The hierarchy effect of settlement pattern evolution and its relationship with the traffic conditions in Karst mountain: A case study in Houzhaihe, Wangjiazhai and Maolan, Guizhou

The settlements in the study area Houzhaihe, Wangjiazhai and Maolan are divided into 5 ranks according to space scale with high resolution images (in 1963, 1980s and 2004) and GIS analysis. The evolution discipline of the settlement’s distribution pattern and its relation ship with traffic conditions are discussed in the paper. The results show that, (1) there are less high-rank settlement but more low-rank settlement in 1963. The high-rank settlement mainly distributes in peak-forest plain where have more water and plow land resources; (2)from 1963 to 1980s, the development of settlement in karst mountain mainly focuses on middle rank settlements, high and low rank settlements barely changed; (3)by 2004, the number and scale of all settlements have developed substantially, but the strength of development is bigger in the two poles(rank 1 and rank 5); (4)change in settlement rank is not only influenced by traffic conditions, but also subjected to regional economic development level and physical geography environments in karst mountain area; (5)in the future, the reconstruction of the settlement and the improvement of traffic should be focused on rank 4 settlements, but space migration toward the road sides should be done for rank 5 settlements in order to improve accessibility.