Military settlements are an integral part of the military defense system of the Ming Great Wall, and the spatial layout of their constituent elements embodies the wisdom of ancient military geography. However, existing studies have predominantly focused on the macro-scale distribution of military settlements, with insufficient exploration of the spatial differentiation mechanisms of their micro-level constituent elements. Therefore, this study examines 61 military settlements in Miyun District, Beijing. Based on documentary research and field surveys, the types of constituent elements were systematically identified. This study employs kernel density analysis and the Optimal Parameters-based Geographical Detector (OPGD) model to explore their spatial patterns and driving mechanisms. The results show that (1) the constituent elements of military settlements collectively exhibit a spatial pattern of “one belt and three cores”, with pronounced spatial heterogeneity; (2) Fortress level, Military strength, and Distance to the Lu Fort are the core factors influencing the spatial differentiation of elements; and (3) when multiple factors interact, the interaction between Military strength and Distance to the Lu Fort demonstrates a significant nonlinear enhancement effect. This study reveals the spatial organizational logic of the Ming Great Wall military settlements at the micro-element level, providing a scientific basis for the graded protection and adaptive reuse of military settlements in Miyun District. Furthermore, the proposed analytical framework can also offer methodological insights for studies in other regions along the Great Wall.

The cultural landscape of Gubeikou, with distinct historical stratification and event-relatedness, bears unique value. Against the backdrop of increasingly prominent themes of cultural heritage development and transformation, research on Gubeikou’s cultural landscapes remains fragmented and lacking in depth. This research explores its evolution mechanism via historical events to fill gaps. This study takes Gubeikou Town as the research object, applies the text analysis method to sort and categorize 302 historical events, summarizes 12 event types, identifies 19 landscape elements, and constructs a data matrix based on co-occurrence frequencies. It performs clustering analysis on these using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC), while integrating historical and geographical data. Findings: (1) The landscape evolution of Gubeikou can be divided into four main stages: the military embryonic period, the functional expansion period, the system maturity period, and the multi-element integration period. (2) The dynamic evolutionary trajectory of the correlation between its landscapes and events shows that the core factors affecting the evolution of cultural landscapes in each period not only maintain the dominance of military elements throughout the evolutionary process but also integrate diverse elements like economy, culture, and folk customs with social development, presenting the characteristics of composite evolution. (3) The landscape evolution is driven by the “primary–secondary synergy” dynamic structure composed of four types of activities: military–political, transportation, production–trade, and construction. It is the product of the coupling effect of political goals, social operation, and geographical conditions. This study provides a basis for the sustainable protection and utilization of Gubeikou, and also offers a reference for other regions.