Spatial genes for conserving traditional villages based on residents’ perceptions in Southern Shaanxi

Traditional villages face spatial homogenization, fragmented heritage character, and weakening local identity under rapid rural transformation. This study develops a morphology–perception cross-assessment framework to identify spatial genes for traditional village conservation. Taking ten typologically representative villages in Southern Shaanxi, China, as cases, it integrates spatial feature coding, regional validation, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaire surveys. The results identify 36 spatial genes in 11 categories across landscape, settlement, and architectural levels. These genes reveal a continuous spatial logic from environmental adaptation to settlement organization and architectural expression. Residents’ perceptions further show that settlement-level genes have stronger active social recognizability, architectural-level genes are more directly perceived through visible forms, and landscape-level genes are often perceived implicitly. Based on the integrated assessment, the study classifies spatial genes into stable inheritance, activation, and renewal, and character-representation types, and proposes corresponding differentiated conservation strategies.