Spatial Evolution and Driving Mechanisms of Traditional Villages in the Yongding River Basin, China

Abstract

Settlement heritage, represented by traditional villages, preserves important historical, cultural, and spatial information on long-term human–environment interactions. Under rapid urbanization and rural transformation, many traditional villages in northern China have experienced increasing spatial fragmentation and functional decline. From a river-basin perspective, this study examines the spatial evolution and driving mechanisms of traditional villages in the Yongding River Basin using GIS spatial analysis, GeoDetector, and K-means clustering. The results show that traditional villages are strongly clustered along river valleys and tributary junctions, forming a corridor-oriented spatial structure closely associated with terrain and historical transportation routes. Their distribution evolved from dispersion to clustering and from localized concentrations to wider expansion, while the spatial centroid gradually shifted southeastward. Natural factors provide fundamental environmental constraints, historical transportation elements are closely associated with the pathways of spatial expansion, and sociocultural factors regulate and reinforce existing spatial patterns. Based on the combined characteristics of the selected influencing factors, traditional villages were further classified into three types, for which differentiated conservation and utilization strategies were proposed. These findings highlight the role of river-basin systems in shaping long-term settlement evolution and provide a regional framework for the integrated conservation of traditional villages.