Accurately identifying the spatial differentiation mechanisms of rural homesteads in ecologically fragile mountainous areas is essential for implementing United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11—building inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable human settlements—and for advancing differentiated rural revitalization strategies. Taking Zhaotong City in Yunnan Province as a case study, this study innovatively couples the binary logistic regression model with the geographic detector model to systematically analyze the spatial patterns and driving mechanisms of rural homesteads from the dual perspectives of “occurrence probability” and “agglomeration intensity.” The results show that: (1) Spatial pattern analysis reveals a macro-level distribution characterized by “higher density in the east than the west, and higher elevation in the south than the north.” At the local level, high-density small-scale clusters coexist with low-density large-scale clusters. The landscape is highly fragmented and morphologically complex, and can be classified into two regional types: “regular-dense” and “complex-expansive.” (2) The driving mechanism analysis reveals that the spatial differentiation of rural homesteads is closely linked to rigid topographic constraints, elastic responses to accessibility for both production and daily life, and adaptive adjustments to climatic conditions. Geodetector analysis further identifies widespread nonlinearly enhanced interactions among these factors, reflecting the synergistic interplay between natural and human elements. Building on these findings, this study proposes a three-tiered analytical framework—“rigid constraints–elastic responses–coupled amplification”—to characterize the multidimensional driving logic underlying homestead spatial differentiation in mountainous regions. This framework advances empirical understanding of mountain settlement dynamics in ecologically fragile developing countries and yields actionable governance insights: in areas exhibiting high landscape fragmentation, complex morphological patterns, and low agglomeration intensity, priority should be given to remediation strategies such as voluntary homestead withdrawal and ecological relocation. The findings provide a scientific basis for revitalizing existing homestead land, spatial restructuring, and refined governance in Southwest China’s mountainous regions. Furthermore, this research offers a transferable analytical framework and practical reference for sustainable human settlement development in similar contexts, including the Qinba and Hengduan Mountains, as well as ecologically fragile zones globally.
LI et al. (Sat,) studied this question.