Analytical framework for integrating resources, morphology, and function of rural system resilience—An empirical study of 386 villages

In the current complex and changeable external environment, the sustainable development of rural areas is the key to global economic and social transformation. Introducing the concept of resilience will help to tap the villages' internal potential and inject new vitality into realizing high-quality rural development. This study analyzes the rural system resilience (RRS) mechanism. It then constructs a village-scale resilience evaluation framework based on three dimensions: resources, morphology, and function. The combination of empirical research and field surveys verifies the feasibility of the analytical framework. This study constructed an analytical framework, used the catastrophe progression method and geo-detector to evaluate the RRS of 386 villages in Suining County, Jiangsu Province, and put forward a regional guidance scheme for RRS promotion based on factor characteristics. There are three key results and conclusions. First, the study combined system theory and adaptive circulation theory to analyze the connotations and mechanisms of RRS. Second, the empirical case study results show that the spatial differentiation of resilience in different dimensions is quite significant. For example, the overall resilience index is higher in the southern regions than in the northern regions of Suining County, and the polarization is obvious. Third, the study combined the dominant factors and their characteristics to construct a two-level rural zoning scheme to provide rural development strategies for different villages. The results can provide a potential approach to rural transformation development for cultivating resilient rural settlements and provide policy reference for rural land management and spatial planning.