Spatial Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of the World Architectural Heritage
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Research Materials and Methods
2.1. The Source of the World Architecutral Heritage
2.2. World Architecture Heritage Coordinate Data
2.3. Analytical Methods
2.3.1. Nearest Neighbor Analysis
2.3.2. Kernel Density Analysis
2.3.3. Imbalance Index
2.3.4. Gini Coefficient
3. Analysis of the Spatial Structure Characteristics of the World Architectural Heritage
3.1. The Characteristics of Spatial Distribution
3.1.1. Type of Distribution Structure
3.1.2. Overall Distribution Pattern
3.1.3. Distribution Differences between Various Regions
3.1.4. Analyses of Aggregation Areas
- The largest concentration of the world architectural heritage is in Europe and North America. This region has 457 architectural heritage sites in 49 countries, with Italy (52), Germany (47), Spain (42), and France (40) leading the list.
- For Asia and Pacific, there are 191 architectural heritage sites in 32 countries, mainly in Northeast and South Asia: China (36), India (32), Iran (the Islamic Republic of Iran) (24), Japan (19).
- The world architectural heritage sites of Latin America and the Caribbean (103) are distributed between 24 countries, mainly in Mexico (27) and Brazil (16).
- Most architectural heritage sites in the Arab States are in Morocco (9) and Tunisia (7). In Africa, Ethiopia (6), Senegal (5), Kenya (4), and Mali (4) have the largest concentration of architectural heritage sites.
3.2. The Characteristics of Time and Type Distribution
3.2.1. Distribution of the Registration Time
3.2.2. Distribution of the Construction Time
3.2.3. Distribution of Architectural Heritage Types
- Cities and urban agglomerations occupy the largest proportion of heritage sites in all the regions.
- Religious architecture is mainly distributed in two regions, namely Europe and North America (60.48%) and Asia and the Pacific (28.74%).
- In Africa, memorial architecture (7) is second only to the cities and urban agglomerations (17) and groups of buildings (8), accounting for 31.82% of the total number of all heritage sites.
- In the region of Asia and the Pacific, royal architecture (17), towns and villages (11), and memorial buildings (11) occupy a considerable proportion.
4. Influencing Factors in the Spatial Distribution of the World Architectural Heritage
4.1. Influencing Factors of the Geographical Environment
4.2. Influencing Factors of the Historical Development
4.3. Economic Strength and Discourse Power
4.4. International Heritage Protection Situation and Registration Policy
5. Discussion
- When we counted up the architectural heritage list, we found that although some heritage sites were listed, the actual situation was that they were not well-used and faced the risk of destruction. In particular, the endangered heritage needs the attention of all the countries and regions.
- Some of the properties have been overdeveloped. The most immediate example is the delistment of Liverpool—Maritime Mercantile City in 2021, an architectural heritage site in the UK registered in 2004. Liverpool’s planning of large-scale development of the historic dockyard area north of the city center will threaten the harmonious relationship between the site and its surrounding environment. Heritage and its environment should be the focus of protection and conservation, and any development and construction should be carefully decided. Otherwise, the lack of protection or noncompliance with laws and protection plans would cause the loss of a world heritage site or put it at risk.
- World heritage protection generally lacks regional linkage and cooperation. Based on independent protection, each country should form not only horizontal coordination of regional heritage protection, but also a vertical linkage of various levels to build an organic and integrated regional heritage protection system.
6. Conclusions
- The spatiotemporal distribution of the world architectural heritage is affected by climate, topography, and altitude, which are related to the suitability of settlement.
- Important nodes in the historical process have a great impact on the human civilization, and the built environment is often the epitome of historical development. Therefore, historical development leads to the construction of the built environment and also directly affects the spatiotemporal distribution of architecture types.
- The spatial distribution difference of the world architectural heritage is closely related to the development of regional society and economy in history and is always influenced by the national discourse power. Countries with stronger economic strength tend to have a greater say in the international platform of architectural heritage conservation.
- The heritage registration policy and system driven by the international heritage conservation situation play a decisive role in the number of the world architectural heritage sites. The diversity of heritage categories and the balance of heritage distribution will be the main guidance for the world architectural heritage protection organizations or institutions to establish the requirements for heritage registration and standardize the criteria for heritage selection.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
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Types | Definition |
---|---|
Sites | Works of man or the combined works of nature and man, and areas including archaeological sites which are of outstanding universal value from the historical, esthetic, ethnological, or anthropological point of view. |
Monuments | Architectural works, works of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings, and combinations of features, which are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art, or science. |
Groups of buildings | Groups of separate or connected buildings which, because of their architecture, their homogeneity, or their place in the landscape, are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art, or science. |
Cultural landscapes | They are illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time, under the influence of the physical constraints and/or opportunities presented by their natural environment and of successive social, economic, and cultural forces, both external and internal. |
Heritage towns and town centers | (i) Towns which are no longer inhabited but which provide immutable archaeological evidence of a past; these generally satisfy the general criterion of authenticity and can be easily managed; (ii) historic towns which are still inhabited and which, by their very nature, have developed and will continue to develop under the influence of socioeconomic and cultural change, a situation that renders the assessment of their authenticity more difficult and any conservation policy more problematical; (iii) new towns of the twentieth century which paradoxically have something in common with both the aforementioned categories: while their urban organization is clearly recognizable and their authenticity is undeniable, their future is unclear because their development cannot be controlled. |
Heritage canals | A canal is a human-engineered waterway. It may be of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history or technology, either intrinsically or as an exceptional example representative of this category of cultural property. The canal may be a monumental work, the defining feature of a linear cultural landscape, or an integral component of a complex cultural landscape. |
Heritage routes | The concept of heritage routes is shown to be a rich and fertile one, offering a privileged framework in which mutual understanding, a plural approach to history, and a culture of peace can all operate. |
Region | Heritage Amount | Proportion | Cumulative Proportion |
---|---|---|---|
Europe and North America | 457 | 51.99% | 51.99% |
Asia and the Pacific | 191 | 21.73% | 73.72% |
Latin America and the Caribbean | 103 | 11.72% | 85.44% |
Arab States | 81 | 9.22% | 94.65% |
Africa | 47 | 5.35% | 100.00% |
Total | 879 1 | 100.00% | 405.80% |
Region | Heritage Amount | Country and Area Amount | Inequality Index | Gini Coefficient | Uniformity Coefficient |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Europe and North America | 457 | 49 | 0.51 | 0.87 | 0.13 |
Asia and the Pacific | 191 | 32 | 0.62 | 0.80 | 0.20 |
Latin America and the Caribbean | 103 | 24 | 0.58 | 0.82 | 0.18 |
Arab States | 81 | 19 | 0.32 | 0.94 | 0.06 |
Africa | 47 | 24 | 0.35 | 0.94 | 0.06 |
Category | Amount | Subcategory | Amount |
---|---|---|---|
1. Residential architecture | 428 | 1.1 Cities and urban agglomerations | 289 |
1.2 Towns and villages | 45 | ||
1.3 Groups of building | 82 | ||
1.4 Single buildings | 12 | ||
2. Public architecture | 308 | 2.1 Commercial facilities | 9 |
2.2 Cultural and educational facilities | 14 | ||
2.3 Transportation facilities | 24 | ||
2.4 Civil affairs facilities | 30 | ||
2.5 Religious architecture | 167 | ||
2.6 Landscape architecture | 16 | ||
2.7 Memorial buildings | 48 | ||
3. Industrial architecture | 67 | 3.1 Civil industry | 33 |
3.2 Military industry | 34 | ||
4. Agricultural architecture | 30 | 4. Agricultural architecture | 30 |
5. Royal architecture | 44 | 5. Royal architecture | 44 |
Total | 877 | Total | 877 |
Subcategory | Amount | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Africa | Arab States | Asia and the Pacific | Europe and North America | Latin America and the Caribbean | |
1.1 | 17 | 45 | 50 | 128 | 49 |
1.2 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 7 |
1.3 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 44 | 8 |
1.4 | 0 | 0 | 3 1 | 101 | 1 1 |
2.1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
2.2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 |
2.3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 16 | 2 |
2.4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 18 | 1 |
2.5 | 4 | 5 | 48 | 101 | 9 |
2.6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 5 |
2.7 | 7 | 2 | 11 | 22 | 6 |
3.1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 4 |
3.2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 17 | 5 |
4 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 2 |
5 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 22 | 0 |
Total | 47 | 81 | 191 | 457 | 103 |
Region | Total | In Danger | Proportion |
---|---|---|---|
Arab States | 81 | 21 | 25.93% |
Africa | 47 | 4 | 8.51% |
Latin America and the Caribbean | 103 | 4 | 3.88% |
Asia and the Pacific | 191 | 4 | 2.09% |
Europe and North America | 457 | 4 | 0.88% |
Total | 879 1 | 37 | 4.21% |
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Wang, X.; Zhang, J.; Cenci, J.; Becue, V. Spatial Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of the World Architectural Heritage. Heritage 2021, 4, 2942-2959. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4040164
Wang X, Zhang J, Cenci J, Becue V. Spatial Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of the World Architectural Heritage. Heritage. 2021; 4(4):2942-2959. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4040164
Chicago/Turabian StyleWang, Xuefei, Jiazhen Zhang, Jeremy Cenci, and Vincent Becue. 2021. "Spatial Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of the World Architectural Heritage" Heritage 4, no. 4: 2942-2959. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4040164