Introduction

World cultural heritage is an international convention system for the purpose of preserving cultural places with universal value for human beings all over the world, and it is the highest level of cultural protection and inheritance [1]. Human civilization has formed a large number of precious cultural heritages. However, large number of precious cultural heritages. However, due to the influence of natural changes and human activities, cultural heritages are inevitably eroded and destroyed. How to preserve, inherit and spread the precious cultural heritage of mankind through modern scientific and technological means is an important historical mission of contemporary people, and it has also become a major issue facing the whole world [2]. On July 8, 2017, Gulangyu Island in ** maps of the Republic of China and remote sensing images to restore the expansion process of urban spatial form in 56 cities in Jiangsu and Shanghai since the Ming Dynasty [14]; Through the combination of picture trimming and remote sensing geographical analysis, Lin reviewed the urban development of ** the network-like spatial form; Third, the actor-network is connected by "translation". The translation is generally divided into four stages: Problematization, Interestement, Enrolment and Mobilisation [20,21,22]. From a qualitative point of view, the actor-network theory has shaped a relational topological structure space, which is helpful to dispel the binary opposition between place and globalization. Its core idea provides a conceptual framework for analyzing the increasingly complex social space hybridization [30].

This paper chooses this analytical tool as a theoretical framework to explore the spatial evolution of Gulangyu historical international community, the reasons are as follows: First of all, Latour's empirical research method is suitable for this research. ANT is good at analyzing the relationship between the materiality and sociality of space, and unifies the traditional "Space of place" and the "Space of flows" promoted by globalization into "Space of actor-networks" made by practice [31]. Secondly, the actor-network theory represents a frontier field, which is also suitable for the object of this paper. Thirdly, based on the consideration of better interpretation research, previous studies focused on the interpretation of space construction from the perspective of human actors, while ignoring the interpretation of non-human actors, unable to show how various actors are interconnected to promote the construction of space. The historical international community is the result of the role of multiple actors in different stages. Therefore, the actor-network theory can provide a powerful framework for the spatial evolution of the historical international community. The introduction of this perspective is conducive to the analysis of the interactive logic between different actors and between actors and spaces, and has guiding significance for the understanding of the evolution path of international historical communities and the subsequent heritage protection.

To sum up, as a qualitative study, taking Gulangyu Island as a typical case, based on the digitization of historical maps in GIS and the theory of actor-network, this paper analyzes the actor-network in different development stages of Gulangyu Island, discusses how it leads to the change of space users and functions, and then promotes the change of community material space form, and provides a new explanation path for the spatial evolution of the international historical community.

Study area and research method

Study areas

Gulangyu Island belongs to ** Theaters, and clubs. A large number of factories, commercial shops, and warehouses have appeared. Gulangyu's modern residential area, which is dominated by residential functions, is gradually equipped with various commercial functions and public service functions. The residential form has also gradually changed from traditional village settlements to modern community forms, with international communities showing multiple integrations.

Discussion and conclusion

Discussion

The research shows that the spatial evolution of the international community is the result of the joint action of multiple actors led by key actors. The emergence of the historical international community is a process from quantitative change to qualitative change and an advanced stage of multicultural agglomeration. Based on the above-mentioned actor-network, this study analyzes the role of key actors in the process of spatial evolution and summarizes the logic of spatial evolution of the historical international community (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10
figure 10

Spatial evolution logic of historical international community

Full size image

On the one hand, from the perspective of dynamic mechanism, aborigines, foreign nationals and overseas Chinese gather together in Gulangyu's geographical space under the joint action of internal driving forces such as material interests and personal reputation, and external pulling forces such as complementary synergy and industrial agglomeration. On the other hand, from the perspective of utility mechanism, the embryonic form of the historical international community, geographical proximity, various formal and informal social network relationships, and division of labor and cooperation based on the industrial chain make them form an organic symbiotic system on Gulangyu Island. With the improvement of infrastructure on the island, the dual effects of spatial diffusion and cultural synergy have been formed; In space, foreign nationals and aborigines are obviously scattered, but they gradually move towards implicit integration in the process of communication; Culturally, with the spread of religion and the establishment of various management systems, the channel of cultural exchange between East and West has been opened. With the space of more and more overseas nationals joining in the follow-up, they brought a lot of money into Gulangyu Island, The Gulangyu region has undergone essential changes. They filled the space between aborigines and foreign nationals, took the initiative to obtain the management right of Gulangyu Island, built buildings with Chinese and Western styles (**amen decorative style), further promoted the transformation and renewal of the space, and attracted more overseas Chinese to Gulangyu Island, forming a circular cumulative strengthening effect and realizing the diversified integration of international communities.

As relevant research shows [3, 16, 33], the interlacing of various interests and the collision of multiple cultures are one of the leading factors to promote the evolution of the spatial form of the international community in Gulangyu Island in modern times, and the development and change of community construction and management, which constitute the distinctive features of community construction and management in Gulangyu Island in modern times. Space practice is the result of the joint action of human and non-human actors, which is rooted in local situations. As Latour, an important interpreter of the actor-network, said: "Facts can only be understood and constructed through practice, and practice is the field of interaction between human and non-human actors" [23]. Therefore, great attention should be paid to local situations in space research, especially the actor of overseas immigrants. Influenced by multicultural factors, Chinese and overseas Chinese reflect their personal ideas to Gulangyu Community, which makes the management mode of Gulangyu Community more characterized by multi-party game, integration, checks and balances, and compromise, which is reflected in its practice of transforming material space. The construction and display significance of Gulangyu spatial practice goes beyond the community life and cultural connotation it carries, and has important reference significance for multicultural integration under the current globalization background.

Conclusion

Based on the perspective of actor-networks, taking Gulangyu Island from 1840 to 1940 as an example, this study analyzes the composition of actor-network in the two stages of the international community from embryonic form to pluralistic integration and its action path on the spatial evolution of Gulangyu Island. The change of key actors leads to the change of actor-network structure, which promotes the spatial reconstruction and evolution of the Gulangyu international community. The main conclusions are as follows:

First, the earliest development and construction of Gulangyu Island was promoted by neighboring Minnan immigrants, forming three traditional residential settlements: Neicuo'ao, Yanzijiao, and Luer Reef. The land use function is mainly residential land and its affiliated farmland. Ancestral halls and temples are the main public activity spaces for people to use. This traditional settlement form in southern Fujian is far from modern urban communities.

Second, the formation of Gulangyu's modern international community pattern was first promoted by foreign nationals after foreign nationals entered Gulangyu. After that, the construction and management of the Gulangyu community in modern times experienced two periods dominated by different actors, from foreign nationals to overseas immigrants. The social forces composed of different social groups had a great influence on the construction and management of the Gulangyu community in modern times.

Third, the stage of foreign culture dissemination (1840–1902), Gulangyu Island changed from the original traditional community to the embryonic form of an international community. The key actors of community construction in Gulangyu Island are foreign expatriates, and the community development shows the trend of specific zoning, and the community construction mainly serves foreign expatriates. However, limited to the island area and residents affected by different cultures entering Gulangyu Island to live, only relative zoning is maintained. In order to improve their living environment, foreign nationals have carried out basic public facilities construction on Gulangyu Island. Through the establishment of special institutions such as the "Road Cemetery Fund Committee", they have begun to systematically build public infrastructures such as roads, street lamps, and cemeteries. At the same time, they have established modern education, medical care, and health systems to promote the germination and initial development of international communities.

Fourth, multicultural integration stage (1903–1940), Gulangyu international community gradually evolved and formed. With the establishment of the Bureau of Public Lands and Industry, influenced by the political environment, the key actors in Gulangyu community construction have changed from foreign expatriates to overseas immigrants from southern Fujian, a large number of overseas Chinese came to Gulangyu Island to settle down. Economic investment and land development have rapidly increased the scale of residential land, breaking the relative gap between Chinese residential areas and foreigners' residential areas. The supporting facilities have been significantly improved. The community space form has shown diversified characteristics and the international community has become more mature. This special international community came to an end after the Japanese military occupation of Gulangyu Island in 1941.

Fifth, the spatial practical experience of Gulangyu historical international community is still of great significance in the current development of multicultural integration under the background of globalization.

Research inadequacies and prospects

The shortcomings of this study are as follows: First, limited by historical data, the study can only present the elements on the historical map, and the selected historical time sections are also different in density, which leads to the interpretation of this study only from the key stages; Secondly, when extracting spatial elements based on historical maps, there are certain uncertain factors, which lead to certain errors in data results, and the errors are minimized through multiple checks; Third, due to the lack of more historical data, such as population and economy, this study can only explore heritage sites from the perspective of spatial evolution.

Taking Gulangyu International Community as an example, this study analyzes its spatial evolution mechanism. However, under different natural and social conditions, the network structure of actors is different. Combining GIS spatial analysis methods, strengthening the research of different regional types of space and exploring the common law of spatial evolution of other cultural heritage sites are the future research directions that should be deepened.