Measuring the implementation effects of rural revitalization in China’s Jiangsu Province: Under the analytical framework of “deconstruction, assessment and brainstorming”

Abstract With rural decline becoming a global issue, the implementation of rural revitalization strategy has been turning into general starting points for many countries, especially in contemporary China. In this paper, we proposed a systematic analysis framework and a new evaluation index system for the implementation effectiveness of rural revitalization at the county scale. In addition, empirical research was conducted based on Jiangsu Province. The results indicated that the average value of the comprehensive index of implementation effects of rural revitalization in Jiangsu was 1.8198, and nearly 60% counties in the province were below this average. Also, the obvious disequilibrium and spatial differentiation laws were observed which presenting a stepwise advance from south to north, with the inland superior to the coastal. The five‐dimensional coordination status of rural revitalization in Jiangsu was relatively high, with the majority of counties reached at barely balanced state. A total of 21 counties were identified as problematic regions in Jiangsu through comprehensive overlay analysis. They were mainly located in northern Jiangsu, and could be divided into seven specific types. The proposed evaluation framework and indicator system might make up for the lack of effective reference systems and scientific quantitative indicators in the current county‐scale rural revitalization strategy practices. Moreover, the idea of identifying problem areas and the classification mode of rural revitalization goal levels proposed in this paper are also of great reference for other regions.