Adaptability evaluation of human settlements in Chengdu based on 3S technology

This study aims to showcase the adaptability evaluation of human settlements in Chengdu with the use of 3S technology. Chengdu was selected as the research object; natural eco-environmental factors such as terrain fluctuations, temperature and humidity, vegetation type, land use, and vegetation cover were analyzed, together with human disturbance factors such as traffic and gross domestic product (GDP); and the index weights were calculated by analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The evaluation model of Chengdu’s residential environment adaptability was constructed based on the analysis carried out by the 3S technology: projection transformation, remote sensing interpretation, information extraction, and analysis. The results of the analysis reflected the zoning and spatial distribution characteristics of Chengdu’s residential environment adaptability, and show that (1) the adaptability index of Chengdu’s human settlement environment is between 15.98 and 76.75, and the suitability of human settlement environment is seen gradually decreasing from the middle, where it is the highest, when moving to the west and to the east of Chengdu; (2) according to the present situation, the suitability index can be divided into high-grade suitable areas, relatively high-grade suitable areas, moderately suitable areas, and low suitable areas; (3) the correlation between the spatial distribution of Chengdu population and each index factor is as follows: per capita GDP > topographic relief > temperature and humidity > vegetation coverage > traffic network density > land use > hydrological factors; (4) there is a good correlation between Chengdu’s human settlements suitability index and the present population density grid layer, and its correlation coefficient is 0.7326; and (5) the leading impact indicators of human settlements are different in different regions. The results show that the natural environmental conditions in Chengdu are superior and that the ecological environmental quality is relatively stable, but the human settlement suitability index is relatively low in the southeast and Longmenshan areas of Chengdu.