Evaluating the quality of rural human settlements and the perception of farm households—A case study of traditional agricultural areas in China

With the acceleration of urbanization in China, rural areas are facing challenges such as population loss, land abandonment and ecological degradation, and improving the quality of human settlements has become an important task in the strategy of rural revitalization. Taking traditional agricultural areas in Henan Province as a case study, this study constructs a bidirectional subjective-objective validation framework, combining top-down measurement of rural habitat quality index and bottom-up satisfaction survey of farmers, to explore the adaptation mechanism between objective indicators and subjective perceptions. The study selected four types of differentiated geomorphological units in Song County, Luoyang City, Jia County, Pingdingshan City, Luoshan County, Xinyang City, and Fengqiu County, Xinxiang City, to reveal the multi-scale characteristics of the quality of the human habitat and the response mechanism to the demand of the farm households through the hierarchical analysis method (AHP) and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method (FCE), and integrating the governmental work report, field research questionnaires, and data from the statistical yearbook. The results show that: (1) the quality of human environment shows significant gradient differences, Song County (0.6021) and Fengqiu County (0.5112) comprehensive index breaks through the median threshold. Regional differences in dimensions such as infrastructure and public services are significant. (2) The overall average value of farmers' satisfaction is 3.448 points, but there are significant differences among counties: Jia County (4.294) tops the list due to moderate public services and economic level, while Luoshan County (3.298) is at the bottom of the list due to the constraints of mountainous resources. The township-scale analysis further reveals a “core-edge” pattern of differentiation, with high-satisfaction areas mostly located in transportation hubs or industrial agglomerations (e.g., Nangan Town in Luoshan County), while low-satisfaction areas are geographically marginalized and caught in a “lack of inputs and loss of factors” dilemma. (3) Both subjective and objective evaluations exhibit the asymmetric phenomenon of “high targets versus low recognition”. This stems from regional development gradients and a shift in farmers' demands towards developmental needs, such as employment and cultural enrichment. The traditional evaluation system has failed to address these needs promptly. Applying CAS theory to a multi-scale analysis reveals that structural misalignment at county level, coordination among key actors at township level and micro-level interaction efficiency at village level are the key factors driving the divergence between subjective and objective evaluations. Meanwhile, the development gradient at the township level is a key factor, with the center townships enhancing satisfaction through the “infrastructure-public services-economic vitality” synergy, while the marginal townships continue to have low farmer satisfaction due to the imbalance of financial distribution and weak governance capacity. This study emphasizes that the optimization of rural human settlements requires the strengthening of the pivotal function of township governance, the establishment of a differentiated compensation mechanism, and the promotion of multidimensional synergies between geography, culture and economy. The policy design should break through the limitations of standardized hardware construction, pay attention to the dynamic needs of farmers, and rely on local characteristics and resources to enhance farmers' sense of environmental identity. The study provides theoretical and practical references for improving the quality of human settlements in the context of rural revitalization, as well as a scientific basis for policy formulation and spatial planning in similar regions.