Nostalgic scenes can trigger nostalgia to a considerable extent and can be effectively used as a nostalgic trigger that contributes to the psychological comfort of the elderly and immigrant populations, but a design system has not been adequately studied. Therefore, the design principles and digital twin (DT) design system of nostalgic scenes is proposed in this study. It focuses on the construction of a nostalgic scene DT model based on the system of system (SoS) theory. Nostalgic scenes related to farm work are selected and photos of this DT model from a particular perspective are generated for presentation. Co-occurrence analysis is used to verify the correlation between elements within the scene. We invited two groups of residents in Xi’an, the regional group and the non-regional group, a total of 68 people, as participants to rate three photos with different degrees of design on the Likert scale. The results of data analysis show that systematic and well-composed nostalgic scene images, which incorporate relevant elements, are more likely to evoke participants’ nostalgic emotions than ones without those elements mentioned above. Likewise, a series of nostalgic scene images spanning various periods can stimulate participants’ nostalgic emotions more effectively than a single image. Furthermore, region-specific nostalgic scene images that resonate with participants sharing similar lifestyles can trigger their nostalgic feelings more effectively. The digital twin model of the nostalgia scene contains multi-source data, which can be dynamically visualised to represent regional nostalgic experiences. The design system can be used to design nostalgic scenes to improve emotional health, social bonding, tourism, and sustainable urban and rural development.
