Abstract: The spatial form of rural settlements is the external representation of the relationship between human and land in the long-term production and life of the residents in the settlements. The agricultural production income, which is mainly based on small-scale peasant economy, is still an important source of livelihood for the residents in the traditional agricultural mountainous areas. The strong ‘attachment’ to arable land determines the basic unit form of mountain rural settlements in traditional agricultural areas. In the past, the relocation and planning of rural settlements often ignored the strong ‘attachment’ function of rural settlements in traditional rural areas. In the context of territorial spatial planning, the rural settlements in mountainous areas are faced with a large number of demands for village removal and location. The cognition of the spatial form of settlements based on the villagers' livelihood is the premise and foundation of the traditional mountainous and rural planning in agricultural areas. From the perspective of production and life, along with the inner motive force of self-organization of settlements, the author believes that the core of spatial form cognition of mountain settlements in traditional agricultural areas is ‘man-land relationship’. On this basis, the general logic and levels of spatial form cognition are constructed, such as ‘macro pattern-human-land balance unit’, ‘medium village-agricultural production unit’, ‘micro house-daily life unit’, and illustrated with several typical cases, in order to provide a bottom-up cognitive reference and inspiration for the integration of settlements faced by traditional mountainous rural areas under the background of territorial space.