An Investigation of Natural Elements in Traditional Settlements of Miao Ethnic Group in Southwest China

The protection and development of traditional settlements have gradually become a hot topic in urban-rural planning and design. Respecting for the spatial patterns of traditional villages has also been incorporated into the conventional overall planning. This paper focuses on the Miao ethnic group’s traditional settlements that originated in China, have a long history and spread widely in the world, to explore the ancients’ understanding of nature and space. It starts from folk culture, environments of selected sites, and residential buildings of selected settlement space, which reflect the concept of nature, to make clear of their status in the periods of occurrence, formation, development, preservation and duration, and gets to know the law by analyzing the corresponding phenomena in the process. This paper aims to promote the preservation and development of traditional settlements under the premise of respecting the tradition and benefiting the contemporary society and provide reference for subsequent studies.