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Traditional villages are important parts of architectural and material cultural heritage in China. This study focuses on 710 national-level traditional villages in the Lingnan Region, which are analyzed with ArcGIS 10.8 and spatial analysis methods on the basis of the proximity index, geographic concentration index, kernel density estimation, and Geodetector. The aim is to reveal the spatial distribution patterns of traditional villages in the Lingnan Region and explore the mechanisms through which natural and socioeconomic factors affect their distribution. The results show that the spatial distribution of traditional villages in Lingnan is heterogeneous, with a certain degree of cohesion, and forms one high-density cluster and four secondary high-density clusters. The distribution is influenced by natural factors, such as climate, terrain, and river systems, as well as socioeconomic factors, such as intangible cultural heritage, population, and gross domestic product. However, the direction and magnitude of these influences vary. Among all the factors, temperature and intangible cultural heritage have the strongest explanatory power for the spatial distribution of traditional Lingnan villages. The combined influence of each factor with the other factors is greater than that of each factor alone. This research provides a scientific basis for the protection and development of traditional Lingnan villages.
Zhang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.