Cultural landscape clustering and zoning of traditional rural settlements

Settlement cultural landscape serves as a prominent indicator reflecting regional disparities in cultural landscapes, among which the cultural landscape of traditional villages is the most direct and representative manifestation. From the cultural landscape perspective, this study deconstructs landscape characteristics and constructs a traditional village landscape classification system comprising 13 indicators across four dimensions: geographical environment, morphological layout, traditional building, and social culture. Using the K‑modes clustering method, 520 traditional village samples in the Min River Basin are classified into distinct cultural landscape types. By integrating these clustering results with city‑ and county‑level administrative divisions, dominant regional cultures, and river basin systems, the study further delineates eight traditional village cultural landscape zones: Jian River Northern Fujian Cultural Landscape Zone, Futun River Min–Gan Cultural Landscape Zone, Min River Middle Stream Eastern Min Cultural Landscape Zone, Min River Downstream Eastern Min Cultural Landscape Zone, Dazhang River Eastern Min Cultural Landscape Zone, You River Central Min Transitional Cultural Landscape Zone, Sha River Central Min Cultural Landscape Zone, and Jiulong River Min–Hakka Cultural Landscape Zone. This zoning provides a scientific reference for identifying village tourism characteristics, sustaining the inheritance of village cultural contexts, and advancing the concentrated and contiguous protection and utilization of traditional villages.