Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung Ryul) Graduate School of Techno-Design, Department of Spatial and Cultural Design PhD candidate Song Meng Ru (Advisor: Professor Kim Ji Eun) published the paper “The Sustainability of Traditional Chinese Villages: A Perspective from the Production of Space” in the SCIE journal Frontiers in Environmental Science.

Frontiers in Environmental Science is an international journal in the field of environmental science, indexed in major databases such as SCIE (Web of Science) and DOAJ. It covers a wide range of research topics in spatial environmental fields, including socio-ecological urban systems, ecosystem restoration, environmental systems engineering, and artificial intelligence and the environment.

This study goes beyond the protection and preservation of traditional villages from a cultural heritage perspective. It presents their characteristics as ‘local placeness, experiential narrativity, collective practice, resilient regeneration, cultural symbolism, and shared connectivity,’ viewing them as products of the interaction between socio-economic, cultural, and power structures. Furthermore, using this framework, empirical spatial analysis was conducted on representative traditional villages in China's Anhui, Sichuan, Fujian, and Shanxi provinces, proposing sustainable development strategies. The research results are expected to serve as an important reference for the regeneration design of traditional villages, rural revitalization, and the construction of an ecological civilization.

Professor Kim Ji Eun of the Department of Spatial Design, who supervised the research, stated, “Song Meng Ru's research holds significant value in that it goes beyond viewing the spatial environment of traditional villages merely from a physical dimension. It explores how people's life experiences are continuously generated within space as a product of social relationships imbued with cultural meaning.”

Student Song Meng Ru shared her thoughts: “Through this research, I aimed to propose new theoretical and practical pathways for the sustainable development of traditional villages. I also plan to deepen and expand upon these research findings in my doctoral dissertation.”