Abstract
At present, the protection of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) has entered the stage of systematic protection. The National Eco-Cultural Protection Zones (NECPs), first created by China, are an important model for protecting ICH in the social-natural-cultural ecosystem. However, their sustainable development faces continuous systematic challenges: (1) Intergenerational Transmission Fracture and Policy Misalignment (aging inheritors, youth out-migration, misaligned policies); (2) Digital Activation Gap (static digital archives failing to drive innovation); and (3) Fragile Protection Ecosystem (fiscal dependency, product homogenization, weakmarketcompetitiveness).Tobreakthis vicious cycle, we propose a novel Design-Driven Multi-stakeholder Collaborative Co-creation Governance Framework. Its core innovation elevates digital technology platforms and community self-organizations as independent governance actors, constructing a six-dimensional dynamic governance architecture a long side Government, Enterprises, Academia, and Inheritors. Design acts as the systemic catalyst, enabling deep synergy among actors through design rules, tools, andsystems. The framework establishes shared responsibility and resource collaboration mechanisms, fostering a sustainable innovation ecosystem with an intrinsic "Safeguarding–Activation–Benefit–Reinvestment" cycle. This framework is operationalized through the"Cang-Er Jingwei" Platform, which integrates multi-source data and provides decision-support tools (e.g.,riskvisualization, strategy simulation) and low-threshold design interfaces to bridge cultural resources and market innovation. The primary contribution is proposing and initially implementing anew systemic safeguarding pathway, rooted in China's NCEP context and driven by design-enabled co-creation, which enhances systemic resilience by integrating multi-stakeholder governance with deep digital empowerment. This offers significant theoretical and practical insights for global cultural diversity safeguarding.
Keywords
National Eco-Cultural Protection Zones (NECPs); Intangible Cultural Heritage; Cultural
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.863
Citation
Zhang, Z.,and Min, X.(2025) Decoding Intangible Cultural Heritage Ecology: A Co-Creation Framework for Systemic Design -– Insights from the Dali National Eco-Cultural Protection Zone, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.863
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 11 - Culture and Craft Design for Regenerative Practices
Decoding Intangible Cultural Heritage Ecology: A Co-Creation Framework for Systemic Design -– Insights from the Dali National Eco-Cultural Protection Zone
At present, the protection of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) has entered the stage of systematic protection. The National Eco-Cultural Protection Zones (NECPs), first created by China, are an important model for protecting ICH in the social-natural-cultural ecosystem. However, their sustainable development faces continuous systematic challenges: (1) Intergenerational Transmission Fracture and Policy Misalignment (aging inheritors, youth out-migration, misaligned policies); (2) Digital Activation Gap (static digital archives failing to drive innovation); and (3) Fragile Protection Ecosystem (fiscal dependency, product homogenization, weakmarketcompetitiveness).Tobreakthis vicious cycle, we propose a novel Design-Driven Multi-stakeholder Collaborative Co-creation Governance Framework. Its core innovation elevates digital technology platforms and community self-organizations as independent governance actors, constructing a six-dimensional dynamic governance architecture a long side Government, Enterprises, Academia, and Inheritors. Design acts as the systemic catalyst, enabling deep synergy among actors through design rules, tools, andsystems. The framework establishes shared responsibility and resource collaboration mechanisms, fostering a sustainable innovation ecosystem with an intrinsic "Safeguarding–Activation–Benefit–Reinvestment" cycle. This framework is operationalized through the"Cang-Er Jingwei" Platform, which integrates multi-source data and provides decision-support tools (e.g.,riskvisualization, strategy simulation) and low-threshold design interfaces to bridge cultural resources and market innovation. The primary contribution is proposing and initially implementing anew systemic safeguarding pathway, rooted in China's NCEP context and driven by design-enabled co-creation, which enhances systemic resilience by integrating multi-stakeholder governance with deep digital empowerment. This offers significant theoretical and practical insights for global cultural diversity safeguarding.