Objective Traditional villages are typical carriers for examining the genetic makeup and cultural lineage of the Chinese nation and reflecting the interaction between human and nature. The traditional villages located along the Yellow River in the Loess Plateau bear the millennia-old Yellow River culture, mirroring the evolution of human – land relationships and regional cultural characteristics. They are important media for the inheritance of historical continuity and heritage values, and deepening the understanding of their spatial structure characteristics is a crucial foundation for the protection and inheritance of rural settlement heritage. This research explores the intrinsic connections between the spatial form and structure of traditional village settlements and between relevant cognitive and behavioral patterns, and explains the generation and evolution of landscape patterns, in an effort to enhance the understanding of the integration and centripetal degree of local and overall spatial functions within the village domain, the perceptibility of the spatial system, the consistency of behavioral experiences among residents and visitors, and the potential of local spaces to contribute to the overall spatial construction.

Methods This research uses cluster sampling to select 33 national-level traditional villages in the four counties along the Yellow River in Lyuliang City, Shanxi Province, located on the eastern side of the Jin-Shaan Gorge in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Firstly, based on space syntax, a vectorized spatial axial model is constructed. Through regression analysis of the second-order measurement indicators of space syntax, the fitting degree is calculated to obtain spatial synergy, intelligibility, and accessibility. These metrics are used to measure the global and local spatial structural characteristics of the village samples, deepening the understanding of the intrinsic connection between the spatial structure characteristics of traditional villages and human behavior. Secondly, based on the angular segment analysis method, a cross-star model is constructed to explore the accessibility and structural degree of the foreground and background networks of the village samples. Comparative analysis is conducted on the spatial construction and adaptation of traditional villages to achieve a quantitative analysis of the differentiated spatial structural characteristics. Finally, the K-prototype mixed clustering analysis method is employed to iteratively analyze the data on the global and local, as well as the foreground and background spatial structures of the 33 traditional village samples. Villages with similar characteristics are classified into the same category, with the analysis of variance (ANOVA) being further used to explore the differences between these categories. The spatial structure characteristics of traditional villages from different construction periods and counties are classified and defined based on their attributes.

Results The research has the following findings. 1) The specific topological structure formed by spatial structure and functional layout can influence the distribution of pedestrian flow and the travel modes of people. The spatial structure of traditional villages creates or constrains space through the interplay of local and global aspects, nodes and networks, connectivity and isolation, and structural integrity and fragmentation. This process provides opportunities for creating social interaction and activity spaces for users and reinforces the local characteristics of the villages. 2) Moderate fragmentation of local spaces can enhance the diversity and richness of the overall spatial characteristics of traditional villages. However, excessive and disorderly fragmentation can lead to disconnection of spaces, fragmentation of forms, and dysfunctionality. By adjusting the integration and connectivity of local spaces through spatial planning, the synergy, intelligibility, and accessibility of the spatial structure of the villages can be optimized. This, in turn, can guide the efficiency and potential of social activities among residents and visitors, thereby enhancing the vitality or privacy of important spatial nodes within the villages. 3) The foreground network of the spatial structure of traditional villages plays a constructive role in the continuity of the background network. Structural optimization of the foreground network can help mitigate spatial fragmentation and enhance the cohesiveness of the spatial network. The level of grid-like structure in the background network can reflect the extent to which the villages’ spatial pattern is influenced by urbanization. However, there is no direct correlation between the grid-like level of the background space network and the overall vitality of the villages’ utilization. 4) The spatial structure of traditional villages along the Yellow River in Western Shanxi Province can be categorized into three types: locally constructed, transportation-integrated, and centripetally collaborative structures. Some villages exhibit outlier characteristics in their foreground and background network structures. After undergoing diachronic iterative changes and processes such as the anchoring, disappearance, replacement, and permeation of spatial functions, these traditional villages exhibit diverse spatial structure characteristics.

Conclusion The internal spatial structure of traditional villages is subject to complex adaptive changes influenced by local internal and external spatial factors, which in turn affects aspects such as spatial use, pedestrian distribution, social interaction, and behavioral patterns. This research reveals the intrinsic connections between the global and local as well as the foreground and background spatial structure characteristics of traditional villages, and human behaviors and activities. It provides an optimized basis for the protection and inheritance practices of rural settlement heritage and offers a reference for the implementation of targeted policies in traditional villages.