Potential for Rural Housing Land Consolidation in Wendeng County, Shandong
文登市农村宅基地整理潜力调查及类型划分

Cultivated land in China was reduced by 115×104 hm2 from 1984 to 2006 due to continued population growth and rapid urbanization. In this context, the Chinese government has taken measures to limit the conversion of farmland and increase the quantity of cultivated land to ensure national food security and sustainable socio-economic development. One aspect of this is that the government promotes and encourages land consolidation in rural and urban areas. Rural housing land consolidation (RHLC) is an effective measure to protect arable land and increase the quantity of land available for construction and economic development. This study is based on investigations and field surveys in Wendeng County in the eastern Shandong peninsula in Shandong province, which has a total area of 1779.84km2 and 39.3×104 rural residents. Idle housing land in each village ranges from 3.37% to 17.34%, with an average of 8.95%. The density of housing land in rural villages is low, constituting 31.1% to 52.7% of village land, with an average of 36.6%. Also, there are an average 1.2 houses per household. We analyzed the causes of idle housing land, and divided the potential for RHLC into 4 types: population reduction, extensive use, decrease in residential area, and shrinking of RHL. We then chose 10 factors which might cause idle RHL and using factor analysis, we classified the potential for RHLC of 18 towns in Wendeng County into one or two of the 4 types. The distribution for RHLC potential of the 18 towns was: 1-population reduction; 2-extensive use; 3-decrease in residential area; 2-shrinking of RHL pattern; and 9 which had two types of consolidation potential. The area of idle housing land in single-factor towns totaled 61.15% of all idle housing land. These research results will help to facilitate the reorganization of rural residential land, and may advance appropriate policies for utilization and consolidation of different land types.