Beyond visual preservation: The conditions of living heritage continuity in rural cultural landscapes
Rural cultural landscape research increasingly treats heritage as living and relational, yet it remains unclear how far this shift has changed the analytical core of conservation research and management. This review examines how the continuity of living heritage has been conceptualised in rural cultural landscape research from 2010 to 2025. A hybrid design combined bibliometric mapping of 233 English-language journal articles indexed in Web of Science and Scopus with comparative thematic synthesis of a focused analytical subset of 80 studies; 20 anchor studies supported closer interpretation of mechanisms and contextual variation. The literature expanded rapidly after 2020, and China accounted for the largest share of studies. The reviewed studies show that formal conservation practices continue to favour values that can be more easily bounded, documented and administered, leaving everyday use and local knowledge less visible in assessment. Participation often produces responsibility asymmetry: communities undertake much of the work needed to sustain heritage while retaining limited influence over interpretation and priority setting. Tourism and rural revitalisation generate selective continuity by directing visibility and resources towards some heritage forms while weakening the everyday conditions on which others depend. Together, these processes shape the reproductive capacity of rural cultural landscapes: the ability of communities to keep inherited places in use, adapt them and carry their meanings forward. The review therefore reframes living heritage continuity as an outcome of interactions among formal recognition, community influence and everyday practice.
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