Identifying Rural Landscape Heritage Character Types and Areas: A Case Study of the Li River Basin in Guilin, China

Rural landscape heritage faces issues of landscape character homogenization and unclear protection boundaries. We propose combining landscape character assessment (LCA) methods to identify the characteristics and areas of heritage, aiming to preserve the diversity and integrity of the landscape. This paper focuses on the Li River Basin as the study area, presenting a method for identifying characteristics and areas of rural landscape heritage. It is divided into four steps: selection and spatial scope identification of rural landscape heritage, identification of natural character areas, identification of cultural character areas, and identification and analysis of character areas of rural landscape heritage. Firstly, cultural relic units, traditional villages, and intangible cultural heritage as sources of rural landscape heritage were selected by utilizing the Minimum Cumulative Resistance model (MCR) to calculate the spatial scope of rural landscape heritage. Secondly, clustering and automatic partition methods were employed to classify the Li River Basin into four types of natural character areas. Thirdly, cultural core areas and buffer areas were determined based on the heritage source hierarchy and cultural features. Fourthly, by overlaying heritage spatial ranges, natural character areas, and cultural character areas, 2 levels of heritage areas, 7 types of heritage cultural areas, and 43 heritage character units were obtained. This method not only provides a comprehensive framework for the identification of characteristics and areas for rural landscape heritage but also enhances the integrity of data selection in landscape character assessment methods at the cultural level.