TY - JOUR KW - Bays KW - China KW - Culture KW - Geographic information systems KW - Hong Kong KW - Humans KW - Macao KW - Macau KW - spatial analysis KW - Sports KW - article KW - bay KW - cultural anthropology KW - Economic development KW - Geographic information system KW - human KW - Inheritance KW - jurisprudence KW - resource allocation KW - spatial analysis KW - sport KW - urbanization AU - Bochu Mo AU - Xinjie Zhang AU - Wanyi Chen AU - Rundong Zhou AU - Jie Zhang AB - Sports Intangible Cultural Heritage (SICH) serves as both a vital testament to the shared cultural roots of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and a treasured resource for fostering a collaborative, culturally enriched Bay Area. Combining field surveys and GIS spatial analysis, and adopting the methods of the nearest neighbor index, geographic concentration index, imbalance index, kernel density estimation and geographical detectors, the study aims to analyze the characteristics of the spatial distribution of the 264 SICH projects in the GBA, and to explore the main factors affecting their distribution. The findings reveal that the spatial distribution of SICH in the GBA is highly concentrated, with obvious aggregation characteristics. The overall characteristics are “dense in the west, sparse in the east”, forming the distribution pattern of “two cores, three belts”. The “two cores” refers to the formation of a large-scale high-density agglomeration area with southwestern Guangzhou and northeastern Foshan as the core, and another small-scale high-density agglomeration area with southern Hong Kong as the core and expanding from south to north. The “three belts” refers to the formation of three areas of agglomeration density in central Guangzhou-northeastern Jiangmen, western Guangzhou-eastern Zhuhai and Dongguan-Hong Kong. The spatial distribution of the four different types of SICH varies considerably, with significant variations in density. The spatial distribution pattern of SICH in the GBA is mainly influenced by socioeconomic and history and culture, with population, social organization, urbanization level, economic development level, and policy support being the dominant factors, and the influence of physical geography being less strong. The role of influencing factors after interaction is generally strengthened, among which the interaction between urbanization level and social organization is the most obvious. The distribution pattern of SICH in the GBA is subject to the synergy effect of multiple factors. From the perspective of synergy theory, the internal mechanism of its spatial distribution is explained from the logic framework of “synergistic dynamic—synergistic structure—synergistic relationship”. Finally, the study proposes suggestions for the synergistic development of SICH in the GBA in terms of promoting cross-regional cooperation, securing government support, enhancing resource allocation and digital dissemination. DO - 10.1038/s41598-025-10734-3 M1 - 1 N1 - Type: Article N2 - Sports Intangible Cultural Heritage (SICH) serves as both a vital testament to the shared cultural roots of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and a treasured resource for fostering a collaborative, culturally enriched Bay Area. Combining field surveys and GIS spatial analysis, and adopting the methods of the nearest neighbor index, geographic concentration index, imbalance index, kernel density estimation and geographical detectors, the study aims to analyze the characteristics of the spatial distribution of the 264 SICH projects in the GBA, and to explore the main factors affecting their distribution. The findings reveal that the spatial distribution of SICH in the GBA is highly concentrated, with obvious aggregation characteristics. The overall characteristics are “dense in the west, sparse in the east”, forming the distribution pattern of “two cores, three belts”. The “two cores” refers to the formation of a large-scale high-density agglomeration area with southwestern Guangzhou and northeastern Foshan as the core, and another small-scale high-density agglomeration area with southern Hong Kong as the core and expanding from south to north. The “three belts” refers to the formation of three areas of agglomeration density in central Guangzhou-northeastern Jiangmen, western Guangzhou-eastern Zhuhai and Dongguan-Hong Kong. The spatial distribution of the four different types of SICH varies considerably, with significant variations in density. The spatial distribution pattern of SICH in the GBA is mainly influenced by socioeconomic and history and culture, with population, social organization, urbanization level, economic development level, and policy support being the dominant factors, and the influence of physical geography being less strong. The role of influencing factors after interaction is generally strengthened, among which the interaction between urbanization level and social organization is the most obvious. The distribution pattern of SICH in the GBA is subject to the synergy effect of multiple factors. From the perspective of synergy theory, the internal mechanism of its spatial distribution is explained from the logic framework of “synergistic dynamic—synergistic structure—synergistic relationship”. Finally, the study proposes suggestions for the synergistic development of SICH in the GBA in terms of promoting cross-regional cooperation, securing government support, enhancing resource allocation and digital dissemination. TI - Research on the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of sports intangible cultural heritage in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-105011761883&doi=10.1038%2Fs41598-025-10734-3&partnerID=40&md5=c2cb28926a23642c5632528e504f3397 VL - 15 ER -