Reconstructing marginal land value through visual landscape assessment: a sensitivity-stability-preference framework for multifunctional landscapes and geotourism strategies in karst canyon

In karst mountainous regions, inefficient land use, driven by poor substrate quality and heavy agricultural dependence, requires valorizing marginal lands to shift from monocultural agriculture to diversified, high-efficiency land use systems. Focusing on landscape visual value, this study developed a three-dimensional Sensitivity-Stability-Preference (SSP) evaluation framework, forming a complete technical chain that spans multidimensional evaluation, type identification, and strategy matching. Taking the Huajiang Canyon area—a typical canyon unit—as a case study, we quantified multidimensional landscape attributes for 12 viewpoints based on landscape sensitivity, landscape stability, and landscape preference data. The results indicate four main findings: (1) Landscape sensitivity exhibits significant spatial differentiation, with high values concentrated along canyon cliffs and bridge nodes and low values in valley settlements. (2) Landscape stability displays high values in contiguous natural peak-cluster areas but low values in regions with intensive human activity, reflecting the spatial resilience of the ecological foundation. (3) Public preference was predominantly concentrated in bridge-canyon composite segments characterized by open vistas and strong mountain-water integration. (4) Based on the SSP evaluation, four function-oriented landscape types were identified. 1) The aesthetic-dominated landscape (high preference, high sensitivity, high stability), located at bridge-canyon intersections and adopting an intensive symbiosis model to leverage visual impact for bridge-tourism integration and geo-education. 2) The cultural service landscape (moderate stability, moderate sensitivity, moderate preference), covering traditional villages and following a development-oriented model that uses living museums and augmented reality (AR) interpretation to promote cultural tourism synergy.3) The adaptive management landscape (low sensitivity, moderate stability, low preference), found in peak-cluster depressions and employing a resilience maintenance model to balance ecological and productive functions through scientific research and education. 4) The ecological science-popularization landscape (high sensitivity, low preference, high stability), distributed across rocky desertification sites and adopting a protection-first model that establishes observation stations and restoration demonstration sites to form a “research-education-conservation” integrated natural laboratory. This study provides a comprehensive technical pathway from visual assessment to implementing a classified strategy in fragile karst regions. It effectively captures the spatial differentiation of landscape values in karst canyons, thereby promoting the transition of marginal land from inefficient monocultural agriculture to a multifunctional, synergistic “ecology-economy-society” utilization model.