Characteristic Types of Regional-Scale Rural Landscapes: A Case Study of the Leizhou Peninsula, China

Regional-scale rural landscapes mediate between macro-scale national landscapes and micro-scale local landscapes. The diversity of their types, and their multi-scale spatial characteristics, remain understudied. Taking China’s Leizhou Peninsula as an example, this study builds a pathway linking landscape zoning, characteristic analysis, and mechanism analysis. A multi-factor overlay divides the peninsula into four subregions: Leibei Plain Zone, Nandu River Delta Plain Zone, Leibei–Leinan Volcanic Platform Zone, Coastal Plain and Terrace Zone. A multi-scale system for analyzing landscape character is then constructed. The four zones differ markedly at the macro scale in village-point distribution and at the meso scale in landscape pattern. At the micro scale they converge on a shared village morphology. We then constitute the mechanism of this differentiation through the human–land relationship. Natural constraint acts at the macro scale, the agricultural production at the meso scale, and the anchoring of local culture at the micro scale. The four zones therefore call for different practical implications. The study develops a transferable multi-scale analytical framework, which provides a reference for rural landscape research in other regions and theoretical support for rural landscape protection and planning at the regional scale.