Quantitative Research on the Form of Traditional Villages Based on the Space Gene—A Case Study of Shibadong Village in Western Hunan, China

Traditional villages are the place where national culture is nurtured and inherited. Due to the acceleration of urbanization, the protective exploitation of traditional villages is an urgency in many regions of the world. Under the perspective of the “Space Gene”, we define the connotation of the traditional village space gene, which refers not only to a space combination model, but also the basic inheritance unit of the sustainable development of traditional villages. We further propose the Quantitative Inheritance System Model of Traditional Village Space Genes, which reveals the logic behind the formation of traditional village material forms and builds a quantitative index system for traditional village forms. We take Shibadong Village as an example to prove the model. The results demonstrate that although the four camps in Shibadong Village belong to the same ethnic group and the same village, there are still apparent differences in morphological features. Through the model, we can turn from the “built form” research from the perspective of material space to the “deep structure” research behind it, which can provide scientific guidance for the planning and designs of traditional villages to inherit the history and culture and to protect the diversity of world culture.