Examining Spatial Heterogeneity Effects of Landscape and Environment on the Residential Location Choice of the Highly Educated Population in Guangzhou, China

The residential location choice of the highly educated population is an important consideration to construct a livable city. While landscape and environment are important factors, few studies have deeply analyzed the spatial heterogeneity effects of landscape and environment on the residential location choices of a highly educated population. Taking Guangzhou as the sample, we built a livability-oriented conceptual framework of landscape and environment, and constructed datasets for highly educated population proportion, landscape, and environment factors, and other influencing factors for Guangzhou's 1364 communities. Global regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models are used for analysis. The GWR model is more effective than the global regression model. We found spatial heterogeneity in the strength and direction of the relationship between the highly educated population proportion and landscape and environment. We find that landscape and environment exert spatial heterogeneity effects on the residential location choice of the highly educated population in Guangzhou. The conclusions will be of reference value to further understand how the spatial limitations of landscape and environment affect residential location choices. This study will help city managers formulate spatially differentiated environment improvement policies, thereby increasing the city's sustainable development capabilities.