Sustainable Urban-Rural Symbiosis in China: A Study from the Symbiosis Theory Perspective on Level Measurement and Spatial Difference Analysis
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Framework
2.1. Symbiosis Theory
2.2. Urban-Rural Symbiosis System
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Construction of the Indicator System
3.1.1. Symbiotic Development Degree
3.1.2. Symbiotic Connectivity Degree
3.1.3. Symbiotic Coordination Degree
3.2. Data Source
3.3. Methodology for Calculating Indicator Weights
3.3.1. Data Standardization: Homogenizing of Heterogeneous Indicators
3.3.2. Calculation of Indicator Weights for Each Subsystem
3.3.3. Calculation of Information Entropy for Each Indicator
3.3.4. Determination of the Weight for Each Indicator
3.4. Measurement of Urban-Rural Symbiosis Level
4. Results
4.1. Comprehensive Analysis of Urban-Rural Symbiosis in China
4.2. Space Differences in Urban-Rural Symbiosis Across Dimensions
4.3. Analysis of Space Differences and Distribution Characteristics of Urban-Rural Symbiosis Subsystems
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions, Recommendations, and Limitations
6.1. Conclusions
6.2. Recommendations
6.3. Limitations
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Primary Indicators | Secondary Indicators | Tertiary Indicators | Grade | Operationalization of Indicators | Indicator Attributes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Symbiotic Development Degree | Economic subsystems | Urban-rural income structure | E1 | Ratio of per capita disposable income between urban and rural areas | negative |
Urban-rural consumption structure | E2 | Ratio of urban-rural resident consumption expenditure | negative | ||
Industrial integration | E3 | Ratio of per capita GDP in secondary and tertiary sectors to primary sector | positive | ||
Social subsystems | Social security | S1 | Ratio of urban to rural per capita expenditure on health care | negative | |
S2 | Number of beds in health care facilities per 1000 population in urban and rural areas | negative | |||
Living facilities | S3 | Ratio of urban to rural gas penetration rate | negative | ||
S4 | Ratio of urban to rural water supply penetration | negative | |||
Elementary education | S5 | Ratio of full-time elementary school teachers per 10,000 population in urban and rural areas | negative | ||
S6 | Ratio of full-time junior high school teachers per 10,000 population in urban and rural areas | negative | |||
Symbiotic Connectivity Degree | Space subsystem | Urban-rural circulation | Sp1 | per capita private vehicle ownership | positive |
Sp2 | Regional transportation network density | positive | |||
Spatial connectivity | Sp3 | Passenger turnover in road transport | positive | ||
Resource elements subsystem | Demographic element | R1 | Urbanization level | positive | |
Land element | R2 | Land urbanization level | positive | ||
Capital element | R3 | Ratio of agricultural, forestry, and water affairs expenditure to general public budget expenditure | positive | ||
Technology element | R4 | Level of agricultural mechanization | positive | ||
Symbiotic Coordination Degree | Cultural subsystems | Cultural consumption | C1 | Ratio of per capita expenditure on culture, education and recreation for urban and rural residents | negative |
Cultural facility | C2 | Ratio of township cultural stations to the total number of mass cultural institutions in the region | positive | ||
Cultural service | C3 | Comprehensive population coverage rate of rural television programming | positive | ||
Ecological subsystems | Sewage treatment | Ec1 | Ratio of urban and rural sewage treatment rate | negative | |
Garbage disposal | Ec2 | Ratio of urban and rural domestic waste treatment rate | negative | ||
Greening level | Ec3 | Ratio of greening coverage in urban and rural built-up areas | positive |
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Wang, P.; Guo, B.; Sun, Z. Sustainable Urban-Rural Symbiosis in China: A Study from the Symbiosis Theory Perspective on Level Measurement and Spatial Difference Analysis. Sustainability 2025, 17, 2790. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072790
Wang P, Guo B, Sun Z. Sustainable Urban-Rural Symbiosis in China: A Study from the Symbiosis Theory Perspective on Level Measurement and Spatial Difference Analysis. Sustainability. 2025; 17(7):2790. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072790
Chicago/Turabian StyleWang, Ping, Bin Guo, and Zeliang Sun. 2025. "Sustainable Urban-Rural Symbiosis in China: A Study from the Symbiosis Theory Perspective on Level Measurement and Spatial Difference Analysis" Sustainability 17, no. 7: 2790. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072790
APA StyleWang, P., Guo, B., & Sun, Z. (2025). Sustainable Urban-Rural Symbiosis in China: A Study from the Symbiosis Theory Perspective on Level Measurement and Spatial Difference Analysis. Sustainability, 17(7), 2790. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072790