Unique traditional villages on the Loess\xa0Plateau of China: historic evolution and challenges to sustainable development of silo-caves

Cave dwellings in the Loess Plateau and western Henan region are ancient architectural forms that offer significant potential for rural revitalization and cultural heritage preservation. This study examines their role in Mogou Village through field surveys and mathematical analysis, highlighting their contributions to urban–rural integration, rural tourism, and cultural sustainability. Key findings include the mean radiant temperature (MRT) in cave dwellings remaining stable between 22.7–25.9 °C, facilitating lower indoor temperatures in summer. These dwellings maintain an APMV within the Class I thermal environment (−0.5 ≤ APMV ≤ 0.5), achieving a 90% satisfaction rate for thermal comfort. Despite excellent thermal insulation, improvements in ventilation design are necessary. Moreover, cave dwellings attract urban residents, fostering urban–rural integration and rural tourism development. They also preserve cultural heritage through traditional construction techniques and philosophical thought. Preserving local characteristics while protecting traditions is essential for social harmony, economic development, and cultural inheritance, supporting sustainable urban–rural integration.

In recent years, along with continuous urbanization, traditional villages in rapidly urbanizing areas have encountered difficulties like “constructive destruction,” “material decay,” imbalance of the natural environment, and loss of historical culture due to modernization. Under the requirement of “comprehensively strengthening the protection and utilization of historical and cultural heritage and coordinating the protection of historical and cultural heritage with urban and rural construction, economic development, and tourism development” in the new era, it is crucial to study the protection and development of historical and cultural heritage. Since traditional villages are a living heritage, their sustainable development while respecting history is indispensable. Coordinating the relationship between heritage conservation and socioeconomic development to achieve sustainable development is currently the biggest challenge for traditional village conservation. Taking Jiangbian village as an example, based on the cultural heritage value of the village, this paper combines the traditional village with the general direction of urban development and proposes strategies of cross-regional development, linkage, and integration of surrounding resources, complementing the shortcomings of public facilities, and utilizing unused resources, so that Jiangbian Village can be actively integrated into the development of the city, the synergistic development of the village and the city can be promoted, and the dynamic protection and utilization of traditional villages can be realized, with the goal of enriching the research on the dynamic protection and utilization of traditional villages in rapidly urbanizing areas.

This chapter takes a futures perspective to the legal protection of African Cultural Heritage as countries review and improve their heritage legislations to meet emerging opportunities and challenges. As most of the legal regimes protecting cultural heritage on the continent have been extensively discussed, the researchers focussed on expected impacts of the unfolding developments in technology, and global interests in heritage and development, on protection and preservation of cultural heritage. UNESCO has positioned culture as the fourth pillar of development after social, economic and environmental factors. Innovation and industrialisation are terms that have assumed major use in recent years, while information and communication technologies (ICTs), digital economies and intellectual property have also assumed significance in economic development. Through a detailed study of relevant heritage laws in many African countries ranging from Acts of Parliament, Ordinances, By-laws, statutory instruments to policies, the chapter explores how African countries are dealing with four emerging issues in heritage management which are; utilisation of cultural heritage for economic beneficiation; the role of cultural heritage in innovation and industrialisation; impacts of digital technology on heritage protection and preservation; and lastly, protection of Intellectual Property (IP) arising from utilisation of cultural heritage. The study showed that these matters are rarely dealt with in existing legal protective mechanisms protecting cultural heritage in Africa, yet, these are the major issues in other areas of governance in most countries including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia to mention but a few. The chapter goes on to urge cultural heritage professionals and legal minds to brace up for the ramifications of these four issues on the protection of cultural heritage in Africa.

This research aims to analyze the relationship between Afghanistan's domestic economy and cultural development. The study analyzes the impacts and threats of domestic economic activities on cultural growth. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods has been used for this analysis. In the quantitative analysis, the SPSS program was utilized to perform Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), regression analysis, and correlation analysis. The results show that Afghanistan's domestic economic activities mainly have a positive impact on cultural development. The Bartlett's test results (p-value = 0.02) confirm that the expansion of economic activities is important for preserving and promoting cultural identity. The Shapiro-Wilk test results (p-value = 0.067$) confirm the normal distribution of the data, which is suitable for the validity of the results. The increase in cultural and economic opportunities for women and youth through economic development is also confirmed by the t-test results (t(383)=2.89,p-value = 0.005$). Furthermore, the correlation test (r=0.57,p-value = 0.001$) shows that economic strategies have a strong impact on the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage. The regression test (β=0.45,p-value = 0.02$) also confirms this finding, indicating that the implementation of economic policies is important for the development of cultural capital. The relationship between the preservation of cultural heritage and economic strategies is evident in the results of the Shapiro-Wilk test and Bartlett's test. The findings suggest that Afghanistan's economic strategies should be aligned with cultural policies to create a balance between the preservation of cultural heritage and economic growth. The development of cultural capital should be part of economic policies to integrate Afghanistan's culture and economic situation for long-term development

Using Historical Heritage as a Factor in Tourism Development

Traditional villages are important parts of architectural and material cultural heritage in China. This study focuses on 710 national-level traditional villages in the Lingnan Region, which are analyzed with ArcGIS 10.8 and spatial analysis methods on the basis of the proximity index, geographic concentration index, kernel density estimation, and Geodetector. The aim is to reveal the spatial distribution patterns of traditional villages in the Lingnan Region and explore the mechanisms through which natural and socioeconomic factors affect their distribution. The results show that the spatial distribution of traditional villages in Lingnan is heterogeneous, with a certain degree of cohesion, and forms one high-density cluster and four secondary high-density clusters. The distribution is influenced by natural factors, such as climate, terrain, and river systems, as well as socioeconomic factors, such as intangible cultural heritage, population, and gross domestic product. However, the direction and magnitude of these influences vary. Among all the factors, temperature and intangible cultural heritage have the strongest explanatory power for the spatial distribution of traditional Lingnan villages. The combined influence of each factor with the other factors is greater than that of each factor alone. This research provides a scientific basis for the protection and development of traditional Lingnan villages.

Traditional villages carry the genes of Chinese excellent traditional culture. Protecting and developing traditional villages is an important task to promote rural revitalization in an all-round way. Taking Luwu Village, a traditional village in Jiangxi Province, as an example, from the perspective of cultural genes, this paper extracts, summarizes and summarizes the cultural genes of Ming and Qing architecture, temple culture and intangible cultural heritage culture in Luwu Village through field investigation and literature collation, and puts forward the problems and challenges existing in the inheritance and protection consciousness, population structure, industrial development and cultural inheritance. It also puts forward that traditional villages should take cultural genes as protection and development clues to strengthen the extraction and value interpretation of cultural genes. Promote the systematic protection of cultural gene materials and intangible cultural heritage culture, promote the integration and development of culture and tourism and the prosperity of industry, and promote the inheritance, development and revitalization of traditional villages through the participation of multiple subjects in cooperation.

Livelihood diversification for traditional villages is essential to reducing poverty, addressing rural hollowing, and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Shanxi Province—with its wealth of ancient villages, diverse cultural heritage, and unique landscapes—serves as a critical case for analyzing livelihood strategies. This research proposes a framework for livelihood diversification in Shanxi Province’s 619 traditional villages. Firstly, we constructed an indicator system to measure livelihood assets, including ecological stability, economic feasibility, land productivity, cultural inheritance, and social service capacity. Then, the trade-offs and synergies between each pair of assets are explored based on the correlation tests and the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model. Finally, the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) model is employed to cluster the dominant livelihood assets of the sample villages. The results indicated that (1) the current sustainable livelihood levels of traditional villages in Shanxi Province exhibit spatial differentiation and imbalance. (2) The analysis confirms significant synergy between cultural inheritance, social service capacity, and economic feasibility, suggesting that appropriate protection and enhancement of local culture positively correlates with sustainable economic and social development in the villages. (3) Utilizing the SOM clustering model, six distinct types of sustainable livelihood strategies for traditional villages in Shanxi Province were successfully identified. Furthermore, a county-scale “multi-livelihood zoning” strategy has been proposed. The findings of this research can serve as a valuable reference for strategic planning and the implementation of rural revitalization.

The protection of intangible cultural heritage has gradually attracted people's attention. In today's digital information age, the use of digital technology in the protection of intangible cultural heritage has become the focus of research in the field of intangible cultural heritage protection. For the protection of intangible cultural heritage to become the key goal of the continuous inheritance of China's traditional culture, this paper fully analyzes the problems existing in the inheritance and protection of intangible cultural heritage, and applies the high-performance computing method to the digital protection and development of intangible cultural heritage, which provides a strong basis for the protection of intangible cultural heritage. The accurate identification and protection of intangible cultural heritage can be achieved by using high-performance computing methods. In addition, the digital protection and development system of intangible cultural heritage is also designed. Finally, the example results show that the digital protection and development system of intangible cultural heritage proposed in this paper can effectively protect intangible cultural heritage and promote the continuous development of domestic local economy. At the same time, it can also strengthen the public awareness of the protection of intangible cultural heritage and effectively promote the inheritance and development of the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

Shanxi cave dwellings are a unique habitat and cultural treasure of the Chinese nation, embodying the wisdom and life imprints of the people of the Loess Plateau. With ancient origins rooted in cave dwelling civilizations, Shanxi cave dwellings have evolved over millennia, gradually forming distinctive architectural styles and ways of life. These dwellings are not only the homes of Shanxi farmers but also the cradle of rich and diverse folk cultures deeply intertwined with the literary and artistic heritage of Shanxi. At the same time, their layout and structure reflect the social stratification and family concepts of the local society. With the onset of modernization, the impact of urbanization and new residential trends has posed unprecedented challenges to cave dwelling culture. To safeguard this precious intangible cultural heritage, both central and local governments have introduced a series of protection policies and implemented practical actions. More importantly, it is necessary to vigorously promote innovation and inheritance on the basis of protection, integrating cave dwelling elements into modern design, promoting cultural tourism experiences, and developing cultural and creative industries. This will revitalize this ancient and unique human habitat civilization in contemporary society, continuing the cultural confidence and national spirit of the Shanxi people.

Theoretical Analyses and Predictions of Indoor Thermal Environment for Cave Dwelling in Northwest of China

Traditional villages carry important memories of the development of China’s farming civilization and are an important part of our cultural heritage. Traditional villages have a profound historical and cultural heritage, and they are both an important carrier of regional culture and a necessary component of regional coordination. Research on the protection and renewal strategy of traditional villages is not only a key area of China’s cultural heritage research, but also an important part of exploring the organic integration of cultural heritage protection and urban-rural development. Under the policy background of centralized and contiguous protection of traditional villages, in view of the realistic environment of revitalization of traditional ancient villages, based on the theory of regeneration and development, the study explores the logical relationship between the protection and development of Dongguan’s traditional villages, puts forward the strategy of protection and regeneration of the ancient villages, and discusses the experience and problems of the practice of the protection and development of the villages, taking the Tangwei Ancient Town of Dongguan City, Guangdong Province as an example. This study has important theoretical and practical significance for the protection and development of Dongguan’s traditional ancient villages, and can provide reference for relevant decision-making and planning.

AN ASSESSMENT OF SPATIAL VARIATION OF LAND SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS OF MINNA, NIGER STATE NIGERIA FOR SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNIQUES

Kampong Kranggan is a traditional village in Bekasi City that still survives with the building of stilt houses and the Babaritan ceremony as a cultural ritual. Architectural resilience amidst the modernization of urban areas makes this traditional village unique and has a distinctive character. The community service carried out aims to carry out an architectural inventory of the graphic data on the building of the Kranggan traditional village house architecturally. With a sustainable mentoring model, the inventory of traditional houses is a preservation database. Community service uses a participatory method approach, which applies observation and interviews as instruments for processing and presenting data. Stages of architectural surveys, measurements, sketches, and photo documentation, by involving the owners of traditional house buildings in a participatory manner. From the results of the data collection, a focus group discussion was carried out to dig up in-depth information, and an inventory of data was carried out by digitally depicting the shape of buildings and areas. The result of this community service is the availability of graphical data for the people of the Kranggan Traditional Village and the Jatirangga Village government. The process of community service is expected to be able to encourage increased awareness, initiatives, innovation, and community participation in the preservation of cultural heritage and increase the usability of house buildings as community assets in the development of the creative economy become the basis for the Kampong Kranggan Traditional Village preservation movement and of course, can be used in regional planning in the City Bekasi.

Traditional villages in the Yellow River Basin of China are vital carriers of cultural heritage, ecological sustainability, and socio-economic development. This study employs spatial econometric analysis to examine the distribution patterns and influencing factors of 888 traditional villages in the region. The findings reveal a clustering pattern, with high-density areas in Shanxi and medium-density clusters in Shaanxi and Qinghai, while northern and southern regions remain sparse. Over time, the spatial center of village distribution has shifted along a north–south–north–east–west trajectory. The spatial distribution of traditional villages exhibits distinct regional characteristics and differences, shaped by several key influencing factors. These include elevation, precipitation, river proximity, road density, and the presence of cultural heritage units. Results show that in the upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin, natural factors primarily determine village locations. In contrast, economic development and infrastructure factors play a larger role in shaping village transformation in the middle and lower reaches. Policy interventions, such as cultural heritage protection, have a greater impact on remote upper areas. The influence of these factors varies spatially, highlighting the importance of region-specific conservation strategies. Based on these findings, this study proposes targeted strategies for the conservation and development of traditional villages, including multi-type protection systems, cultural corridor construction, watershed-based governance, and enhanced infrastructure and policy support. These strategies aim to support the sustainable development and long-term preservation of traditional villages in the Yellow River Basin. By integrating geographic, economic, and cultural perspectives, this research provides valuable insights into the spatial evolution of traditional villages and informs policy recommendations for achieving balanced rural development.