Search Results (1,901)

The use of gamification is growing within the field of architectural heritage, with applications in conservation, exhibitions, educational programming, and other dissemination mechanisms for interpretation. However, existing applications remain terminologically scattered and formally heterogeneous, lacking clear conceptual definitions or consistent evaluative criteria, making relevant practices difficult to identify, delimit, and compare, while risking misclassification or inconsistent conceptual judgment. Architectural Heritage Gamification (AHG) is proposed here as a distinct research object. Through conceptual alignment, historical contextual analysis, and review-based examination of the literature, this paper clarifies the need for AHG and develops a working definition accompanied by inclusion and exclusion criteria. AHG cannot be identified solely by media form, product form, or interaction intensity, but should instead be judged in relation to architectural centrality, the presence of identifiable gamification mechanisms, the extent to which architectural logic shapes mechanism formation, and normative conditions such as heritage interpretation and public responsibility. AHG is defined here as a design practice in which gamification elements are selected, organized, and judged within architectural heritage contexts on the basis of architectural logic and under the constraints of heritage interpretation, in order to support protection-oriented public understanding, participation, and meaning-making. Full article

Museum-oriented built heritage sits at the intersection of conservation, structural assessment, and visitor experience, yet the integration of digital twin (DT) and virtual reality (VR) technologies across these domains has not been mapped as a unified research field. Within this broader interface, stone-built museums are treated as an interpretive lens and application case rather than as the strict scope of the indexed material. This study presents a structured bibliometric science-mapping analysis of 465 peer-reviewed articles retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection (1999–2026) through a four-stage PRISMA-ScR-informed screening protocol, using bibliometrix-based keyword co-occurrence, thematic mapping, and co-citation analysis. Four conceptual clusters emerge: digital documentation and photogrammetric survey; VR, virtual museum, Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM), and emerging digital-twin applications; AR-based museum experience and interpretation; and sustainable heritage tourism and management. Italy (n = 90) and China (n = 85) lead national output; Universidad Politécnica de Valencia is the leading institution (n = 31). A persistent separation between documentation-focused and experience-focused communities is observed. A three-pillar framework linking DT-based structural documentation, immersive visitor experience, and sustainable museum management through Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) interoperability is proposed for empirical validation in stone-built museum case studies. Full article

Digital twin (DT) technology is reshaping structural engineering by linking physical assets to dynamic and data-driven virtual counterparts. DTs enable monitoring, predictive analytics, and autonomous decisions across design, construction, operation, and maintenance. Additionally, DTs are updated with real-time streams continuously. This study focuses on the applications of DTs and the intersection between the Internet of Things (IoT), Building Information Modeling (BIM), and artificial intelligence (AI). Applications include structural health monitoring (SHM) and predictive maintenance for bridges and buildings, in addition to construction safety optimization and stewardship of architectural heritage. The paper also examines barriers to adoption, including data interoperability, cybersecurity, upfront cost, and workforce readiness, and discusses standardization needs. In addition, it highlights educational impacts and pathways for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to adopt scalable DT solutions. By consolidating recent advances, the review shows how DTs can deliver more resilient, efficient, sustainable, and intelligent infrastructure and outlines the research priorities to overcome remaining gaps and fully realize their potential. Full article

This study develops a digital tactile graphic learning framework based on Korean cultural heritage images to support potential concept learning of students with visual impairments and examines its educational appropriateness through expert validation. The lack of standardized tactile graphic guidelines in visual-centric educational environments imposes considerable burden on teachers, who must restructure content individually. Using a design-based research (DBR) methodology grounded in the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, this study constructed a dataset of 200 cultural heritage images from elementary textbooks across four categories—architecture, artifacts, cultural symbols, and traditional objects—and restructured them through illustration simplification, initial tactile graphic conversion (informed by braille production principles), and two expert revision cycles. Ninety educationally applicable items were finalized for second-stage validation, and five tactile graphic design guidelines were derived. A panel of 15 experts evaluated the materials using a 5-point Likert scale and Content Validity Index (CVI) analysis. The overall mean was M = 4.69 (SD = 0.51), with the final 15-item instrument yielding an overall S-CVI/Ave of 0.99 (initial 0.98 across the original 16 items, refined after removal of one underperforming item per standard CVI practice); the practical usability domain reached S-CVI/Ave = 1.00, indicating full expert agreement. The study contributes a cultural heritage image dataset, a systematic image restructuring procedure, UDL-based design guidelines, iteratively refined and expert-validated CVI evaluation criteria, and a prototype TUI-based tactile learning environment configuration. Full article

Policies for cultural heritage protection have increasingly shifted toward the integrated conservation and development of historical cultural landscapes. In vernacular settlements located in the southwestern border regions of China, some cultural landscape remains that were once widespread are gradually disappearing. Nevertheless, these landscapes continue to be recognized, valued, and maintained by local ethnic communities. Understanding how place-based perceptions are formed, how hidden cultural landscapes can be identified, and how their cultural significance can be interpreted is therefore of considerable importance. Drawing on landscape perception theory, this study develops an analytical framework that integrates landscape structure interpretation, oral history analysis, and local ethnic group perception. The archaeological remains of the “Ancient Temple” in Baiya City, located within the Zhaozhou intermontane basin (“Bazi”) in Dali, are selected as a case study. Through field investigations, oral history interviews, and Semantic Differential (SD) scale questionnaires, perception factors are examined across four dimensions—environment, ritual, construction, and psychology—to systematically analyze the elements shaping spatial perception. The results reveal that, although local ethnic groups exhibit relatively low levels of perception regarding the architectural form of the ancient temple, they maintain strong psychological and emotional attachments to ritual pathways, ruin landscapes, and related cultural elements. The remains of the “Ancient Temple” constitute an implicit cultural landscape that plays a significant role in shaping local cultural identity and sense of place. At the same time, it reflects the community’s capacity for self-organization and the latent mechanisms underlying the reconstruction of cultural space. Based on these findings, strategies for cultural landscape regeneration should emphasize the preservation of indigenous spatial order, the revitalization of local ritual practices, and the strengthening of ethnic psychological identity. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the social functions and cultural significance of implicit cultural landscapes in contemporary urban and rural development and provides practical references for their conservation and regeneration. Full article

Grotto Buddhist Niches are important spatial carriers of Buddhist cave art, containing rich architectural, artistic, and historical information. However, image data of these Buddhist niches are fragmented across multiple scales, including visual features, cultural semantics, and spatial structures, which significantly hinders cross-scale correlative analysis. To address this issue, this paper proposes a multi-scale knowledge representation method based on image semantics and ontology. Specifically, we establish a five-tier semantic description model, comprising the visual feature layer, image data layer, entity layer, cultural semantics layer, and relational layer. Furthermore, using Protégé and the classical Seven-Step Method, we develop a domain ontology named Grotto Buddhist Niche Ontology (GBNOnto) to enable unified semantic modeling of multi-scale information. Based on this ontology, a knowledge graph focusing on cave imagery is constructed, with typical caves such as Cave 38 at the Yungang Grottoes selected as case studies. The resulting graph contains 892 entity nodes and 2621 semantic relations, effectively capturing the complex interconnections among architectural typology, artistic characteristics, and cultural semantics within the selected niche instances. The proposed method enables structured and associative integration of multi-scale information in grotto Buddhist niche images. It thus provides a foundational data infrastructure and modeling framework to support effective management, knowledge retrieval, and semantic reasoning. Full article

In the context of urban regeneration and the redevelopment of existing urban land and built assets, industrial heritage has become a cross-sectoral policy issue involving heritage conservation, spatial reuse, land governance and public cultural uses. Existing studies have primarily examined individual adaptive reuse projects and spatial strategies, whereas the long-term evolution of policy texts has received less systematic attention. Taking Shanghai as a case study, this paper constructs a clause-level corpus of industrial heritage-related policies issued between 2006 and 2025. The corpus comprises 524 clauses extracted from 86 policy documents covering heritage conservation, historic building conservation, cultural and creative industries, land use, planning, urban renewal and industrial tourism. Overall and stage-based Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) models are combined with cross-period topic alignment to identify the structure and evolution of policy themes. The results show that Shanghai’s industrial heritage policies have been shaped not only by heritage conservation concerns, but also by industrial land governance, the transformation of underused industrial land, the regeneration of existing industrial spaces (EIS), industrial culture, tourism and public service provision. Four stages are identified: initial exploration, regulatory consolidation, revitalisation and renewal, and integrated consolidation. Across these stages, four major evolutionary pathways can be observed: industrial land supply and governance, renewal of EIS and old industrial areas (OIA), industrial heritage conservation and value recognition and the expansion of industrial culture, tourism and public services. The paper provides clause-level evidence for understanding industrial heritage governance in China’s urban regeneration context and highlights the need for stronger coordination between heritage, land, planning, industry, culture and tourism policies. Full article

Urban public spaces contribute to sustainable urban development by supporting social interaction, cultural identity, pedestrian experience, environmental comfort and commercial vitality. However, limited comparative evidence explains how user satisfaction differs between public spaces shaped by contrasting spatial identities. This study compares Melaka Jonker Street (MJS), a heritage-oriented commercial public space, and Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur (BBKL), a contemporary commercial public space, to examine how selected urban space attributes shape user satisfaction and sustainability interpretation. A quantitative comparative survey involving 542 respondents was analysed using descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha, the Mann–Whitney U test, the Relative Importance Index (RII), comparative gap analysis, the User Satisfaction Balance Score (USBS) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The findings show that, within the shared attributes examined, MJS recorded stronger satisfaction patterns than BBKL, with the largest satisfaction gaps observed in accessibility, light sculpture, waterscape lighting and green elements. Satisfaction in MJS was mainly shaped by heritage identity, historical buildings, street art walls, water elements and accessibility, reflecting a cultural–environmental sustainability pattern. In contrast, satisfaction in BBKL was more closely associated with activity intensity, media architecture and contemporary visual experience, reflecting a socio-economic-commercial sustainability pattern. These results provide context-specific evidence that sustainable public space performance is shaped by the relationship between urban space attributes, spatial identity and everyday user experience. The findings contribute to urban design and public space research by integrating user satisfaction with sustainability interpretation and by providing context-sensitive planning and design implications for heritage-oriented and contemporary commercial public spaces in Malaysia. Full article

Urban historic districts often present archaeological sites and historic buildings in a fragmented way, posing significant challenges for public understanding and enhancing heritage value. Solely physical conservation fails to fully communicate their cultural significance, while excessive commercialization often results in the erosion of cultural authenticity and the displacement of local communities. Drawing from cultural capital theory in sociology and cultural economics, this study redefines historical districts as sustainable urban cultural capital, comprising habituated, objectified, and institutionalized components. A Value Chain Model of Cultural Capital (VCMCC) is developed, consisting of three stages: cultural resource excavation, cultural asset cultivation, and cultural capital management. This model aims to empower heritage adaptive reuse and foster synergy between cultural heritage and economic development. Utilizing an embedded single-case design with longitudinal ethnography, the research focuses on the Western Han Archaeological Sites Historical District (WHAS HD) in Hanzhong, China. It involves multiple rounds of mixed-data collection from 2023 to 2025, on which design-based research is performed. This study operationalizes VCMCC through a series of spatially and socially grounded strategies. In the cultural resource excavation stage, superior resources are identified through a systematic review of historical archives, archaeological reports, and local gazetteers, along with surveys of architectural remains and spatial mapping. In the cultural asset cultivation stage, these resources are transformed into experiential and communicable cultural assets via a “one courtyard, one strategy” approach for activating courtyard functions, developing dual-theme heritage routes, and deploying digital interpretation tools. In the cultural capital management stage, a multi-stakeholder community committee is established, and binding institutional safeguards are integrated to ensure sustainable heritage adaptive reuse. Concurrently, a baseline indicator system covering three dimensions, cultural, social, and economic benefits, is developed to provide benchmarks for future post-intervention benefit evaluation and verification. The proposed and implemented VCMCC model translates cultural capital theory from an abstract explanatory framework into an actionable pathway for heritage adaptive reuse, offering theoretical and methodological guidance for the adaptive reuse of similar small and medium-sized historic districts. Full article

The humid coastal Lingnan region of South China, including the Chaoshan area of eastern Guangdong, is frequently exposed to disaster-prone weather conditions such as high humidity, typhoon-related winds, heavy rainfall, and salt-laden coastal air. These long-term environmental exposures may contribute to surface deterioration risks of architectural heritage. Located in Shantou, Yingchuan Shijia has shown five visible surface deterioration types—cracks, staining, saltpetering, plants, and spalling—under the combined influence of environmental exposure, material aging, previous disturbance, and insufficient maintenance. To address the limitations of manual inspection, this study explores a conservation-oriented intelligent workflow integrating YOLO-based detection, digital documentation, and screening-level conservation interpretation. Digital documentation used UAV imagery, mobile LiDAR scanning, measured drawings, and SketchUp-based three-dimensional modeling. The dataset was built in three stages: a 99-image preliminary dataset, where YOLOv8 showed only basic learning capability with low performance metrics, including Precision of 33.0 ± 3.0%, Recall of 28.0 ± 1.0%, mAP50 of 25.0 ± 1.0%, and mAP50-95 of 11.0 ± 1.0%; a 362-image non-augmented case-study dataset, where YOLOv8 still showed limited performance, with mAP50 of 20.0 ± 1.0% and mAP50-95 of 8.0 ± 1.0%; and a final YOLO-format case-study dataset of 2000 images after training-set-only augmentation using 11 geometric and photometric transformation methods. After augmentation, YOLOv8 mAP50 increased to 62.0 ± 2.0%. Under the same augmented-data condition, YOLOv13 showed Precision of 89.0 ± 1.0%, Recall of 77.0 ± 1.0%, mAP50 of 84.0 ± 1.0%, and mAP50-95 of 65.0 ± 1.0%, indicating relatively higher validation performance than YOLOv8. In the normalized confusion matrix, the background missed-detection values for cracks and saltpetering were 0.29 and 0.22, respectively, indicating that weak-feature and low-contrast deterioration types remained challenging. Based on YOLOv13, a mini program was developed to organize detection outputs and provide field-oriented preliminary conservation hints. Overall, this study provides a preliminary workflow linking digital collection, image-based deterioration detection, Grad-CAM visualization, and assisted field recording for the preventive conservation of Chaoshan overseas-Chinese residences in humid coastal heritage environments. Full article

Historic blue bricks are fundamental to Beijing’s architectural heritage, yet cross-site compositional data for guiding material-compatible restoration remain scarce. This study applies WD-XRF, XRD, SEM, thermal expansion measurement, and physical property testing to 21 blue brick specimens from four Beijing-area sites spanning the Tang through Qing dynasties, with PCA and K-means clustering used to explore compositional grouping structures. Within this exploratory dataset, a compositional distinction separates the Ming and Qing Great Wall bricks: CaO falls from 7.7 to 1.5 wt.% as anorthite gives way to albite, while Qing specimens are denser (1.79 vs. 1.65 g·cm⁻³) with lower water absorption (15.9% vs. 20.9%). Two Wanping City bricks are strongly sulfate-enriched (SO₃ up to 9.8%), and WP-SE3 additionally carries a heavy chloride load (Cl 2.1%), masking their original clay signatures and illustrating how unrecognized weathering can distort compositional grouping and source-related interpretation from bulk chemistry. K-means clustering yields compositional types that overlap only partially with site boundaries, capturing raw material variation rather than site-specific manufacturing fingerprints. Despite constraints in sample size and physical property coverage, the integrated dataset offers preliminary compositional benchmarks and limited performance data to inform period-specific brick replacement at these heritage sites. Full article

Preserving cultural heritage sites requires an interoperable digital framework capable of integrating heterogeneous spatial data and supporting immersive interaction for inspection and management. This study investigates the integration of multiple heritage data representations—including IFC-based Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM), terrestrial and UAV LiDAR point clouds, and 3D Gaussian Splatting reconstructions—into a unified digital management environment for the East Hall (Aula Timur) heritage site within the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) campus. A semantic–spatial interoperability workflow is proposed to harmonize BIM, point cloud, and landscape-scale data within a common georeferenced context, supported by a CityGML-based base map of the surrounding site. An immersive virtual environment was implemented using a head-mounted display to enable walkthrough-based inspection and damage annotation. All datasets were georeferenced within a unified coordinate system, allowing spatial registration between digital objects and the physical heritage site. The results demonstrate that multi-source heritage datasets can be integrated with high geometric accuracy, achieving TLS registration errors of approximately 2 mm and georeferencing residuals within 11.1 cm (horizontal) and 0.95 cm (vertical), while preserving semantic information and ensuring spatial coherence across HBIM, GIS, and immersive environments. The system is implemented in VR, with an architecture designed to support future MR-based on-site annotation and visualization. The proposed framework establishes a foundation for future heritage digital twin deployments and supports informed conservation decisions. Full article

Multimodal large language models can read architectural images and design instructions but they still struggle to turn architectural rules into editable, executable models in professional modeling environments. To address this limitation, this paper presents MLLMto3D, an MCP-driven closed-loop framework that connects multimodal reasoning with Rhino-based modeling, feedback, and revision. The framework consists of five phases: visual parsing, JSON-based intent serialization, code synthesis, MCP-driven Rhino execution and feedback, and verification with bounded repair. Its core mechanism is JSON-based intent serialization, which converts image-derived architectural information into machine-readable modeling parameters under a predefined JSON schema. The schema separates geometric and compositional constraints, including height, bay rhythm, facade zones, and alignment rules, from design variables such as materials, openings, and ornament. Building on this mechanism, Skills modules externalize facade typology knowledge and safe Rhino scripting patterns, providing callable professional constraints for code synthesis to reduce design-intent deviation and API hallucination. The framework is evaluated through an experimental design case study on a site in Shanghai’s Hengfu Historic District, where the generation of new façades is informed by a nearby heritage architectural reference. The results show that MLLMto3D can generate a parametrically adjustable Rhino model while preserving the main compositional constraints, thereby advancing AI-assisted architectural 3D generation toward a controllable, verifiable, and iterative modeling process. Full article

Historic urban districts are increasingly exposed to rapid urban transformation, resulting in the deterioration of heritage fabric, weakening of spatial identity, and disruption of everyday patterns of use. Although participatory approaches are increasingly recognised in heritage-led regeneration, many applications remain limited by the lack of analytical mechanisms capable of connecting community perspectives with spatial and behavioural evidence in a structured and practical manner. This study develops and applies a participatory decision-support approach based on the People–Place–Behaviour (PPB) framework within the historic district of El-Mokhtalat in Mansoura, Egypt. The study combines spatial documentation, behavioural observation, and stakeholder consultation to examine how everyday urban practices, adaptive reuse, informal interventions, and local perceptions collectively influence regeneration priorities within the historic environment. The findings indicate that regeneration priorities emerge through the interaction between spatial conditions, community perceptions, and behavioural patterns rather than through isolated physical conditions alone. Based on stakeholder consultations (n = 30), the analysis identifies a prioritisation gradient in which architectural conservation and environmental enhancement represent the most immediate intervention priorities, while adaptive reuse and public-space improvements remain dependent on contextual compatibility and local acceptance. The study also demonstrates the analytical value of behavioural evidence in revealing recurring spatial pressures, identity-related transformations, and everyday interaction patterns affecting the continuity of the historic urban fabric. By integrating participatory, spatial, and behavioural evidence within a unified evaluation process, the study proposes a context-sensitive analytical approach capable of supporting more informed and locally responsive heritage-led regeneration strategies. Full article

This study examines the sustainability of underground water heritage through the case of Gaziantep’s kastels and livas in Türkiye, focusing on public perceptions, heritage awareness, perceived value, and participation-related support mechanisms. Although kastels and livas have previously been addressed in architectural, historical, and infrastructural terms, user-centered evidence on their social recognition and conservation-related evaluation remains limited. The study adopts a cross-sectional, survey-based design grounded in sustainable heritage management. The questionnaire was developed for this underground water heritage system and structured around four dimensions: heritage awareness, perceived value, conservation support/participation intention, and governance-, promotion-, and future-oriented perceptions. The instrument was refined through expert review and pilot testing, and the final dataset consisted of 406 valid questionnaires collected through both online and face-to-face administration. Analyses included descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and group comparisons. The findings indicate that participants attributed particularly high value to kastels and livas and expressed strong support for their conservation, while current promotion, information tools, and institutional collaboration were evaluated less favorably. Perceived value was strongly associated with conservation support/participation intention. The study offers an empirical basis for socially grounded strategies for the protection, interpretation, and sustainable management of Gaziantep’s kastels and livas. Full article