Spatial Pattern and Influencing Factors of Basic Education Resources in Rural Areas around Metropolises—A Case Study of Wuhan City’s New Urban Districts

Abstract

Basic education resources are basic urban and rural social public security resources, and their spatial distribution is an important issue related to people’s livelihoods and social justice. Taking Wuhan as a case study, this paper analyzed the spatial distribution characteristics of rural basic education resources based on the methods of the average nearest neighbor index, imbalance index, kernel density analysis and two-step floating catchment area and then used geographic detector analysis to detect its influencing factors. The following findings were obtained: (1) Rural kindergartens and elementary schools in Wuhan City’s new urban districts showed a clustered distribution pattern, while secondary schools showed a uniform distribution trend. The spatial distribution of rural basic education resources is poorly balanced, with a tendency to cluster in Huangpi District, Xinzhou District and Caidian District; the overall spatial distribution density of rural basic education resources showed the distribution characteristics of “block-like clustering and multicenter development”. (2) The spatial accessibility of kindergartens showed a spatial pattern of “large dispersion and small clustering”, with multiple high-value clustering areas; and the accessibility of elementary and secondary schools showed a spatial pattern of high in the south and low in the north. (3) The population, economy and education development level are the main factors affecting the spatial distribution of rural basic education resources, while the influence of infrastructure construction is weak. The core influencing factors of the spatial distribution of each type of basic education resource are both consistent and different. According to the interaction factor detection, the spatial distribution of rural basic education resources in Wuhan City’s new urban districts is the result of the combined effect of multiple factors.