Assessing the suitability of regional human settlements environment from a different preferences perspective: A case study of Zhejiang Province, China

This paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation index to assess the suitability of human settlement based upon the ecological environment superiority, economic development vitality and convenience of public services. These measures are combined with an assessment of resident's preferences to comprehensively evaluate the suitability of human settlements. The spatial pattern of human settlements environment suitability and the spatial relationship between the suitability and population distribution in Zhejiang Province under different preference models were explored. The results showed that: under the ecological environment preference mode, human settlements environment suitability in Zhejiang declined from the south to the north, and the current population was mainly distributed in areas where human settlements environment suitability was lower. Under the economic development preference mode, human settlements environment suitability was higher in the northeast than the southwest, higher at the coast than inland areas, and the regional differentiation was significant. Under the public service preference mode, human settlements environment suitability in Zhejiang showed a basic pattern which was higher in the southwest than the northeast, better in the plains than mountain areas, and most of the population was distributed in areas with higher suitability. Based on different preferences, the optimization path of human settlements environment was explored. In this study, the objective entity environment and the subjective experience of the residents were combined to evaluate the suitability of regional human settlements environment according to different preferences, so as to offer a new analysis perspective for comprehensive research on human settlements environment. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.