A Traditional Village Preservation Framework Based on the Ecovillage Concept for Quality of Life: Case Study of Miao Ethnic Village in Langde, China

Rapid urbanization in China has intensified ecological degradation, loss of architectural and cultural heritage, and declining well-being in traditional villages. Existing conservation approaches often address ecological, economic, or physical heritage issues in isolation, while insufficiently incorporating residents’ quality of life (QoL) as a central criterion of sustainability. This study develops a human-centred traditional village preservation framework grounded in the ecovillage concept and a QoL-oriented sustainability paradigm, using Langde Miao Village in Guizhou Province as a representative ethnic heritage settlement. A mixed-methods approach combining systematic literature review, Delphi expert consultation, household surveys, and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to examine the interrelationships among ecological, cultural, social, and economic dimensions of sustainable built heritage. Based on valid responses, the empirical results indicate that the ecological dimension exerts the strongest direct effect on residents’ quality of life, followed by the cultural and economic dimensions, while the social dimension shows a comparatively weaker effect. The proposed framework provides a community-centred model for sustainable architectural heritage conservation and rural revitalization in traditional villages.