Model construction of the evolutionary game of entities undertaking the adoption of cultural heritage buildings from the perspective of rational utilization and policy recommendations: Based on observations from Shanxi's "Civilization Watch Project"

This paper takes the "Civilization Watch Project" in Shanxi province as the object of study, and explores the role of adopting and "rationally utilizing" lower-tier cultural heritage buildings in promoting the sustainable development of these cultural resources. By combining multi-center governance theory with data from semi-structured interviews, a evolutionary game model between the adopter and the property owner is constructed. This model is used to determine the long-term optimal strategy for adopting cultural heritage buildings under the context of rational utilization. Simulation analysis using MATLAB software is conducted to examine how changes in various parameters affect the outcomes of this game. The research findings indicate that a stable strategy of "protection and utilization through cooperation" can motivate various stakeholders in society to participate in the adoption of cultural heritage buildings. Changes in social benefits can influence the adopters, while changes in economic benefits can encourage the property owners to cooperate more promptly with the adopters. The economic benefits associated with "free-riding" have a significant impact on the property owners, whereas government subsidies can only alleviate short-term difficulties and do not have a substantial effect on establishing a long-term, positive relationship for the protection and utilization of cultural heritage buildings. Finally, this paper proposes policy recommendations to promote the participation of social forces in the sustainable development of cultural heritage buildings.