Land Use Multi-Functionality and Zoning Governance Strategy of Densely Populated Areas in the Upper Reaches of the Yellow River: A Case Study of the Lanzhou–Xining Region, China

With rapid urbanization, the interactions between human and land are becoming more and more intense, which leads to increasingly diversified land use and intensifies the conflicts among land use functions (LUFs). However, land use multi-functionality (LUMF) of densely populated areas (DPAs) in less developed regions has not been studied in depth. The objective of our study is to build a multi-functional conceptual framework for land use, and establish a comprehensive evaluation indicator system to assess LUMF. We took the Lanzhou–Xining Region (LXR) as a case area, which is a DPA in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. We established 36 indicators from the dimensions of status and trend of agricultural, economic, social, and ecological functions, to perform analysis on the LUMF using the entropy weight method (EWM) and the coupling degree method (CDM). The results show that land use in the LXR is multi-functional, that LUFs are developing in an uneven manner, and that the spatial distribution of LUFs differs greatly. We find that the multi-functional level of land use in the LXR is low. There are no dominant functions in 12 counties and districts. There are spatial conflicts among LUFs. To maintain sustainable land use, we proposed a functional zoning scheme and put forward corresponding governance strategies