Heritage perspectives on cultural memory and spatial identity in Yuan River Basin, Hunan, China

Cultural memory reflects a group’s emotional attachment, cultural identity, and the social and historical value of intergenerational heritage. Based on the theory of cultural memory, this study classified 783 cultural relics at national and provincial levels in Yuan River Basin of Hunan Province into 8 memory points, 2 memory representations, and 4 memory spaces by type and examined their spatial evolution and hierarchical differences using memory index, kernel density, and field energy model analyses. The results show that the basin’s tangible cultural heritage space has a multi-pole nucleus and multi-cluster structure; traditional villages and intangible cultural heritage resources in the middle reaches are strongly agglomerated, while the upper and lower reaches vary in agglomeration. The work shows how cultural memory aggregates and evolves in geographic space, providing a scientific basis for protecting historical heritage and understanding watershed civilization.