Conservation of historical buildings: a sustainable approach to earth houses of Fujian

The paper has been developed in the framework of a larger research program, in which the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and Tsinghua University are jointly involved to study and preserve historic dwellings. Cultural heritage is the intangible and tangible attributes of a society, including the natural heritage, that are inherited from past generations, preserved in the present and granted for the next generations. Nowadays we consider the cultural heritage as a world heritage belonging to all the people of the world, irrespective on which territory they are located. This paper presents a model and a methodological hypothesis to conserve cultural heritage in a sustainable way throughout the case study of the Earth Houses (tulou) of Fujian (China), one of the most interesting type of Chinese rural dwellings, that could become an example for other cultural sites around the world, connecting the environmental and socio-economical aspect to the tourism development.