[go: up one dir, main page]
Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial Analysis of Cultural Heritage Landscapes in Rural China: Land Use Change and Its Risks for Conservation

  • Published:
Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cultural heritage landscapes are consistently perceived as landscapes of high value. However, these landscapes are very vulnerable to change. In China, rapid land use change, especially urbanization, has become one of the main challenges for the conservation of cultural heritage landscapes in rural areas. This paper focuses on the designated cultural villages in rural China by systematically analyzing the spatial distribution of the designated cultural landscape across the country and assessing the threats these traditional landscapes are facing under current and future urbanization and other land use pressures. Current designated cultural heritage landscapes in China are predominantly located in the rural and peri-urban regions of Central and South China and less frequently found in other regions. Especially in these regions risks to land use change are large. These risks are assessed based on observed recent land use change and land use model simulations for scenarios up to 2050. The risk assessment reveals that especially in Southeast China along the sea coast and near the cities along the Yangtze River, high pressures are expected on cultural heritage landscapes due to urbanization. At the same time, in Southwest China, especially in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, high pressures due to other land use changes are expected, including land abandonment. This assessment gives direction and guidance toward the selection of the most threatened cultural villages for detailed investigation and additional protection measures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aas C, Ladkin A, Fletcher J (2005) Stakeholder collaboration and heritage management. Ann Tour Res 32:28–48. doi:10.1016/j.annals.2004.04.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adriaens A (2004) European actions to promote and coordinate the use of analytical techniques for cultural heritage studies. TrAC Trends Anal Chem 23:583–586. doi:10.1016/j.trac.2004.07.001

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Agapiou A, Alexakis DD, Lysandrou V, Sarris A, Cuca B, Themistocleous K, Hadjimitsis DG (2015) Impact of urban sprawl to cultural heritage monuments: the case study of Paphos area in Cyprus. J Cult Herit. doi:10.1016/j.culher.2014.12.006

    Google Scholar 

  • Agnoletti M (2007) The degradation of traditional landscape in a mountain area of Tuscany during the 19th and 20th centuries: implications for biodiversity and sustainable management. For Ecol Manage 249:5–17. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2007.05.032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agnoletti M (2014) Rural landscape, nature conservation and culture: some notes on research trends and management approaches from a (southern) European perspective. Landsc Urban Plan 126:66–73. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.02.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahmad Y (2006) The scope and definitions of heritage: from tangible to intangible. Int J Herit Stud 12:292–300. doi:10.1080/13527250600604639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antrop M (1997) The concept of traditional landscapes as a base for landscape evaluation and planning. The example of Flanders Region. Landsc Urban Plan 38:105–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antrop M (2004) Landscape change and the urbanization process in Europe. Landsc Urban Plan 67:9–26. doi:10.1016/s0169-2046(03)00026-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee R, Srivastava PK (2013) Reconstruction of contested landscape: detecting land cover transformation hosting cultural heritage sites from Central India using remote sensing. Land Use Policy 34:193–203. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2013.03.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bohnet I, Konold W (2015) New approaches to support implementation of nature conservation, landscape management and cultural landscape development: experiences from Germany’s southwest. Sustain Sci 10:245–255. doi:10.1007/s11625-015-0290-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvo-Iglesias MS, Crecente-Maseda R, Fra-Paleo U (2006) Exploring farmer’s knowledge as a source of information on past and present cultural landscapes. Landsc Urban Plan 78:334–343. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2005.11.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao S, Lv Y, Zheng H, Wang X (2014) Challenges facing China’s unbalanced urbanization strategy. Land Use Policy 39:412–415. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2013.12.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cullotta S, Barbera G (2011) Mapping traditional cultural landscapes in the Mediterranean area using a combined multidisciplinary approach: method and application to Mount Etna (Sicily; Italy). Landsc Urban Plan 100:98–108. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.11.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • C-y Shu (2008) The planning of rural tourism based on the protection of ancient villages——with Longchuan village of Jixi, Anhui Province as the example. Chin Landsc Archit 8:007

    Google Scholar 

  • Dai J, Dong H (2014) Intensive cotton farming technologies in China: achievements, challenges and countermeasures. Field Crop Res 155:99–110. doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2013.09.017

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dan H (2013) China set to protect historic villages. China Daily. http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-10/18/content_17041734.htm. Accessed 18 Oct 2013

  • Daniel TC et al (2012) Contributions of cultural services to the ecosystem services agenda. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109:8812–8819. doi:10.1073/pnas.1114773109

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Daugstad K (2005) Agriculture’s Role as an Upholder of Cultural Heritage. Nordic Council of Ministers

  • Daugstad K, Rønningen K, Skar B (2006) Agriculture as an upholder of cultural heritage? Conceptualizations and value judgements—A Norwegian perspective in international context. J Rural Stud 22:67–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drahor MG (2011) A review of integrated geophysical investigations from archaeological and cultural sites under encroaching urbanisation in İzmir, Turkey. Phys Chem Earth Parts A/B/C 36:1294–1309. doi:10.1016/j.pce.2011.03.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dumreicher H (2008) Chinese villages and their sustainable future: the European Union-China-Research Project “SUCCESS”. J Environ Manage 87:204–215. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.06.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dupont L, Van Eetvelde V (2013) Assessing the potential impacts of climate change on traditional landscapes and their heritage values on the local level: case studies in the Dender basin in Flanders, Belgium. Land Use Policy 35:179–191. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2013.05.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EEA (2010) Europe’s ecological backbone: recognising the true value of our mountains, vol 6

  • ESA (2014) Land Cover Project 2014. ESA Climate Change Initiative. http://maps.elie.ucl.ac.be/CCI/viewer/index.php

  • Fang Y, Liu J (2009) Cultural landscape evolution of cluster agricultural village: the case of Yukou village in Shandong Province. Geogr Res 28:968–977

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang Y, Liu J (2014) The modification of North China quadrangles in response to rural social and economic changes in agricultural villages: 1970–2010s. Land Use Policy 39:266–280. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.02.009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuller AM, Min Q, Jiao W, Bai Y (2015) Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) of China: the challenge of complexity in research Ecosystem Health and Sustainability 1:art6 doi:10.1890/ehs14-0007.1

  • Garrido J, Gutiérrez ML (2015) Andalusian cultural heritage and natural hazards prevention. In: Lollino G, Giordan D, Marunteanu C, Christaras B, Yoshinori I, Margottini C (eds) Engineering Geology for Society and Territory, vol 8. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 437–440

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein PS, Magilligan FJ (2011) Hazard, risk and agrarian adaptations in a hyperarid watershed: El Niño floods, streambank erosion, and the cultural bounds of vulnerability in the Andean Middle Horizon. CATENA 85:155–167. doi:10.1016/j.catena.2010.11.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gullino P, Larcher F (2013) Integrity in UNESCO world heritage sites. A comparative study for rural landscapes. J Cult Herit 14:389–395. doi:10.1016/j.culher.2012.10.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo Z, Xiao X, Gan Y, Zheng Y (2003) Landscape planning for a rural ecosystem: case study of a resettlement area for residents from land submerged by the Three Gorges Reservoir, China. Landsc Ecol 18:503–512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang Y, Jiang D, Fu J (2014) 1 KM grid GDP data of China (2005, 2010) (GDPGrid_China). Global change research data publishing & repository. http://www.geodoi.ac.cn/WebEn/doi.aspx?DOI=10.3974/geodb.2014.01.07.V1

  • Jiang L, Deng X, Seto KC (2012) Multi-level modeling of urban expansion and cultivated land conversion for urban hotspot counties in China. Landsc Urban Plan 108:131–139. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2012.08.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiao Y, Li X, Liang L, Takeuchi K, Okuro T, Zhang D, Sun L (2012) Indigenous ecological knowledge and natural resource management in the cultural landscape of China’s Hani Terraces. Ecol Res 27:247–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiao F, Wen Z-M, An S-S, Yuan Z (2013) Successional changes in soil stoichiometry after land abandonment in Loess Plateau, China. Ecol Eng 58:249–254. doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2013.06.036

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiao Y, Liang L, Okuro T, Takeuchi K (2014) Ecosystem services and biodiversity of traditional agricultural landscapes: a case study of the hani terraces in Southwest China. In: Hong S-K, Bogaert J, Min Q (eds) Biocultural landscapes. Springer, New York, pp 81–88. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-8941-7

    Google Scholar 

  • Katoh K, Sakai S, Takahashi T (2009) Factors maintaining species diversity in Satoyama, a traditional agricultural landscape of Japan. Biol Conserv 142:1930–1936. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.02.030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawada K, Nakamura T (2011) Land degradation of abandoned croplands in the Xilingol steppe region, Inner Mongolia, China. Grassl Sci 57:58–64. doi:10.1111/j.1744-697X.2010.00209.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koohafkan P, Altieri MA (2010) Globally important agricultural heritage systems: a legacy for the future. UN-FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Koohafkan P, Cruz MJD (2011) Conservation and adaptive management of globally important agricultural heritage systems (GIAHS). J Resour Ecol 2:22–28. doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-764x.2011.01.004

    Google Scholar 

  • La Rosa D, Martinico F (2013) Assessment of hazards and risks for landscape protection planning in Sicily. J Environ Manage 127(Supplement):S155–S167. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.05.030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li L et al (2014) Scenario analysis. In: Chen Y, Jessel B, Fu B, Yu X, Pittock J (eds) Ecosystem services and management strategy in China. Springer, Berlin, pp 25–72. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-38733-3_4

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lieskovský J et al (2015) The abandonment of traditional agricultural landscape in Slovakia—analysis of extent and driving forces. J Rural Stud 37:75–84. doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2014.12.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu P (1998) To establish a protection system for China’s famous villages of historic and cultural interest. J Peking Univ (Humanit Soc Sci) 35:81–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu C, Wu B (2010) Grain for Green Programme in China: Policy making and implementation

  • Liu YS, Wang JY, Long HL (2010) Analysis of arable land loss and its impact on rural sustainability in Southern Jiangsu Province of China. J Environ Manage 91:646–653. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.09.028

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Loos J, Turtureanu PD, Hv Wehrden, Hanspach J, Dorresteijn I, Frink JP, Fischer J (2015) Plant diversity in a changing agricultural landscape mosaic in Southern Transylvania (Romania) Agriculture. Ecosyst Environ 199:350–357. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2014.10.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu Q, Xu B, Liang F, Gao Z, Ning J (2013) Influences of the Grain-for-Green project on grain security in southern China. Ecol Ind 34:616–622. doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.06.026

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Margottini C et al (2015) Landslide hazard assessment, monitoring and conservation of Vardzia monastery complex. In: Lollino G, Giordan D, Marunteanu C, Christaras B, Yoshinori I, Margottini C (eds) Engineering geology for society and territory, vol 8. Springer, Berlin, pp 293–297

    Google Scholar 

  • Min Q, He L, Zhang D (2011) Agricultural heritage research in China: progresses and perspectives. J Resour Ecol 2:15–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Moreira F, Rego FC, Ferreira PG (2001) Temporal (1958–1995) pattern of change in a cultural landscape of northwestern Portugal: implications for fire occurrence. Landsc Ecol 16:557–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plieninger T, van der Horst D, Schleyer C, Bieling C (2014) Sustaining ecosystem services in cultural landscapes. Ecol Soc 19:59. doi:10.5751/es-06159-190259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ravetz J, Fertner C, Sick Nielsen T (2013) The Dynamics of Peri-Urbanization. In: Nilsson K, Pauleit S, Bell S, Aalbers C, Sick Nielsen T (eds) Peri-urban futures: Scenarios and models for land use change in Europe. Springer, Berlin, pp 13–44. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-30529-0

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rescia AJ, Willaarts BA, Schmitz MF, Aguilera PA (2010) Changes in land uses and management in two Nature Reserves in Spain: Evaluating the social–ecological resilience of cultural landscapes. Landsc Urban Plan 98:26–35. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.07.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rössler M (2006) World Heritage cultural landscapes: a UNESCO flagship programme 1992–2006. Landsc Res 31:333–353. doi:10.1080/01426390601004210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruijgrok ECM (2006) The three economic values of cultural heritage: a case study in the Netherlands. J Cult Herit 7:206–213. doi:10.1016/j.culher.2006.07.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schönbrodt-Stitt S, Behrens T, Schmidt K, Shi X, Scholten T (2013) Degradation of cultivated bench terraces in the Three Gorges Area: field mapping and data mining. Ecol Ind 34:478–493. doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.06.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith N, Hirsch D, Davis A (2012) Accessibility and capability: the minimum transport needs and costs of rural households. J Transp Geogr 21:93–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sreeja KG, Madhusoodhanan CG, Eldho TI (2015) Transforming river basins: post-livelihood transition agricultural landscapes and implications for natural resource governance. J Environ Manage 159:254–263. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.05.021

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swensen G, Jerpåsen GB (2008) Cultural heritage in suburban landscape planning. Landsc Urban Plan 87:289–300. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2008.07.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarolli P, Preti F, Romano N (2014) Terraced landscapes: From an old best practice to a potential hazard for soil degradation due to land abandonment. Anthropocene 6:10–25. doi:10.1016/j.ancene.2014.03.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The State Council (2010) Major function oriented zoning of China. http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2011-06/08/content_1879180.htm. Accessed 8 June 2011

  • Turner MG, O’Neill RV, Gardner RH, Milne BT (1989) Effects of changing spatial scale on the analysis of landscape pattern. Landsc Ecol 3:153–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Eetvelde V, Antrop M (2004) Analyzing structural and functional changes of traditional landscapes—two examples from Southern France. Landsc Urban Plan 67:79–95. doi:10.1016/s0169-2046(03)00030-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Eupen M, Metzger MJ, Pérez-Soba M, Verburg PH, van Doorn A, Bunce RGH (2012) A rural typology for strategic European policies. Land Use Policy 29:473–482. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.07.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verburg PH, Soepboer W, Veldkamp A, Limpiada R, Espaldon V, Mastura SS (2002) Modeling the spatial dynamics of regional land use: the CLUE-S model. Environ Manage 30:391–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verburg PH, van Berkel DB, van Doorn AM, van Eupen M, van den Heiligenberg HARM (2010) Trajectories of land use change in Europe: a model-based exploration of rural futures. Landsc Ecol 25:217–232. doi:10.1007/s10980-009-9347-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C (2014) Shuiyu Village in Fangshan District: the cultural village conservation sample of systemically investing cultural values. Beijing Plan Rev 03:65–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Chen Y, Shao X, Zhang Y, Cao Y (2012a) Land-use changes and policy dimension driving forces in China: present, trend and future. Land Use Policy 29:737–749. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.11.010

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang L et al (2012b) China’s urban expansion from 1990 to 2010 determined with satellite remote sensing. Chin Sci Bull 57:2802–2812. doi:10.1007/s11434-012-5235-7

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilbanks TJ, Kates RW (1999) Global change in local places: how scale matters. Clim Change 43:601–628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu B, Xu W, Huang H, Yan C (2003) The Land Cover Map for China in the Year 2000. GLC2000 database, European Commission Joint Research Centre. http://www-gem.jrc.it/glc2000

  • Wu J-X, Cheng X, Xiao H-S, Wang H, Yang L-Z, Ellis EC (2009) Agricultural landscape change in China’s Yangtze Delta, 1942–2002: a case study Agriculture. Ecosyst Environ 129:523–533. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2008.11.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu P-S, Hsieh C-M, Hsu M-F (2014) Using heritage risk maps as an approach to estimating the threat to materials of traditional buildings in Tainan (Taiwan). J Cult Herit 15:441–447. doi:10.1016/j.culher.2013.10.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao L, Ye Y, Wei B (2011) Revolts frequency during 1644–1911 in North China Plain and its relationship with climate. Adv Clim Chang Res 2:218–224. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1248.2011.00218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu W, Yin Y, Zhou S (2007) Social and economic impacts of carbon sequestration and land use change on peasant households in rural China: a case study of Liping, Guizhou Province. J Environ Manag 85:736–745. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2006.09.013

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan Y, Zhao T, Wang W, Chen S, Wu F (2013) Projection of the spatially explicit land use/cover changes in China, 2010–2100. Adv Meteorol 2013:1–9. doi:10.1155/2013/908307

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang M-G, Zhou Z-K, Chen W-Y, Slik JWF, Cannon CH, Raes N (2012) Using species distribution modeling to improve conservation and land use planning of Yunnan, China. Biol Conserv 153:257–264. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2012.04.023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang J, Pham T-T-H, Kalacska M, Turner S (2014a) Using Landsat Thematic Mapper records to map land cover change and the impacts of reforestation programmes in the borderlands of southeast Yunnan, China: 1990–2010. Int J Appl Earth Obs Geoinform 31:25–36. doi:10.1016/j.jag.2014.01.006

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Li X, Song W (2014b) Determinants of cropland abandonment at the parcel, household and village levels in mountain areas of China: a multi-level analysis. Land Use Policy 41:186–192. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.05.011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou S, Yin Y, Xu W, Ji Z, Caldwell I, Ren J (2007) The costs and benefits of reforestation in Liping County, Guizhou Province, China. J Environ Manag 85:722–735. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2006.08.014

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41471455) and China Scholarship Council (CSC) Grant (No. 201306350149). We acknowledge Dr. Xiubo Yu and Dr. Luguang Jiang for providing scenarios data and the ESA CCI Land Cover project for the CCI-LC product. PV wants to acknowledge the European Commission project HERCULES (No. 603447) for financial support to this research. We thank the Editor and anonymous reviewers for their very valuable comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Land Resources Management, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, 2 Yuanmingyuan W. Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100193, China

    Huirong Yu & Liming Liu

  2. Environmental Geography Group, Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1087, Amsterdam, 1081 HV, The Netherlands

    Huirong Yu, Peter H. Verburg & David A. Eitelberg

Authors
  1. Huirong Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Peter H. Verburg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Liming Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. David A. Eitelberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liming Liu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yu, H., Verburg, P.H., Liu, L. et al. Spatial Analysis of Cultural Heritage Landscapes in Rural China: Land Use Change and Its Risks for Conservation. Environmental Management 57, 1304–1318 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-016-0683-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-016-0683-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation