Evaluation of Rural Vitality in Shrinking Counties and Strategies for Enhancement

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jmsd.202612219

Author(s)

Yuetong Wu*, Zhenyi Dong, Yuqing Wang, Jingxue Gong, Lingzhen Ke

Affiliation(s)

School of Humanities and Foreign Languages, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

Against the backdrop of building a demonstration zone for common prosperity through high-quality development, identifying the shortcomings in rural vitality in shrinking counties in mountainous areas and formulating tailored strategies to address them has become a critical practical issue. This paper takes 20 shrinking counties in the mountainous regions of Zhejiang as its research subjects. It constructs an evaluation index system for rural vitality based on four dimensions-natural environment, infrastructure, social vitality, and economic development-uses the entropy method to measure the comprehensive vitality levels of each county, and employs hierarchical clustering to classify them into distinct types. The 20 counties can be classified into four categories: service radius-type, regulatory constraint-type, endogenous economic-type, and ecological-demographic collapse-type, with fundamental differences in the vitality shortcomings of each type. The economic development and infrastructure provision dimensions are the primary sources of vitality disparities among these counties. For each of the four categories, this study proposes differentiated enhancement strategies, including optimizing infrastructure layout and mobile services; innovating ecological compensation mechanisms and developing localized specialty agriculture; introducing suitable industries and encouraging return-migrant entrepreneurship; and exploring ecological resettlement and functional decentralization. This study provides a practical analytical framework for accurately identifying vitality shortcomings and implementing targeted measures in shrinking mountainous counties.

Keywords

Shrinking Counties; Rural Vitality Assessment; Entropy Method; Hierarchical Clustering; 20 Mountainous Counties

References

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