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Abstract The spatial pattern of traditional villages can be generally divided into two main types: clustered and dispersed. In order to explore and compare the spatial evolutionary characteristics of different village patterns, and provide a reliable basis for spatial planning, a universal Cellular Automaton (CA) model was built and applied in different spatial simulations. Through model comparison, it was established that: (1) both types of villages have developed in the same cyclical changing mode of "outlying + edge-expansion", which was probably rooted in the inherent spatial sense of the ethnic group inhabiting village types; (2) the spatial growth of the clustered village was more relevant to the distribution structure of pre-existing buildings, whereas the spatial sprawl of a dispersed one was more connected to external natural factors; and (3) the development of every economic unit in a dispersed village was strictly restricted to the building area, and to the proportion of population inhabiting farmland area. Although village patterns developed under the same logical framework rooted in ethnic culture, their development tendency varied, with different dynamic mechanisms and constraints.