Historic Building Conservation and Utilization Research: A Bibliometric and Review from CNKI and Web of Science

As a vital component of cultural heritage, historic buildings carry multiple values, including historical continuity, construction techniques, and social memory. Their conservation and utilization are of significant importance for cultural transmission and economic development. However, existing research findings have long been dispersed across different themes, disciplines, and linguistic contexts, lacking a systematic integration and interpretive framework that links the entire conservation–utilization process, thereby constraining a comprehensive understanding of the field. Against this background, following the PRISMA guidelines, this study retrieved and screened 474 core journal articles published between 2005 and 2025 from the CNKI and the WOSCC. Using bibliometric and visualization analysis methods, and employing tools including CiteSpace, VOSviewer, Pajek, and Scimago Graphica, we analyzed publication trends, collaboration networks, disciplinary distributions, and knowledge structures, and conducted thematic mapping and cross-database comparison in conjunction with the management cycle articulated in international heritage conservation theory. The results show that publication volume in this field has generally exhibited a growth trend, and the research evolution has roughly undergone four stages: basic problem focus, emergence of digital technologies, digital transformation, and data-intensified assessment and intelligent applications. The research network presents a multi-centric pattern characterized by “fragmented distribution with localized clustering.” Cross-database comparison reveals that CNKI and WOS share common concerns in conservation, utilization, technology empowerment, and governance issues, but differ in thematic emphasis and methodological pathways. Based on the international heritage management cycle, this study maps out a systematic framework of “value recognition–risk assessment–conservation intervention–adaptive reuse–sustainable governance,” revealing the similarities and differences between the WOS and CNKI databases in thematic presentation and knowledge production pathways, and further identifies key issues including the insufficient independence of value research, inadequate methodological integration, weak post-utilization feedback, and the lack of a closed governance loop, thereby proposing future research directions. This study may serve as a reference for systematically understanding the overall knowledge and practical development in the field of historic building conservation and utilization.