Assessment of Yellow River Region Cultural Heritage Value and Corridor Construction across Urban Scales: A Case Study in Shaanxi, China

Abstract

Heritage corridors play a pivotal role in preserving linear cultural heritage, especially in economically underdeveloped regions like the Yellow River area. These corridors not only serve as a primary method for safeguarding cultural heritage, but also act as catalysts for enhancing regional economic vitality. The widespread distribution of cultural heritage in the Yellow River region emphasizes the need for targeted protection and utilization at the regional level. To facilitate graded protection and the utilization of regional cultural heritage, this study introduces a method for constructing graded heritage corridors based on the comprehensive value of cultural heritage, thereby establishing a framework for comprehensive assessments. Through leveraging multi-source data, this study assesses cultural heritage’s comprehensive value by integrating the service capacity of heritage sites. Subsequently, this study constructs graded heritage corridors using the minimum cumulative resistance model. The findings reveal a concentrated distribution of cultural heritage in Shaanxi within the Yellow River region, where 19.8% of the sites in the economically and ecologically thriving southern regions were rated as high value (fourth or fifth grades). Finally, this study identifies distinct corridor themes by integrating regional cultural characteristics, thereby forming a cultural heritage region network that propels the overall protection and utilization in the area. The proposed cultural heritage assessment framework and corridor construction method are also applicable to various linear heritage types dispersed across diverse regions.