Spatiotemporal Patterns and Influencing Factors of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Yangtze River Delta

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is an essential component of China’s outstanding traditional culture, serving as a living testament to the continuity of Chinese civilization and as a crucial foundation for fostering national identity and maintaining social cohesion. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region is one of the areas in China with the highest concentration and the most comprehensive range of traditional ICH. However, its spatiotemporal patterns and influencing factors have not yet been systematically examined. In this study, 593 national-level ICH items in the YRD were selected as the research objects. Based on geographic information systems (GIS), spatiotemporal analyses were conducted using the nearest neighbor index, geographic concentration index, imbalance index, kernel density analysis, standard deviation ellipse, and geographic detector methods. The spatial characteristics of ICH were investigated from three perspectives: spatial structure, spatiotemporal evolution, and driving factors. The results indicate that: (1) Shanghai serves as the core agglomeration area of ICH and exhibits the highest kernel density; (2) from a spatiotemporal perspective, the spatial center of ICH distribution shows an overall movement trajectory that first shifts southward and then northward; and (3) driving factor analysis reveals that sociocultural factors exert the most significant influence on the spatial distribution of ICH, followed by economic factors. Natural geographic factors show the weakest explanatory power, but their influence is significantly enhanced through interactions with sociocultural and economic factors. This study develops an integrated analytical framework to examine the spatial patterns and driving mechanisms of ICH in the YRD. It enriches the quantitative methodological system of cultural geography and heritage studies, provides a scientific basis for the protection, transmission, and governance of cultural heritage against the background of regional integration in the YRD, and offers a transferable analytical approach for ICH studies in other urban agglomerations.