The Proactive Effects of Built Environment on Rural Community Resilience: Evidence from China Family Panel Studies

Xiaowan Dong, Yuhui Xu () and Xiangmei Li
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Xiaowan Dong: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China
Yuhui Xu: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China
Xiangmei Li: Cooperative Innovation Center for Emissions Trading System Co-Constructed by the Province and Ministry, Wuhan 430205, China

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: Rural community resilience (RCR) is crucial to rural sustainable development in the context of rural decline globally. Previous studies seem to underestimate the role of the built environment (BE) in the proactive aspect of RCR (P-RCR), that is, a rural community’s ability to cope with change proactively. This study explores BE’s effects on P-RCR with a holistic framework involving objective BE (OBE), perceived BE (PBE), place attachment (PA) and P-RCR, using structural equation modeling (SEM) based on a sample of 7528 rural respondents from eastern, central and western China. The results are as follows: (1) Both OBE (population density and accessibility) and PBE (perceptions of facilities, surrounding environment and safety) can significantly affect P-RCR in terms of social, economic and environmental dimensions. (2) In all regions, PBE’s impacts were consistent and positive on social and economic dimensions at both the individual and community levels (except the community-level economic dimension in western regions), but negative on the individual-level environmental dimension; OBE’s impacts were varied among regions. (3) In certain regions, PA and PBE were mediators in the BE-P-RCR relationship. This study can help researchers to construct a more detailed picture of the BE-P-RCR relationship and identify BE-related factors that contribute to P-RCR enhancement.

Keywords: rural community resilience; objective built environment; perceived built environment; place attachment; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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