Abstract: To resolve the numerical instabilities in continuum topology optimization, nodal topological variables are adopted to describe the existence or null of elements combined with independent continuous mapping method. Young’s module and volume of the element are calculated by independent topological variable fields. Based on the lower order element shape function and the interpolation function based on filtering scheme, various kinds of ICM methods with different spatial field of topological variable are derived. Several two-dimensional linear elastic topology optimization problems are solved. The results demonstrate that no checkerboard patterns and mesh-dependent phenomena are obtained with the mixed spatial interpolation scheme.