Search Results (469)

In the process of rural revitalization, former revolutionary base areas face deep-seated contradictions between their historical contributions and their current development. This study uses 307 village-level administrative units in Huining County, Gansu Province. Based on multi-source spatial datasets from five time periods spanning 1970–2025, it constructs a rural value assessment system across five dimensions—rural industry, ecology, society, culture, and governance. It comprehensively employs methods such as the entropy weighting method, global spatial autocorrelation, hot spot analysis, and landscape pattern indices to reveal the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of rural value. The results indicate that while overall value has continued to rise, growth patterns across different dimensions have diverged significantly; the Global Moran’s I exhibits a nonlinear trajectory of “decline—rebound—fluctuations at a low level,” corresponding to the three-stage evolution of settlements—namely, “integration—expansion—contraction”—revealing a phased disconnect between top-down spatial planning and bottom-up rural industrial development; spatial differentiation of cultural resources plays a decisive role in rural value, and the revitalization of revolutionary base areas requires a shift from sustained external investment to culture-driven industrialization. This study provides an operational framework—from value assessment to spatial planning—for differentiated rural revitalization strategies in revolutionary base areas. Full article

The sustainable use of wildlife and rural socioeconomic development have been crucial factors in, and subjects of public policy in many countries. This paper describes the case of a public policy in Mexico aimed at conserving biodiversity through sustainable use and management and thereby contributing to rural socioeconomic development. UMAs (Units of Management for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wildlife) are the central instrument of this public policy. Although these socioecosystems are complex systems that work as integral and adaptive socioecological systems to administer wildlife populations and their habitats, they are usually not considered this way. We propose the evaluation of UMAs in the State of Veracruz, Mexico, as complex systems, using the Socioecosystemic Dynamics Index (SDI), which is composed of the following: (1) the partial ecological index, which includes the ecological dimension, and (2) the partial management index, which includes the social, economic, cultural and management dimensions. The evaluation of nine free-living UMAs showed three main scenarios for the development of adaptive management strategies, showing how the mechanisms of regulation, such as the diversity of critical wildlife species (i.e., mesocarnivores) and the proportions of natural ecosystems, as well as disturbance factors, such as landscape matrix, urbanization, and human population density, influence significantly the auto-organization processes and the antifragility of free-living modality UMAs. The SDI can be a relevant and comprehensive methodological tool for evaluating public policy instruments for the adaptive management of wildlife and socioeconomic development in the context of complex socioecosystems. Its estimations allow for the identification of trajectories within system dynamics and leverage points in each socioecosystemic scenario; in this case, it showed the influence of social actors; management interventions and management plans and objectives; economic performance; and the cultural background of each socio-ecosystem as socio-management key attributes giving direction to the socioecosystems’ dynamics. Full article

Historic gardens represent an important part of the cultural heritage of a region. Gardens in rural areas, lacking some formal features and having characteristics strictly combined with the landscape, are often neglected. This contribution aims to give a methodological assessment for their recognition and an evaluation of the resulting categories. We analysed the Basilicata region (Italy), which shows a rural economy and low urbanisation. Previous knowledge recorded only few historic gardens, but considering various sources of information, based on the convergence of botanical, historical-artistic, and social significance, we obtained a preliminary inventory of 335 sites, later reduced to 150. Eight socio-cultural categories emerged, with a predominance of Masserie gardens, which align landscape design with productive function, followed by noble urban palaces’ gardens, where design is predominantly ornamental, and by gardens of religious complexes and cloisters. Memorial and cemetery’s gardens, and those of castles, rural villas, public and archaeological sites, and agronomic horti channel panoramic and topographic settings into ornamental or community values. Their territorial distribution varies across the nine landscape units of the region, with the most interesting ones in the Murgia Materan Plateau and in the Coastal Ionic Plain, with an inverse trend between quantity and quality. The study defines their typological and structural characteristics and brings to light a significant number of neglected realities. Most of them date back to the Middle Age and the modern era, even if heavily changed, having a horticultural function together with aesthetic and spiritual values. Full article

Rural cultural landscapes are shaped by the long-term interaction between natural environmental conditions and human activities, reflecting local settlement patterns, architectural traditions, production practices, and socio-cultural values. The rural cultural landscape of Gökçeada (Imbros) is represented particularly by its five historic Orthodox Christian Greek villages—Tepeköy (Agridia), Zeytinliköy (Aya Todori), Eski Bademli (Gliki), Dereköy (Skinudi), and Kaleköy (Kastro). Their landscape character is defined by the interrelationship between the island’s natural setting, compact hillside settlements, vernacular stone architecture, agricultural and productive landscapes, public and communal spaces, and continuing socio-cultural practices. Full article

Stone walls are vital components of Mediterranean rural landscapes, but they are increasingly threatened by land abandonment and the loss of traditional maintenance practices. This study presents an integrated approach for detecting and mapping stone walls within the Appennino Lucano Val d’Agri Lagonegrese National Park (southern Italy), recognized as an area of outstanding importance for the conservation of biodiversity and cultural landscapes. The adopted methodology relies on a procedure that combines field surveys with a dual remote sensing framework utilizing very-high-resolution SkySat imagery and multi-date Copernicus Sentinel-2 data. SkySat imagery was used for the semi-automated detection of stone wall-related features based on morpho-textural characteristics, complemented by photointerpretation through Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Street View, whereas Sentinel-2 data were used to screen vegetation conditions in the areas surrounding the inventoried stone walls and terraces. As an additive investigation, the historical tratturi (ancient transhumance routes) network was used as a historically informed spatial framework to identify priority corridors for visual inspection. The integrated approach resulted in an inventory of 374 georeferenced stone-wall occurrences distributed across different landscape contexts. Sentinel-2 analysis showed that approximately 16% of the persistent within-season vegetation anomalies detected across the Park spatially co-occurred within landscape-scale 1-km buffers surrounding the inventoried stone walls and terraces. The resulting georeferenced database integrates spatial and ecological data within a GIS environment across 29 municipalities. Overall, the proposed workflow provides an operational framework for rural-heritage documentation, landscape-scale screening, and the prioritization of monitoring and conservation activities in Mediterranean environments. Full article

Hybrid rural–urban environments present growing challenges for architecture and design because they require ecological, cultural, and spatial values to be integrated within coherent design solutions. This study proposes a qualitative framework for identifying sustainability aesthetics archetypes that can support the interpretation and design of such hybrid environments through the integration of accessible artificial intelligence (AI) tools and author-based qualitative analysis. The research is based on a design experiment conducted with first-year Industrial Design Engineering students at Kaunas University of Technology during 2024–2025, resulting in a dataset of 43 modular spatial systems. Photographs of the design outcomes were analysed using user-friendly AI tools to generate image descriptions, semantic tags, colour palettes, and AI-assisted visual interpretations, which were combined with researcher observations in a triangulated qualitative framework. Comparative cross-case analysis identified six recurring sustainability aesthetics archetypes: living organism, habitat, geological harmony, modular ecosystem, cultivated landscape, and biomorphic artefact. Together, these archetypes provide a conceptual vocabulary for exploring how sustainability-related aesthetic principles might inform buildings, public spaces, and hybrid rural–urban environments. Beyond the identified archetypes, the study illustrates how accessible AI-assisted visual analysis can support the interpretation of implicit sustainability-related aesthetic patterns and complement researchers’ qualitative interpretation in architectural and design research. Full article

Rural architectural heritage landscapes are complex socio-spatial systems in which built heritage, cultural landscape values, local use continuity, and environmental constraints interact. This study evaluates conservation priorities and controlled-use suitability in Akşahap, a rural heritage settlement in Antalya Province, Türkiye. Conservation plan data, building inventories, environmental and accessibility datasets, and field observations were integrated at building, parcel, and raster levels using geographic information systems (GIS), multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Criterion weights were derived from pairwise comparisons completed by a multidisciplinary panel of 10 experts. The analytical framework integrates the adaptive reuse capacity index (ARCI), threshold pressure index (TPI), memory continuity coefficient (MCC), and other spatial criteria within an enhanced spatial suitability (ESS) model. Model plausibility and internal consistency were assessed against the documented spatial and conservation structure of the settlement, while robustness was examined through sensitivity analysis of the AHP weights. Out of 134 historic buildings, 51.5% are in poor or ruined/derelict condition, including 16.4% classified specifically as ruined. Classes A–B comprise 38% of the study area, whereas 62% falls within conservation-priority Classes C–E. The framework provides a conservation-oriented spatial decision structure for distinguishing areas where controlled intervention may be compatible with heritage conservation from areas where conservation pressures should take precedence. Full article

Traditional villages preserve regional cultural memory and distinctive rural landscapes while embodying the historical evolution of human–land relationships. This study examines the spatial distribution and influencing factors of 221 nationally listed traditional villages in central Shanxi using GIS-based spatial analysis, standard deviational ellipse analysis, river and road buffer analyses, and the optimal parameters-based geographical detector (OPGD). The villages are significantly clustered in a multi-core, locally contiguous pattern oriented along a northeast–southwest axis. Most are located at elevations of 500–1000 m. Village frequencies vary nonlinearly with distance from rivers and roads, suggesting trade-offs among water access, hazard avoidance, and transport connectivity. Temperature, population density, GDP, and elevation show relatively strong explanatory power, while the interaction between urbanization rate and population density has the highest explanatory power. By linking historical formation conditions with contemporary development pressures, this study proposes a cultural landscape network organized around high-density village clusters, water-system and historical transport corridors, and major mountain–basin landscape units, supported by differentiated conservation zoning and context-specific rural spatial governance. These findings provide region-specific evidence for living heritage conservation and sustainable rural governance. Full article

High-altitude rural settlements on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau have developed through long-term adaptation to terrain, hydrology, infrastructure, and socio-cultural organization. However, quantitative evidence on how settlement morphologies are typologically structured and how contextual constraints are associated with their differentiation remains limited. Taking 20 Tibetan rural settlements in the Lhasa River valley as samples, this study develops a hierarchical morphological typology and examines its contextual associations. Spatial indicators describing boundary form, building layout, and spatial organization were constructed from remote sensing imagery, settlement mapping, and field observations. Hierarchical clustering identified a two-level typological structure, comprising two higher-order morphological branches and four detailed settlement archetypes. ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests indicated significant inter-type differences in key morphological indicators, including shape index, building density, inter-building distance, building disorder, and spatial centrality. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was then conducted at the higher-order branch level to explore how elevation, slope, river proximity, road accessibility, and religious-spatial context combine in relation to broader morphological differentiation. The results indicate that high-altitude settlement morphology is associated with multiple contextual configurations, with no single condition acting as a universal explanatory factor. Extended–loose settlements are generally linked to more open valley settings, whereas constrained organized settlements are associated with stronger terrain, accessibility, or corridor-based spatial constraints. Although the identified archetypes are specific to the Lhasa River Valley, the analytical framework provides a basis for comparative studies of rural settlements in other high-altitude and mountainous regions. The findings provide a quantitative basis for understanding the morphological diversity of Tibetan rural settlements and offer typology-based implications for rural planning, infrastructure allocation, and landscape conservation in environmentally sensitive plateau regions. Full article

Cultural ecosystem service (CES) assessment is essential for comprehensively understanding and evaluating ecosystem services. Optimizing the spatial zoning of CESs can provide more targeted information for ecosystem management. By identifying the typical landscape characteristics of different CESs, rural landscape value can be more effectively recognized. This study constructed a set of rural landscape characteristics indicators, identified the typical characteristics of different CESs based on public preferences, mapped their spatial distributions using the Maxent model, and applied K-means clustering analysis to optimize the spatial zoning in rural Huzhou. The results show that the four CESs categories are associated with different rural landscape characteristics. The spatial distributions of the CESs showed substantial overlap and were mainly concentrated in southern Anji County, around the Moganshan Scenic Area, and along the shoreline of Lake Taihu. Five types of rural landscapes were identified based on spatial distribution of the CESs. This study provides a reference for identifying the landscape value of CESs in rural areas and supports the incorporation of CES assessment into rural landscape management decision-making. Full article

Aesthetic perception of rural streetscapes reflects individuals’ cognitive responses to their surroundings and is central to understanding how landscape preferences are formed. Existing studies using Scenic Beauty Estimation (SBE) are constrained by incomplete indicator systems and overreliance on linear approaches. This study proposes an interpretable machine learning framework that integrates multi-source data to examine the nonlinear influences of streetscape features on SBE. Using Sanguan Village, a water-networked settlement in Jiangsu, we developed a 24-indicator system spanning color, spatial, natural, artificial, and cultural dimensions. Based on 523 panoramic images and aesthetic ratings from 1175 respondents, we compared OLS, DT, MLP, SVR, RF, and XGBoost models. The best-performing XGBoost, combined with SHAP analysis, revealed threshold effects and interaction patterns among variables. Green visibility, architectural aesthetics, building visibility, sky visibility, environmental coordination, and water are the top six feature variables most strongly associated with rural streetscape aesthetic perception, and each exhibits threshold effects. The saturation threshold for green visibility is 0.153, and architectural aesthetics can only make a positive contribution when its score exceeds 3.815. The appropriate range for building visibility is below 0.452, while the optimal value for sky visibility is approximately 0.194. We also explored the context-dependence of these threshold effects across urban and rural settings. This study proposes streetscape optimization strategies focusing on screening key factors, controlling their thresholds, and coordinating the allocation of streetscape features. The interpretable analytical framework for rural scenic beauty established in this research can facilitate evidence-based landscape optimization and provide scientific support for sustainable rural development and tourism in this case. Full article

Living terraced cultural landscapes (LTCLs) bind together agricultural heritage, ecological function, and local culture. International instruments such as the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments, Enhancing Our Heritage Toolkit 2.0, and Preparing World Heritage Nominations guide heritage protection, but none integrates all four dimensions, and no LTCL-specific framework exists to diagnose a candidate site before formal nomination. Following PRISMA 2020, this review synthesized 61 peer-reviewed studies from the Web of Science Core Collection (2012–2026; screening Cohen’s κ = 0.82). Keyword co-occurrence mapping in VOSviewer, combined with manual thematic coding, produced six clusters that we consolidated into four analytical dimensions: heritage value, landscape integrity, tourism–heritage balance, and governance and protection. Reading across these dimensions revealed three gaps—no tool integrates all four in an operable form, the balance between tourism and protection lacks an explicit evaluative mechanism, and socioeconomic stressors such as rural labor out-migration fall outside official criteria—together pointing to a fourth, procedural gap: the absence of pre-nomination diagnosis. On this basis we propose IAF-LTCL, a preliminary conceptual framework of four dimensions and 22 elements, designed so that strength in one dimension does not offset weakness in another. The framework is not yet empirically validated; we present it as a structured starting point that heritage managers can use for pre-nomination self-assessment, pending future field validation. Full article

Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) has struggled with scale mismatches and inadequate treatment of cultural expression when applied to high-density cultural landscapes in Asia. On the Chengdu Plain, Western Sichuan, China, remote sensing shows convergent settlement patterns across case sites, but fieldwork reveals substantial divergences in landscape character. We examined five cases representing different rural development models in the Chengdu metropolitan area. By integrating 10 m Sentinel-2 imagery and with systematic fieldwork (3200 photographs and 42 semi-structured interviews, July–August 2023), we constructed a framework that combines macro-scale spatial analysis with micro-scale field investigation. For macro-level quantification, six landscape pattern indices were adopted: number of patches (NP), patch density (PD), contagion index (CONTAG), aggregation index (AI), Shannon’s diversity index (SHDI), and Shannon’s evenness index (SHEI). The micro-level investigation followed a three-tier scheme (natural environment, settlement space, architectural details) to record vertical ecological communities, spatial expressions of cultural embeddedness, and visual landscape character. Indicator screening employed the KJ method and two rounds of Delphi consultation with ten experts; weights were then determined through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Macro-level results display a clustered, low-fragmentation pattern (woodland AI = 97.48, water body AI = 99.40), anchored by a stable mosaic of Linpan, farmland, water bodies, and homesteads. Micro-level features include multi-strata vertical communities of trees, shrubs, grasses, and water, along with cultural embeddedness expressed through irrigation systems, farming patterns, and courtyard layouts. The VLEAS (Vernacular Landscape Elements Assessment System) framework encompasses three dimensions (natural, cultural, and visual) and comprises 12 indicators. The cultural dimension receives the highest weight (0.42), followed by natural (0.32) and visual (0.26) dimensions. Comparative analysis shows that the framework differentiates cases with similar macro-scale patterns but divergent micro-features, capturing differences that a purely macro-index benchmark misses, and it also reveals trade-offs among ecological integrity, cultural heritage, and visual quality. Sensitivity analysis displays that case rankings remain stable across four extreme weighting scenarios (cultural, ecological, visual, equal), with only one swap (Xingfu Pastoral Park and Nongke Village) under ecological priority and no rank change greater than one position, confirming that the results are not driven by any specific weight assignment. This approach extends the utility of LCA in high-density rural cultural landscapes and offers a practical tool for differentiated conservation and management, especially in tourism-influenced rural settings on the Chengdu Plain. Transferability to other regions would require recalibration of locally relevant indicators. Full article

As tourism shifts from sightseeing to experience-oriented consumption, understanding how tourist perception differs across heterogeneous destination types and spatial scales remains challenging. Using 23,439 Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) reviews archived for six destinations in Shangrao, China, this study compares mountain-type and rural comprehensive destination products. These are operational dominant-function categories rather than mutually exclusive geomorphological classes. The archive supports fine-grained sentiment, topic, and semantic-network analyses; annual temporal comparisons use the full 23,439-review corpus covering 2019–2025, whereas a separate subset of reviews posted from 1 August 2022 with official IP labels, aggregated into 2022–2024 province–year observations, supports Pooled Ordinary Least Squares (Pooled OLS) estimation. A hybrid lexicon–XLM-RoBERTa workflow, BERTopic, semantic co-occurrence analysis, and Pooled OLS are integrated in a cross-scale framework. Static results reveal shared strengths and weaknesses—high scenery and overall-experience evaluations but low price evaluations—alongside type-specific structures: mountain reviews concentrate on natural scenery, climbing effort, and accessibility, whereas rural reviews span village landscapes, cultural activities, accommodation, and nighttime experiences. Temporally, mountain demand retains a stable scenic core while accessibility concerns become more salient; rural demand shifts from traditional agricultural landscapes toward nighttime performances and other experience-oriented products. Cross-scale regressions identify destination- and dimension-specific correlates rather than causal drivers: urbanization is positively associated with several rural evaluations, while ecological contrast, climatic difference, and competing scenic resources are associated with more critical assessments in selected dimensions. The findings show that perception differences arise from the interaction of destination product structures and origin-region contexts, supporting differentiated accessibility management for mountain destinations and balanced product innovation, service improvement, and commercialization control for rural destinations. Full article

Planning debates increasingly recognise that climate adaptation, community wellbeing, and tourism development cannot be treated as separate domains; yet existing place-based frameworks rarely integrate Indigenous governance, multidimensional wellbeing, and visitor dynamics within a single cohesive model. This article develops the Relational Resilient Place Framework as a conceptual model for understanding how culturally grounded landscapes can balance Indigenous authority, local community interests, and destination pressures. Drawing on mātauranga Māori (Indigenous knowledge) scholarship, therapeutic landscapes research, and the destination governance literature, the framework positions place as relational infrastructure. In this model, ecological vitality (mauri), collective wellbeing, cultural integrity, and visitor engagement are treated as interdependent rather than competing objectives. The framework is structured through six lenses: partnership integrity, cultural safety, community wellbeing, climate transition capacity, visitor–resident alignment, and long-term stewardship. The article establishes a conceptual basis for evaluating the theoretical conditions under which places function as resilient systems across rural, regional, and destination contexts. It argues that Indigenous governance principles provide a structural foundation for aligning wellbeing and tourism without reproducing extractive or growth-centric logics. In doing so, the framework demonstrates how Indigenous ontologies can move beyond symbolic inclusion to underpin resilient, non-extractive approaches to place-based planning. Full article