Spatial Patterns and Influencing Factors of Chinese Traditional Villages: A Sustainability Perspective

Traditional villages serve as crucial carriers of natural and cultural heritage worldwide. Current research on traditional villages, however, exhibits several shortcomings. On one hand, existing studies tend to focus solely on spatial patterns while neglecting issues of distributional equity from a sustainability perspective. On the other hand, few studies have explored the underlying spatial and non-spatial characteristics influencing the distribution of traditional villages through multidimensional factors. To address these gaps, this study selects 8171 Chinese traditional villages as research subjects. Utilizing spatial analysis of GIS, spatial econometrics, and statistical methods, we first analyze the spatial pattern of traditional villages, then assess distributional equity of traditional villages from a sustainability perspective. Finally, we investigate the influence of six multidimensional factors on their distribution and the potential characteristics of these influences. The findings are as follows: (1) Traditional villages in China form three high-density cores, with distribution density significantly higher in the eastern and central regions compared to the western and northeastern regions. The western and northeastern regions exhibit notable low–low clustering. (2) Equity analysis reveals a Gini coefficient of 0.525 for accessibility, indicating notable spatial deprivation. There is also evidence of social inequity, reflected in the deprivation of aging populations by non-aging groups. (3) Except for population density, factors such as elevation and annual precipitation significantly influence the distribution of traditional villages, with effects varying regionally. Quantile regression further confirms that the six factors exert heterogeneous impacts depending on village density levels. For example, as village density increases, road density exerts a stronger positive effect. This study provides a theoretical reference for future sustainability assessments of traditional villages.