The Spatial Relationship Characteristics and Driving Mechanisms Between Traditional Villages and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Zhejiang Province

Under the influence of China’s rapid urbanization, traditional villages and intangible cultural heritage (ICH), as an organically coupled cultural ecosystem, are faced with severe spatial imbalance. Quantitative analysis and mechanism interpretation of their spatial relationship are crucial for the integrated conservation and collaborative development of cultural heritage. This study takes Zhejiang Province as the research scope, integrates GIS spatial analysis, bivariate spatial autocorrelation, spatial mismatch index, and optimal parameter geographic detector (OPGD) to systematically reveal the spatial distribution characteristics, spatial associations, spatial mismatch patterns, and driving mechanisms of traditional villages and ICH. The results show that: (1) In terms of spatial distribution, traditional villages are highly concentrated in the hilly and mountainous southwest, with a hierarchical pattern featured by “two main cores and two secondary cores”, while ICH is abundant in the flat and coastal northeast and southeast, presenting a multi–center equilibrium pattern. (2) In terms of spatial relationships, there exists a weak but statistically significant negative correlation, which is embodied in typical clusters: “high–low” clusters mainly in the southwest and “low–high” clusters in the northeast and southeast, corresponding to negative spatial mismatch zones dominated by traditional villages and positive spatial mismatch zones dominated by ICH, respectively. (3) As for driving mechanisms, the spatial mismatch pattern is influenced by the tripartite interaction of “natural geographical constraints, socioeconomic drivers, and cultural policy adjustments,” with resident population, GDP, and public budget expenditure as the core driving factors. This study offers scientific recommendations for the conservation and governance of traditional villages and ICH in Zhejiang Province, while providing methodological guidance for cultural heritage preservation in comparable regions.