Special Issue "Habit, Cultural Landscape and Sustainability"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Shangyi Zhou
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Interests: cultural geography; social geography; historical heritage
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Shaoming Lu
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Interests: architecture and urban culture; space narratives; place of memory

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainability includes the sustainability of natural and human systems. The sustainable development of the human system must be supported by economic, social, and cultural development. There are multidisciplinary participations in current research on cultural sustainability, such as anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, human geography, and so on, as well as urban planning, regional planning, community planning and design, and architectural design. This Special Issue welcomes all research articles related to this topic from the above disciplinaries. The original purpose of this Special Issue is to collect and publish the papers which were submitted to the 2020 IGC Conference’s session of Geography, Habits, and Global Understanding. However, we also hope that more people will participate in this discussion. Habit is a relatively stable element in any culture, so it has an important impact on the shaping and sustaining of cultural landscapes. Sustainable development is sometimes harmonized with habits, and sometimes contradictory. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to accept articles discussing this, especially those that take cultural landscapes as the research object. We are sure that understanding the habits of different cultures in various regions around the world may foster global understanding among people.

Prof. Dr. Shangyi Zhou
Prof. Dr. Shaoming Lu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • habit
  • culture
  • landscape
  • sustainability
  • global understanding

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Article
Dwelling Is a Key Idea in Traditional Residential Architecture’s Sustainability: A Case Study at Yangwan Village in Suzhou, China
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6492; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116492 - 07 Jun 2021
Viewed by 457
Abstract
Previous studies have failed to grasp the essence of traditional building habits responding to natural challenges. Therefore, contradictions arise between unified regulations protecting traditional residential architecture proposed by experts and the diverse construction transformation performed by locals. To resolve these contradictions, fieldwork was [...] Read more.
Previous studies have failed to grasp the essence of traditional building habits responding to natural challenges. Therefore, contradictions arise between unified regulations protecting traditional residential architecture proposed by experts and the diverse construction transformation performed by locals. To resolve these contradictions, fieldwork was conducted in Yangwan, a famous village in South China. The traditional residential architectural characteristics in three periods were obtained and compared. Peirce’s interpretation of the three natures of habit and Heidegger’s dwelling help determine the essence of building habits. The logic in traditional residential architecture is analysed through the “four-layer integrated into one” framework (including the natural environment, livelihood form, institution and ideology), yielding the following results. (1) The characteristics of the residential architectural form change with local livelihood form, institution and ideology. Nevertheless, the process by which local residents think, judge and respond to natural challenges remains unchanged (Thirdness of Habit), forming the core of dwelling. (2) The characteristics of the architectural form are determined by the causal chain of “four-layer integrated into one”. Stable causal chains are formed by the Thirdness of Habit, which represents people’s initiative in addressing natural challenges. Therefore, the protection of traditional residential architecture should centre on dwelling and people’s agency in response to the natural environment rather than on maintaining a unified physical form. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Habit, Cultural Landscape and Sustainability)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Article
The Experience of Place in the Annual Festival Held in an Amazigh Village in Southern Tunisia
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5479; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105479 - 13 May 2021
Viewed by 332
Abstract
The phenomenological meaning of place argued by Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph involves multiple disciplines, including religious studies. Based on the idea of experience of place, the study examines the structural contrast between the inner village and the outside suburbs. Focusing on the [...] Read more.
The phenomenological meaning of place argued by Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph involves multiple disciplines, including religious studies. Based on the idea of experience of place, the study examines the structural contrast between the inner village and the outside suburbs. Focusing on the representation of the contrast of places in the festival of southern Tunisia, it also discusses the inner and the outer experience of the human existence that such contrast implies. In this regard, interviews with the local people in the village and observation of rituals and festivals were implemented. The traditional rituals designate the contrast of the human realm and the untamed nature, which has been shaped by environmental and historical factors. Their ambivalent ontological orientations toward usefulness/controllability and toward sacredness/uncontrollability are reconciled by the experience of the festival. The dynamism of the inside and the outside in the form of olives, a bride, or a palanquin enables people to realize the source of new lives and experience the essential meaning of generation. In spite of recent political and exhibitionistic tendencies, the Mahrajān represents the universal structure of festivals in which arbitrariness is periodically broken down by introducing the external sacredness into the inner human realm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Habit, Cultural Landscape and Sustainability)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Article
The Role of Landscape Art in Cultural and National Identity: Chinese and European Comparisons
Sustainability 2020, 12(13), 5472; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135472 - 07 Jul 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1148
Abstract
The depiction of landscape in art has played a major role in the creation of cultural identities in both China and Europe. Landscape depiction has a history of over 1000 years in China, whilst in Europe its evolution has been more recent. Landscape [...] Read more.
The depiction of landscape in art has played a major role in the creation of cultural identities in both China and Europe. Landscape depiction has a history of over 1000 years in China, whilst in Europe its evolution has been more recent. Landscape art (shan shui) has remained a constant feature of Chinese culture and has changed little in style and purpose since the Song dynasty. In Europe, landscape depictions have been significant in the modern determination of cultural and national identities and have served to educate consumers about their country. Consideration is given here to Holland, England, Norway, Finland and China, demonstrating how landscape depictions served to support a certain definition of Chinese culture but have played little political role there, whilst in Europe landscape art has been produced in a variety of contexts, including providing support for nationalism and the determination of national identity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Habit, Cultural Landscape and Sustainability)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop