Abstract: Cultivated land is a kind of land-use type with a strong variability, and also a typical human-nature coupling system. The research on the functional pattern of cultivated land and its causes can effectively promote the study of land use change. At present, functional diversity is a prominent feature of cultivated land use change in metropolis. Multifunctional cultivated land management is one of the main cultivated land management modes to meet the demands of urban and rural residents, is also important basis of cultivated land resource utilization and management. It is of great theoretical and practical significance for multifunctional cultivated land management to study the functional pattern of cultivated land and its causes on micro-scale, because it can be more finely presents the cooperative or conflict relation among cultivated land functions. As one of the metropolis in China, Guangzhou has a typical problem of cultivated land protection. The paper chose Guangzhou as the research area, used spackle-database about land use and socio-economic data to evaluate the functional pattern of cultivated land, regional linkage and its cause at the sub-district scale by using the entropy method. On the basis of the value of cultivated land functions, Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between functions. In accordance with the above process, three results can be obtained as follows: 1) The total function value of cultivated land mostly ranges from 0.301 to 0.400. It is obvious that cultivated land functions as a whole are weak in Guangzhou. There are differences in spatial structure and intensity among functions of cultivated land. On the whole, the functional pattern of cultivated land in Guangzhou shows that the north is the strongest, followed by the south, and the central part is the weakest. These functions are affected by the abundance of cultivated land resource, the terrain and the distance from the city center. 2) According to the results of Spearman rank correlation analysis, it is more performance for the collaborative relationship among functions. Because there is a strong relationship among functions, it can’t implement effective multifunctional cultivated land management through the optimization of a single function. However, harmonizing the relation and promoting regional cooperation can help to achieve it. 3) As its functions are dynamic, the management measures must be adjusted in different stages. In general, the cultivated land functions have a large room for improvement. To coordinate the relationship between functions is not only a matter of concern for multifunctional cultivated land management, but also one of the important challenges to find the path of effective management. According to the current development situation and demand of Guangzhou, the paper discusses the policy of multifunctional cultivated land management from the aspects of coordinating the development and management of cultivated land, developing cultivated land functions according to local conditions and giving more preference to protect the rights and interests of all parties. We need to rediscover the cultivated land, reconstruct the value of cultivated land functions and find ways to achieve sustainable development of cultivated land, so as to protect the cultivated land, promote urban development and achieve social harmony.

Key words: cultivated land, land use, function, pattern, sub-district scale, Guangzhou