Evaluation and Optimization Model of Rural Settlement Habitability in the Upper Reaches of the Minjiang River, China

Rural settlements are the spatial carriers of rural multifunctionality, and various issues related to livability are the main manifestations and causes of unbalanced and insufficient rural development. In the new era, it is imperative to promote the livability of rural settlements with the implementation of rural revitalization. However, compared with urban settlements, there are still fewer studies on the livability of rural settlements, especially those in disaster-prone areas; thus, this paper takes the upper reaches of the Minjiang River as the study area. It adopts GIS spatial analysis and the model of minimum cumulative resistance, etc., to conduct a livability evaluation and construct an optimization model by innovatively taking five aspects into account including site security and resource endowment. The results show that: (1) The overall livability of the region is relatively good, and the main factors affecting the livability are site security and economic affluence; (2) The location of rural settlements was highly livability-oriented, and the area of rural settlements in the moderate- and high-livability zones accounted for more than 90%; and (3) The key to improving the livability of rural settlements lies in the construction of development synergy, disaster management, cultural preservation and industrial upgrading, and thus, four types of settlement livability enhancement are proposed. The research results provide theoretical support for the construction of livable villages in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River and similar mountainous areas.