Nexus of mixed-use vitality, carbon emissions and sustainability of mixed-use rural communities: The case of Zhejiang

With the progress of urbanization, rural communities in Zhejiang Province of China have demonstrated a pattern of commercial and residential combinations, which resulted in increased household carbon emissions. Hence, the realization of the sustainable development of the economy, society, and environment has become an important issue facing these mixed-use communities. We aim to explore the nexus of mixed-use vitality, carbon emission and sustainability of mixed-use communities. We adopt case study method, collect both quantitative and qualitative data, and apply the analysis tools of statistical information grid (STING) and geographic information system (GIS) to map the spatial distribution of mixed-use communities based on mixed-use vitality, carbon emissions and sustainability of the sampled communities. We find that: (1) Based on mixed-use vitality and carbon emissions, the distribution patterns of mixed-use communities can be categorized into the three types of a multicore unordered distribution, a single-core interlocking distribution, and a multicore orderly distribution, corresponding to tourism, specialized market and manufacturing communities, respectively. (2) Among the three types, the overall sustainability of tourism communities is the lowest while the manufacturing industry and specialized market communities show higher levels of sustainability. (3) Contrary to the view that high carbon emissions lead to low sustainability; we found that mixed-use vitality plays a more important role than carbon emissions in affecting overall sustainability (i.e., low carbon emissions lead to low sustainability for tourism communities; high carbon emissions lead to high sustainability for specialized market communities). (4) We have also identified a list of factors affecting the spatial distribution of mixed-use communities. Based on the results, this study provides significant insights for the development of mixed-use rural communities in China and developing countries from the perspectives of mixed-use planning for sustainability.