IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i23p10352-d1530221.html

Sustainable Characteristics of Traditional Villages: A Systematic Literature Review Based on the Four-Pillar Theory of Sustainable Development

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoli Zheng

    (Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Siti Sarah Binti Herman

    (Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Sarah Abdulkareem Salih

    (Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Sumarni Binti Ismail

    (Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

Abstract

The definition of sustainable characteristics of traditional villages can assist in determining the direction of development and evaluating the development results. Nevertheless, a clearly defined concept of the sustainable performance of traditional villages is required. (1) This paper addresses the phenomenon of traditional villages and their decline due to urbanization, industrialization, and the movement of people from rural settlements. The development of traditional villages causes several concerns. This study aims to present a more precise definition of the sustainability of traditional villages. (2) the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Evaluation and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines conducted a systematic literature review. The data were searched using the Web of Science database, with consideration given to the values of relevance, authority, and impact. (3) The sustainability of traditional villages is explained based on the four-pillar theory of sustainable development, focusing on the economic, environmental, social, and cultural dimensions. (4) The findings provide a scientific framework for understanding the sustainability of traditional villages. These results will provide insights to the future preservation and development of traditional villages.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoli Zheng & Siti Sarah Binti Herman & Sarah Abdulkareem Salih & Sumarni Binti Ismail, 2024. "Sustainable Characteristics of Traditional Villages: A Systematic Literature Review Based on the Four-Pillar Theory of Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-30, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:23:p:10352-:d:1530221
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/23/10352/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/23/10352/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yanfeng He & Chie-Peng Chen & Rung-Jiun Chou & Haifeng Luo & Jing-Shoung Hou, 2021. "Exploring the Transformation in the ‘Spirit of Place’ by Considering the Changed and Unchanged Defensive Spaces of Settlements: A Case Study of the Wugoushui Hakka Settlement," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-23, May.
    2. Pinyu Chen & Yizheng Zhao & Di Zuo & Xiang Kong, 2021. "Tourism, Water Pollution, and Waterway Landscape Changes in a Traditional Village in the Huizhou Region, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-22, July.
    3. Anne-Wil Harzing & Satu Alakangas, 2016. "Google Scholar, Scopus and the Web of Science: a longitudinal and cross-disciplinary comparison," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(2), pages 787-804, February.
    4. Zijie Zhou & Xin Zheng, 2022. "A Cultural Route Perspective on Rural Revitalization of Traditional Villages: A Case Study from Chishui, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-23, February.
    5. Huan Yang & Ling Qiu & Xin Fu, 2021. "Toward Cultural Heritage Sustainability through Participatory Planning Based on Investigation of the Value Perceptions and Preservation Attitudes: Qing Mu Chuan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, January.
    6. Naifei Liu & Kaijian Yue & Xiaoyue Zhang, 2023. "Ignored Opinions: Villager-Satisfaction-Based Evaluation Method of Tourism Village Development—A Case Study of Two Villages in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-19, November.
    7. Hai-fan Wang & Shang-chia Chiou, 2019. "Study on the Sustainable Development of Human Settlement Space Environment in Traditional Villages," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-22, August.
    8. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2010. "Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 523-538, August.
    9. Sangeeta Singh, 2016. "Ecocity Elements in the Traditional Settlement of Kirtipur in Kathmandu Valley," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6), pages 394-405, November.
    10. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    11. Matthew H. E. M. Browning & Alessandro Rigolon, 2019. "School Green Space and Its Impact on Academic Performance: A Systematic Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, February.
    12. Ning DongGe & Jinbiao Yan & Peilin Liu & Martin van den Toorn & Albert Fekete, 2022. "Historical Water Management Strategies—Case Study of Traditional Villages in Southern China, Hunan Province," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-13, November.
    13. Gao, Jing & Wu, Bihu, 2017. "Revitalizing traditional villages through rural tourism: A case study of Yuanjia Village, Shaanxi Province, China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 223-233.
    14. Weinan Zhou & Kunihiko Matsumoto & Masanori Sawaki, 2021. "Long-Term Sustainability of Water Cellars in Traditional Chinese Villages: Factors Influencing Continuous Use and Effective Water Management Initiatives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-13, April.
    15. Qi Liu & Zaiyi Liao & Yongfa Wu & Dagmawi Mulugeta Degefu & Yiwei Zhang, 2019. "Cultural Sustainability and Vitality of Chinese Vernacular Architecture: A Pedigree for the Spatial Art of Traditional Villages in Jiangnan Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-27, December.
    16. Guo Zhan & Zhang Jin, 2015. "Hani Rice Terraces of Honghe - The Harmonious Landscape of Nature and Humans," Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(6), pages 655-667, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xiaohu Liu & Lei Yuan & Gangyi Tan, 2023. "Identification and Hierarchy of Traditional Village Characteristics Based on Concentrated Contiguous Development—Taking 206 Traditional Villages in Hubei Province as an Example," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Norhazimah Che Hassan & Aisyah Abdul-Rahman & Syajarul Imna Mohd Amin & Siti Ngayesah Ab Hamid, 2023. "Investment Intention and Decision Making: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Teresa Turzo, 2025. "Corporate social responsibility and spirituality: emerging paradigms and a future research agenda," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Bettina Minder & Patricia Wolf & Matthias Baldauf & Surabhi Verma, 2023. "Voice assistants in private households: a conceptual framework for future research in an interdisciplinary field," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Weiqi Zhao & Dawei Xiao & Jing Li & Ziyu Xu & Jin Tao, 2024. "Research on Traditional Village Spatial Differentiation from the Perspective of Cultural Routes: A Case Study of 338 Villages in the Miao Frontier Corridor," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-32, June.
    6. Haoran Su & Yaowu Wang & Zhen Zhang & Wen Dong, 2022. "Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Traditional Village Distribution in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-26, September.
    7. Gaviria-Marin, Magaly & Merigó, José M. & Baier-Fuentes, Hugo, 2019. "Knowledge management: A global examination based on bibliometric analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 194-220.
    8. Formolli, M. & Kleiven, T. & Lobaccaro, G., 2023. "Assessing solar energy accessibility at high latitudes: A systematic review of urban spatial domains, metrics, and parameters," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    9. repec:bjc:journl:v:12:y:2025:i:10:p:726-748 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Abdulkarim. K. Alhowaish, 2025. "The Blue Economy in the Arabian Gulf: Trends, Gaps, and Pathways for Sustainable Coastal Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-24, October.
    11. Nandini Halder & Manoj Kumar & Akshay Deepak & Shailendra K. Mandal & Amjad Azmeer & Basit A. Mir & Anissa Nurdiawati & Sami G. Al-Ghamdi, 2025. "The Role of Urban Greenery in Enhancing Thermal Comfort: Systematic Review Insights," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-30, March.
    12. Ana Batlles-delaFuente & Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña & José Antonio Plaza-Úbeda & Emilio Abad-Segura, 2021. "Sustainable Business Model in the Product-Service System: Analysis of Global Research and Associated EU Legislation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-33, September.
    13. Dušan Nikolić & Dragan Ivanović & Lidija Ivanović, 2024. "An open-source tool for merging data from multiple citation databases," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(7), pages 4573-4595, July.
    14. repec:plo:pone00:0189091 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Margarida Rodrigues & Cidália Oliveira & MárioFranco & Ana Daniel, 2024. "A Bibliometric Study About the Rural Creative Class: Proposal of a Conceptual Framework and Future Agenda," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 15278-15303, September.
    16. Nirojan JASINTHA, 2023. "What Is Known And Unknown: A Bibliometric Analysis Of Organizational Politics," Management Research and Practice, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 15(2), pages 5-16, June.
    17. Pattarin Sanguankaew & Vichita Vathanophas Ractham, 2019. "Bibliometric Review of Research on Knowledge Management and Sustainability, 1994–2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-20, August.
    18. Agnieszka Konys, 2019. "Green Supplier Selection Criteria: From a Literature Review to a Comprehensive Knowledge Base," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-41, August.
    19. Emilio Rossi & Erminia Attaianese, 2023. "Research Synergies between Sustainability and Human-Centered Design: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-19, August.
    20. Yanjun Wang & Yanjun Chen & Wang Zhang & I-Chen Chao & Hang Li, 2024. "The Impact of Rural Tourism on Rural Culture Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, November.
    21. Habib Sadri & Ibrahim Yitmen & Lavinia Chiara Tagliabue & Florian Westphal & Algan Tezel & Afshin Taheri & Goran Sibenik, 2023. "Integration of Blockchain and Digital Twins in the Smart Built Environment Adopting Disruptive Technologies—A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-46, February.
    22. Dorsa Alipour & Hussein Dia, 2023. "A Systematic Review of the Role of Land Use, Transport, and Energy-Environment Integration in Shaping Sustainable Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-29, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:23:p:10352-:d:1530221. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.