Shaping cultural landscape from nature: study on the historical urban space of Mrauk-U, Myanmar

Understanding interactions between the built and natural environments in cities is crucial for their cultural value recognition and sustainable development. Although the concept of human – nature coexistence is widely discussed in Southeast Asian studies, case-based analyses of spatial organization and its formative mechanisms remain underexplored. Mrauk-U, an ancient city in Myanmar, serves as a representative case with its historically significant and nature-integrated urban form. This study introduces cultural landscape theory to examine the interaction among natural environment, social demands, and cultural creation. Based on DEM data, orthoimages, historical maps, records and archaeological documents, the historical urban space of Mrauk-U was reconstructed using a GIS platform. Through spatial and documentary analysis, the connections between the artificial and the natural are analysed at the regional and urban levels. The study reveals that Mrauk-U was built in a highly integrated way with nature, demonstrating outstanding planning achievements in shaping cultural landscape. The city’s cultural landscape was formed by layering natural foundations with artificial selection and creation driven by social needs, and further reinforced through long-term social practices and cultural meaning-making. This study calls for protecting the overall pattern in Mrauk-U and provides theoretical insights for integrative research on historical urban and cultural landscape.