the railway line. (2) The human settlement of UVs is most affected by public facility (0.38) and least affected by living environment (0.15). There are significant differences in the quality of human settlement in different types of UVs, with the highest value occurring in Beimiantan (0.94) and the lowest in Heerbao (0.02). (3) The coupling coordination degree of the four evaluation dimensions we selected is as high as 0.94, which confirms the rationality of the evaluation system construction. The value of UVs in the center of the old town is the highest (0.71), along the railway line is the lowest (0.24). The evaluation system we constructed based on field research lays the foundation for quantitatively measuring the human settlement in UVs and provides the basis for scientific governance and systematic improvement of human settlement in UVs.