Under the current wave of globalization and modernization, the conservation of traditional settlements in China faces unprecedented challenges and opportunities. With the acceleration of urbanization, many traditional settlements are under the threat of destruction or disappearance, imperiling both cultural diversity and the continuity of national heritage. The “gene mapping” theory borrows the concept of genes from biology, decomposing the material forms and cultural connotations of traditional settlements into identifiable and inheritable basic units, thereby providing a new analytical framework for settlement conservation. This paper first reviews the basic concepts and development of the "gene mapping" theory, and then systematically sorts out the research results of domestic scholars in gene identification, extraction and mapping construction from three aspects: "landscape genes", "cultural genes" and "spatial genes". On this basis, this paper identifies the principal limitations of current research and proposes future research directions, aiming to offer theoretical insights and practical guidance for the conservation and transmission of traditional settlements in China.

Yan Mao, Wenjing Wang, Xiaofang Bi, Zhaokui Zhuang. A Review of Research on the Protection of Traditional Settlements in China Based on the Theory of "Gene Mapping" Construction. Academic Journal of Architecture and Geotechnical Engineering (2026), Vol. 8, Issue 1: 96-103. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJAGE.2026.080112.

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