Resilience Analysis of Rural Settlement Morphology from a Bionic Perspective: A Case Study of Southern Shaanxi, China

Yuting Cui, Binqing Zhai () and Daniele Villa
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Yuting Cui: School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Binqing Zhai: School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Daniele Villa: Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DASTU), Politecnico di Milano, 20121 Milano, Italy

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-24

Abstract: Traditional rural settlements face challenges such as external disaster disturbances and increasing morphological vulnerability during the modernization process. Analyzing the morphological resilience of settlements and their external disturbances is crucial for enhancing the sustainable development of traditional villages. This study constructs a “cell–chain–form” framework for evaluating the morphological resilience of rural settlements, based on three biological models. It systematically analyzes the static morphological resilience performance of several typical villages in southern Shaanxi and identifies disturbance factors within the dynamic real-world context. The research methodology includes the use of GIS spatial analysis to calculate resilience indices, hierarchical analysis (AHP) for calculating disturbance indices, and GIS natural break methods for initial classification of resilience. Furthermore, structured questionnaires and SPSS27.0 statistical software were used to assess disturbance factors, followed by the proposal of classification strategies. The results show the following: (1) The construction of the “cell–chain–form” research framework from a bionic perspective provides strong explanatory power for morphological resilience assessment, validating the potential of this research paradigm; (2) Significant differences in morphological resilience were found across sample villages in terms of building layout (“cell”), road network systems (“chain”), and boundary morphology (“form”), with disturbance impacts varying by village; (3) Combining index calculations and questionnaire analysis, it was found that, overall, policy, ecological, and economic disturbance factors have a significantly greater impact than social and cultural factors, with the former serving as the main driving forces and the latter playing an auxiliary role. This study provides a new bionic perspective and theoretical support for strategies aimed at improving the morphological resilience of rural settlements, and offers new insights and methodologies for future research on sustainable rural development.

Keywords: rural settlements; morphological resilience; bionics; cell–chain–form; southern Shaanxi; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:11:p:2154-:d:1782172

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