Abstract
Traditional villages play a vital role in rural development by promoting the revitalization of China’s rural areas and the rejuvenation of national culture. This study examines 701 national traditional villages in Zhejiang Province, analyzing their spatial distribution using the nearest neighbor index, and kernel density analysis. Geographic detectors were employed to quantitatively identify the factors influencing spatial distribution and their interaction effects. Findings indicate: (1) Traditional villages in Zhejiang Province display unique spatial agglomeration characteristics described as “two cores and multiple points,” accompanied by notable ethnic differentiation. Predominantly, minority villages are situated in the mountainous regions of southwestern Zhejiang. (2) Elevation, per capita disposable income, social fixed asset investment, per capita GDP, are key factors driving the spatial differentiation of traditional villages in the region. (3) Cross detection reveals that the spatial distribution of traditional villages in Zhejiang Province has evolved through the combined influence of natural, economic, and social factors. This evolution encompasses periods characterized by natural environmental location and subsequent preservation amid socio-economic development. The study quantifies the impact of natural and economic factors on the distribution and preservation of traditional villages in China’s developed provinces, identifying the influence of residential income and social fixed asset investment on their retention patterns.
Data availability
The datasets used and analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
References
Li, D. L., Zuo, Q. T. & Zhang, Z. Z. A new assessment method of sustainable water resources utilization considering fairness-efficiency-security: a case study of 31 provinces and cities in China. Sustainable Cities Soc. 81, 103839. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2022.103839 (2022).
Karle, S. (ed, R.) Digital cultural heritage and rural landscapes: preserving the histories of landscape conservation in the united States. Built Herit. 4 1 2–17 https://doi.org/10.1186/s43238-020-00006-6 (2020).
Ma, Y., Zhang, Q. L. & Huang, L. Y. Spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of traditional villages in Fujian Province, China. Humanit. Soc. Sci. Commun. 10, 883. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02407-1 (2024).
Chen, D. & Sun, D. and Yaoguang Lin.2025.Preservation or revitalization? Examining the conservation status anddestructive mechanisms of Tulou heritage in Raoping, Chaozhou, China. International J. Architectural Heritage19(4), 441–456 https://doi.org/10.1080/15583058.2023.2299473
Ding, C., Zhuo, X. & Xiao, D. Ethnic differentiation in the internal Spatial configuration of vernacular dwellings in the multi-ethnic region in Xiangxi, China from the perspective of cultural diffusion. Herit. Sci. 12, 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-023-01121-0 (2024).
Li, X. et al. Explainable dimensionality reduction (XDR) to unbox AI ‘black box’ models: A study of AI perspectives on the ethnic styles of village dwellings. Humanit. Soc. Sci. Commun. 10, 35. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01505-4 (2023).
Yang, K., Rui, Y., Li, Y. F. & Yang, Y. H. Revitalization type subdivision of characteristic protection villages in China based on the symbiosis theory. Progress Geogr. 40 (11), 1861–1875. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2021.11.006 (2021).
Ian, M. & Yue, G. 2022.China’s new age floating population: talent workers and drifting elders.Cities 131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103960
Zhang, B., Zhang, R., Jiang, G., Cai, W. & Su K.2023.Improvement in the quality of living environment with mixed land use of rural settlements: a case study of 18 villages in Hebei, China. Appl. Geogr.157:103016. DOI10.1016/j.apgeog.103016. (2023).
Ding, C. & Zhao, Y. 2025.Spatial patterns, factor identification, and ethnic differences: a study of traditional villages in the Yuan river basin based on geographical detectors. Humanit. Soc. Sci. Commun. 12, 939. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05269-x (2025).
Wu, K. H., Su, W. C., Ye, S. A., Cao, Y. & Jia, Z. Z. Analysis on the geographical pattern and driving force of traditional villages based on GIS and geodetector: a case study of Guizhou, China. Sci Rep 13:20659. DOI10.1038/s41598-023-47921-z. (2023).
Xiang, Y. L., Cao, M. M. & Qin Jin, W. C. 2020.Study of traditional rural settlements landscape genetic variability in Shaanxi Province based on accurate-restoration. Progress Geography 39(9):1544–1556 .https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2020.09.011
Sun, Y. et al. Measuring farmers’ sustainable livelihood resilience in the context of poverty alleviation: a case study from Fugong County, China. Humanit. Soc. Sci. Commun. 10 (75). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01575-4 (2023).
Chen, W. X. et al. 2023.Spatial-temporal characteristics and influencing factors of traditional villages in the Yangtze river basin: a geodetector model. Heritage Science 11:111. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-023-00948-x
Wen, B. H. et al. 2023.Evolutionary mechanism of vernacular architecture in the context of urbanization: evidence from southern Hebei, China.Habitat International 137:102814. DOI10.1016/j.habitatint.102814. (2023).
LI, J,WANG X,LI & Xi Spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of Chinese traditional villages. Econ. Geogr. 40 (2), 143–153. https://doi.org/10.15957/j.cnki.jjdl.2020.02.016 (2020).
Ju, X. X. et al. Spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of traditional villages in Zhejiang, Anhui, Shaanxi, Yunnan Provinces[J]. Econ. Geogr. 42 (2), 222–230 (2022).
Liu, Y., Cui, J., Kong, X. & Zeng, C. Assessing suitability of rural settlements using an improved technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution. Chin. Geogra Sci. 26 (05), 638–655. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-016-0821-2 (2016).
Nie, X., Xie, Y., Xie, X. X. & Zheng, L. X. 2022.The characteristics and influencing factors of the Spatial distribution of intangible cultural heritage in the yellow river basin of China. Heritage Science 10:121. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-022-00754-x
Wu, F. Fundamentals of geographic information systems (Wuhan University, 2014).
Fischer, M. M. & Getis, A. Handbook of Applied Spatial Analysis: Software tools,methods and Applications (Springer, 2010).
Chenxuan, H. L. Spatiotemporal response of china’s photovoltaic power generation to the change of feed-in tariff policies. Progress Geogr. 44 (6), 1146–1163. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.06.005 (2025). (in Chinese).
WANG Zeyu, N. I., Mengdi, S. O. N. G. & Huan, Z. H. A. O. Li.2025. Evolution and Influencing Factors of Logistics Service Intellectualization Level in China’s Coastal Areas. Economic Geography 45(5):93–112 .https://doi.org/10.15957/j.cnki.jjdl.2025.05.010
Wang, J. F. & Xu, C. D. Geodetector: principle and prospective. Acta Geogr. Sin. 72 (1), 116–134. https://doi.org/10.11821/dlxb201701010 (2017). (in Chinese).
Tao, H. & Zhou, J. Study on the geographic distribution and influencing factors of Dai settlements in Yunnan based on geodetector. Sci. Rep. 14, 8948. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-59449-x (2024).
Cao, F., Ge, Y. & Wang, J. F. Optimal discretization for geographical detectors-based risk assessment. GIScience RemoteSensing. 50 (1), 78–92 (2013).
Dayu, Z. H. A. N. G., Yang, L. I. U., Lai, F. A. N. & Wenjun, Z. H. A. N. G. Study on the influencing factors and characteristics of the Spatial distribution of traditional Chinese villages. Chin. Landsc. Archit. 41 (9), 61–68 (2025).
Yue, K. J., Yin, C. J. & Shan, J. 2025.Agglomeration phenomena and evolutionary patterns of contemporary architectural interventions in traditional villages: An empirical analysis from 211 cases in Songyang County, China.HABITAT INTERNATIONAL, 166,DOI10.1016/j.habitatint.103571. (2025).
Shi, J. H., Jin, R. & Zhu, W. H. Quantification of effects of natural geographical factors and landscape patterns on non-point source pollution in watershed based on geodetector: Burhatong river Basin, Northeast China as an example. Chin. Geogra. Sci. 32, 707–723. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-022-1295-z (2022).
Chen, G. L., Luo, J., Zeng, J. X., Ye, T. & Ying, D. 2018.Spatial structure identification and influence mechanism of ethnic villages in China. Scientia Geogr. Sinica 38(9):1422–1429. https://doi.org/10.13249/j.cnki.sgs.2018.09.004
[31] Deng, C. et al. 2021.A data-driven framework for Spatiotemporal characteristics, complexity dynamics, and environmental risk evaluation of river water quality. Sci Total Environ 785: 147134 .doi.org/10.1016/j. scito tenv
Fang, Y. L., Lu, H. Y., Huang, Z. F. & Zhu, Z. G. Spatiotemporal distribution of Chinese traditional villages and its influencing factors. Economic Geography 43(09):187–196. doi.10.15957/j.cnki.jjdl.2023.09.020. (2023).
Funding
This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No. 52508011).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Ding Chuanbiao: thesis structure, manuscript writing, graph design, data processing; He Yuzhe: data collection, field research, manuscript writing; Wang Jiacheng: data collection, data processing; Zheng Yiyi: data collection; Wang Zhengzheng: data processing; Bai Congxia: graph production, thesis proofreading; Yan Dan: article writing, article proofreading.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Chuanbiao, D., Yuzhe, H., Jiacheng, W. et al. Spatial patterns and influencing factors of traditional villages in developed regions: a case study of Zhejiang Province, China. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38128-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38128-z
