The government of Zhejiang Province proposed the geocultural village strategy in 2013, which is different from geoparks. Accounting for the lack of arable land in the province, this policy aims to revitalize the less-favored rural areas in the mountains. The policy of geocultural villages has played a significant role in promoting geotourism, characteristic agriculture, and the formation of new sectors of agricultural byproduct processing industries (Zhao & Morimoto, 2022). From the empirical study of Baiyankeng village, the pilot-registered geocultural village in China, the potential of a bottom-up approach to geocultural villages was analyzed from the perspective of China’s land system and local action groups (Zhao & Morimoto, 2022). It is necessary to establish an assessment system to evaluate their sustainability. This study aims to clarify the factors that maintain the sustainability of geocultural villages, a new model of rural endogenous development in Zhejiang Province.
The method focuses on the establishment of an assessment system using the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model. A village-scale indicator selection is conducted under the framework of endogenous development. The data were collected from the village committees and the township governments. By chronologically assessing the sustainability of Baiyankeng village (2013–2021) and simultaneously appraising the current situations (2021) of two other newer geocultural villages comparatively with Baiyankeng village, this study clarifies the factors for maintaining sustainability in geocultural villages and proposes suggestions for the future.
A geocultural village generally comprises four conditions: first, there are relatively rich geological resources; second, there is a relatively long history of village traditions; third, there is a certain base of local specialty industries; fourth, the local communities have self-development capabilities. Baiyankeng village has achieved the four conditions of geocultural villages; thus, it is suitable for generalization as a representative case study. The second and third geocultural villages called Jincun village in Xianju County and Shijiazhuang village in Pan’an County are used as reference cases for testing the assessment system and highlighting the characteristics of geocultural villages.
The three subsystems in the assessment model of this study are “geological resource conservation” (“R”), “resource utilization and land use” (“L”), and “socioeconomic development” (“E”). This study determines an indicator system that reflects the endogeneities of geocultural villages and has a significant role or influence on sustainability, including nine categories of primary indicators—namely, geological relics, other natural resources, humanistic resources, land use, geocultural elements, management, village appearance, village life, and industrial structure—and 32 secondary indicators. The assessment model constructed in this study has the potential to evaluate spatiotemporal development, which can not only compare yearly changes in one village but also enable spatial comparison among different villages.
By evaluating the comprehensive development level and coordinated development degree of Baiyankeng village in a time series, while simultaneously comparing the evaluation results of its current situation with the other two newer geocultural villages, the development base of geological relics and characteristic agriculture, local specialty industries, local action groups, and external sociopolitical environment are considered as the main factors for maintaining sustainability in the endogenous development for the future. As the development history of geocultural villages is not extensive and the cases are limited, it is necessary to monitor emerging trends to improve the theoretical framework.
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