Guomari fortress in eastern Qinghai Province exemplifies vernacular architecture shaped by multiethnic interaction, environmental adaptation, and localized defense strategies. Originally a Ming Dynasty military-agricultural outpost, it evolved into a Tu ethnic settlement. Fieldwork, including architectural surveys and spatial analysis, identified a three-tiered defensive system: (1) strategic use of terrain and rammed-earth walls; (2) labyrinthine alleys with L-, T-, and cross-shaped intersections; and (3) interconnected rooftops forming elevated circulation routes. Courtyards are categorized into single-line, L-shaped, U-shaped, and fully enclosed layouts, reflecting adaptations to terrain, ritual functions, and thermal needs. Architectural features such as thick loam-coated walls and flat roofs demonstrate climatic adaptation, while the integration of Han timber frameworks, Tibetan prayer halls, and Tu decorative elements reveals cultural convergence. Traditional craftsmanship, including carved wooden scripture blocks and tsampa-based murals, is embedded within domestic and ritual spaces. The fortress’s circulation patterns mirror Tibetan Buddhist cosmology, with mandala-like alleys and rooftop circumambulation routes. These findings offer insights into vernacular resilience and inform conservation strategies for multiethnic fortified settlements.

Architectural heritage conservation and development (AHCD) increasingly require social approaches that connect material remains with emotions, memories, and meanings. Sense of place offers a theoretical lens for understanding these connections, yet its operational role in AHCD remains unclear. This study draws on a bibliometric analysis and narrative synthesis of 79 publications to classify these publications into four architectural heritage contexts: urban residential, rural residential, public, and religious and ritual. The results show that the physical form of architectural heritage fundamentally shapes sense of place, while the pathways through which sense of place supports conservation and development vary across heritage types. The review further identifies emerging research trends, conceptual gaps, and practical limitations in applying sense of place to AHCD. This study proposes an implementation framework for integrating sense of place into AHCD. The framework connects heritage attributes and place meanings with stakeholder engagement and strategies for conservation and development. The framework offers a reference for research, policy-making, and practice in architectural heritage conservation and sustainable development from a social perspective.

This study presents a cross-cultural comparison of two fortified residences—Palazzo Farnese in Italy and Dong’s Fortified Compound in China—through a triadic analytical framework encompassing architectural form, symbolic ornamentation, and public perception. By combining field observation, iconographic interpretation, and digital ethnography, the research investigates how heritage meaning is constructed, encoded, and reinterpreted across distinct sociocultural contexts. Empirical materials include architectural documentation, decorative analysis, and a curated dataset of 4947 user-generated images and 1467 textual comments collected from Chinese and international platforms between 2020 and 2024. Methods such as CLIP-based visual clustering and BERTopic-enabled sentiment modelling were applied to extract patterns of perception and symbolic emphasis. The findings reveal contrasting representational logics: Palazzo Farnese encodes dynastic authority and Renaissance cosmology through geometric order and immersive frescoes, while Dong’s Compound conveys Confucian ethics and frontier identity via nested courtyards and traditional ornamentation. Digital responses diverge accordingly: international users highlight formal aesthetics and photogenic elements; Chinese users engage with symbolic motifs, family memory, and ritual significance. This study illustrates how historically fortified residences are reinterpreted through culturally specific digital practices, offering an interdisciplinary approach that bridges architectural history, symbolic analysis, and digital heritage studies.

The sustainability of traditional vernacular dwelling heritage has become an important academic concern. This study takes the traditional vernacular dwellings of the Ancient City of Pingyao as its research object and develops a macro–meso–micro multi-scale analytical framework. Drawing on four dimensions—environment, layout, architecture, and culture—it systematically investigates the geographical environment, spatial pattern, and architectural forms of Pingyao’s traditional vernacular dwellings using GIS spatial analysis, UAV oblique photogrammetry, and 3D laser scanning technologies. On this basis, an AHP–FCE comprehensive evaluation model is introduced to assess their sustainability. The results indicate that the formation and persistence of these dwellings are closely associated with favourable natural environmental conditions, a clear and orderly spatial pattern, and well-structured courtyard and architectural forms. The comprehensive evaluation yields a score of F = 3.23, indicating a moderately high level of sustainability. The four criterion layers are ranked as follows: architecture, layout, environment, and culture. The key determinants are structural safety, material authenticity, spatial integrity, and the continuity of traditional character. By combining multi-scale analysis with comprehensive evaluation, this study aims to clarify the priority directions for the conservation of traditional vernacular dwelling heritage in the Ancient City of Pingyao, thereby providing a scientific basis for its sustainable development.

This study compares the geometric and visual–spatial characteristics of two courtyard cave dwellings in Yulin, northern Shaanxi: the Liu Family Courtyard in Suide and the Zhou Family Courtyard in Mizhi. Field surveys and architectural documentation were combined with QGIS-based geometric measurement and visibility graph analysis (VGA) in DepthmapX using an identical 0.5 m grid resolution. The Liu Family Courtyard has a higher openness ratio (41.3% versus 29.4%) and a lower building coverage ratio (24.3% versus 47.8%). It also records higher mean Visual Integration [HH] (17.07 versus 6.14), lower Visual Mean Depth (1.64 versus 2.46), and a larger mean Isovist Area (274.94 m² versus 58.06 m²). These results characterize it as an open, courtyard-dominated, and visually integrated configuration. The Zhou Family Courtyard is denser, more subdivided, and visually layered. This exploratory dual-case comparison illustrates the value of integrating geometric morphology and visibility analysis at the compound scale and offers a reproducible framework that can be tested in other courtyard-based vernacular and heritage building types.