Ecological Suitability Evaluation of Traditional Village Locations in Jiangxi Province Based on Multi-Model Integration Using Artificial Intelligence

Abstract Traditional villages have evolved over time to adapt to their environmental characteristics, demonstrating high ecological suitability. Ideal village locations not only provide comfortable living spaces but also ensure safety and sustainability, reflecting the ancestors’ profound understanding of the natural environment and ecological wisdom. This study employs a multi-model integration approach using artificial intelligence to evaluate the ecological suitability of 413 traditional village sites in Jiangxi Province. It identifies key influencing factors and analyzes the ecological wisdom of ancestral site selection, resulting in an ecological suitability evaluation map for traditional village locations in Jiangxi Province. The study is based on environmental characteristic data of Jiangxi Province, including topography, climate, habitat quality, land use, air quality, vegetation cover, and river network density. GIS is used for spatial analysis and result visualization, and raster data are extracted and standardized. Machine learning methods such as Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and Gradient Boosting Decision Trees, as well as deep learning methods such as Convolutional Neural Networks and Multilayer Perceptrons, are applied. Multi-model integration techniques are used to combine the predictions of various models, enhancing the accuracy and robustness of the ecological suitability evaluation. Experimental results indicate that elevation, slope, habitat quality, actual distance to water bodies, and average temperature are the main influencing factors for village site selection. The multi-model integration method performs excellently in evaluating ecological suitability, effectively identifying key ecological factors. The model’s accuracy and reliability are verified through confusion matrix, feature importance analysis, and ROC curve. This study evaluates the ecological suitability of traditional village sites in Jiangxi Province using a multi-model integration approach. By analyzing the impact weights of various ecological factors, it constructs a Composite Suitability Index (CSI) and generates an ecological suitability evaluation map, displaying suitability levels. This provides a scientific basis for the protection and rational development of traditional villages and serves as a reference for ecological site selection studies in other regions.