Exploring the Dynamic Cultural Driving Factors Underlying the Regional Spatial Pattern of Chinese Traditional Villages

In the context of global urbanization, traditional villages have garnered increasing scholarly interest due to their role in preserving rich ethnic cultures and their potential contributions to cultural heritage. Existing literature has predominantly attributed the spatial heterogeneity of traditional villages to natural, environmental, and economic factors. However, cultural elements, which are equally crucial to the inheritance and continuation of traditional villages, are rather deficient in current research. By establishing a tripartite framework encompassing "natural environment-space economy-social culture" elements, this article first employs relevant geographic spatial analysis to examine the overall distribution patterns of Chinese traditional villages. Subsequently, it utilizes the Optimal Parameter-based GeoDetector model to assess the maximum impact of single factors and interactions among factors on the spatial heterogeneity of Chinese traditional villages. The paper then integrates spatial production theory to reveal the mechanisms underlying the interactions among these tripartite elements. The research findings indicate that cultural factors exert the most substantial influence on the spatial distribution of traditional Chinese villages, in contrast to previous research records that suggested natural elements had the greatest impact. Additionally, population and genealogy emerge as the two most critical factors, with their interaction having the most significant effect on the spatial pattern of Chinese traditional villages (q = 0.82663). Finally, we put forward regional-level recommendations for the preservation of traditional villages. Overall, our work can not only provide valuable insights for global research on traditional villages in developing countries based on traditional agriculture but also offer recommendations for the preservation of traditional villages in China.