Color Authenticity for the Sustainable Development of Historical Areas: A Case Study of Shiquan

Currently, historical areas in China are facing issues of color authenticity and excessive commercialization. Colors, as an important element of historical areas, reflect their history and culture. However, there are some flaws in the existing research methods, so a more scientific and systematic method is needed to obtain accurate and objective color visualization results to promote the sustainable development of historical areas. In order to explore the methods and applications of visualizing the environmental color patterns of historical areas, Shiquan Street in Suzhou, China, was taken as the research object; ArcGIS 10.5 was used to obtain the street-view photo samples; Matlab was used to summarize the architectural colors of the historical areas; and K-means clustering was used to generate the central color card of the historical areas, thus completing the color visualization of the historical areas, followed by further searching for the color patterns and central colors, so as to explore the strategies for sustainable development of historical areas. The various quantified color models of historical areas can explore the regional uniqueness and color locality of historical areas, which avoids problems such as homogenization of block colors, unclear styles and features, and an excessive proportion of commercial colors caused by poor color guidance and control in the design related to historical areas, providing approaches to the research on the harmonious unity of environmental colors and features related to historical areas. A color-based research method has been proposed to protect and maintain the original appearance of historical areas. The application of this method provides a new perspective and possibility for the protection of historical areas, allowing these areas to achieve historical sustainability while maintaining their historical characteristics and values.