Spatial Distribution, Driving Mechanisms, and Development Strategies of Traditional Villages in Southern Shanxi

The core objective of the concentrated and contiguous protection of traditional villages is to achieve the large-scale preservation and sustainable development of cultural heritage. Elucidating their spatial distribution characteristics and the underlying driving mechanisms serves as a fundamental prerequisite for the effective implementation of conservation practices. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the optimal parameter-based geographical detector (OPGD) model, this study quantitatively analyzes the spatial distribution and formation mechanisms of traditional villages in southern Shanxi. The results indicate that traditional villages in southern Shanxi exhibit a “one belt, three cores” spatial agglomeration pattern. This pattern emerges from the nonlinear coupling of multiple factors, including natural environment, socio-economic conditions, and historical and cultural elements, among which historical and cultural factors serve as the most prominent driver. The factor detection q-value for cultural heritage density (X18) reached 0.45, and it exhibited a significant synergistic enhancement effect with natural environmental and socio-economic factors. Interaction detection reveals that the explanatory powers of bivariate interactions are generally stronger than that of individual factors, with the synergistic effect between slope (X4) and annual mean temperature (X9) being the most pronounced (q = 0.56). Based on these findings and emphasizing the pivotal role of historical and cultural factors, this study proposes a four-dimensional collaborative governance framework—“cultural leadership, spatial support, institutional safeguards, and social synergy”. This framework aims to provide theoretical foundations and practical pathways for the concentrated and contiguous protection of traditional villages in intra-provincial cultural regions.