Social Innovation Design-Driven Community Building Practice: A Case Study of Cultural Identity Ecological Construction in Yangqitun Community

Abstract

Ecological civilisation development stands as a core national development strategy for contemporary China. Rural communities serve as micro-level carriers for implementing ecological civilisation governance, yet most existing construction practices fall into a one-sided mindset that prioritises natural environmental restoration while overlooking cultural heritage maintenance. Balanced progress between natural ecosystem protection and cultural ecological succession therefore becomes an urgent practical demand. Taking Yangqitun Village in Jun County—home to Nigugu, a nationally recognised intangible cultural heritage—as the research object, this paper constructs an analytical framework labelled cultural identity ecological construction. Drawing on social innovation design and cultural ecology theories, the study adopts documentary sorting, long-term fieldwork and comparative case analysis to unpack actionable approaches for fusing rural cultural vitality and ecological governance via design-led social intervention. Field evidence reveals that Yangqitun has built a sustainable development loop linking cultural heritage, ecological governance and community vitality through a four-pillar operational framework: craftsmanship inheritance and innovative upgrading, industrial integration and green transformation, ecological spatial embedding, and multi-stakeholder collaborative governance. This model effectively mitigates two core local bottlenecks: fractured intangible heritage transmission and stagnant rural ecological development. Empirical outcomes include sustained cultural ecosystem vitality, continuous optimisation of village natural environments, and activation of endogenous community participation capacity. This research expands analytical perspectives for rural community governance under ecological civilisation frameworks, delivers replicable practical blueprints for villages with similar intangible cultural assets, and enriches applied research regarding social innovation design within grassroots rural governance scenarios.