The form evolution and environmental adaptaion of villages along a river: A case study of the dong villages in the Gaojin‐Bazhai Valley

Abstract

AbstractWith the overall improvement of China's rural settlements, the spatial form of villages has undergone dramatic changes. The Dong villages in the mountainous regions of southwest China are closely tied to rivers and have always maintained remarkable water adaptability even under the intense development and construction disturbances of the past 30 years, providing a direct model for the sustainable development of modern communities. This paper takes the Gaojin‐Bazhai valley, Guizhou Province, and the eight Dong villages in it as a case study, using multisource data such as high‐resolution historical satellite imagery, participatory spatial mapping, interviews with key figures, and ethnography, and integrates the research methods of spatial analysis and anthropological field surveys to trace village spatial development at three levels: valley, village, and building groups. The study reveals the interaction between the Dong villages and the water environment over a long time period, and reveals a coupled artificial–natural interaction mechanism with water adaptation as the core, which is specifically interpreted as restriction, induced, adjustment, and synergy effects. With the aim of promoting a more effective succession of this mechanism, we also propose policy recommendations for the development of the water environment in the river basin as a response to the challenges arising from the ecological and ethnological conflict brought by modernization and tourism.