Dominant landscape characteristics of the arable land red line in Donggang, China

In the face of endless idle and even abandoned farmland, it is trying to protect farmland resources and ensure food supply by determining the bottom line (red line) of arable land that cannot be changed in use. The red line has landscape characteristics and functions, but there remain limited understandings of how to judge the dominant landscape characteristics of cultivated land. Therefore, this study divides landscape characteristics into aesthetic value and stability according to landscape pattern. A comprehensive evaluation system was developed to explore the dominant landscape features of the cultivated resources based on a multi-factor comprehensive evaluation. On this basis, this study conducts an empirical study in Donggang, a coastal city in China. The results show that cultivated land resources with high aesthetic value are distributed near cities, major roads, and important natural resources. The cultivated land resources with greater continuity and compatibility with adjacent plots are relatively stable, mainly paddy fields. The red line of cultivated land should focus on the characteristics of cultivated land stability. At the same time, the aesthetic value of cultivated land resources is also an important factor (related degree is 0.852). According to this evaluation system, the dominant area of arable land protection in Donggang City is 88,027.21hm2, which is the preferred area for the red line of arable land.