Evaluation and influencing factors of regional protection level of traditional villages in Southwest China

This study constructs a conceptual research framework for the protection of traditional villages, and focuses on the macro perspective of regional protection level and its influencing factors with geographic analysis techniques. The conclusions can be drawn as follows: (1) The conceptual research framework includes models of evaluation system and influencing factors. The evaluation system model includes three levels from macro to micro, namely, the spatial and temporal distribution, the overall protection level, and the single attribute. The evaluation of overall protection level is divided into the macroscopic regional protection and the microscopic community protection. Retention rates and distribution densities are the two important dimensions to evaluate the level of regional protection. The influencing factors model includes two types of basic analysis based on time, space, and the classification. (2) The regional protection levels of traditional villages in Southwest China show significant spatial differences, and five hotspots are formed in the boundary area of administrative divisions. (3) The geographical factors that affect the regional protection level of traditional villages in Southwest China are terrain, river system, central city, and arterial roads. Among the economic and social factors, the scale of intangible cultural heritage is the most important one. There are significant spatial differences in the correlation coefficients of population density, economic development, traffic construction, traffic flow, and the scale of intangible cultural heritage. Urbanization rate and industrial structure have no significant influence on the regional protection level. This research enriches the theoretical system for the protection of traditional villages from individual cases to an integrated study, from micro to macro, from scattered to systematic, from single to multiple methods, which has important theoretical and practical value.