METHODS article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Land Use Dynamics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1552489
This article is part of the Research TopicMonitoring and Modeling of Runoff and Soil Processes in River BasinsView all 4 articles
Comprehensive Assessment of Spatial Quality in Traditional Village Landscapes of the Yuanshui River Basin Using Semantic Differential and Entropy Weight Methods
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hunan Vocational College of Science and Technology, Changsha, Anhui Province, China
- 2Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
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The Yuanshui River Basin's traditional villages face significant threats of degradation and homogenization due to rural construction, suburban expansion, and agricultural modernization, endangering their cultural heritage, agrarian identity, and ecological diversity. This study proposes a robust framework for evaluating the spatial quality of traditional village landscapes, combining the Semantic Differential (SD) method with the Entropy Weight Method (EWM). Six core landscape components—traditional architecture, water bodies, roads, agricultural areas, vegetation, and environmental psychological landscapes—were analyzed. Subjective perceptions were captured through structured surveys and interviews, utilizing carefully designed semantic differential scales. Statistical analysis demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach’s α = 0.747) and validity (KMO = 0.836; Bartlett’s test of sphericity, p < 0.001). The entropy weights ranked the landscape components as follows: traditional architectural landscape (2.429), environmental psychological landscape (2.183), vegetation landscape (2.159), waterbody landscape (1.530), agricultural landscape (1.522), and road landscape (1.052). Regression analysis revealed a strong correlation between the SD and EWM methods (SD = -1.284 + 7.622EWM), and the average SD score (0.787) reflected favorable spatial quality in the basin’s traditional villages. The results highlight tranquility, abundant vegetation, layered plant structures, and natural aesthetics as critical elements of spatial quality. These findings provide valuable insights for landscape conservation strategies and rural policy development.
Keywords: Spatial quality, traditional village landscapes, Semantic Differential, Entropy weight, Heritage preservation, Landscape management
Received: 07 Jan 2025; Accepted: 23 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Zhuang, Wang and Adnan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mo Wang, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong Province, China
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