Study on the coupling coordination between ecological substrates and historical heritage and the construction of heritage corridors: A case study of Yiyang City

Amid accelerating urbanization, the intertwined challenges of ecological degradation and cultural homogenization highlight the need for integrated conservation of ecological foundations and cultural heritage. Focusing on Yiyang City in Hunan Province, this study examines the coupling between its composite ecological pattern—mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, and wetlands—and its diverse cultural heritage, including Meishan culture and the Tea–Horse Ancient Road. Using GIS spatial analysis, kernel density estimation, entropy weighting, coupling coordination modeling, and the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model, the research evaluates heritage spatial structure, heritage corridor construction suitability, eco–cultural coupling, and constructs a heritage corridor network. Results show that cultural heritage forms a “core agglomeration with riverside dispersion” pattern aligned with Zishui River ecological corridors. Ecological sensitivity decreases from west to east, and eco–cultural coordination is higher in southeastern and northern areas, while southwestern and northeastern regions remain uncoordinated due to lagging ecological or cultural conditions. The derived corridor network—structured as “one axis, two wings, and three horizontal–three vertical corridors”—connects most heritage nodes and identifies spatial pathways for integrated eco–cultural conservation. The principal contribution of this study is not the introduction of an individual spatial model or the specificity of the Yiyang case alone, but the establishment of an integrated spatial decision-support framework that sequentially links ecological substrate assessment, heritage clustering analysis, eco–cultural coupling diagnosis, resistance-based corridor identification, and subtype-specific planning intervention. This framework provides a transferable analytical approach for heritage-rich cities and ecological transition regions facing fragmented ecological and cultural resources.