Living Inheritance of Traditional Knowledge and Practical Wisdom of Severe Cold-Region Traditional Villages: A Case Study of Jinjiang Chalet Village in the Changbai Mountain Area

Abstract

Despite traditional knowledge’s (TK’s) potential to mitigate climate-induced vulnerabilities across diverse climates, cold-region communities remain critically understudied. To bridge that gap, this study adopts the pressure–state–response (PSR) framework to analyze how Indigenous knowledge in China’s Jinjiang Chalet Village—a 300-year-old cold-region settlement—embodies dynamic resilience across ecological, climatic, social, and economic dimensions. Combining semi-structured interviews with Indigenous Elders, UAV-based multispectral analysis, and environmental simulations, we identify strategies rooted in sustainable wisdom: ecosystem stewardship, climate-responsive architecture, community governance, and adaptive economic practices. A key innovation lies in the Eco-Wisdom Laboratory—a pilot project operationalizing TK through modern passive design and participatory education, demonstrating how traditional woodcraft and microclimate management can be integrated with contemporary technologies to achieve scalable, low-carbon solutions. Crucially, we advance the concept of living inheritance by showcasing how such hybrid practices decolonize static preservation paradigms, enabling communities to codify TK into tangible, future-oriented applications. This study provides a replicable framework for embedding TK into global sustainability agendas, particularly for severe cold regions facing similar stressors. Our findings advocate for policy reforms centering Indigenous agency in climate adaptation planning, offering actionable insights for architects, policymakers, and educators working at the nexus of cultural heritage and ecological resilience.