{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T18:05:44Z","timestamp":1779991544965,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779926400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012456","name":"National Social Science Fund of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["24BDJ073"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["24BDJ073"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012456","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100013139","name":"Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["23YJA630004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23YJA630004"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100013139","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004609","name":"Foundation of Henan Educational Committee","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["22A790001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22A790001"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004609","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Traditional villages are important carriers of China\u2019s cultural heritage and reflect long-term interactions among history, environment, and human settlement. This study examines 1,035 officially recognized traditional villages in Henan Province to identify their spatiotemporal distribution patterns and associated factors. Using ArcGIS-based spatial analysis, GeoDetector, the spatial lag model, and historical literature review, we find that traditional villages show significant spatial clustering and clear regional inequality. High-density clusters occur in northern Henan (Anyang\u2013Hebi), central Henan (Pingdingshan), and southern Henan (Xinyang), whereas eastern Henan remains sparsely distributed, partly due to the long-term impacts of Yellow River flooding. The evolution of village distribution can be divided into four major historical stages, and the dominant spatial orientation shifted from a southwest\u2013northeast trend before the Ming period to a southwest\u2013northeast trend thereafter. Descriptively, village concentration is associated with moderate elevation, proximity to water, lower GDP levels, and intermediate distance from county-level central cities. However, after spatial autocorrelation was controlled for, these variables were not statistically significant as independent predictors in the spatial lag model, suggesting that village distribution is shaped more by combined effects and spatial spillover than by single factors alone. These findings provide evidence for cluster-based heritage protection in Henan and offer broader lessons for historically layered inland regions facing rural transformation and urbanization pressures.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0350290","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T17:31:30Z","timestamp":1779989490000},"page":"e0350290","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Temporal and spatial patterns and determinants of traditional villages in Henan Province"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Man","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-5146-8476","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jiabin","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]]},"reference":[{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0350290.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1565","DOI":"10.3390\/land14081565","article-title":"Spatial distribution characteristics and cluster differentiation of traditional villages in the central Yunnan region","volume":"14","author":"T Chen","year":"2025","journal-title":"Land"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106060","DOI":"10.1016\/j.landusepol.2022.106060","article-title":"Toward classification-based sustainable revitalization: Assessing the vitality of traditional villages","volume":"116","author":"S Liu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Land Use Policy"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0350290.ref003","article-title":"Delineation of traditional village boundaries: The case of Haishangqiao village in the Yiluo River Basin, China","volume":"17","author":"L Liu","year":"2022","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref004","first-page":"828","article-title":"The analysis and restoration path of pattern language in traditional Dong villages in Xiangxi","volume":"80","author":"B Li","year":"2025","journal-title":"Acta Geographica Sinica"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4834","DOI":"10.3390\/su17114834","article-title":"Spatial Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Traditional Villages Distribution in the Yellow River Basin","volume":"17","author":"W Bao","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sustainability"},{"issue":"23","key":"pone.0350290.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12759","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph182312759","article-title":"Characteristics and Influencing Factors on the Hollowing of Traditional Villages-Taking 2645 Villages from the Chinese Traditional Village Catalogue (Batch 5) as an Example","volume":"18","author":"C Liu","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int J Environ Res Public Health"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0350290.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"933","DOI":"10.1177\/0020872818755859","article-title":"Emergence of social work practice in rural China: A way forward?","volume":"62","author":"Q Meng","year":"2018","journal-title":"International Social Work"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103018","DOI":"10.1016\/j.habitatint.2024.103018","article-title":"How to become one? The modern bond of traditional villages in centralized contiguous protection and utilization areas in China","volume":"145","author":"X Zhao","year":"2024","journal-title":"Habitat International"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0350290.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"942","DOI":"10.1080\/13467581.2025.2472709","article-title":"Spatial distribution and influencing factors of traditional villages in South Henan region based on GIS analysis","volume":"25","author":"X Bi","year":"2025","journal-title":"Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4627","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph19084627","article-title":"Spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of traditional villages in China","volume":"19","author":"J Bian","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int J Environ Res Public Health"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref011","first-page":"160","article-title":"Spatial heterogeneity and formation mechanism of ethnic groups\u2019 villages in the Yangtze River Basin","volume":"43","author":"HC Cui","year":"2023","journal-title":"Economic Geography"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0350290.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0303396","article-title":"Spatio-Temporal distribution characteristics and driving factors of traditional villages in the Yellow River Basin","volume":"19","author":"Y Huang","year":"2024","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6612","DOI":"10.3390\/su17146612","article-title":"How does urban compactness affect green total factor productivity? An empirical study of urban agglomerations in southwest China","volume":"17","author":"T Chen","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sustainability"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0350290.ref014","first-page":"121","article-title":"Identification and protection of traditional village cluster based on clustering analysis: A case study of Zhangzhou City","volume":"30","author":"TT Hong","year":"2023","journal-title":"Landscape Architecture"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0350290.ref015","first-page":"1309","article-title":"Cultural landscape genome maps: A scientific language perspective of traditional settlements","volume":"44","author":"Z Hu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Scientia Geographica Sinica"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0350290.ref016","article-title":"Spatial distribution analysis and driving factors of traditional villages in Henan province: a comprehensive approach via geospatial techniques and statistical models","volume":"11","author":"W Liu","year":"2023","journal-title":"Herit Sci"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103036","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecoinf.2025.103036","article-title":"Using 360-degree panoramic technology to explore the mechanisms underlying the influence of landscape features on visual landscape quality in traditional villages","volume":"86","author":"H Shen","year":"2025","journal-title":"Ecological Informatics"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0350290.ref018","article-title":"A study on the spatial distribution characteristics and driving factors of traditional villages in the southeast coast of China: A case study of Puxian, Fujian","volume":"19","author":"X Lu","year":"2024","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0350290.ref019","first-page":"167","article-title":"Context identification, extraction and application of traditional villages","volume":"27","author":"L Liu","year":"2018","journal-title":"World Regional Studies"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref020","first-page":"64","article-title":"Space configuration of courtyard-house of traditional villages in central China: A case study of Zhuwa village and Zhangdian village in Jiaxian of Henan","volume":"11","author":"B Li","year":"2014","journal-title":"Architectural Journal"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref021","first-page":"225","article-title":"Temporal-spatial pattern differentiation of traditional villages in central plains economic region","volume":"37","author":"ZM Guan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Economic Geography"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0350290.ref022","first-page":"1","article-title":"Geodetector: Principle and Prospective","volume":"72","author":"JF Wang","year":"2017","journal-title":"Acta Geographica Sinica"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0350290.ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5786","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-025-90179-w","article-title":"Investigating the spatial distribution and influencing factors of traditional villages in Qiandongnan based on ArcGIS and geodetector","volume":"15","author":"W Xiao","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sci Rep"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref024","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apgeog.2016.09.007","article-title":"Combining spatial data with survey data improves predictions of boundaries between settlements","volume":"77","author":"B Wilebore","year":"2016","journal-title":"Applied Geography"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0350290.ref025","article-title":"Spatial patterns, factors, and ethnic differences: A study on ethnic minority villages in Yunnan, China","volume":"10","author":"W Gao","year":"2024","journal-title":"Heliyon"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0350290.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107","DOI":"10.1080\/13658810802443457","article-title":"Geographical Detectors\u2010Based Health Risk Assessment and its Application in the Neural Tube Defects Study of the Heshun Region, China","volume":"24","author":"J Wang","year":"2010","journal-title":"International Journal of Geographical Information Science"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref027","volume-title":"Henan Provincial Annals: Agriculture","author":"Henan Local Chronicles Compilation Committee","year":"1993","edition":"1"},{"key":"pone.0350290.ref028","volume-title":"Henan Provincial Annals: Water Conservancy","author":"Henan Provincial Department of Water Resources","year":"2017","edition":"1"}],"container-title":["PLOS One"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0350290","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T17:31:40Z","timestamp":1779989500000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0350290"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Chenxi","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]]},"references-count":28,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0350290","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]]}}}