Sustainable Heritage Renewal in China: A Multi-Criteria Decision Framework Integrating Cultural Authenticity and Technological Intervention

This study investigates the interrelationship between artistic, architectural, and technological interventions and cultural continuity in the heritage renewal process in China from a sustainability-oriented design perspective. Amid increasing pressures from urbanization, tourism, and technological development, many heritage renewal projects face persistent challenges in balancing conservational authenticity with contemporary functional and economic demands. To address this gap, the study proposes an empirically grounded, sustainability-oriented decision-support framework aimed at reconciling these competing priorities. A mixed-methods research design was employed, integrating case studies, expert interviews, and quantitative analysis. Thematic analysis identified eight sustainability criteria, which were subsequently validated using descriptive statistics, reliability and validity testing, and exploratory factor analysis. The relative importance of these criteria was determined through the Analytic Hierarchy Process, followed by the application of the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution to rank preferred heritage renewal strategies. The findings indicate that cultural authenticity, architectural integrity, and artistic continuity represent the core dimensions of sustainable heritage renewal, while technological integration and environmental sustainability primarily function as facilitating components. Across all evaluated criteria, integrated design strategies consistently outperform single-dimension approaches. The study concludes with a decision-support framework for China.