The Great Wall of China is more than a wall: it is an extensive cultural route. Pass cities, which are usually large defensive fortresses overseeing an entire fortified area, are an essential part of this heritage and are at the core of the Great Wall’s defense system. Juyong Pass was the closest Pass city to Beijing during the Ming Dynasty when the Great Wall reached its peak. It consisted of five regions—south, east, north, west, and central—that form three fortification levels: core castle, Bao city, and End facility. Based on the Juyong defense area military settlements database, this paper applied spatial analysis methods and found that more than half of the military’s resources for the whole defense area were focused on the western part of the wall, which formed another military core alongside Juyong Pass city. However, the current conservation strategy only focuses on Juyong Pass itself, neglecting the settlements in the western part, thereby destroying the integrity of the Great Wall’s heritage. By clarifying the distribution of cultural heritage in this area, we hope to encourage the preservation of many fortifications according to their authentic historical sphere of control and provide a reference for the sustainable integration of resources along the significant cultural routes of the Great Wall.

There are many subjective inferences regarding environment-related studies in modern studies of ancient military defense heritage, and the objective quantitative analysis of citadel site selection and layout has become the key to interpreting the environmental adaptability of citadels under defense strategies. Based on this, it has been proposed in this research that the site selection of ancient military citadels in a specific region (Zhejiang) has environmental adaptability characteristics. Firstly, an elevated hydrological overlay model was established by predicting and graphically verifying the ancient hydrological thresholds through geospatial analysis strategies. Secondly, the hydrological and topographical indicators of the regional environment where the military citadel is located were digitally extracted. Finally, correlation and weight influence calculations were performed for different environmental data. The environmental adaptability characteristics of the site layout of the Ming dynasty-era Zhejiang coastal defense military citadel, based on military defense needs, were obtained. In this way, we promote digital technology for the excavation, conservation and sustainable use of heritage resources.

Tan, L.; Zhou, J.; Zhang, Y.; Liu, J., and Liu, H., 2020. Correlation between the construction of Zhejiang coastal military settlements in the Ming Dynasty and the natural terrain. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 381–387. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.The military settlement for the coastal defense of Zhejiang Province in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) is representative of military settlements throughout ancient China. The distribution of military power was closely related to the natural terrain, and its military hierarchical structure conformed to fractal systems. Based on fractal theory, the box dimension method, which has been widely used in geography, was selected to calculate the geomorphic fractal dimension of coastal-defense settlements within a certain range. The traditional box-counting method was optimized by ArcGIS to obtain the geomorphic-complexity index. By analyzing the correlation between this index and the military-force scale data extracted from historical books, this article breaks through the qualitative conclusions of general studies and obtains the quantitative influence of the complexity of the natural terrain on military construction, especially on the distribution of the size of garrison troops. This method quantifies complex concepts through fractal dimensions and provides a new idea for research on the influence of the natural environment on the formation of traditional settlements.

Ancient Chinese military castles were equipped with rapid transportation routes for mutual aid, and this was an essential indicator of regional defense capability. However, since the sites of these transportation routes have mostly disappeared, it is not easy to examine the actual distribution of these routes. It is necessary to speculate the trend and position of military routes on the basis of the castle locations. In this study, the geographic features of each castle location were extracted as factors affecting the efficiency of the intercastle transportation system using the ArcGIS cost path function. By analyzing the fit of each factor for screening and weight assignment, a time cost path was established, and a model was generated for calculating the efficiency of this transportation system. The Weihai area, a typical representation of sea defense during the Chinese Ming Dynasty, was taken as an example for simulation. Overall, five ancient military transportation routes were restored. The establishment of the Ming Dynasty Wendengying transformed the linear defense layout of the Weihai region into a longitudinal network layout, and its site selection was of great benefit to the overall defense of the coastal citadel of Weihai. This model breaks the traditional limitations of relying on subjective speculation for ancient road restoration and dramatically improves its accuracy and credibility. Moreover, it makes a significant contribution to judging the road systems of ancient cities in different regions and provides a new idea to quantify the efficiency of ancient castle defenses.

Long commuting distances pose a significant challenge for many large cities, undermining the principles of sustainable urban development. The factors influencing urban commuting distances among residents are complex and necessitate hierarchical analysis. This study uses Tianjin, one of China’s four municipalities, as a case study, employing transportation analysis zones (TAZ) as research units. We classify these units based on resident and working populations, extracting multiple built environment and personal attribute factors to establish a model that examines the influence of the job–housing balance. The analysis identifies 12 sub-items across two categories of influencing factors, with correlations tested through spatial analysis and linear regression. We found 28 positive associations and 35 negative associations. Notably, the job–housing relationship for the working population was generally more sensitive to changes than that of the resident population. At the TAZ level, personal attributes exerted a more significant influence on the job–housing balance than built environment factors, with commuting mode, life stage, age, and income level notably affecting commuting distances.