Quantitative Analysis and Cause Exploration of Architectural Feature Changes in a Traditional Chinese Village: Lingquan Village, Heyang County, Shaanxi Province

Abstract

It is crucial for the protection and sustainable development of villages in China to effectively determine the changes that have occurred in traditional villages’ architectural features and the causes of such changes in order to provide timely feedback, correct protection planning, and construction in these villages. This paper analyzed quantitative indexes at three different scales in Lingquan village, namely construction land, public infrastructure, and the form, material, and color of roofs, using remote sensing images at different time points, drone shooting, and a field survey. It was found that the rate of change of the architectural features at the village and street levels were low, with an overall trend of improvement observed. However, the residential roof features at the building level showed more changes, with a trend of deterioration observed. It was also found that the active participation of the government was the main reason for the substantial improvement observed in the village’s street-level features. Further, for residential houses, the lack of standard guidance for their protection and renovation, as well as the lack of protection awareness and participation mechanisms, were the main reasons found for the deterioration of the village’s building-level features. Finally, the study forwarded some suggestions in order to provide reference value for the timely revision of protection strategies for many villages in China similar to Lingquan village.

1. Introduction

1.1. Background

In recent years, China’s rural landscape has undergone radical changes through projects such as new rural construction, beautiful countryside, rural complex, and rural revitalization projects. Among these, relevant protection systems and policies have been successively formulated for traditional villages. Especially in the decade after the state proposed the “Evaluation and Recognition Index System for Traditional Villages (Trial)” [1] and the list of Chinese traditional villages in 2012, relevant laws, regulations, and measures of protection and development have been constantly improved. The protection of architectural space and folk culture, as well as the development of the village economy, have also been improved to a certain extent. Furthermore, the protection and development of traditional villages have become the focus of rural revitalization in China. Although there are many traditional villages in China with different levels of historical and cultural values, socioeconomic development conditions, and natural geography, in the past decade of protection and development, the phenomenon of culture stuffing, regardless of a traditional village’s regional characteristics, and copying and imitating development modes have become very common [2], greatly damaging the regional characteristics, authenticity, and integrity of traditional villages. The reason for this is that the current protection and development of traditional villages lacks periodic tracking and evaluation, making it difficult to grasp the changing characteristics and causes of these changes, and in turn, making it impossible to feed back in a timely manner and modify current strategies. This problem needs to be urgently solved in the current protection and development of traditional villages.

1.2. Previous Researches

Studies on the evolution of urban and rural landscapes have mainly focused on the elements and characteristics of changes in architectural features, as well as the factors influencing these changes, with these studies having made significant contributions to the literature.

1.2.1. Research on the Elements of Architectural Features

In terms of research on the elements of architectural features, Wang et al. studied the expansion of land use in a village and used high-resolution aerial remote sensing data to quantitatively study the characteristics of the village’s land use pattern and the dynamic mechanism behind this [3]. Zhou et al. selected natural environmental constraints, land use changes, infrastructure construction, and the transformation of farmers’ behavior patterns as important factors affecting the evolution of rural settlement and analyzed their different roles in depth [4]. Li et al. established an evaluation system of rural livability from five dimensions, namely infrastructure conditions, public services, health status, employment opportunities, and social participation, and conducted an empirical study in a village in Jiangsu province [5]. Krtička et al. analyzed the changes in landscape structure in a reserve of Slovakia using satellite images and land-use data, and the results showed that the changes were mainly related to the development of tourism infrastructure [6]. Zhou et al. found that infrastructure, public service facilities, and the natural ecological environment were the main aspects of change when analyzing the element characteristics of the quality of rural human settlements in the suburbs of Beijing; further, they found that the supporting infrastructure and social coordination level were the most important for villagers to form an overall impression of a village [7]. Baklanov et al. proposed that infrastructure and social facilities represent the quality characteristics of the living environment to a certain extent, adding that the unique spatial organization of rural settlements and villagers’ lifestyles are also very important [8]. Yu et al. divided the built environment elements into three categories: fixed elements, such as public infrastructure and buildings; semi-fixed elements, such as landscapes and signs; and non-fixed elements, such as representative people and their behaviors [9]. Wu et al. studied the color planning of a county in Shandong Province and noted that the control of roof color was very important for the continuation of color context and shaping characteristic features [10]. Kim proposed that materials and colors are important elements in rural residential landscapes, and studied the use rules of the materials and colors of roofs and walls in a village in South Korea [11]. Kara studied the changes in the current architecture and historical elements of a historical village in Turkey, and selected the building floors, functions, materials, construction period, roof types and materials, and facades as the research objects [12]. Park et al. developed questionnaires to study people’s emotions towards Hanok, a traditional Korean building, based on the materials and forms of the roof and the overall shape of the building [13]. Kim suggested that rural landscapes should be managed visually, and pointed out that the use, number of floors, and structure of buildings, as well as their roof types, materials, and colors, may reflect rural architectural characteristics [14].

1.2.2. Research on the Characteristics of Changes in Architectural Features

In terms of research on the characteristics of changes in architectural features, Kuang et al. found through the comparative analysis of urban spatial characteristics and land cover in different time stages that the expansion modes, speed, and driving forces of China and the United States are very different [15]. Zhou et al. analyzed the spatial change characteristics and rules of urban green space patterns in two time stages by combining concentric and directional landscape analysis with the landscape index [16]. Xi et al. analyzed the spatial evolution law of tourist villages with regards to the tourism industry from the two dimensions of land use and spatial form changes, and found that several village spaces gradually developed into “tourism-oriented” spaces [17]. Li et al. investigated the spatial evolution characteristics and development mechanism of “Sansheng” space through GIS spatial analysis and other methods. This kind of space is embodied in living space spreading from blood agglomeration to the periphery, production space transforming from an agricultural to a tourism function, and ecological space shrinking from the exterior to the interior and developing in patches [18]. Liu et al. accounted for the evolution of traditional villages’ landscapes in a more scientific way by constructing a change index of the slope roof areas of traditional buildings and a roof area index of new buildings [19]. Feng et al. studied the impact of tourism development on the landscape of a village, so as to explore tourism-induced changes in landscape form, function, and structure in urban and rural fringe areas [20]. Yang et al. took diverse villages in different regions as their research objects. Through the multi-time-scale analysis of spatial morphological indicators and the regression analysis of morphological evolution, as well as comparative analysis that combined patch texture with rural macroscopic morphology, the processes, rules, and trends of the spatial changes in the villages were evaluated [21]. In an urban heritage context, Alsadaty et al. evaluated the morphological changes in Luxor New Qurna village’s residential area through three main indicators: the plot area, frontal-level index, and floor area ratio [22]. Nie et al. proposed a quantitative inheritance system model of spatial genes in traditional villages, revealing the logic of the physical morphology of traditional villages, and constructed a quantitative index system of traditional village morphology [23]. Matthijs analyzed the spatial morphological changes in the urban fringe area of Shenzhen in China from the perspective of morphology, explored the characteristic differences between the core area of the old village and the new expansion area, and put forward suggestions for future planning and development [24]. From the perspective of rural multifunctional transformation and development, McDowell et al. explored a model suitable for rural development in the limited production and living spaces of residents [25]. Nuraini analyzed changes in the residential environment form of a village from 1880 to 2019 in terms of its land use patterns, building layouts, and road networks using interpretive historical research from archival sources, field research, and interviews [26]. Finally, based on the theory of spatial production, Ye et al. analyzed the changes in cultural space production in a village in Shanghai, and the reasons for its decline, from three dimensions: ideological space, surface space, and daily life space [27].

1.2.3. Research on the Factors Influencing Changes in Architectural Features

In terms of the factors influencing changes in architectural features, Yamazaki Junichi suggested that the sustainability of settlements is constituted by the inheritance and development of the society (home, village, and community), culture (life, culture, and traditional activities), and environment (residence, village, and land use), as well as their mutual correlation [28]. Kim Soomi et al. took a Korean folk village as their research object, and through the investigation of local residents’ living habits, they found that the aging of traditional buildings and residents’ demand for a modern lifestyle were reflected in the reconstruction and construction of housing and other aspects of the living environment. Furthermore, corresponding strategies have been proposed to achieve a balance between the protection of traditional buildings and the renewal of living environments [29,30]. Qi Yingtao et al. analyzed the historical reasons for function division from the perspective of old villages and new villages, and explored the possibility of sustainable living on the basis of the interrelationship between housing form, migration behavior, living space, and living culture [31]. Based on the actor network theory, Yang et al. found that during the spatial transformation of a village in Guangdong into a tourism-oriented village, the dominant power gradually shifted from the local government to the village collective and villagers themselves, thus promoting the construction of public space and the transformation of functional space [32]. Jang evaluated the villages built during the New Community Movement from 1972 to 1980 in South Korea from four dimensions: environment, function, form, and economy, and analyzed their impact on the evolution and development of the villages and the houses within them [33]. Xu et al. studied changes in rural spatial morphology under the background of urbanization. Taking three typical villages in southern Jiangsu as examples, they analyzed their rural spatial morphology and environmental conditions from 2005 to 2016 using a multi-factor methodology. At the same time, ArcGIS, the environment for visualizing images (ENVI) and the analytic network process (ANP) were used to analyze the driving factors of the changes, with these tools further revealing the changes in rural spatial morphology and the mechanism between the main driving factors [34]. By observing the population growth trend and using historical satellite images, Osumanu et al. analyzed the sudden expansion of Wa from villages to municipalities in Ghana, as well as the impact of this expansion on land use and land cover changes, proposing that the expansion trend should be controlled by rational land use planning and anti-sprawl policies [35]. Chai et al. analyzed the changes in and causes of explicit and implicit patterns of village land use through participatory rural assessment, remote sensing, and geographic information systems. It was concluded that natural resources, population growth, the policy of returning farmland to forest, and urban market demands are the main driving factors in the development processes of industrial, agricultural, and service industry development [36]. Ye et al. pointed out that land use control is a key exogenous factor in the evolution of rural settlements and used ArcGIS spatial analysis and statistical analysis to study the impact of land use on the spatio-temporal evolution of the number, area, and agglomeration patterns of villages in a certain region [37]. Yang et al. analyzed the spatial diversification process of Beicun and its impact over the past 30 years using spatial production theory and game theory [38].

1.3. Summary of Previous Studies and the Framework of This Study

To summarize, the existing literature features in-depth studies on the characteristic elements, evolution characteristics, and influencing factors of the traditional features of villages and has put forward relevant suggestions on the protection of these features. However, previous studies have mainly focused on the village or building scale or a single element; therefore, they lack comprehensive analysis of the village, street, and building scales. Among these levels, changes in construction land at the village level have been found to largely reflect changes in the number and size of buildings, which had a greater degree of influence on a village’s architectural features than other changes. Furthermore, at the street level, public facilities and spaces, as important comprehensive places for villagers’ daily lives and social communication, have been found to be the main carriers of a village’s social features [7,8]. Studying these places is of great significance for understanding changes in village architectural features at the street level. Additionally, as the fifth facade of traditional Chinese architecture, roofs at the building level have a significant impact on a building’s features [10,11,14]. However, at present, numerous studies have only analyzed roof form or roof color, neglecting to holistically assess roof form, material, and color. Through the integration of the village, street, and building scales, the change characteristics of architectural features can be more comprehensively and scientifically studied, so as to provide scientific feedback and guidance for current conservation planning and construction projects. Therefore, based on these existing studies, this paper selected construction land on the village scale, public infrastructure on the street scale, and integrated roof forms, materials, and colors on the building scale, in order to more comprehensively investigate the characteristics of changes in the architectural features of villages.

Furthermore, many previous studies only analyzed and described the phenomenon of changes in the features of traditional villages, not offering an in-depth exploration of the driving factors behind these changes. As a result, relevant policies and plans have still analyzed economic rationality and technical feasibility from the perspective of planners and managers [39], but they often have not been able to meet the wishes of villagers, resulting in low implementation effects [40]. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the needs and awareness of villagers when making relevant decisions in rural areas [41,42]. On the other hand, in a small number of studies on villagers’ awareness and behavior, researchers have only studied the role of psychological factors or villagers’ participation in their communities (village committees) in promoting the protection of features. Few studies have explored the impact of these factors on changes in architectural features from the perspectives of protection, satisfaction, and participation. Therefore, when studying the reasons for changes in village architectural features, this paper not only analyzed the major events with a high degree of influence but also explored the role of villagers’ consciousness and behavior with regard to their familiarity with conservation construction, satisfaction with the protection of features, and participation in protection activities.

Using Lingquan Village in Shaanxi Province as an example, this study explored the characteristics and causes of the evolution of traditional village architectural features in Guanzhong within a certain period, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The study aimed to provide reference value for the timely revision of protection strategies for many villages in China, similar to the example village. The study covered a time period of the last ten years. At the village level, construction land was analyzed to explore the changes in this land. At the street level, changes in public infrastructure were studied. At the building level, the residential roof, an element that reflects traditional village features, was selected as the research object in order to conduct a quantitative analysis of changes based on roof form, material, and color. In addition, the study explored the reasons for changes in features, including major events with a high degree of influence, and analyzed their impact on the architectural features of Lingquan Village from the perspective of villagers’ awareness. The analytical framework of the study is shown in (Figure 1).

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Research Site

Lingquan Village belongs to Heyang County, Shaanxi Province, and is located in the Guanzhong Region, the most economically developed region in northwest China. The protection and construction of traditional villages are still in their early stages of development. The overall spatial pattern of Lingquan Village is relatively intact, and the historical and cultural value of the village is at a relatively medium level compared to other villages on the list of national traditional villages in the entire Guanzhong Region. The village is also ordinary in terms of its location advantages and other aspects; therefore, it is an ordinary type of national traditional village [43]. Therefore, choosing Lingquan Village as the research object can provide a typical reference for many villages of this type and many traditional villages in the early stages of development and construction in China.

2.2. Concept Explanation

In this study, the ‘features’ whose changes were being studied included two aspects: material; external, physical, and architectural environment, and immaterial; internal, social, and humanistic characteristics [44]. In order to grasp the changes to the architectural features of villages, this study selected the material aspects. From the perspective of scale, architectural features contained three levels: village level, street level, and building level. The village-level features were described from the whole scale of the village, including the village-spatial form and land-use features. The street-level features were described from the scale of streets and alleys, including public spaces, infrastructure, and the size ratio of streets and alleys. The building-level features were described from the scale of the buildings, including the roofs, doors and windows, walls, and materials of the buildings. This paper selected one element from each of the three levels to quantitatively analyze changes in the architectural features of Lingquan Village.

2.3. The Time Points

In order to understand the changes in Lingquan Village in the last ten years, the typical years 2011, 2013, 2018, 2020, and the year the study was conducted, 2022, were selected. In terms of time-point selection, 2011 was selected because it was important to determine the original state of the village’s features before the implementation of policies related to traditional villages and the publication of the first list of Chinese traditional villages in 2012. Additionally, 2013 was chosen because the village was included in the national traditional villages list that year, which had an important impact on the village’s features. Further, 2018 was the year in which the Rural Revitalization Strategy was promulgated [45], and 2020 was the year in which the poverty alleviation strategy ended; these years were time points where the Chinese government played an important role in rural development and construction. These actions were relevant to Lingquan Village. Therefore, the above time points were selected and combined with the situation of the village in 2022, the year the study was conducted, in order to analyze the changes in Lingquan Village over these five time points.

2.4. Remote Sensing Images from Google Earth

Remote sensing images of Lingquan Village in the years being studied (Figure 2) were obtained from Google Earth (satellite data sources: airbus and CNES), and the construction land, public infrastructure, roofs of dwellings, ect., were distinguished by combining the field survey data of the adjacent years. The data for each region were recorded in tables to provide a basis for the index calculation.

2.5. Establishment of Indexes

Based on relevant literature, this paper selected the construction land change index for village scale, the public infrastructure change index for street scale, and the residential roof change index for building scale, so as to carry out an in-depth analysis of the evolution of features of Lingquan Village.

2.5.1. Construction Land Change Index

Land use control has been proposed as the core factor of land-space planning and land-use change as the key factor of rural settlement evolution [37]. Furthermore, land use has external entity characteristics [17], so it can be quantified and compared. Among these characteristics, construction land has been found to be closely related to changes in the number and size of buildings. Therefore, taking construction land changes as a factor, this paper studied the spatial expansion of Lingquan Village to explore the changes in its village-level features. The land use dynamic degree (K) was used here to calculate the changes in construction land.

$$\mathrm{K}=\frac{{\mathrm{U}}_{\mathrm{b}}-{\mathrm{U}}_{\mathrm{a}}}{{\mathrm{U}}_{\mathrm{a}}}\times \frac{1}{\mathrm{T}}\times 100$$

(1)

In Equation (1), ${\mathrm{U}}_{\mathrm{a}}$ and ${\mathrm{U}}_{\mathrm{b}}$ are the area of construction land at the beginning and end of the study period, respectively. $\mathrm{T}$ is the length of the study period. In this paper, a and b were taken as the two adjacent time points of 2011, 2013, 2018, 2020, and 2022.

2.5.2. Public Infrastructure Change Index

The elements of the street level are usually embodied in streets and public infrastructure. Among these, infrastructure construction has been found to play an important role in guiding the speed, direction, and form of rural settlement evolution [4]. However, during field research for this study, it was found that the location and area of the residential homesteads that form the streets of the village were basically fixed. When villagers constructed or reconstructed their houses, they mainly had one-story courtyards and they were partial two-story single buildings. Therefore, the height–width ratio of the streets in the village will not have changed greatly over the study period. In this paper, public infrastructure was selected as the study object for the analysis of the changes in features at the street level of Lingquan Village, and the index was established based on the changes in the area and types, which were denoted as ${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{a}}$ and ${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{t}}$, respectively.

$${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{a}}=\frac{{\mathrm{A}}_{\mathrm{j}}-{\mathrm{A}}_{\mathrm{i}}}{{\mathrm{A}}_{\mathrm{i}}}{ \mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{t}}=\frac{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{j}}-{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{i}}}{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{i}}}$$

(2)

In Equation (2), ${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{a}}$ is the change rate of the public infrastructure area. ${\mathrm{A}}_{\mathrm{i}}$ and ${\mathrm{A}}_{\mathrm{j}}$ are the area of public infrastructure calculated at time points i and j, respectively. ${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{t}}$ represents the change rate of the public infrastructure types. ${\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{i}}$ and ${\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{j}}$ are the types of public infrastructure at time points i and j, respectively. In this paper, i and j were taken as the two adjacent time points of 2011, 2013, 2018, 2020, and 2022 (j > i).

2.5.3. Residential Roof Change Index

Residential roofs are an important characteristic that represent changes in architectural features of traditional villages at the building level [19]. The form, material, and color of a roof can fully reflect changes in the features of a single building [14]. Therefore, the traditional residential roofs in Lingquan Village were selected as the study object for the analysis of building-level change, and their evolution characteristics were explored based on remote sensing images and drone aerial photography. The indices used included the change rates of the form, material, and color of residential roofs between two statistical time points, which were expressed as ${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{f}}$, ${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{m}}$, and ${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{c}}$, respectively.

$${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{f}}=\frac{{\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{jf}}-{\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{if}}}{{\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{if}}}{ \mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{m}}=\frac{{\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{jm}}-{\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{im}}}{{\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{im}}}{ \mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{c}}=\frac{{\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{jc}}-{\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{ic}}}{{\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{ic}}}$$

(3)

In Equation (3), ${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{f}}$ is the change rate of the traditional roof forms. ${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{if}}$ and ${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{jf}}$ are the proportions of the traditional roof forms to the total roof number at time points i and j, respectively. ${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{m}}$ represents the change rate of the traditional material of roofs. ${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{im}}$ and ${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{jm}}$ are the proportions of the traditional roof material to the total roof number at time points i and j, respectively. ${\mathsf{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{c}}$ represents the change rate of the traditional roof color. ${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{ic}}$ and ${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{jc}}$ are the proportions of the traditional color of the roof to the total roof number at time points i and j, respectively. In this paper, i and j were taken as the two adjacent time points of 2011, 2013, 2018, 2020, and 2022 (j > i).

If the calculation result of the index is positive, this indicates that the number of traditional roofs is increasing. If the result is negative, this indicates that the number of traditional roofs is decreasing.

The traditional forms of a roof were defined as a double-pitched roof or a single-pitched roof. The traditional roof material was defined as a roof with small tiles or cement tiles. The traditional roof color was defined as a gray and black roof.

2.6. Field Survey and Questionnaire

A questionnaire (

Table A1. Questionnaire.

	Questions	Selections
Basic information	Age	① <20 ② 21–40 ③ 41–60 ④ >60
	Gender	① Male ② Female
	Education	① High school and below ② Junior college ③ Bachelor’s degree ④ Master’s degree and above
	Do you live in the new village or the old village?	① New village ② Old village
	Length of your stay in Lingquan Village	/
	Your current job and location	/
	The year when your house was built	/
Investigation on the familiarity degree of traditional feature protection	Are you satisfied with the current protection situation of Lingquan Village?	① Very satisfied ② Not bad ③ Very dissatisfied
	Do you have any advice on style protection	/
	Do you know the process of protection and development of Lingquan Village?	① Know very well ② Have a certain understanding ③ Don’t know at all
	Do you know the current protection measures in Lingquan Village?	① Know very well ② Have a certain understanding ③ Don’t know at all
	Do you know the relevant regulations for repairing old houses in Lingquan Village?	① Know very well ② Have a certain understanding ③ Don’t know at all
	Do you know the relevant regulations for new houses in Lingquan Village?	① Know very well ② Have a certain understanding ③ Don’t know at all
	Do you know the relevant policies, systems and protection regulations of the country for the formulation of the traditional village directory?	① Know very well ② Have a certain understanding ③ Don’t know at all
	Do you know about the planning and design of Lingquan Village?	① Know very well ② Have a certain understanding ③ Don’t know at all
Investigation on the public participation in village protection	Do you usually participate in the folk activities in Lingquan Village?	① Participate regularly ② Occasionally participate ③ Don’t participate in
	Do you usually participate in the community construction and convenience construction in Lingquan Village?	① Participate regularly ② Occasionally participate ③ Don’t participate in
	Are you willing to participate in or assist in the protection activities of Lingquan Village?	① Willing to ② Unwilling to ③ Don’t know
Investigation on the building condition	Have you repaired, demolished or rebuilt your home in the past ten years?	① No ② Yes, the time is:
	What was your previous roofing material?	① Traditional tile ② Glazed tile ③ Other, it is:
	What was your previous roof color?	① Grey or black ② Reddish brown ③ Other, it is:
	What was your previous roof form?	① Double slope roof ② Single slope roof ③ Flat roof
	What roofing material did you choose when repairing and rebuilding?	① Traditional tile ② Glazed tile ③ Cement ④ Color steel plate ⑤ Other, it is:
	What roof color did you choose when repairing and rebuilding?	① Grey or black ② Reddish brown ③ White ④ Blue or green ⑤ Other, it is:
	What roof form did you choose when repairing and rebuilding?	① Double slope roof ② Single slope roof ③ Flat roof
	When you chose the material, color and form of the roof, had you considered keeping with the traditional style?	① Yes ② No
	Why did you choose the traditional roof?	① I was taught the value of traditional residences ② I wanted to maintain the style of the old house ③ I thought that the traditional style was more attractive ④ Other reasons:
	Why did you choose the nontraditional roof?	① I thought economy and practicality were more important ② This style was more attractive ③ I referred to the residences of relatives and neighbors ④ Other reasons:

) distributed to the villagers in Lingquan Village mainly included four parts: basic information, the familiarity degree of protection of traditional features, public participation in village protection, and building conditions. When distributing questionnaires, we tried to conduct house-to-house surveys. A total of 117 questionnaire responses were collected, and 104 were valid. In terms of gender, 51.92% of the respondents were male and 48.08% were female, with there being a basically balanced gender ratio. In terms of age distribution, 69.23% of the respondents were over 60 years old, which was basically consistent with the actual age distribution of the village. In terms of residential area, the number of respondents living in the new village and old village was evenly divided. Therefore, the questionnaire data were representative.

Furthermore, a field survey of Lingquan Village was conducted to verify the satellite images and to supplement the unclear areas. The study also investigated the village’s architectural features, especially the influence of residential roofs on the overall features. Additionally, interviews with local villagers and village cadres were conducted to gain information about the history of the village and its specific development conditions from 2011 to 2022, so as to discover the reasons for changes in the architectural features of the village.

3. Results

3.1. Characteristics of Changes in Architectural Features in Lingquan Village

Different indexes at the village, street, and building levels were used to analyze the characteristics of changes in features in Lingquan Village.

3.1.1. Village Level: Changes in Construction Land

The changes in features at the village level were explored from the perspective of construction land changes (

Table 1. The changes in construction land in Lingquan Village at different time points.

Time Point	Construction Land Area/m2	Extended Area/m2	Dynamic Degree/%
2011	263,291	/	/
2013	281,355	18,064	3.430
2018	285,230	3875	0.275
2020	288,615	3385	0.593
2022	291,037	2422	0.420

), and the stage characteristics were summarized according to the index changes.

As can be seen from Table 1, the construction land area in Lingquan Village continuously increased over the study period, especially from 2011 to 2013. Furthermore, the dynamic degree was the highest in 2013, and from then it was relatively stable. According to the survey, 23 new residential houses were built in the village during this time period, so the construction land area changed greatly. It is worth noting that the new residences had a narrow courtyard layout and features of traditional residences in terms of their land area, form, and architectural features. After 2013, changes in construction land were mainly reflected in road widening and renovation, as well as square construction. Thus, it can be seen that the construction area in the village increased substantially in the initial period after it was included in the national traditional village list. However, under the active cooperation of the local government, NPO, and university experts and scholars, the original land pattern of the village was maintained on the whole.

3.1.2. Street Level: Changes in Public Infrastructure

The changes in features at the street level were explored from the aspects of the area and types of public infrastructure (

Table 2. The changes in public infrastructure in Lingquan Village at different time points.

Time Point	Public Infrastructure Area/m2	Change Rate of Public Infrastructure Area/%	Public Infrastructure Types	Change Rate of Public Infrastructure Types/%
2011	7484	/	6	/
2013	10,597	41.595	7	16.667
2018	10,875	2.623	8	14.286
2020	14,593	34.189	12	50.000
2022	15,826	8.449	13	8.333

), and the stage characteristics were summarized according to the index changes.

As can be seen from the above table, the area and number of types of public infrastructure in Lingquan Village increased over the study period, and the changes from 2011 to 2013 and 2018 to 2020 were greater than those across the other periods. According to the survey, the change in the value in 2013 was mainly due to the new Yinxiang Lingquan Square, which was used as a place for villagers to engage in leisure activities. After the implementation of the rural revitalization strategic plan in 2018, Lingquan village received further protection funds and built an auditorium, an opera stage, and a square for cultural events. The traditional features of the village’s public infrastructure were also greatly improved.

3.1.3. Building Level: Changes in Roof Form, Material, and Color

The changes in features at the building level were explored from the aspects of roof form, material, and color (

Table 3. The changes in traditional roofs in Lingquan Village at different time points.

Time Point	Traditional Roof	Number	Rate	Change Rate
2011	Traditional roof forms	1048	Rf = 0.910	/
	Traditional roof material	1047	Rm = 0.909	/
	Traditional roof color	1148	Rc = 0.997	/
	Total roofs	1152	/	/
2013	Traditional roof forms	1135	Rf = 0.911	Δf = 0.131%
	Traditional roof material	1129	Rm = 0.906	Δm = −0.303%
	Traditional roof color	1235	Rc = 0.991	Δc = −0.537%
	Total roofs	1246	/	/
2018	Traditional roof forms	1165	Rf = 0.895	Δf = −1.696%
	Traditional roof material	1036	Rm = 0.796	Δm = −12.116%
	Traditional roof color	1127	Rc = 0.866	Δc = −12.602%
	Total roofs	1301	/	/
2020	Traditional roof forms	1151	Rf = 0.892	Δf = −0.436%
	Traditional roof material	1013	Rm = 0.785	Δm = −1.463%
	Traditional roof color	1103	Rc = 0.854	Δc = −1.371%
	Total roof	1291	/	/
2022	Traditional roof forms	1141	Rf = 0.894	Δf = 0.297%
	Traditional roof material	995	Rm = 0.780	Δm = −0.622%
	Traditional roof color	1078	Rc = 0.845	Δc = −1.118%
	Total roofs	1276	/	/

), and the stage characteristics were summarized according to the index changes.

In general, the total number of roofs in Lingquan Village first increased and then decreased over the study period. However, the proportion of traditional roofs showed a downward trend, with the largest change rate observed from 2013 to 2018. The specific changes in each index are as follows:

(1)

The change in traditional residence roof form

According to Table 3, although the proportion of the traditional roof forms increased and decreased across the five statistical time nodes, this value did not change significantly on the whole. Compared with the traditional roof material and color, the change rate of the traditional forms was the lowest. The field survey and questionnaire found that the villagers tended to retain the traditional double-pitched roof or single-pitched roof when they constructed or reconstructed their residential houses.

(2)

The change in traditional residence roof material

On the whole, over the study period, the proportion of roofs made of traditional materials declined continuously, and the largest decline was observed from 2013 to 2018. In addition, the questionnaire and interviews found that many villagers had used more traditional local tiles as roof materials before 2018. However, after 2018, cement tile roofs gradually became mainstream because they not only have better water resistance and higher neatness, but can also be coordinated well with the houses’ traditional features.

(3)

The change in traditional residence roof color

According to Table 3, on the whole, proportion of the traditional roof color in the village declined over the study period, and the change rate was basically the highest among the three indexes. The largest decline occurred from 2013 to 2018. Over the study period, some villagers maintained the traditional slope roof form when they constructed or reconstructed their residential houses, but most chose colored steel or glazed tiles as the roof material for economic reasons. Therefore, the colors used were white, blue, or green, which were extremely incompatible with the houses’ traditional features.

3.2. Cause Exploration of the Changes in Features in Lingquan Village

Based on the analysis of the changes in features at different scales in the previous section, it was next necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of the relationship between village protection and development measures and feature changes at different time nodes, as well as the impact of villagers’ protection awareness on the feature changes.

3.2.1. The Relationship between Important Measures and Changes in Features in the Study Period

According to the field survey and conversations with villagers and village cadres, after China formulated relevant policies for traditional villages in 2012, Lingquan Village also formulated corresponding protection plans and measures. This section analyzes three main aspects, namely traditional residences, public buildings, and public spaces (

Table 4. Comparison of changes in features in Lingquan Village in the past and present (Source: authors).

Type	Past Photograph	Present Photograph	Description
Traditional residences (ancient residences, Yinxiang Lingquan residences)			One of the ancient dwellings was demolished, while the rest were restored and preserved.
			New residences were built that had traditional features.
Public buildings (culture and beliefs, production, and life)			The ancestral hall was restored.
			The front houses were renovated and used as office space for the village committee.
Public spaces (street facades, streets, and squares)			The theme square was built at the vacant site.

).

In terms of ancient residences, the local government, together with NPO organizations and local villagers, has funded the construction of 23 new traditional-feature residences in the new village since 2012, with architectural planning and design carried out by university research institutions. Although the construction land changed significantly over the study period, the entire site pattern, functional layout of the buildings, and architectural features maintained the traditional features. This construction measure had a positive impact on maintaining the traditional features of the new residences in the new village from the very beginning, and then gradually had a positive effect on maintaining these features in the old village [13]. At the same time, the government carried out rescue protection for ancient dwellings in the village, which were selected as cultural relic protection sites.

In terms of public buildings, first of all, the village attached great importance to cultural revival due to its long history, culture, and inheritance. Therefore, after receiving national and local protection funds, the ancient ancestral halls and temples of the old village were restored immediately. At the same time, the abandoned primary school in the new village was also recently transformed into an auditorium, and the cultural exchange space of the new opera stage was upgraded. In terms of production and living, the village has carried out the maintenance of well houses, hardening treatment of a reservoir, functional replacement of a synthetic factory building, and relocation of polluting factories since 2016. In 2020, after Weinan City, to which the village belongs, was included in one of the first batches of demonstration cities for the centralized continuous protection and utilization of traditional villages in China, the village began to carry out continuous protection and demonstration work on ancient Fushan Temple buildings, which is likely to have an important positive impact on village-level features in the future. With the support of the government, the village’s historic public buildings and productive buildings have not only been greatly improved in terms of their traditional features, but also in terms of their architectural convenience and practicality.

In terms of public space, since 2014, the residential facade of the Fushan lane in the new village has been improved and the greenery on both sides of the road has been renovated. This has been followed by the renovation of the mass cultural activity square and the leisure square. In 2021, the government built the Dang Qingfan theme square in the southeast corner of the old village to commemorate Mr. Dang, as well as to provide an activity space for the villagers of the old village.

It can be seen from the above discussion that under the guidance of the government, the village has seen the restoration and transformation of ancient residences selected as cultural relic protection sites, public buildings, and public spaces. On the whole, not only has the practicality and convenience of the buildings been improved, but also the features of the village in general. However, these were government-led measures that mainly focused on the improvement of public elements with historical and cultural value; there have been no corresponding protection and repair measures and standard guidance for residences with a great impact on the village’s features, especially for the traditional residences that were not selected as cultural relic protection sites and the newly built residences.

3.2.2. The Influence of Villagers’ Awareness on the Changes in Features

Villagers’ conservation awareness was analyzed based on a questionnaire and in-depth interviews, which assessed the respondents’ familiarity with protection and construction, satisfaction with the protection of features, and participation in protection activities.

In terms of the respondents’ familiarity with protection and construction, more than 70% said that they did not know anything about the protection planning in the village. Only 25% knew about the projects and activities related to protection and construction in the village and its tourism development in recent years. Furthermore, only 3.7% knew of some of the village construction regulations that were relevant to them, such as the fact that the government would provide a subsidy for new residences that maintained their traditional features (Figure 3).

In terms of the respondents’ satisfaction with the protection of features, the number of positive and negative opinions expressed was basically equal (Figure 4). The respondents identified the main problem as being that many traditional residences with historical value had been demolished or abandoned when villagers constructed or reconstructed their residences, and therefore, the village’s features had been greatly damaged. Therefore, they expressed that it was necessary to improve the protection and maintenance of traditional houses.

In terms of participation, nearly 65% of the respondents expressed that they were willing to participate or assist in protection activities, while only 9% said that they were unwilling to do so, which shows that the villagers were highly enthusiastic about the village’s protection (Figure 5). However, only 18.52% of the respondents reported considering the need to maintain consistency with traditional features when choosing the form, material, and color of their residences’ roofs. Among the villagers who reported that they did consider the need to maintain consistency with traditional features, 65% expressed that traditional features were better or that they were willing to continue to maintain these kinds of features, and only 5% of them were educated about the value and significance of traditional features (Figure 6), indicating that the popularization of the protection of traditional features needs to be further increased. As for the respondents whose houses’ roofs differed greatly from the houses’ traditional features, only 6.82% expressed that their current roof forms were more beautiful than before, and the rest reported choosing their current roof forms because of various constraints, such as economics and practicality, as well as the neighborhood (Figure 7). It was also found that it is more likely that more villagers will choose the same traditional features in the future.

Through the above survey on the villagers’ awareness, it was found that on the whole, the villagers did not know much about the protection planning, protection, and construction projects in and the relevant policies and regulations to Lingquan Village. Although most villagers said that they were willing to participate in protection activities in the village, they reported that they had had no opportunity to participate. These problems may have a considerably negative impact on the protection of the village’s features. Therefore, it is very urgent to strengthen the publicity of protection measures and build a mechanism for villagers to participate in protection activities in the village.

4. Discussion

Firstly, in previous studies on village architectural features, some researchers have suggested that the traditional architectural feature of a sloping roof is the most basic component of village architectural features, and that changes to sloping roofs can reflect the protection and evolution of traditional village features to a certain extent [19], a suggestion that is consistent with the view of this study. The present study chose to establish indicators of changes in roof area in order to explore the degree of damage of traditional buildings and the state of building construction, areas of study that are lacking in the literature. Some studies have selected the plot area, street front index, and building area ratio as indicators to evaluate changes in residential area form in urban historical heritage areas [22]; these indicators can also be used to explore the corresponding elements in traditional villages. In addition, some studies have investigated the colors of folk houses and pointed out that the emergence of new materials and technologies was one reason why such colors had converged from the colors traditionally used [46], with some villagers in the present study expressing that some new materials are easier and faster to install in comparison with traditional materials. This can be explored in further future studies.

Secondly, previous studies on the factors influencing changes in architectural features found that the government lacked respect for the interests of villagers and ignored the rights of villagers to participate in village affairs regarding feature protection, resulting in weak cohesion and protection consciousness. This is one reason that has been identified for the deterioration of village features and vulnerability of the cultural landscape [47]. On the contrary, cases have been reported where villagers actively participated in village protection, and a certain level of civil organizations was established, providing a sustainable basis for the protection of traditional villages and ensuring the continuous improvement of village features [48]. All these findings and views are consistent with those of this study.

Compared with previous studies that mainly focused on a single scale or a single factor of the village or building scale, this study conducted a comprehensive analysis according to the three scales of the village, street, and building, selecting representative and important elements of each scale to carry this out. Among the quantitative indicators, street-scale and building-scale indicators were originally established in this study on the basis of previous qualitative studies.

Furthermore, this study had some limitations:

(1)

During the questionnaire survey, some villagers were not at home, which may have caused some deviations in the results. The analysis revealed that the villagers who were away from home were frequently young people who had gone to the city for work, while those who were at home were more often farmers, part-time farmers, and elderly people who were incapable of working. According to research, older groups prefer traditional construction practices and have a lower acceptance of modern features compared to younger groups [49]. Therefore, there may have been deviations in the results.

(2)

When analyzing construction land changes, the low resolution of the satellite images and the method of manual recognition may have led to data inaccuracy. More accurate satellite image programs, such as Landsat, will be used in our subsequent studies.

(3)

In future studies, factors such as social economy, topography, courtyard form, and spatial layout should be included in indexes of changes in architectural features and quantitatively analyzed to scientifically analyze the relationship between these factors.

(4)

It is not clear whether the method used in this study can be applied to similar studies in other villages; further observation and revision are required.

The possible future research directions are as follows:

(1)

More quantitative indicators for different research scales should be established, and an indicator system could be formed. Especially for architectural feature changes at the building scale, taking aerial photos from drones and importing them into software to create 3D models may be a better analysis method.

(2)

The influencing factors and their mechanisms need to be explored from a more diverse perspective.

5. Conclusions

Taking Lingquan Village in Shaanxi Province as an example, this study explored the characteristics of changes in features at the village, street, and building levels of traditional villages in Guanzhong and analyzed the reasons for these changes through a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The study’s time period spanned ten years following the promulgation of national policies related to traditional villages. According to the research results, this paper put forward architectural feature protection strategies in order to provide reference value for many traditional villages in China similar to Lingquan Village. Such villages are still in the early stages of development and construction, have relatively intact overall spatial patterns, and have historical and cultural value and location advantages that are at a medium level. The main conclusions of this study are as follows:

(1)

The changes in construction land across different time points were used to reveal the changes in the characteristics of the village-level features of Lingquan Village. It was found that while the construction land area of Lingquan Village continued to grow and change significantly over a short period of time, the original land pattern of the village was always maintained, on the whole, through the work of the local government, NPO, and university experts and scholars. Second, by examining the area and types of public infrastructure, this study analyzed the characteristics of changes in features at the street level. It was found that although the total number of types of public infrastructure was small, the area and number of types always showed a continuously increasing trend, which emphasized the importance of public infrastructure elements to the protection of the village’s features. Meanwhile, the promulgation and implementation of the rural revitalization strategic plan in 2018 significantly improved the traditional features of the village’s public infrastructure. Finally, the characteristics of the changes in features at the building level were analyzed by examining the roof form, material, and color of residential houses in the village. It was found that the amount of construction and reconstruction increased year by year after the village was included in the national traditional villages list. Although such construction and reconstruction basically maintained the features of the traditional roof form, the change rates of the roof material, especially the roof color, were the greatest owing to economic and practical reasons. Therefore, the total proportion of traditional roofs in the village showed a decreasing trend, which was the objective reason for the gradual disunity of the village’s features at the building level.

(2)

This study analyzed the relationship between village protection and development measures and feature changes at different time nodes, as well as the impact of villagers’ protection awareness on architectural feature changes. It was found that government-led protection and renovation mainly targeted ancient residences, public buildings, and public spaces, with the government’s actions being the main reason for the significant improvement in the village’s street-level features. However, there was no corresponding protection, renovation, or standard guidance for general traditional residences and newly built residences in the village, which can explain one of the reasons for the deterioration of the village’s features at the building level. On the other hand, by studying villagers’ awareness, it was found that they had a lack of understanding of protection projects and policies and lacked a mechanism for participating in protection activities in the village; further, some restrictions such as economy and practicality were found to potentially be other reasons for the deterioration of the village’s building-level features.

(3)

According to the above results, the study proposed various feature protection strategies. First of all, factors at the village, street, and building levels should be considered in an overall way, and corresponding protection planning should be adjusted in a timely manner based on the characteristics of feature changes. Especially at the building level, owing to the constraints of economy and practicality, the use of materials with similar colors to traditional roofs should be considered for newly renovated roofs. At the same time, it is essential to formulate corresponding specific criteria, strengthen the means and intensity of publicity, improve the ability of villagers to participate in management, and build a mechanism for the protection and governance of traditional features, which are crucial to the conservation and sustainable development of traditional villages.