Objectives  To lay the foundation for protecting the cultural landscape diversity of the national park and promote the healthy and coordinated development of the region, the paper analyzed the diversity and evolution trend of the Giant Panda National Park and its surrounding settlement landscape.

  Methods  This study explored the diversity of rural settlement distribution characteristics, settlement structure, architectural form, cultural symbols, and landscape features in the Minshan district of the Giant Panda National Park and its surrounding rural settlements, through on-site research, GIS spatial analysis, and data statistics.

  Results  In terms of spatial distribution, the density of settlements in the national park was lower than that in the surrounding areas; The settlement structure mainly consisted of four types: central aggregation, non-central aggregation, scattered rows, and scattered points. The types of dwellings included wooden frame dwellings, stone dwellings, down stone and upwood dwellings, and rammed earth dwellings. The region held rich and diverse cultural symbols and colorful landscape styles. Further study on the evolution trend showed that: (1) From 1980 to 2020, the number of native settlements in the Minshan district of Giant Panda National Park decreased faster than that in the surrounding areas. The number of native settlements decreases by 282, accounting for 17.37% of the total decrease in the study area, and the settlement area decreased by 10.26 km², showing a trend of centralized scale. (2) In the process of relocation and centralized resettlement, the settlement structure tended to be single, and the newly built settlements were mostly regular structures such as ribbons and grids. (3) Residential buildings and landscape styles tended to be modernized and homogenized, and the diversity of architecture and landscape styles decreased. (4) To a certain extent, protected areas reduced the human interaction and cultural exchange of different areas, leading to the development of landscape genetic isolation. In the future, national parks should pay attention to species protection while also taking into account the protection of settlement landscape diversity and cultural diversity.

  Conclusions  While focusing on species protection, national parks should take into account the protection of settlement landscape diversity and human diversity. In-depth exploration can be carried out from the aspects of surveying settlement landscape diversity, optimizing the management measures of resettlement and landscape construction, scientifically guiding the organic renewal of traditional dwellings, preserving necessary cultural exchange corridors, and reasonably delineating cultural buffer zones.