Gradient Difference of Structure of Rural Construction Land in Loess Hilly Region: A Case Study of Yuzhong County, Gansu Province, China

Studying the differences in the township gradient of rural construction land structures at the microscale is beneficial for the adjustment of rural construction land structure based on local conditions and differentiation, for the classification and guidance of the scientific planning and management of rural construction land, and for improving the level of intensive use of rural construction land. In this study, we took 268 administrative villages of Yuzhong County in the Loess Hilly Region as the research object and conducted research on the internal structure and gradient difference of rural construction land from two aspects: quantitative structure and spatial layout. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) the distribution of rural construction land has significant connection with the river and road. The land structure of the county is simple, with large differences in area and uneven quantities between different types; (2) the shape of a rural construction land patch is complicated, with a high degree of fragmentation. The spatial agglomeration is not significant, and there is a significant difference between "east-west-north-south" in space; (3) the rural construction land has a significant gradient effect at the township level. In terms of quantitative structure, the closer the construction land is to key towns and central towns, the more complex the construction land, the higher the information entropy as well as the equilibrium degree, and the lower the dominant degree. Moreover, the spatial layout shows an upward trend in the fractal dimension, fragmentation degree and separation degree when the level of the township decreases.