Revealing the Environmental Characteristics of Towns in the Middle Himalayas Using a Geographic Information System and Self-Organizing Map

Through long-term interactions with the natural environment, the ethnic groups in the mid-Himalayas have formed unique urban environmental characteristics. Effectively identifying urban environmental characteristics is a prerequisite for implementing sustainable urban management strategies. This study took 194 towns in the mid-Himalayan as the research objects. GIS was used to statistically analyze the terrain, climate, soil, and other environmental characteristics of the towns. The SOM (Self-organizing map) method was used to classify the comprehensive environmental characteristics of the towns. The results show that the main urban environmental characteristics in this area are low-altitude towns account for a large proportion, gentle-slope towns account for a small proportion, rainfall is mainly 125–265 mm, vegetation cover is dominated by high-coverage towns, mainly distributed in central and southern parts, the soil is dominated by embryonic soil and alluvial soil. The SOM method overcomes the subjectivity and low degree of automation in traditional research on urban environmental characteristics using threshold indicator methods or feature interpretation methods. Based on environmental characteristics, the towns were divided into six categories, and the classification results showed a distinct north–south zonal distribution pattern. There were significant differences in the environmental characteristics of towns in different clusters, such as the towns in cluster 5 had high altitudes, low rainfall, and low vegetation coverage, while the towns in cluster 2 had low altitudes, high rainfall, and high vegetation coverage. Finally, based on the SOM clustering results, governance strategies were proposed for towns in different clusters to cope with climate and environmental changes and promote sustainable development in the mid-Himalayan.