Corridors Construction and Development Strategies for Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Study about the Yangtze River Economic Belt

At present, there is obvious regional segmentation in the protection of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. ArcGIS spatial analysis method and minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) models are used to investigate the distribution characteristics of ICH and the suitability of corridor construction in this region. On this basis, the strategies for heritage corridor construction are proposed. (1) The results show that the density and distribution of ICH in the Yangtze River Economic Belt have distinct regional characteristics: most of the high-density areas are in the eastern region, yet the low-density areas are mainly in the western region. (2) The suitability of heritage corridor construction decreases from west to east, and the unsuitable areas are mainly distributed in the western region. (3) According to the spatial characteristics of heritage distribution and the suitability of regional corridor construction, the ArcGIS spatial analysis method is used to determine 37 heritage corridors in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. (4) On this basis, a corridor construction method that uses linear landscape as the corridor theme and connects individual heritage points is proposed. The development strategy of heritage corridors should be in line with local conditions in different regions so as to realize regional collaborative development. Furthermore, the influence domain of heritage corridors should be further increased.