Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II: Urban Design and Mobility (GeoJournal Library, 130) 3030838595, 9783030838591

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GeoJournal Library 130

Weifeng Li Lingqian Hu Jason Cao   Editors

Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II Urban Design and Mobility

GeoJournal Library Volume 130

Series Editor Barney Warf, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

More information about this series at https://link.springer.com/bookseries/6007

Weifeng Li · Lingqian Hu · Jason Cao Editors

Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II Urban Design and Mobility

Editors Weifeng Li University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, China

Lingqian Hu School of Architecture and Urban Planning University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI, USA

Jason Cao Humphrey School of Public Affairs University of Minnesota, Twin Citie Minneapolis, MN, USA

ISSN 0924-5499 ISSN 2215-0072 (electronic) GeoJournal Library ISBN 978-3-030-83859-1 ISBN 978-3-030-83860-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

This book provides insights and discusses human-centered urban design and placemaking, human activities, and urban mobility in China. It argues that sustainable urban design and mobility should be “people-centered” and concerned about “placemaking” in the new era of Chinese urbanization. Successful urban design and placemaking should adopt interdisciplinary approaches to planning and designing “space” and “place.” A core vision is the delivery of urban spaces that can cater to the needs of an increasingly diverse crowd of urban dwellers calling cities home. The book prompts Chinese urbanists to reconsider and explore a sustainable and people-first planning and design approach with Chinese characteristics. The breadth and depth of this book is of particular interest to those faculty members, students, practitioners, and the general public who are interested in subjects like urban design, transport planning, mobility analysis and planning, housing and community development, infrastructure planning, environmental planning, social equity, and beyond. This book discussing human-centered urban design and placemaking, human activities, and urban mobility is part of a two-volume set. Volume I deals with human-centered urban planning and development, rural planning, and urban–rural coordination in China. This volume includes 18 peer-reviewed and rigorously edited papers, which were presented at the 11th and 12th International Association for China Planning (IACP) Conferences held, respectively, June 16–18, 2017, at Harbin Institute of Technology in Harbin, China, and June 30–July 1, 2018, at Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology in Xi’an, China, on the theme Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China.

Part I Urban Design and Placemaking In Chap. 1 “Space-Oriented Elements and Their Relevance to Chengdu Street Cultural Landscape,” Lingqing Zhang and Jing Yan analyzed the symbols and v

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patterns of the geo-spatial orientation of Chengdu streets and decoded the text symbols of place names, landmark landscapes, and specific landscape combinations through methods such as field investigations and historical achieve analyses. They identified the factors influencing spatial intentions and its relevance to people’s cognition of the spatial characteristics of the streets in Chengdu. Guanpeng Liu et al. investigated the role of Fifth Façade, the roof or top of buildings, in urban planning in Chap. 2 “Study of the Fifth Façade: Planning and Controlling in the Wuhan Aerotropolis.” They argued that the Fifth Façade had been playing an increasingly important role in urban planning, and had been integrated by many cities into urban planning. An aerotrpolis, the main airport city, contributes significantly to the economic and social development of a country. The study examined urban design in the Wuhan aerotropolis and expanded on the overall planning and control of the entire area, ending with how to control various urban indicators such as colors, fabrics, textures, and structures in different functional zones in urban spaces. The study provided a way to plan and manage the ‘Fifth Facade’ in urban space. In Chap. 3 “Station-City Integration: Urban Space Ecological Transformation Research Based on Rail Transit,” Yang Yue and Jiang Chang explored the synergy of rail transport and city spatial structure and the framework of station–town integration. The authors examined the relationship between rail transit and urban development by comparing the planning history and method of the Japanese and American definitions of TOD. It revealed in particular how the integrated station–city development of Tokyo played a decisive role in the evolution and transition of urban spatial structure. In conclusion the synchronization was proposed to promote ecological transformation of urban space structure in China in the future. Xuan Zhuo et al. identified relevant studies on transit-oriented development at home and abroad and summarized the research highlights and trend in Chap. 4 “Overview of the Research Progress of TOD at Home and Abroad—Based on the Visual Analysis into Citespace Software.” Using Citespace software, they analyzed issued number, representative authors, research field, research hotspot, and research fronters on TOD research literature at home and abroad from 1998 to 2017. In Chap. 5 “Towards a definition of bikability in the Chinese context,” Aline Chevalier et al. debated the elements central to clarifying the meaning of “bikeable” in the Chinese context through the design of two statistical models describing the bikability perception and the cycling propensity. Beyond their simple enunciation and assessment, they thoroughly investigated each of the factor following an interdisciplinary strategy and concluded on the significance of the work, suggesting how it could be applied to improve bikability in the Chinese context. Qing Mei addressed the problematic relationship between protection and development in urban renewal as an emerging issue in Chap. 6 “The Activation System of the ‘Three-dimensional City’ in Urban Renewal.” The system of “Three-dimensional City” aimed at solving this problem and a case study was explored in the reconstruction design of historic blocks at Jianghan Road in the Li Fen District of Wuhan City. The author first discussed the “mixing block” mechanism for the development of an activation network in which urban nodes linked historical buildings or blocks to

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adjacent residential, cultural, educational, and commercial buildings. The multidimensional green space was proposed to bring together old and new buildings and create a three-dimensional public urban space. In Chap. 7 “Research on the Generation Mechanism of Urban Innovation Space,” Peng Zeng and Jinxuan Li explained the generation mechanism of urban innovation space in theoretical level and focused on the theory construction of its creation mechanism and development mechanism, through an interdisciplinary theoretical framework. Based on the analysis of case studies, they also discussed the elements of “material space” and “planning policy” that affected the development of innovation space, which could provide guidance for the planning and construction of urban innovation space in reality. Yijia Guo and Yan Huang proposed the strategy of a multi-level public space system which utilized urban landscapes to promote urban culture in Chap. 8 “A Strategic Approach to Activating Multi-level Public Space in Neighborhoods along Urban Expressways.” The closed, cross-border transport systems mostly passed through urban centers, contributing to connectivity gaps between communities as well as restricting the movement of urban residents. The authors examined the expressways, bridges, and neighboring spaces connecting Nanpu Bridge and Zhangjiang footbridge in Pudong to demonstrate the design of a “multi-level” landscape strategy. Implementing this approach helped people achieve connectivity, provided new sights and opportunities for perceiving urban culture and the visual environment. In Chap. 9 “Urban Form Analysis of Courtyard in Traditional Settlements—Case Study of Three Lanes and Seven Alleys District in Fuzhou city,” Li-bin Zhou and Hsiao-Tung Chang analyzed the characteristics of layout plans, architectural components, enclosed patterns, settlement’s structures, space orders in the traditional courtyard space of Three Lanes and Seven Alleys Area in the city of Fuzhou. By utilizing space syntax, they further examined the potential relation between spatial structure and social activity, such as connectivity, control value, mean depth, integration value, intelligibility and synergy, which could provide a feasible way to inherit the characteristics of traditional settlements in modern architecture. Yuanfen Lv discussed the research gap on ecological technique related to clan village buildings in Shanxi province through a quantitative study of Li’s Courtyard by examining relevant theories, conducting in-person observations, and creating statistical graphs, in Chap. 10 “Analysis of Existing Research on the Architecture Culture and Ecological Technique used in Li’s Courtyard in Yanjing Village, Shanxi Province.” This analysis aimed at discovering new ways to understand the style of these buildings from the aspects of regional cultural protection and ecological architectural construction in areas with similar climate.

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Part II Human Activities and Urban Mobility In Chap. 11 “Understanding the Substitution of Commuting Trip Chains for Other Home-based Trips and Factors’ Effects on Commuting Trip Chaining Propensity—Using Shanghai Mobile Phone Sighting Data,” Yishu Wang and Haixiao Pan answered two questions: (1) whether the substitution of commuting trip chains for other home-based trips exists; and (2) how the factors effect on the commuting trip chaining propensity. They configured commuters, commuting trajectories, and activity sightings from a Shanghai mobile phone sighting dataset and developed two binary response models to find out research answers. It was suggested that some living service facilities should be distributed along commuting corridors besides near residential areas in public facility planning, and the allocation level of public facility along typical long-distance commuting paths and near main employment centers should be improved. Huanxi Xu and Shaozhi Hong identified the importance of Smart Card Data (SCD) for analyzing characteristics and rules of passenger travel modes in Chap. 12 “Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Passenger Travel Modes: A Study Based on Shanghai Smart Card Data.” They used SCD panel data at a particular time period and examined three dimensions of urban residents’ temporal and spatial travel characteristics, including overall passenger movement, alignment, and stops, in Shanghai in April 2015. The results provided theoretical support and a decision-making basis for transit planning and management of the city. In Chap. 13 “Study of the Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of College Students’ Activities Based on Mobile Phone Data,” Chenchen Sun et al. offered an interesting study on involuntary mobile data of college students that investigated their activities in the same geographical area with high residential concentration. This study identified everyday activity patterns of spatial–temporal characteristics in Hangzhou by using mobile phone data for a 1-month period in 2015. The students’ activities, from colleges in different locations and with distinct mode of transportation, ranged at different times of days including both weekdays and weekends. The results of the study first revealed that the living habits of college students had a predictable schedule which was reflected during the weekdays around 10 AM, 3 PM, and 8 PM by the three fixed activity peaks, with 8 PM being the period with the highest amount of weekend activity. A large, close-by commercial center could effectively reduce travel distance, while a well-developed public transportation network would enhance mobility by allowing students to continue traveling along public transportation lines. Aline Chevalier et al. examined the road safety issues specific to cyclists carrying a child in Shanghai in Chap. 14 “Cycling to School in China: Identifying Patterns in Safety Perception,” They designed a statistical model to identify the various barriers on the way to school. The results showed that the perceived danger is related to the speed of the traffic and its encroachment on the bicycle lanes, while its density, whether low or high, has no bearing on it. The perceived danger increased with the proximity of other schools or the presence of large crossroads in the kindergarten’s vicinity.

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In Chap. 15 “Effects of the Built Environment on the Route-Choosing Behaviors of Recreational Cyclists in Shenzhen,” Ting Wen and Kun Liu examined the effects of the built environment on recreational cyclists’ route-choosing preferences by comparing actual recreational cycling routes to the shortest possible routes. They attempted to develop effective planning and design recommendations for governments that would enhance the urban built environment for recreational cycling activities. Hongkun Xie et al. examined the spatial distribution of physical activity diversity in parks on a larger scale and determined the supporting effects of parks and their surrounding built environments on physical activity diversity in Chap. 16 “The Effects of Parks and Surrounding Built Environments on Physical Activity Diversity with Volunteered Geographic Information.” Based on the findings, they recommended that a high level of physical activity diversity and a balanced urban layout should be achieved when parks and their surrounding built environments could be improved with fine-tuned management to support more types of activity. In Chap. 17 “The Inflow and Outflow Pattern of University Graduates of Major Cities in China from the Perspective of Flow Space,” Jingxin Nie and Helin Liu aimed to understand the talent redistribution pattern of 23 major cities within China and each province’s capacity to supply and attract graduates in the process. It indicated that the flow space is showing a flattening trend in 2015, compared with the early period featured by polarization development. The authors further discussed the underlying causes of these new changes by considering China’s current development transformation. Finally, Ziqi Liu et al. analyzed the distribution of the migrant population by different education levels based on the sixth population census in Shanghai in Chap. 18 “A Study on the Distribution of Migrants with Different Education Levels in Shanghai.” This study showed that migrants in Shanghai were highly spatially correlated, of which the majority was concentrated in the suburban area. Migrants with a primary education were mainly located in the outer suburban areas. Migrants with a secondary education, including a high school or equivalent diploma, were concentrated most heavily in the industry-centralized areas of the inner suburbs, while those with a higher education were patch distributed in areas with higher education institutions or major research centers. There was a significant difference of the percentage between local and migrant with the same education level in the central and peripheral areas of downtown Shanghai, suggesting that there might be discrimination in job market or housing market against migrants under the current hukou system. As the proceedings of the 11th and 12th IACP annual conferences, this book aims to develop a sustainable and people-first planning approach with Chinese characteristics. The discussion will contribute to the advancement of urban planning and design in China as well as the world. Hong Kong, China Milwaukee, WI, USA Minneapolis, MN, USA

Weifeng Li, Ph.D. Lingqian Hu, Ph.D. Jason Cao, Ph.D.

Contents

Part I 1

2

3

4

Urban Design and Placemaking

Space-Oriented Elements and Their Relevance to Chengdu Street Cultural Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lingqing Zhang and Jing Yan Study of the Fifth Façade: Planning and Controlling in the Wuhan Aerotropolis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Guanpeng Liu, Shaozhi Hong, Ying Wang, Ling Dai, and Weixuan Wei Station-City Integration: Urban Space Ecological Transformation Research Based on Rail Transit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yang Yue and Jiang Chang Overview of the Research Progress of TOD at Home and Abroad—Based on the Visual Analysis into Citespace Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Xuan Zhuo, Jiang Chang, and Yuanyuan Deng

3

29

41

65

5

Towards a Definition of Bikeability in the Chinese Context . . . . . . . . Aline Chevalier, Manuel Charlemagne, and Leiqing Xu

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6

The Activation System of the “Three-Dimensional City” in Urban Renewal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Qing Mei

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Research on the Generation Mechanism of Urban Innovation Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Peng Zeng and Jinxuan Li

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A Strategic Approach to Activating Multi-level Public Space in Neighborhoods Along Urban Expressways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Yijia Guo and Yan Huang

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9

Contents

Urban Form Analysis of Courtyard in Traditional Settlements—Case Study of Three Lanes and Seven Alleys District in Fuzhou City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Li-bin Zhou and Hsiao-Tung Chang

10 Analysis of Existing Research on the Architecture Culture and Ecological Technique Used in Li’s Courtyard in Yanjing Village, Shanxi Province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Yuanfen Lv Part II

Human Activities and Urban Mobility

11 Understanding the Substitution of Commuting Trip Chains for Other Home-Based Trips and Factors’ Effects on Commuting Trip Chaining Propensity—Using Shanghai Mobile Phone Sighting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Yishu Wang and Haixiao Pan 12 Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Passenger Travel Modes: A Study Based on Shanghai Smart Card Data . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Huanxi Xu and Shaozhi Hong 13 Study of the Spatial–Temporal Characteristics of College Students’ Activities Based on Mobile Phone Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Chenchen Sun, Xinyi Niu, and Xiaodong Song 14 Cycling to School in China: Identifying Patterns in Safety Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Aline Chevalier, Manuel Charlemagne, and Leiqing Xu 15 Effects of the Built Environment on the Route-Choosing Behaviors of Recreational Cyclists in Shenzhen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Ting Wen and Kun Liu 16 The Effects of Parks and Surrounding Built Environments on Physical Activity Diversity with Volunteered Geographic Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 Hongkun Xie, Miao Yu, and Kun Liu 17 The Inflow and Outflow Pattern of University Graduates of Major Cities in China from the Perspective of Flow Space . . . . . . 321 Jingxin Nie and Helin Liu 18 A Study on the Distribution of Migrants with Different Education Levels in Shanghai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 Ziqi Liu, Bev Wilson, and Wei Zhu

Part I

Urban Design and Placemaking

Chapter 1

Space-Oriented Elements and Their Relevance to Chengdu Street Cultural Landscape Lingqing Zhang and Jing Yan

1.1 Introduction National Parks in the United States define “cultural landscape” as a section or a region that is associated with a historical event, a character, or an activity or shows traditional aesthetic and cultural values and includes cultural and natural resources (Chai, 2006). The contemporary urban space we live in has long been surrounded by various cultural landscape which have clearly or implicitly guided our cognition and behavior, helped us to establish contact with more space and things, and strengthened our sense of space and region. These cultural landscapes can act as clues to help us learn more about the pattern and characteristics that are hidden in cities. We selected Chengdu as the research study area based on its visibility and connectivity of cultural landscape that can be seen in its streets. Our study aims to analyze the elements of cultural landscape in urban streets that can influence people to perceive certain spatial intentions like space-oriented elements such as street signs, signboards containing place names, arrow signs indicating directions, and pictures depicting another space. Spatial connections that are closely-spaced and frequent are some of the important reasons people are attracted to gathering in cities. Through the analysis of the spaceoriented elements of cultural landscape, we found the key characteristics of the internal and external space in Chengdu that helped form how Chengdu is spatially represented. This was done by plotting a map of Chengdu streets to then use to evaluate the development characteristics of different regions in Chengdu.

L. Zhang (B) College of Architecture and Urban-Rural Planning, Sichuan Agricultural University, No. 288 Jianshe Road, Dujiangyan, Chengdu 611830, Sichuan, China e-mail: [email protected] J. Yan College of Business, Sichuan Agricultural University, No. 288 Jianshe Road, Dujiangyan, Chengdu 611830, Sichuan, China © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_1

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1.2 Element Recognition and Classification Based on Cultural Landscape Concept 1.2.1 The Function and Characteristics of Cultural Landscape From ancient to contemporary times, efforts are made to transform landscapes from natural to humanistic natural environments. With increased productivity, humans have continuously created landscapes that never existed before and the humanistic natural landscape has further evolved into an artificial landscape where natural features are difficult to see. Artificial landscapes are seen when walking through the streets of a city including the green plants which are artificially screened, improved, and modeled. The natural landscapes and artificial landscapes that have been transformed by people are known as “cultural landscape”. Most “cultural landscapes” that remain were gradually modified because of the lack of their functional support at the time, except for a few landscapes that are classified as cultural landscape heritages. From the perspective of human cognition, the biggest difference between cultural landscape and natural landscape is how cultural landscapes are visibly influenced by human factors. Its main function is to assist people in cognitively connect with their surroundings through visual expressions based on cultural traditions. The main features of cultural landscapes are cultural characteristics, identifiableness, and connectiveness. (1)

(2)

(3)

A cultural characteristic means that the cultural landscape is produced and attached to a certain mainstream culture or subculture which has traditions that depend on human existence, such as languages, thoughts, values, and world views; or has cultural products that arise from people but can exist without people such as roads, buildings, books, videos, etc. The identifiableness refers to the fact that cultural landscape is visually interpretable and has a distinct degree of separation from one another. Examples include the gates of buildings, brand logos, and traffic guide signs. The connectiveness is the most central feature of cultural landscape and allows people to be connected to specific things and intentions. These elements act as bridges for people to recognize the world. The chaotic or simple cultural landscapes in urban and rural areas often correspond to backward economic and cultural levels, because local residents are not able to recognize the connectiveness of different things. Rich or high-quality cultural landscape often corresponds to advanced economic and cultural levels, because people can be efficiently connected to more things and intentions.

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1.2.2 Identification and Classification of Street Space-Oriented Elements As an important part of cultural landscape, street space-oriented elements are defined by their spatial information representation and can guide people to connect to various entities and virtual space. For their identification, the main place to start is with their spatial information form, then the elements can be located through literature surveys, field observations, extraction of street photo information, street panoramas, mental map drawing experiment, and image contrast experiments. This study mainly uses the characteristics of street space-oriented elements and classifies them from three aspects: cultural types, representation forms and space of connectivity. The space-oriented elements of street cultural landscapes can be divided into two cultural types: modern culture and traditional culture. The representation form is divided into two types: natural environment and social culture. The space of connectivity is divided into three types: internal space, external space and virtual space. (1)

Cultural Types

Culture is the background of space-oriented elements and a tool for interpretation. The world culture can be divided into three major civilization systems: Central, Eastern, and Western civilizations (Jellicoe, 1995). Culture can also be divided into traditional or modern culture based on the industrial revolution. Previous research states that traditional culture is subdivided into religious culture, regional culture and historical culture, and that modern culture is divided into political culture, business culture, leisure culture and cyber culture. (2)

Representation Forms

The representation form is key to identifying space-oriented elements. Among the two subdivided types, the natural environment type refers to the representation form of spatial information conveyed through the natural environment in cultural landscape, such as high mountains, ponds and lakes, street trees, and flowers with regional characteristics. In the study we subdivide it into topography, water, and vegetation. The socio-cultural type refers to the representation form of spatial information conveyed through social and cultural environment in cultural landscape, such as iconic buildings and bridges, distinctive landscape designs, road signs and shop signs with place names, and direction signs drawn on the ground. We subdivide it into architecture, artificial facilities, and text symbols. (3)

Pace of Connectivity

Space of connectivity is the core of space-orientated elements. It refers to the space that people associate in the process of perception. The space of connectivity studied here does not entirely represents the real spatial relationship. Some of the elements

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may represent the real spatial relationship, but is usually to make people feel and imagine a given space. In the subdivided types, the internal space refers to the space where the street itself is located, such as the house numbers, street names, etc. The external space refers to the space outside the street, such as the surrounding transportation hub, the tourism area around the city, cities and towns in a larger area and foreign cities. The virtual space refers to cyberspace and any space in terms of cultural concepts like shopping websites, social networking platforms, Eden in mythology, and legendary ancient cities or other space in history that does not exist in physical space (i.e. Atlantis). Relevant classifications can be further subdivided, but due to the scale and depth of this study, the classification will be limited to the third level. The table of the specific classification is shown in Table 1.1.

1.3 Investigation on Space-Oriented Elements in the Streets of Chengdu 1.3.1 The Purposes and Methods of the Investigation This survey is meant to apply the analysis methods of cultural landscape to investigate and analyze the characteristics of street space-oriented elements and the spatial relevance of typical street blocks in Chengdu. Additionally, we plan to draw a cultural landscape atlas of space-oriented elements to help evaluate the development characteristics of typical blocks in Chengdu. First, after gaining an understanding of the characteristics of different blocks in Chengdu and through the literature survey, we conducted a detailed investigation of typical representative blocks. Second, we conducted field to collect street spaceoriented photos. Finally, with a 10-person evaluation team (junior students at local universities: five Sichuanese and five from provinces outside Sichuan, with an evenly represented gender composition) we identified the images and extracted the necessary information from the photos taken.

1.3.2 The Results from the Field Survey Intercept surveys were conducted in Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District in the center of Chengdu, Sichuan Province and in the traditional living area of Li Jia Tuo near the northern old city of Chengdu (Fig. 1.1). Nearly 600 photographs were taken, of which relevant space-oriented elements were identified and categorized (identified by the researchers and verified by the evaluation team) (Fig. 1.2).

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Table 1.1 Classification of street space-oriented elements First-level classification

Secondary classification

Third-level classification

Notes

Cultural types

Modern culture

Political culture

Political beliefs, social systems etc.

Business culture

Production and consumption

Cyber culture

On-line activities and activities in the virtual world

Traditional culture

Leisure culture

Parties, travels etc.

Religious culture

Taoism, Buddhism, Islam

Regional culture

Cultural conventions and sense of space in different places

Historical culture Representation forms

Natural environment type Topography

Socio-cultural type

Historical stories High and low mountains, plains etc.

Water

Rivers, lakes, waterscape etc.

Animals and plants

Street trees, flowers, animal modellings, etc.

Architecture

Shapes, materials and colors of buildings, etc.

Artificial products Non-architecture, roads, signage, cars, etc.

Space of connectivity

Internal space

External space

Virtual space

Text symbols

Place names, arrow symbols, etc.

Streets

Streets where elements lie

Blocks

Space of blocks where elements lie

Cities

Space of cities where elements lie

Within the province

Space of provinces where elements lie

Nationwide

Space of nation where elements lie

Worldwide

Space of nation outside the place where elements lie

Cyberspace

Virtual cyberspace

Imaginary space

Conceptual cultural space that does not exist

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Fig. 1.1 Location atlas of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District and Li Jia Tuo

Fig. 1.2 Atlas of specific places where photos were taken

1.3.2.1

Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District

Located in the heart of Chengdu, Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District is an open, low-density, block-shaped shopping mall jointly developed by Swire Properties and Sino-Ocean Land. The District is adjacent to the Daci Temple, a one thousandyear-old ancient temple, where there are vertical and horizontal lanes and alleys that open into squares in the venue. The introduction of the concept of fast-paced and slow-paced streets in the creation of the atmosphere of the venue reflects both

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the local geographical characteristics and the atmosphere of a modern low-density commercial District. According to the “Classification Method of Street Space-oriented Elements”, the space-oriented elements of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District are mainly socio-cultural representations, with very few natural environment representation forms. The representation forms incorporate traditional and modern techniques with the elements elaborately coordinated. (1)

Representation Form and Spatial Correlation of the Natural Environment Type

Located in the Chengdu Plain of the Sichuan Basin, Chengdu’s terrain is very flat. From the perspective of business development, the two-story platform corridor and underground commercial space were added to the block to simulate the natural terrain of the platform. What is more impressive in the natural environment is a shallow static pool. The design of the pool embodies Buddhist Zen, slow life in Chengdu, and also is aesthetically pleasing for tourists. It strengthens people’s perception of block space and reveals the slow life in Chengdu and the spatial imagery of Buddhist Zen. From the point of view of animals and plants like pandas, ginkgo trees and bamboos, these animals and plants with native features were selected to highlight the spatial attributes of Sichuan through panda sculptures and plant embellishments (Table 1.2, Fig. 1.3). In our research process, the evaluation team used the business culture, regional culture and religious culture to conduct analysis and evaluation. The study shows three types of space that Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District and other spaces Table 1.2 Representation forms of natural environment type in Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District First-level classification

Secondary classification

Third-level classification

Representation form

Natural environment form Topography

Specific forms Level ground, two-story platform and underground entrance

Water

Man square pool at the center, pools at the east and west square, stone tank at the gate of Daci Temple, pools around the walls of Daci Temple

Animals and plants

Ginkgo trees at the corner, water lily in the pool, locust trees in front of the shops, animal modelling of oxen, tigers and rabbits on the gables of the buildings, modelling of pandas in the middle of the street

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Fig. 1.3 Schematic atlas of natural environment elements

are connected with through natural environment elements, they are the block space, namely the internal space; the space within Sichuan Province, namely, the external space and the space of Buddhist Zen and other virtual space, that is image space (Table 1.3). (2)

Representation Form and Spatial Connection of Socio-cultural Type

As a central commercial district in Chengdu and the capital of Sichuan Province, Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District boasts superior development conditions and represents Chengdu’s new commercial, leisure and cultural functions. Therefore, the representation form of space-oriented elements is mainly socio-cultural type. The neighborhood is built around the original millennium Daci Temple. The neighborhood environment fully integrates traditional culture and modern culture. Centered around Daci Temple, the neighborhood blends the long history of Chengdu’s space with the Buddhist space due to the temple’s influence. The surrounding high-rise buildings conveys the spatial image of the city center of Chengdu. The low-level and high-density antique style architecture of the commercial area creates the spatial

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Table 1.3 Spatial correlations and cultural types Representation forms

Space connected

Types of space

Cultural types

Topography

Level grounds

Chengdu Plain

External

Within the province

Regional culture

Platforms

Two-story space

Internal

Blocks

Business culture

Underground entrances

Underground space

Internal

Blocks

Business culture

Man square pool at the center

Center of the block

Internal

Blocks

Regional culture

Pools at the east and west square

Entrances and exits of the east and west of the block

Internal

Blocks

Regional culture

Pools around the walls of Daci Temple

Space of the Buddhist Zen

Virtual space

Image space Religious culture

Water

Animals and plants

Locust trees in Leisure space in Internal front of the shops front of the shops

Streets

Leisure culture

Ginkgo trees at the corner, the modelling of pandas in the middle of the street

Sichuan Province External

Within the province

Regional culture

Water lily in the pool, animal modelling of oxen, tigers and rabbits on the gables of the buildings

Space of the Buddhist Zen

Image space Religious culture

Virtual space

image of the historical block in the ancient city. In addition to the space created by the orientation of the buildings, artificial products like bamboo chairs, murals, and guide cards also invoke feelings of the interior of a teahouse or a Buddhist space. However, as a very popular commercial district, its core space-oriented element is dominated by international brand shops scattered throughout the streets. These stores attract people in their home countries and cities, as well as abroad. These uniqueness and attractiveness of these brands help categorize Chengdu as an international city (Table 1.4, Fig. 1.4). Our evaluation team used the religious culture, regional culture, historical culture, commercial culture, and network culture to conduct the corresponding analysis and evaluation of spatial relevance. The results show that the space connections through socio-cultural elements in Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District are mainly

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Table 1.4 Representation forms of socio-cultural type in Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District First-level classification

Secondary classification

Third-level classification

Specific forms

Representation form

Socio-cultural type

Architecture

High-rise buildings, two-story sloping roof antique buildings, ancient buildings in the temple, stone walls, escalators

Artificial products

Guiding sculptures, guide signs, linear drainage ditch, bamboo chairs, murals

Text symbols

English and Chinese names of the stores, location index map with English-Chinese description, digital coding and atlas, two-dimensional code of the navigation platform, description of the Chinese historical buildings, arrow signs of the signboards, the Chinese and English names of Taikoo Li Commercial District

between internal spaces (blocks, cities) such as temples, shops, and Chengdu City Center on the second floor, external spaces (nationwide) such as Hangzhou, Taiwan, Shanghai, and Hong Kong; Japan and Europe, United States, France, South Korea and other external spaces worldwide, cyberspace such as Weibo, shopping websites, electronic navigation Atlas and other virtual space (Table 1.5).

1.3.2.2

Traditional Living Area of Li Jia Tuo

Located in Chenghua District in the northern part of Chengdu, the traditional living area of Li Jia Tuo is adjacent to the bustling First-ring Road and Fuqing Road. The buildings are mostly high-density six-story houses built in the 1960s and 1970s, and a few are newly developed high-rise buildings. There are bustling shops along the streets, well-equipped public service facilities, and leisure areas such as the Threedong Ancient Bridge Park and Shahe Riverside Greenland Park. Though it is close to the city center, Li Jia Tuo preserved the narrow and dense streets of old Chengdu and the traditional living environment, which represents the environmental features of traditional marketplace neighborhood of Chengdu (Fig. 1.6). According to the “Classification Method of Street Space-oriented Elements”, the representation form of space-oriented elements of traditional living area of Li

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Fig. 1.4 Schematic atlas of socio-cultural elements

Jia Tuo is still based on socio-cultural representations with few natural environmental representations. The form of representation is relatively monotonous but some personalized representation forms with marketplace features have also been discovered. (1)

Representation form and Spatial Connection of Natural Environment Type

Only a few representation forms of the natural environment exist in the Li Jia Tuo Neighborhood, and the terrain-based representation forms have not been identified by our research. The Shahe River and the native plants have strengthened the waterfront and old residential courtyard spaces. The planted street trees lack geographical features but some of the Boston Ivies on the gables, the ginkgo trees in the park, the waterfront willows and the pines and cypresses in the martyrs’ cemetery have reinforced the sense of space in the neighborhood (Table 1.6, Fig. 1.5). Our evaluation team used regional culture and religious culture to conduct the analysis and evaluation of spatial relevance. The study results found that the space in Li Jia Tuo Neighborhood that connects with other spaces through the elements of the

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Table 1.5 Space of connetcivity and cultural types Representation forms

Connectivity space

Types of space

Cultural types

Architecture

High-rise buildings

Chengdu City center

Internal

City

Business culture

Two-story sloping roof antique buildings, ancient buildings in the temple

Ancient city historic district

Virtual space

Imaginary space

Historic culture

Stone walls

Temple

Internal

Blocks

Historic culture

Glass walls

Interior of the shops

Internal

Streets

Business culture

Escalators

Second floor platform

Internal

Blocks

Business culture

Guiding sculptures, guide signs

Different Streets and Shops

Internal

Blocks

Business culture

Linear Next Space drainage ditch

Internal

Blocks

Business culture

Bamboo chairs

Teahouses in Chengdu

Virtual space

Image space

Social culture

Murals

Buddhist space

Virtual space

Image space

Religious culture

Chinese

China

External

Nationwide

Regional culture

English

Worldwide

External

Worldwide

Regional culture

Brand names

The world, Japan, External Northern Europe Finland, Germany, South Korea, France, Italy, Belgium, United Kingdom, Switzerland, North Africa, Australia, United States, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Canada

Worldwide

Regional culture, business culture

Artificial products

Text symbols

(continued)

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Table 1.5 (continued) Representation forms

QR code

Connectivity space

Types of space

Cultural types

Hangzhou, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Shanghai

External

Nationwide

Weibo, shopping websites

Virtual space

Cyberspace

Business culture, cyber culture

Electronic navigation map

Virtual space

Cyberspace

Cyber culture

Table 1.6 Representation form of natural environment type in Li Jia Tuo neighborhood First-class classification

Secondary classification

Third-class classification

Specific forms

Representation form

Natural environmental type

Topography

None

Body

None

Animals and plants

Boston Ivies, Willows, Pines and Cypresses, Ginkgo trees and Chinars

natural environment mainly include the space of old residential courtyards (streets), riverfront space (blocks), ginkgo trees (cities), and France (worldwide) (Table 1.7). (2)

Representation Form and Spatial Connection of Socio-cultural Type

The representation form of Li Jia Tuo neighborhood is mainly socio-cultural type. As a traditional block, the buildings in the area lack features, in particular landmark buildings, and the artificial products are also relatively simple. However, each street contains small businesses, and the signs and symbols in these shops convey rich spatial information. Since this spatial information is formed spontaneously in the neighborhood, it can also seem very cluttered. Unlike the international space used by Taikoo Li Business District, the space information it portrays is mostly in Sichuan Province and other places in China. The text symbols for public guidance also occupy a significant part of the streets (Table 1.8, Fig. 1.5). According to the research conducted by the evaluation team, the study found seven types of space that Li Jia Tuo traditional neighborhood is connected with other space through social and cultural elements, they are, the street space, the block space, the space within the city, the space within Sichuan Province, the nationwide space, the worldwide space and virtual space (Table 1.9). In all spatial connections, the blocks, Chengdu, and neighboring counties and cities of Chengdu are linked relatively closely and most related through elements

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Fig. 1.5 Schematic atlas of natural environment elements Table 1.7 Spatial connetcions and cultural types Representation form

Space of connectivity

Types of space

Cultural types

Topography

–

–

–

–

–

Body

Shahe River

Waterfront space

Internal

Blocks

Regional culture

Animals and plants

Boston Ivies on the Gables

Old residential courtyard

Internal

Streets

Regional culture

Willow trees by the river

Riverfront space

Internal

Blocks

Regional culture

Pines and Cypresses

Tombs

Internal

Streets

Religious culture

Ginkgo Trees

China

External

Cities

Regional culture

Chinars

France

External

Worldwide

Regional culture

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Table 1.8 Representation form of socio-cultural type in Li Jia Tuo neighborhood First-class classification

Secondary classification

Third-class classification

Specific forms

Representation form

Socio-cultural type

Architecture

Six-story old residential buildings, red walls, stone archways, gas stations, red brick houses, subway entrances

Artificial products

Local cuisine (hot pot), green advertising posters, shared bicycles, road signs, stone carvings and paintings with historical stories, graffiti on the walls, martyrs monuments

Text symbols

Advertising text symbols (property advertisements at the metro station, bus station advertisements, funeral cemetery advertisements, housing rental advertisements at the real estate agency, advertisements in the stores, travel advertisements, carton advertisement signs at the fruit stand, advertisement guides), shop signs, text symbols for public guide (Chinese-English subway route atlas, building marks with Chinese descriptions, Chinese phonetic alphabets and numbers, subway entrance signs with Chinese-English descriptions and digital coding, 10 kV transformer box signs, telephone pole signs, trash can logos, bus station logos, road guide texts and arrows, road signs, bicycle service system logos, signages with Chinese characters and arrow symbols, Chenghua District administrative notice), DIY guiding texts and arrows, plate numbers of cars

Text symbols

Cities

Randeng Temple Cemetery, Shiling External Cemetery

Street space Cities

Internal

Image space

Image space

External

New street space

Road signs

Virtual space

Virtual space

Shixianghu of Chengdu, Chengdu Plain, Yingmenkou in Jinniu District of Chengdu, etc.

Ma An Shan Dead space

Ma An Shan Martyrs monuments

Image space

Blocks

Free space

Graffiti on the walls

Virtual space

Regional culture

Regional culture

Regional culture

Historic culture

Historic culture

Historic culture

Cultural types

(continued)

Historic culture

Regional culture

Regional culture

Regional culture

Religious culture

Regional culture

Historic culture

Business culture

Within the Province Regional culture

Nationwide

Blocks

Blocks

Streets

Cities

Blocks

External space Nationwide

External

External

Internal

Internal

Internal

External

Internal

Types of space

Buildings in the blocks, parking lots Internal

Historical space

Stone carvings and paintings with historical stories

Advertising text symbols (property advertisements at the metro station, bus station advertisements, funeral cemetery advertisements, housing rental advertisements at the real estate agency, advertisements in the stores, travel advertisements, carton advertisement signs at the fruit stand, advertisement guides)

Big cities in China

Shared bicycles

Underground subway space

Entrances and exits of subways Rural space outside the city

South entrance of the block

Gas stations Chongqing, Chengdu

Historic streets

Stone archways

Green advertising posters

Dufu’s Thatched Cottage

Red walls

Local cuisine (hot pot)

Old community

Architecture

Artificial products

Space of connectivity

Six-story old residential buildings, red brick houses

Representation forms

Table 1.9 Space of connetcivity and cultural types

18 L. Zhang and J. Yan

Representation forms

Table 1.9 (continued)

Shop signs

External

East Sichuan Province, Sichuan, West Sichuan Province, Emei, Mianyang, Yibin, Guang’an, etc.

QR code for a travel advertisement

External

External Virtual space

Cruise Ship, Thailand

Chengdu, Shuangliu County of Chengdu, Jinniu District of Chengdu, Steel Tube Plant-a place name of Chengdu, etc.

External

Jingning of Gansu Province, Hainan Province, Renshou of Sichuan Province, etc.

Internal

External

Sichuan Province, Gulin of Sichuan, Qionglai of Sichuan, etc.

Sanyou Road, 5th Floor of Impression Yoga, Laojie Store, Zhuangzi Village Restaurant, Tea House

Types of space

Space of connectivity

Cultural types

Regional culture

Regional culture

Cyber culture

Business culture

Regional culture

(continued)

Within the province Regional culture

Cities

Streets

Cyberspace

Worldwide

Nationwide

Within the province Regional culture

1 Space-Oriented Elements and Their Relevance … 19

Representation forms

Table 1.9 (continued)

Public guide texts and symbols (Chinese-English subway route atlas, building marks with Chinese descriptions, Chinese phonetic alphabets and numbers, subway entrance signs with Chinese-English descriptions and digital coding, etc.

External

External External Virtual space Virtual space

China, Beijing, Shaanxi, Xi’an, Ningxia, Chongqing, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, Yunnan, Taiwan, etc. Spain, Japan, Northern Europe, Overseas, Korea, Norway Fu Shou Yuan Garden Cemetery, Lotus Cemetery China’s Tang Dynasty QR code for travel booking Streets, Li Jia Tuo-a place name of Internal Chengdu, subway station underground space of Li Jia Tuo, Sanyou Road of Chenghua District, Taihong Road, Sanyou Road, emergency shelters, etc.

Types of space

Space of connectivity

Streets

Cyberspace

Image space

Cities

Nationwide

China

(continued)

Political culture

Cyber culture

Historic culture

Historic culture

Regional culture

Regional culture

Cultural types

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Representation forms

Table 1.9 (continued)

Stands for mending clothes in the residential areas Guang’an of Sichuan Province, Wenzhou of Zhejiang Province, Shaoyang of Hunan Province

DIY guiding texts and arrows

Plate numbers of cars

External

Internal

Bus QR code

Nationwide

Blocks

Cyberspace

Political culture

Regional culture

Cyber culture

Political culture

External Virtual space

China

Nationwide

Within the province Political culture

External

Sichuan

Political culture

Cultural types Cities

Types of space

Chengdu, Metro Stations of External Chengdu, 512 Building Materials Market at Siping Road of Chengdu, Chenghua District, West Chadianzi Street of Jinniu District of Chengdu, etc.

Space of connectivity

1 Space-Oriented Elements and Their Relevance … 21

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Fig. 1.6 Schematic atlas of socio-cultural elements

focused on fine food and alcohol; however, the links with the nation and world are based on more conceptual links (Fig. 1.6).

1.4 Atlas of Space-Oriented Elements and Analysis of Strength and Weakness of Those Elements An atlas of the space-oriented elements can be drawn after analyzing the data collected from the representation forms, relevance space, and cultural types of spaceoriented elements of the streets in Chengdu. This study allows the atlas to be drawn in regards to the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of spatial connections by way of the different space of connectivity, representation forms, and cultural types. Given the time constraints to conduct this study, we were not able to cover and quantify each element in detail, but instead, divided the different element types by qualitative methods and conducted the quantitative evaluation according to the

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number of types. After mapping, the two blocks were compared and analyzed to determine the development characteristics of the two blocks.

1.4.1 Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District Through the map regarding the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of spatial connections (Fig. 1.7), we found that the spatial connections of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District are mainly concentrated in the worldwide external relations, and the space of connections covers the major developed countries. In the representation form, socio-cultural type is embodied through the use of English in the form of text symbols. Additionally, the cultural type is mainly embodied by the modern culture with business culture as the core type. However, the entire block is still relatively weak in cyberspace type. Therefore, in the development of blocks, Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District can benefit from attracting and developing more national brands to the area. Finally, attracting these brands can help create more national and intra-provincial space connections, enhance the spatial representation of the natural environment, and strengthen the cyberspace environment.

Fig. 1.7 Assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of spatial connections in Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li

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1.4.2 Traditional Living Area of Li Jia Tuo Our map of Li Ja Tuo Living Area (Fig. 1.8) revealed that the spatial connections mainly focused on the external connections within the province and across the country. The space of connectivity covers the major cities and counties in the country and the province. In terms of representation, the socio-cultural representation is featured by Chinese character text symbols. As for cultural types, the traditional culture based on regional culture is more embodied than any other cultures. The entire neighborhood is still relatively weak in cyberspace culture. Therefore, in the development of blocks, more space connections around the world can benefit by emphasizing the spatial representation of the natural environment, strengthening architecture, and establishing more connections of cyberspace.

1.4.3 Comparative Analysis As mature development blocks, Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li and Li Jia Tuo District have similarities and differences in their spatial connection based on the evaluation maps. Since they both are located in the central area of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, they have close external spatial connections. The high-density space of urban development helps characterize t the spatial connections as primarily sociocultural forms, while the representation of the ecological environment is rarer. However, with the development of information society, there is a certain connection between the two blocks and the virtual space of information, but the relationship is still very weak. Despite these similarities, differences between these two districts’ spatial connections also exist. Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li, the commercial Center of Chengdu, tends to have the world-wide spatial connections, especially with the European region, whereas Li Jia Tuo area shows its spatial connections within the province, especially in the Chengdu Plain and the eastern Sichuan area where commuting is convenient. Due to the differences of their spatial connections, the two districts are different in their forms of the textual representation. Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li is mostly English expression, and Li Jia Tuo is mostly Chinese expression. From the cultural types, the former is more of the modern culture which is dominated by the commercial culture, while the latter exudes the traditional culture mainly by the regional culture (Table 1.10). Through comparative analysis, we can establish the similarities of the development of blocks in the capitals of provinces in China, as well as the differences between the development path of new urban commercial centers and the traditional residential areas.

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Fig. 1.8 Assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of spatial connections in Li Jia Tuo

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Table 1.10 Comparative analysis of the two area (The data come from Figs. 1.7 and 1.8) Types of comparison

Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District

Traditional Living Area of Li Jia Tuo

Space of connectivity

Strong1: External space (worldwide)

Strong1: External space (within the province)

Middle 1: Internal space (blocks)

Middle 1: Internal space (cities)

Weak1: Virtual space (imaginary space)

Weak1: Virtual space (cyberspace)

Strong1: Socio-cultural type (Text symbols)

Strong1: Socio-cultural type (text symbols)

Weak1: Natural environment type (water)

Weak1: Natural environment type (animals and plants)

Strong1: Modern culture (business culture)

Strong1: Traditional culture (regional culture)

Middle1: Traditional culture (religious culture)

Middle1: Modern culture (business culture)

Representation forms

Cultural types

1.5 Conclusion Our research on the space-oriented elements and their relevance of Chengdu street cultural landscape adds to other studies of street cultural landscape, and serves as an important means for evaluating neighborhood development. People live in different neighborhoods and are connected to a broader space through the cultural landscape elements in neighborhoods. The breadth and intensity of the space that people can connect with are often closely related to the level of socio-economic development in the neighborhood. This study of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Commercial District and the Traditional Living Area of Li Jia Tuo allows us to further recognize the characteristics and representations of spatial connection in the neighborhoods of Chengdu. We found that the central area is closely connected with the outside world, while the spatial connections of the traditional street area lie more in the surrounding areas (within the province), and the connections with the nation and around the world are more in the conceptual orientation and without substantive contact. Based on some geographical studies, gene mapping studies, and large data visualization methods, this study conducts an intuitive analysis and contrast evaluation through the form of Atlas. In subsequent studies, we will also strengthen the study of macro- and micro-scale space-oriented elements and their relevance to provide a new perspective of cultural landscape for the development of urban assessments at different scales.

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References Chai, Q. (2006). Area based preservation of culture landscape. Southeast University. Jellicoe, G. (1995). The landscape of man (pp. 7–8).

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Chapter 2

Study of the Fifth Façade: Planning and Controlling in the Wuhan Aerotropolis Guanpeng Liu, Shaozhi Hong, Ying Wang, Ling Dai, and Weixuan Wei

2.1 Introduction Considering the four traditional facades of architecture, The Fifth Facade refers to the roof or top of buildings in cities. Airports are new sources for development in a country. As core areas of the airports, aerotropolises are important and special urban spaces that lead economic and social progress of cities and regions. Globally, the changing nature of airports and the commercial land uses alongside airports is creating the concept of the ‘airport city’ (Freestone & Wiesel, 2014). Simply put, city airports are becoming mini airport cities (Marano, 2014). The Wuhan aerotropolis is located south of Wuhan Tianhe Airport and west of Panlong New City, which has the distance only 5 km, or approximately a five minute drive from Tianhe Airport. It has quick accessibility to both the airport and the Wuhan city center, acting as a core business district and an important port area of Wuhan City (Fig. 2.1). As current urban spaces are gradually diversifying and compounding in the direction of multi-dimensionalization, the Fifth Facade is playing an increasingly important role in urban planning in many cities. As airport infrastructures, airportrelated businesses, and surrounding commercial, residential and spatial development grows, so does the connecting surface transport infrastructure (Ferrulli, 2016). When designed properly, the Fifth Facade can be a successful part of a scheme to enhance a building’s eco-credentials. All too often, though, a lack of planning results in more environmental damage than what would be produced by the original building (Building Engineer, 2013). The requirements for planning the Fifth Facade are becoming increasingly important. Normally, urban spaces are in a natural spreading position in a flat layout. Their important features are usually the planarization of the spatial form (Wang, 2016). But the Fifth Facade, also referred to as the “the fifth elevation”, usually includes the aerial view overlooking the roof the buildings in cities. In the broad sense, the Fifth G. Liu · S. Hong (B) · Y. Wang · L. Dai · W. Wei Tongji Univeristy, 1239 Siping Rd, Shanghai, China © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_2

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Fig. 2.1 Location of the Wuhan aerotropolis

Facade refers to the comprehensive shape and texture composed of urban buildings, structures, streets, open spaces, nightscape lighting, and natural topography. The Fifth Facade is the spatial pattern and urban features of the entire area that can be viewed from higher places, including many visual elements such as urban colors, materials, textures, space combinations, and map-bottom relationships (Fig. 2.2). A well planned Fifth Facade can help purify air, improve water and soil quality, dampen noise and reduce the heat island effect (Li, 2013). Rationally and effectively planning

Fig. 2.2 The elements of the Fifth Facade

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and controlling the Fifth Facade is of great importance to the development of cities and urban areas.

2.2 Study of the Wuhan Aerotropolis The study began with the early stages of the Wuhan aerotropolis development, researching the area’s planning and controlling along with the region’s development and explored the planning guidance and management innovation. Using the concept of innovative planning, the study hopes to guide regional planning, industrial import and area development and uses planning management and controlling ideas to help improve the aerotropolis’s overall quality and location value. Utilizing strong planning techniques and methods, the function and position of the area can be improved, ensuring orderly development of the aerotropolis. Along with the building’s roofs, the study also focuses on the area’s basic elements and spatial conditions, guiding the aerotropolis’s future urban shape and characteristics through spatial design planning and controlling. On the basis of fully exploring Wuhan’s deep cultural heritage, the study uses the aerial view as the main perspective. It designs multi-visual elements, including color, material, texture, spatial composition, and map-bottom relationships to achieve an urban area with sustainable developments of urban buildings, structures, streets, open space, natural landscape and other comprehensive morphology. The project is based on four characteristics: air, water, mountains, and roads, making green roofs and buildings, and colorful nights as the targets of the planning period (Fig. 2.3, already changed as annotation).

Fig. 2.3 Visual controlling of the Fifth Facade

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In addition, the results of the planning and controlling are also presented in a visualization based on actual flight altitude simulations.

2.3 Master Planning and Distributed Controlling At the master planning level, the project generally adopts the three ideas: whole, total and sub-divisions. First, the previous urban design in each area block is thoroughly revised, consolidated and integrated. Then, the overall controlling of the Fifth Facade is separated into four major controlling aspects: the Fifth Facade design guidelines, regional master planning, local culture and regional characteristics. Last, detailed controlling methods are taken into consideration during the distributed controlling process (Fig. 2.4). The project uses several spatial elements as aspects of the Fifth Facade, including buildings, urban structures, streets, open spaces, and natural landscapes. Different elements such as color elements, materials, textures, spatial combinations, mapbottom relationships and nightscape lighting are considered. The following is a discussion of four major contents of the aerotropolis for overall planning and controlling at the master level.

Fig. 2.4 Master planning structure

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Fig. 2.5 Master controlling of materials and colors

2.3.1 Materials and Colors Color is an important factor that affects the living environment of residents. A good color environment is conducive to the positive development of people’s physical and mental health (Gao, 2016). Colors chromatograms are extracted from two aspects of man-made impressions and natural impressions based on the impression of Wuhan, guiding respectively the color range and color controlling of the fifth facade of the air city. When planning and designing the fifth facade of the building, attention should be paid to visual senses to achieve a reasonable use of space (Zhang, 2018). The color of the building facade serves the needs of aviation personnel and the associated environment. New colors for the façade’s materials are modeled on landscape base colors, landscape auxiliary colors and landscape landmark colors (Fig. 2.5). The project performs different kinds of material and color control for the Fifth Façade for different regions from an aerial view. In addition to the green ecological matrix, buildings can use ecological materials to realize different visual effects and colors. The materials contributing to the overall effect and color can be solar photovoltaic, metallic paint, glass curtain wall, ecological green skin, real stone paint as well as other facade materials. Noise control can also be included with the help of material considerations.

2.3.2 Road Lighting In the area of road lighting control systems, we study the principle of color temperature distribution on road systems at night. The distribution of color temperature is along the central area, commercial activities, waterfront recreational activities, and pedestrian flow analysis. Cold light sources are mainly distributed in the central part, in the public greenbelt roads and in the intercity railroad stations, facilitating the organization of large-scale night-time activities in the pedestrian plaza. Warm light sources are distributed in residential areas to create a warm atmosphere. Lights in the waterfront area are placed with the frequency of people’s activities. The lights in major urban planning nodes, main squares and main entrances of the city should be

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Fig. 2.6 Road lighting master controlling

able to highlight urban features, culture and history. These are the most important areas, giving people a unique visual of the city’s culture. Street lights are planned to be located on the outer ring highway so that the entire peripheral loop will present a complete, shiny and continuous strip of light at night (Fig. 2.6).

2.3.3 Plant Configuration In the overall plant configuration, the controlling is divided into two types: greening intensity and greening methods. As the Fifth Facade of building, the roof is one approach to promote sustainable urban development (Ma & Lu, 2014). The greening intensity is calculated as a percentage, indicating the intensity and proportion of greening. There are two types of greening methods: garden-style and simple-style. The overall plant configuration is controlled by regulating the ratio of garden-style Fifth Facade greening to simple-style Fifth Facade greening. The main consideration during plant configuration planning is to control these two methods.

2.3.4 Spatial Elements The controlling of the spatial element is done according to the perspective of the aircrafts taking off and landing from the point of view of the waterfront control zone on the west side which gradually expands to the east. The overall functionbased control of spatial elements mainly focuses on the buildings, structures, density,

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Fig. 2.7 Plant configuration (left) and space element (right) master controlling

altitude, viewpoints, etc. The controlling of overall urban space is achieved through controlling the overall urban design (Fig. 2.7 Right). When someone flies over a city by plane, the first visual impression is the Fifth Facade of the city, and it becomes the symbol and mark of the city in one’s mind (Xie, 2018). The overall image in terms of controlling and implementation of the project is called ‘the wholesale of Wuhan’, based on the aesthetic elements of the project itself. The overall image is considered in four areas: air (near the airspace), water (waterfront location), mountains (close to mountains), and roads (accessibility to the road system). From an aerial perspective, the first consideration from the elements of the Fifth Façade is the natural landscape (rivers, lakes, and mountains), followed by the road structure, then the building group and architecture texture, the open space and the public space structure. From the perspective of considering the aerotropolis as a ‘window’ showing Wuhan to the world, the first element of the Fifth Facade is also the natural landscape, followed by the buildings, and then the landmark structures combined with public space art and sculpture settings (Fig. 2.8). Based on the results of the overall master planning, the project is designed to control the division and subdivision of different areas in accordance with different functional zones. The controlling is done in the form of a plan guideline (similar to zoning). The results of sub-section controlling are formed to guide the later planning, land transfer and follow-up design and implementation. The distributed controlling elements and methods are put forward according to the architecture, landscape and streets (Table 2.1).

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Fig. 2.8 Simulation of taking off and landing Table 2.1 The distributed controlling elements and methods Controlling elements

Types

Architecture Facade

Landscape

Streets

Space

Color

Material

Texture

Pattern

Urban design

Facade color

Types

Architecture Space pattern

Plant Vertical greening

Roof

Planning Roof color control

Greening Roof types ratio

Roof pattern Trees

Park

Open spaces

Park color

Plants

Greening

Ground landscape

Plants

Greening Open spaces

Landscape color

Plants

Shape

Large-scale landscape

Plants

Greening Planning Landscape control color

Street types

Greening

Greening pattern

Trees

Lights

Planning Color Road Light control temperature materials textures

Combination Street trees

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2.4 Implementation of Planning and Controlling For the overall project, the Wuhan aerotropolis promotes development by strengthening policy support, organizing and leading, rigorous scientific planning. The infrastructure construction helps accelerates transportation and supports airport development by focusing on adjusting the industrial layout and improving industrial structures (Li et al., 2014). The Fifth Facade planning and controlling project attempts to educate the project operator and the planning management departments in the planning and controlling methods in order to incorporate the research results of this project into the planning and management system of the Wuhan aerotropolis. There are three main ways of implementation. (1)

(2)

(3)

In the near future, the project operator and planning management departments should try to integrate the study into planning and construction of new projects and provide a reference for the newly transferred land areas in order to complete the implementation pilot as detailed in this study. In the mid-term of aerotropolis development, a status investigation of the builtup areas should be carried out. The fifth facade planning and controlling study can be used to improve these built-up areas. The most important built areas would be optimized based on the planning and study results. In the long-term of development, the implementation of the study and the logical management of the Wuhan aerotropolis should make the area demonstrative of Fifth Facade planning.

For the construction of the fifth facade in the surrounding areas outside the center planning area of the Wuhan aerotropolis, there are also targeted controlling suggestions and implementation measures listed below. (1)

Strengthen the controlling of the construction and planning of the Fifth Facade of the surrounding areas outside the center planning area. Considering the index control of vertical greening on newly-built buildings, there are several controlling factors. The area of vertical greening of the Fifth Facade for newly-built public buildings shall not be less than 30% of the floor area of the building. The indicator of vertical greening building area for newly-built industrial buildings shall not be less than 20% of the surface area of the building. The design, construction, maintenance, and management of vertical afforestation of various municipal facilities should be synchronized with the construction of municipal facilities. There should be several mandatory afforestation construction measures for vertical greening implementation. Public institutions such as government agencies, public hospitals, and state-owned or held institutions have the responsibility to implement afforestation planning of vertical greening of the Fifth Facade according to the specific requirements and in conjunction with the selection, design and construction arrangements of Fifth Facade planning and controlling. Furthermore, the specific management database needs to be built. Also, daily inspections, supervision mechanisms and regular security inspection systems need to be established accordingly.

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Effective enforcement mechanisms and evaluations need to be established. The project operator should actively join with local planning and management departments to educate people and residents about the planning and controlling of the Fifth Facade. New technologies and materials should be introduced into the construction of the Wuhan aerotropolis. The project operator should encourage enterprises to actively invest into the construction of the Fifth Facade on the basis of the planning guidelines. A community security system for planning and implementation should be built. The project operator should prepare guidelines for the Fifth Facade planning and controlling to guide constructions in the region, to enrich the types of vertical greening and landscapes, to encourage the greening of small and micro scaled vertical greening of small residences and companies, and to organize related open communication events such as design competitions, salons, and forums.

2.5 Summary Located next to Wuhan Tianhe Airport, the Wuhan aerotropolis is the gateway connecting Wuhan with major cities in China and the world. It is a high-altitude, first view for domestic and foreign visitors, showcasing the image of Wuhan. With the gradual implementation of the overall planning and controlling of the Fifth Facade, an excellent ‘business card’ for the image and visual quality of the aerotropolis and Wuhan City would be realized, marketing Wuhan’s urban development. The study helps to establish a precedent for the planning and development of not only the Fifth Facade, but also the planning of new airport and aerotropolises in China and the world. It will effectively enhance the attractiveness and future development of the aerotropolis and Wuhan. Wuhan is both an old city and a modern city, with more than 3,000 years of history and culture. Planning and controlling are important, supporting future development of the city. The study tries to help the Wuhan aerotropolis become a demonstration area in Wuhan City and even in China and the world.

References Ferrulli, P. (2016). Green airport design evaluation (grade)—methods and tools improving infrastructure planning. Transportation Research Procedia, 14(14). Freestone, R., & Wiesel, I. (2014). The making of an Australian airport city. Geographical Research, 52(3). Gao, C. L. (2016). The residence landscape research under the fifth elevation view—Take Chang’an Campus of Northwest University for Example. Bringing it all together: China Urban Planning Society, The Government of Shenyang. In Planning of the 60 Years: Achievements and Challenges: The Paper Compilation of 2016 on China Annual Conference on Urban Planning (p. 12).

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Li, J. (2013). The unignorable fifth elevation of the green building. Urban Residence, 09, 118–119. Li, C. J., Cao, L. J., & Li, C. Y. (2014). An analysis of the issues and solutions over the developing of airport city—Take the development of Wuhan airport city for example. Journal of Hubei Vocational and Technical College, 01, 5–9. Ma, H. S., & Lu, W. (2014). Promote sustainable urban development—advantage study of roof greening. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 3488(641). Marano, T. J. (2014). Airport cities take flight. Airport Business, 28(7). Setting the standard when maximizing the fifth elevation. (2013). Building Engineer, (4), 16–17. Wang, B. (2016). An analysis on the urban fifth elevation. M.A. Thesis. Taiyuan University of Technology. Xie, X. J. (2018). A discuss on the trends of the fifth elevation design. Building Materials and Decoration, 04, 98. Zhang, J. B. (2018). The arrangement of the fifth elevation over urban development. Green Building Materials, 03, 95.

Chapter 3

Station-City Integration: Urban Space Ecological Transformation Research Based on Rail Transit Yang Yue and Jiang Chang

3.1 Introduction Since the 1980s, the major cities of the world have undergone urban transformation, and the features of the urban developments of these cities have gradually appeared to be similar (Newman & Thornley, 2010). The three leading cities, New York, London and Tokyo, are regarded as the global cities. Although they have diverse history, culture, politics and economy, those cities have experienced similar transformations (Sassens, 1991). One of the most notable characteristics of those cities has been sustained by world-class rail transit networks that promote their urban development and transformation. Today the mega-cities face a host of problems such as congestion, pollution, water supply and informal settlements, and their growth is hard to stop under the effect of the urban agglomeration (C. R. Ding et al., 2015). As an efficient means of urban growth, rail transit has been widely built by the metropolises in the world. Over the last several decades, the combination of rail transit and urban regeneration have gained political popularity in Europe and North America, but the transit-oriented urban regeneration projects have gained particular ascendance in Asia (Murkami & Cervero, 2010). In particular, the integrated station-city development of Tokyo plays a decisive role in the evolution and transition of urban spatial structure. The term “metropolitan area,” based on the labor market in an economic sense, can be defined as a metropolitan area that is an urban region substantial population nucleus, together with adjacent neighboring territories that are integrated with the core area. The definition is based on market boundaries and is not an administrative area. Urban rail transit has become the main means to solve the traffic problems and space expansion in big cities, especially in metropolitan areas, and it has become an Y. Yue (B) · J. Chang School of Mechanics & Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, No. 1, Daxue Road, Xuzhou 221116, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_3

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important symbol of modern cities. However, rail transit also has the disadvantages of high initial investment cost, long construction period, and complicated engineering construction. The major planning issue of Tokyo in the twentieth century was to expand and consolidate the urban area to accommodate rapid urban growth. Until the 1960s urban expansion was controlled neither by a strict planning system nor by a greenbelt but by development around railway stations (Okata & Murayam, 2011). Rail transit has two basic functions: one is the traffic function and the other is to optimize and shape the urban spatial structure. The current rail transit construction in China often focuses on its traffic functions instead of exploiting it to shape the urban space. At present, the current conditions of urban development and rail construction in China are limited by both national conditions and lack of systematic theoretical support. Through integrated station-city development mode, Tokyo has formed a highly efficient, intensive compact urban space structure. To be sure, there are many case studies and some incoherent definitions over the decades about the integrated station-city development, but as yeta systematically theoretic framework of stationcity integration has not been proposed. In response to this phenomenon, in order to promote ecological transformation of urban space structure and sustainable development in China, this paper attempts to explore a theoretical framework of station-city integration, design methods and implementation path based on the Chinese national condition by combining Transit Oriented Development (TOD) theory development and typical successful practice cases.

3.2 Literature Review 3.2.1 TOD and Integrated Station-City Development TOD has been a developing concept and its scope extends from suburban communities to urban and regional planning and evolves with the development of the times. The term TOD derived from the pedestrian concept that was originally seen as a new suburban development model to oppose suburban sprawl which was dependent on cars in American metropolitan areas. It also echoed the new urbanism guiding principles which were human scale and walkable, with varied land uses, good public spaces and envisioning traditional neighborhoods with high density around transport stations in American city-regions (Hall, 2002). Since 1993 when Peter Carlthorpe coined the typical model and definition of TOD, this concept has attracted planners and policy makers. TOD is a technological means of urban planning oriented by public transport, advocating compact and mixed land use layout and public space (Li et al., 2015). Its development can be summarized as the following five stages. In the early twentieth century, transport developments were oriented by land developments. After World War II, it embodied the car-oriented land development model. At the beginning of 1990, land developments were influenced by related public transportation. After 1990, land developments were oriented by public transportation. In

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the early twenty-first century, comprehensive urban developments were oriented by transportation (C. Ding et al., 2015). On the other hand, as an urban development mode, today’s TOD concept becomes an effective approach to gathering modern business agglomerations and promoting urban economic developments (Cervero, 1998). The integrated station-city development has been closely associated with TOD. In Japan, the compact city has been regarded as the urban development target and TOD has been seen as an implemented means of urban planning oriented by public transport. This method assumes rail transit station as a center, surrounded by the office buildings, commercial, residential and public service facilities, within walking range in order to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions and promote sustainable urban development. The TOD concept is proposed based on Japan’s rapid economic growth and suburban sprawl in big cities. Its goal centers on the concept of compact city based on the rail transit and its station to form intensive polycentric urban structure.

3.2.2 Researches on the Interaction Between Rail Transit and Urban Structure Under the background of accelerated urbanization and intensive land use, we face the issues and challenges of uncoordinated urban space development and utilization with rail transport construction (Zhu et al., 2011). Rail transit can expand urban space, optimize the urban spatial structure and promote the integration of urban space. The impact of rail transport works mainly in the vicinity of a station by land value increase, land use and intensity change, and nearby environment upgrading (Hui et al., 2014). There is periodic dynamic coupling between urban spatial structure and rail transit networks that can be divided into three stages, namely a mono-centric concentration stage, one dominant core accompanied by multiple sub centers stage, and a polycentric integrated development stage (Wang & Lu, 2013).

3.2.3 Tokyo’s Integrated City-Station Development Model Tokyo is one of the world’s typical metropolises dominated by rail transit and is recognized as the rail kingdom. The population of big cities in Japan grew rapidly twice, before and after the World War II. TOD development was accompanied with the massive population growth and railway construction. The first population growth concentrated on the development of light industry from 1920 to 1935. In this period Japanese railway construction induced the development of urbanization and the urban spaces expanded to the suburb. It was a new life pattern where people worked in the urban center and lived in the suburb. The second short-term rapid population growth centered on the development of heavy industry from 1955 to 1970. During

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the period of rapid rail transit network growth, Tokyo was basically transformed into a polycentric urban spatial structure around a central loop. The terminal rail transit stations, such as Shinjuku, Shibuya and Nakano, have become famous Sub-CBDs of Tokyo. Residential development was grown along the railway to accommodate the exploding population (Takashi & Takayuki, 2016). In Japan, the Integrated Station-City Development model is regarded as an effective urban real estate development model. It centers on synergy of rail transit construction and urban development. It has formed the compact city surrounded by the rail stations within walking distance of about 800 m. Based on this model, Tokyo has become a metropolitan area centered on Tokyo, with 37 million people contained within a radius about 70 km from the center. It can be divided into two modes for the development of the station. The Model A was the high composite and agglomeration development mode centered on the hub station, while Model B was the development along the line of track construction. Model A was more applicable to the station in the center of the city and traffic hub, and these sites tend to form the station business district, commercial street, the business district, and the mall will attract more people. The development of rail transit tended to radiate out to the outskirts of the city. Under these circumstances, Model B, which was railway construction mode parallel to land development, was proposed. Both models focus on rail transit construction and cityreal estate. At the same time, these two modes are not independent, but are combined to make the construction of rail transit and urban development achieve multiplication effect (Nikken Sekkei ISCD Study Team, 2014).

3.3 Mechanism of Station-City Integration in Metropolitan Areas 3.3.1 Comparison Among New York, London and Tokyo Metropolitan Rail Transit Tokyo Metropolitan Area (TMA) which covers 13351 km2 . It consists of an administrative area of 23 wards, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture and Kanagawa Prefecture and its population was about 37 million (C. R. Ding, 2015). Its area was less than one third than that of New York, but Tokyo’s population was about 1.5 times larger than New York, meaning that its population density is 4.5 times higher (Hirooka, 2000). In order to make effective comparison, the metropolitan areas were divided into four zones (Yang & Han, 2000). From the inside to the outside, namely zone 1, zone 2, zone 3 and zone 4: zone 1 refers to urban central areas, zone 2 refers to the secondary center of the city, zone 3 refers to the surrounding areas of the city, and zone 4 refers to the urban commuting areas. Zone 1 and zone 2 are integrated into urban areas, which are surrounded by the peri-urban areas, and four zones form the metropolitan areas (Yang & Han, 2000). Table 3.1 shows the urban areas and population in selected cities around the world. Table 3.2 shows the zoning residen-

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Table 3.1 Urban areas and population among New York, London and Tokyo

Source Authors, based on information from Yang and Han (2000)

tial and job density in the selected cities. On the base of the division, as is shown in the Tables 3.1 and 3.2, New York is at the top of residential and job density in city center areas. Tokyo’s residential density is at the bottom and the job density is the second in city center areas among the three international metropolises. The result shows that New York urban spatial structure in the center is more agglomerated and compact, matching its role as the first powerful economy in the world. There is one feature that the area of different cities from big to small in city centers (Zone 1) is, Tokyo 42 km2 , London 27 km2 , New York 23 km2 , while the residential of Tokyo in this area is the smallest and less than half of New York. In addition, Table 3.2 shows that Tokyo’s residential population is the largest in zone 4, which is relative to the rail transit space structure. Most important is that zone 4 accommodates the largest resident population of Tokyo, which results in separation between jobs and residential locations. In addition, zone 4 occupies more land to accommodate the residents. So the expansion of the metropolis has been the common challenge for most metropolises in the world.

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Table 3.2 The zoning residential and jobs density among New York, London and Tokyo

Source Authors, based on information from Yang and Han (2000)

For centuries, New York City has been the largest city in the USA. Since the 1960s, it has become the world’s finance center. Its urban spatial structure is a vertical city and becomes the object that the other international cities around the world could emulate. In 1863, London had opened the world’s first underground railway. Inspired by this example, New York opened the first elevated rail line because it was cheaper to construct than underground railway. From the 1880s to 1890s, a network of elevated rail was basically formed, which strengthened New York’s economy and connection of five boroughs. In 1898, New York expanded beyond Manhattan Island and became a consolidated city, gathering Manhattan and four other boroughs—the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn—into one common city structure with a population of 3.4 million. New York’s advantages of economy and population were further strengthened six years later with the opening of the New York City Subway. In the early nineteenth century, New York’s growth was driven by the rise of manufacturing in the city. In the mid-twentieth century technological changes challenged the city. The development of automobiles enabled the population to disperse from city centers to outlying areas. In order to eliminate the urban sprawl, the Regional Plan

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Association (RPA) presented the second metropolitan area planning which centered on building polycentric urban, offering varied residential properties and matching transportation. The remarkable thing about New York was its vertical urban forms resulted from agglomeration of economy, population and geographic determinism. According to the general analysis above, we have a basic comprehensive understanding about three metropolises. Their urban spatial structure and forms are related to their urban forms and land use mode. The following three questions will be regarded as a holistic thinking framework. First, we need to consider urban planning in multidimensional methods because the research result may be different from different dimensions, even contrary. From the urban central area perspective, New York is the densest urban central area among the three metropolises, especially in its residential density which was beyond 3.5 times more than Tokyo and about 3.6 times more than London (Table 3.2). New York rail station density was about 3.2 times more than Tokyo and about two times more than London (Table 3.3). In other words, New York’s vertical intensive urban form has been sustained by the high density of rail stations. Second, if there is no holistic vision, it is difficult to understand why some projects fail near rail transit, while others succeed. The integrated stationcity development as an effective urban development tool should meet with success entailing the support of a master plan, land use adjustment and legislation. In Tokyo, it has been implemented successfully under the master plan, land use plan and legislation. The overall effect of station-city integration can hardly be achieved without the master planning to support it. Third, why do some hold that integrated station-city development in Tokyo may not be appropriated to China, while others insist that it is an effective way to improve the metropolis in China. The station-city integration as a holistic planning concept and method, when combined with specific urban conditions, has already achieved sustainable urban development in many international metropolises such as Tokyo, Hong Kong and New York. Therefore, the synchronization of station-city integration becomes an urgent task that Chinese metropolises face at present.

3.3.2 Analysis on Tokyo’s Urban Spatial Transformation Tokyo’s urban space growth was directly related to three processes of rapid urbanization, and the urban spatial evolution of Tokyo has experienced four phases. Before 1920, the urban space grew naturally accompanied by linear railway construction and some small-scale development spread over sub-urban areas along the railway. From 1920 to 1935, Tokyo’s urban spatial structure was characterized by a single center. The trunk line of rail transit began to form the central district and the branch line extended to the suburb of the city. In this period, the rail transit network was basically formed; Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Ikebukuro, the three sub-centers, began to develop. In another words, the combination of the trunk and the branch formed the backbone of Tokyo. From 1935 to 1950, with the second rapid urbanization, the urban space of Tokyo extended dramatically and formed a hierarchical urban spatial

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structure, which is a dominant center accompanied by three sub-centers. Until the 1960s, Japan was still an agricultural country with more than half of the population living in rural areas. In the 1960s, the post-war baby boomers migrated from rural areas and small areas and small towns to large cities such as Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. From 1950 to 1995, Tokyo evolved into a multi-center spatial structure. From the view of an urban planning scope, urban expansion is not so obvious and the urban development has entered a new stage of intensive stock development. After Japan entered the post-industrial stage, the transformation of Tokyo’s urban spatial structure was dominated by the urban renewal project which is characterized by the integrated station-city development (Fig. 3.1). According to the available data, famous international metropolitan areas such as New York, London and Tokyo, have undergone a similar process of urban spatial Table 3.3 The length and station density among New York, London and Tokyo

(continued)

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Table 3.3 (continued)

(continued)

structural transformation. The remarkable feature of this transformation is that the urban spatial structure evolves from the mono-centric to the polycentric structure, and the urban agglomeration form of the hard core in the urban center area appears. This process can be divided into the following three stages (Xue et al., 2017). Since the early twentieth century to the 1960s, the urban development stage was marked by the mono-centric agglomeration. Since the Industrial Revolution, the industrial development under the support of rail transit shifted a large scale of population and resources to cites. In this period, the urban industrial structure is dominated by the secondary industry. The form of urban space is a single-center structure, and the urban center is located at the intersection of the main traffic lines. Rail transit

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Table 3.3 (continued)

Source Authors, based on information from Yang and Han (2000)

plays an important role in expanding urban space, with the center and the traffic node connected in this stage. From the 1960s to the 1990s, the urban structure evolved into a multi-level multicenter city development stage. With the development of globalization, informationization and urbanization, the industrial structure of each metropolitan area began to adjust, and the tertiary industry has formed the leading industry of the city. On the one hand, the scale of the metropolis has continued to expand and its center location has became more concentrated and derived from greater agglomeration economies. On the other hand, the mono-centric spatial pattern in metropolitan areas caused serious urban problems such as an overcrowded urban central area, traffic congestion and urban sprawl. Under the circumstances, the real estate soared in the center

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Fig. 3.1 Evolution of urban rail networks and urban space of Tokyo. Source Authors, based on information from Hirooka (2000)

area and some urban center industry began to spill over to agglomerate around the urban center. Around the center, the location with the high traffic accessibility often formed sub-centers because it could share the existing public facilities and resources. In the case of Tokyo, several terminal stations of the Yamanote loop have grown into sub-centers with global influence, such as Shinjuku sub-centre, Shibuya sub-centre and Ikebukuro sub-centre, which have been regarded as the terminal link to the suburban area. Furthermore, these terminals are connected with each other through the loop (Yamanote loop) that forms the synergistic development of the sub-center. In short, the rail transit mainly exerted an influence on improving the urban spatial structure and promoting the forming of sub-centers. Since the 1990s, metropolises have experienced the integrated polycentric metropolitan development stage. In this stage, the increasing urbanization, accompanied by large-scale globalization and informatization, not only enlarges the city scale but causes the growth of urban structure in metropolises of the world such as New York, London and Tokyo. Meanwhile, with the mass construction of rail transit, the cluster effect of the urban center is further strengthened to deal with the competition for global cities and regional cities in attracting foreign direct investments and

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qualified workers. With the increasing demand of rail transit, the construction of rail transit networks is accelerated. The trunk line network constituted the basic framework of the urban spatial structure of Tokyo and the continuous infill lines integrated the sub center with the main center. Integration of rail station and city space reflects the hierarchical nature of city system. The station vicinity has a major impact on the urban space. The integrated development of rail transit station and urban station domain has become one of the characteristics of urban spatial structure transformation. Take Shinjuku terminal station for example—it is the traffic hub of Tokyo, no less than 11 rail lines intersect at this place. It is surrounded by commercial, office buildings, hotels and other public buildings which are connected by complex pedestrian systems and urban spaces.

3.3.3 Mechanism of Station-City Integration in Metropolitan Areas Rail transit construction and urban space development influence each other and form a common development structure. The coordinated development is determined by the nature of city. The integration of rail transit station and city is the response to the nature of the city. As an agglomeration space of humans for production and life, the city consists of two main processes: the dynamic process of agglomeration/polarization, and the development and evolution of the relationship among the location, land use and human interactions. Urbanization is the product of economic development, division of labor, commerce and economic agglomeration. That is to say, the agglomeration produces the efficiency of the city (Scott & Storper, 2014). Rail transit can strengthen the dynamic process of agglomeration. However, influenced by the level of economic development, the stage of urban development and the level of cognition, the coordination of the integration of city can be divided into two stages: on the one hand, one side adapts to the other side and gradually achieves the synergistic development. When the development of the two is not coordinated, one side lags behind and under the influence of the urban feedback cycle mechanism, the priority party drives the backward side to evolve and finally realizes the coordination. The transformation of metropolis is the result of intertwining among globalization, informatization and urbanization. Globalization has promoted the establishment of the world city system, the formation of global cities, and distribution of resources in the world. Informatization makes it possible for enterprises to disperse (Sassen, 1991). The formation of the modern metropolises is based on the agglomeration of industry first. Industrial agglomeration attracts people and promotes the formation of the modern metropolis. Sub centers can be divided into two main types: Sub-CBD and industrial new town. The sub-CBD has been featured by the main agglomeration of producer service, such as Shibuya and Shinjuku (Li & Hou, 2011). While the industrial new town has been mainly marked by agglomeration of industry, the

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industrial agglomeration in Tokyo is hierarchical, which is characterized by the circle structure of the industry and the service industry. Several sub-CBDs, such as Shibuya and Shinjuku, have been connected by the loop which strengthens the connection between them (Fig. 3.2).

Fig. 3.2 Sub centers on the Yamanote loop. Source Authors, based on information from Newman and Thornley (2010)

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3.4 The Theoretical Framework of Station-City Integration 3.4.1 The Connotation and the Characteristics of Station-City The basic definition of station-city integration is the precondition to build the theoretical framework and explore the mechanism of synergy between station and city. The interaction between rail transit and cities is referred to as the common development structure by a Japanese scholar, Tsutomu Doi. From the ecological point of view, the common development refers to the realization of sustainable development under the interdependence of living things through the continuous interaction between rail transit and cities to promote urban comprehensive developing in spirals. The integration of station-city can be briefly described as commercial, office, residential and public space and public facilities with the rail transit station as the center and the structure of urban development arranged according to the ecological niche within the walking range. In Japan, the essence of compact city is to make use of less land to acquire more urban space to carry more high-quality urban life. Its basic concept is not only the efficiency of urban activities, but also the pursuit of high quality urban work and life. As one type of urban development strategy, compact city is endowed with the dual mission of improving urban operation efficiency and quality of life. From the social and economic point of view, the implementation of integrated station-city is based on the overall framework of the city. As a mode of public transportation, rail transit is beneficial to the common development of city and rail transit stations. Common development means that rail transit and cities depend on each other to achieve sustainable developing in spirals. The fundamental connotation of station-city integration means that rail transit and urban space is integrated into a holistic dynamic system in which they influence each other and promote each other to have a high degree of uniformity. In that way, the efficient flow and allocation of urban resources can be realized through multi-scale connection; thus the sustainable development of the city as a whole can be promoted. The characteristics of station-city integration can be summed up as follows. From the city level, the urban spatial agglomeration structure is formed under the framework of rail transit work. Its formation process is featured by continuity and periodicity. The evaluation of the urban spatial structure can be described by three aspects: simple growth, distribution growth and structure growth (Gu et al., 2000). Simple growth can be regarded as the growth of urban scale with population and construction land growth as the main characteristics; distribution growth, as an embodiment of evaluation of city development, refers to the change of urban components of city; while structure growth is manifest by the changes and influences of various relationships between cities. It is the product of the city’s development to a certain stage. From the view of rail transit station spatial level, Tokyo’s urban spatial structure is a compact city formed within 800 m walking range with the rail transit station as the center. Within the radius of 30 m, the rail transit station is mainly composed of public

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space and public facilities, such as traffic nucleus and city square, in order to ensure the effective connection and distribution of the flow of people. The commercial service is mainly in the core area of 200–300 m of the rail transit station and is characterized by high density development in this area. Within a radius of 500 m, the rail transit station is the residential area in medium and low intensity. The area of the rail transit station is developed at a relatively low intensity beyond the radius of 500 m. According to the principle of least effort in organizing one’s own life, one tries to reduce the amount of labor, including the movement of distance; thus minimizing displacement is a fundamental principle in the principle of minimum effort. Based on the principle, the development of the rail transit site shows the structure of the spatial circle. In the rail transit station with the radius of less than 30 m, in order to ensure the concentration and evacuation of people, the main public spaces are the traffic core and the square.

3.4.2 System Structure of Station-City Integration The system we are studying is not a real world, but an effective way to understand the components of the system and how it forms an organic whole. The definition of a system depends on the design purpose of the system (McLoughlin, 1969).

3.4.2.1

Elements and Structure of System

According to above research results, the elements of station-city integration can be summarized as follows. • Core elements: urban industry, population, urban functional space, land use. • Basic elements: human activities, communications, rail transit, rail station. • Auxiliary elements: political and economic system, social and cultural space, urban hinterland. • Limiting elements: city environment. The above elements are connected as a whole structure system through the transportation system. The station-city integration is shown in the following four aspects (Fig. 3.3). • • • •

The structure integration of rail station and city space. The function integration of rail station and city space. The environment of integration of rail station and city space. The continued development of station-city.

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Fig. 3.3 The concept framework of station-city integration. Source Authors

3.4.2.2

System of Station-City Integration

As a complex adaptive system, the station-city integration is featured by its opening characteristic of the system. Cities interact with their external environments and subsystems. Changes in one of the factors in the system may have an impact on other factors or on the urban system as a whole. Urban traffic has always been one of the main functions of the city (McLoughlin, 1969). As one type of advanced public transportation facilities and public products, rail transit has an irreplaceable effect on urban spatial structure and traffic structure. The structure of station-city integration echoes the process of city growth (Fig. 3.4). Rail transit has two basic functions: one is the traffic function and the other shapes the urban spatial structure. The agglomeration of industries and population forms a unified labor market. The stable development of the labor market entails various types of infrastructure to consolidate the process of agglomeration. Rail transit infrastructure makes it possible for extending the urban space to accommodate the city’s rapid population growth. Meanwhile, one of the central features of the metropolisis the efficiency-generating quality generated through agglomeration, which is limited to the daily travel-time budgets normally within one hour of the inhabitants and environmental carrying capacity. Compared with automobiles, rail transit, as a public tool, has the advantages of speediness, efficiency, punctuality and low energy consumption. Therefore, the international metropolises, such as New York, London and Tokyo, have adopted rail transit to consolidate its metropolitan area to guide industrial agglomeration and spur economic development. The urban spatial

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Fig. 3.4 The relationship & mechanism between rail transit and city spatial structure. Source Authors

structure, which is based on the rail transit configuration, also echoes its agglomeration and distribution under the context of diverse economic, social and political phenomena. With the three participants of government, enterprise, and resident interwork, the evolution of the cities restricted by the environment is promoted.

3.4.3 The Holistic Planning Methods and Strategies Holistic Design was originally proposed for the segmentation of urban planning and architectural design, aiming to realize the integration of urban spatial form and function. From the ecological point of view, the overall design with its core idea embodied in the building environment and city environment as a whole has been put

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forward. The holistic planning, which is based on the holistic thinking mode, is to view the relationship between rail transit and urban spatial structure. Urban spatial agglomeration is the external manifestation of urban industrial agglomeration. From a social equity perspective, the gap between the rich and the poor is not caused by agglomeration but by an unequal access to scarce resources. As an efficient public transportation, rail transit has a unique advantage—it enables every person to share mature job markets and public resources. From the ecology perspective, rail transit is a specific approach to urban–rural coordinated planning in a metropolis area, for it can lead surplus labor in a village to urban agglomeration, to realize the matching between population and region economic output, and then achieving a balanced GDP per capital. City development is a process of gradual evolution which is restricted by land use, traffic and information transmission. Because land use and traffic mode depend on each other, it is difficult to predicate the land use pattern after 20 years, and to calculate the land use according to the traffic volume. Land use tends to be adjusted according to actual accessibility. However, if we look at the city as a dynamic system, we can find the fundamental regulation of urban evolution and propose corresponding planning. The city is always regarded as a dynamic system affected by many factors, so the planning of the city must be adapted to the dynamic programming. The basic form of planning should be expressed in a series of time intervals, such as five-year planning. Planning is a necessary description of how we expect the city to evolve. The combination of land use and contact shows the direction of urban development and its realization. Urban Development is affected by the feedback mechanism between the actual situation and the expected goal (McLoughlin, 1969). The holistic planning method also centers on the accessibility description from multi-dimension analysis. Cervero (2005) regards accessibility as a product of mobility and proximity, which is enhanced by increasing the speed of point A and Point B (mobility), or by bringing point A and B closer (proximity). The holistic planning for station-city integration is a method not only helpful for mobility but also helpful for proximity from multi-dimension analysis. For example, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government 2001 master plan (Fig. 3.5) plots the Tokyo Metropolis area into five districts: center core, bay waterfront belt, living environment belt, outer core interaction belt and natural environments belt (Cervero and Murkami, 2010). The five districts are integrated into a whole metropolis by multi-modal transportation, especially through the world-class railway network. At the local level, Tokyo will move forward with master planning to realize the integrated station-city development and become more compact, but from the perspective of the metropolitan area, the living environment district is somewhere between the center core district and the outer core interaction district. This makes the living environment area close to the central core area and the outer core area simultaneously. Because the “commercial core city” is proposed by the outer core interaction area, it makes the employment-life balance come true from the metropolitan area level. As the structure of metropolitan area, Tokyo will integrate society and economy, pursue the basic idea of “circular metropolis structure” and “create attractive, prosperous and environment leading city” (Bureau of Urban Development Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 2013). From

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Fig. 3.5 Five planning zones in Tokyo’s mega belt structure. Source Authors, based on information from Cervero and Murkami (2010)

an ecological point of view, Mcharg insists that the ecological planning approach is holistic. Planners should choose a location with the least advantage, rather than an environment of choice, according to their own costs. The best transportation route is the one that provides maximum social benefit and minimal social cost through comprehensive mapping—that is to say, the ecological planning and design method are adopted to make the decision. The concept of a land use planning system in Japan is derived from Mcharg’s composite map which includes a wide range of measures in different dimensions, such as a city planning area consisting of district plans, other zones and districts, land use zones, and city plan area which includes an urban control area (UCA).

3.5 China’s Path of Station-City Integration As a public police tool, urban planning is the spatial allocation of urban land, infrastructure and other strategic resources. Reasonable and proactive urban planning can deal with the challenges of urban development and improve the transition of urban economy, society and ecology (Tang & Wang, 2013). It is difficult to achieve the integration of rail transit construction and urban development because they are controlled and affected by complex factors such as lacking perfect related legal system and/or tight schedule of rail transit construction. In view of this, this article puts forward the following aspects of the strategic recommendations.

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3.5.1 Establishment the Relevant Planning System and Legal System At present, the scale of cities in our country is expanding rapidly, the construction of new cities is swift and violent, and the transformation of old cities is everywhere (Lu, 2012). However, in the practice of urban development, it is often revealed that the current planning permission and management mechanism are not suitable for the integrated development of station and city. It is mainly in two aspects: related spatial planning system and legal system. To avoid obstacles caused by the incoordination, Japan implemented a series of reforms. In January 6, 2001, the former Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Construction, and the National Land Agency were merged into the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), which is formed to realize the coordination and coherence of traffic and urban functions. The Urban Renewal Law of 2012 was introduced to improve public infrastructure, deregulate land-use, and stimulate private investment through government subsidies in Japan. The national urban regeneration policy has been thoroughly implemented at the local level through the combination of rail transit guidance policy (Cervero & Murkami, 2010). On the one hand, public polices and laws should be established in line with the development of the city and the station. On the other hand, something needs to be done in the overall coordinated planning system. Moreover, the infrastructure effect includes flow effect and stock effect. Therefore, the establishment of interdepartmental coordination mechanisms in China is a necessary way to realize the integration of city and station.

3.5.2 Realization of the Coupling Between Rail Transit Station and Urban Spatial Nodes Urban rail transit stations, high-speed railway stations and other transport hubs have played a key role in linking urban functional groups. At the regional level, the construction of high-speed railway improves intercity accessibility and also promotes the further concentration of population, resources and economic factors in cityregion. At the city level, there are two types of transit, namely urban rail transit and commuter rail. The urban rail transit consolidates the existing urban center, the sub center, and the commuter rail integrates industry center and residential center. Urban rail transits can be divided into two types: the trunk rail and the infill rail. The trunk rail networks shape the urban spatial structure, while the infill rail plays the role of urban catalyst to promote the renewal of the old city.

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3.5.3 Strategies for Urban Space Ecological Transformation of China Urban economic growth needs to emphasize creativity and innovation and to strengthen environmental, social and cultural facilities of the city. The link between transport and urban form is the core of eco-city, involved with the compact, mixeduse urban form, well-defined high-density, human-oriented, development priority and the protection of natural areas (Kenworthy, 2006). Based on the analysis of Tokyo’s development, Tokyo’s metropolitan development shows a similar path to that of New York and London. That means the urban agglomeration is the result of industrial and economic agglomeration. Beijing, Shanghai and other international cities face severe challenges from global and regional cities. There is urgency in realizing the transformation of urban space economy and environment. The integration of rail transit station and city space is the response to the essence of the city and forms the basic framework for the sustainable development of the city. In order to realize the sustainable development of big cities, we need to understand agglomeration from the urban regional level. On the one hand, the network of rail transit forms the skeleton of urban development which greatly reduces the time and the distance. On the other hand, as an effective way of urban redevelopment, the integrated station-city development is centered on the rail station and is distributed within the walking distance, which can improve the efficiency and accessibility of urban resources. Station-city integration is not only a specific implementation plan, but also a comprehensive urban planning strategy which is based on a multi-scale analysis. First, from the perspective of the urban-regional level, with the construction of rail transit gradually forming the framework of urban development, the integration of station-city links the main functional areas of the city into a whole and improves the mobility of the city. Rail transit becomes the link between urban space and industrial space, and realizes the transformation of urban industry through the integration of industry and city. Second, from the point of view of rail transit station area, the integrated station-city development is an effective way to regenerate the urban space. This form of urban regeneration combines different types of projects to form a mixed use of land, to maintain a good high density and shape people-oriented urban space, and so on. And the integrated station-city development is conducive to the promotion of urban industrial upgrading and occupation-housing balance. Last, but not the least, whether rail transit can shape the urban spatial structure and realize the transformation of urban spatial ecology or not is dependent on the countermeasures adopted by the city. The integration of Tokyo station and city has been developed for more than one hundred years, and its urban spatial structure has undergone three major transformations. In the process of recent transformation, the integrated station-city development has played a decisive role in the ecological transformation of the whole city space, and a series of the urban renewal laws have been issued one after another to provide the legal guarantee for the implementation of the integrative development of the station and the city. Based on the framework of urban spatial structure formed by rail transit network, and taking the overall development of the city as the

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goal, the integrative development project of station and city is efficiently allocated within the walking range of the urban rail transit station as a social, economic and environmental project. With good high density, mixed use of land, the integration of green public space as a prominent feature, Tokyo consists of not only urban central areas covered by primeval forests and islands. The Tokyo metropolitan government is parallel with the urban development (Tokyo’s environmental policy, 2017). It is a holistic approach to protect and restore urban green space.

3.6 Conclusion With the acceleration of urbanization and globalization in our country, the scale of big cities expands rapidly, the old cities are reformed frequently, and the construction scale of rail transit expands constantly. This is the key period to adjust the land use mode and urban structure. However, due to incoordination of urban development and rail transit construction, resident dependence on automobiles shows an increasing trend, which further aggravates urban traffic congestion and environmental pollution. As a public good, the rail transit with double functions provides public transportation service and shapes the urban spatial structure through positive externalities. However, if the ability to shape urban space really depends on how the city responds to it, the development of Tokyo rail transit has gone through more than one hundred years and the urban spatial structure has undergone three major transformations. In the process of recent transformation, the integrated station-city development has played a decisive role in the ecological transformation of the whole city space and a series of the urban renewal laws have been issued one after another to provide the legal guarantee for the implementation of the integrative development of the station and the city. Based on the framework of urban spatial structure formed by rail transit network, and taking the overall development of the city as the goal, the integrative development project of station and city is efficiently allocated within the walking range of the urban rail transit station as a social, economic and environmental project. With good high density, mixed use of land, the integration of green public space as a prominent feature, the rail transit network is characterized by space–time compression. The rail transit station connects the rail transit network with the urban space formed by updated urban projects. In addition, integrated station-city development makes the urban renewal projects accessible. Therefore, the development of big cities should pay more attention to the station-city integration mode. As a compact urban form, the urban form guided by rail transit, station and city integration mode is not only a development mode of integrating public transport with urban space, but also a way to promote urban vitality according to three aspects—economy, society and environment—and to promote overall urban ecological transformation through the integration of urban public space and infrastructure.

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References Bureau of Urban Development Tokyo Metropolitan Government. (2013). Urban Development in Tokyo. http://www.toshiseibi.metro.tokyo.jp/pamphlet/pdf/udt2013english.pdf Cervero, R. (1998). The transit Metropolis: A global inquiry. Island Press. Cervero, R. (2005). Accessible cities and regions: A framework for sustainable Transport and urbanism in the 21st century. Cervero, R., & Murkami, J. (2010). Rail+Property Development: A model of sustainable transit finance and urbanism. Working paper 125. Ding, C. R. (2015). Growth of world megacities: Trend, challenge, growth policy, and effectiveness. China Building Industry Press. Ding, C. R., et al. (2015). Megacities in the world: Growth, challenges, and appreciation. Urban Planning International, 3, 1–13. Ding, C., et al. (2015). An analysis on the background and evolution of transit-oriented development in the USA. City Planning Review, 39(5), 89–96. Gu, C., et al. (2000). Agglomeration and diffusion: A new theory of urban spatial structure. Southeast University Press. Hall, P. (2002). Urban and regional planning. Four ends. Routledge. Hirooka, H. (2000). The development of Tokyo’s rail network. Japan Railway & Transport Review, 23(5), 22–31. Hu, X., et al. (2014). Rail stations and urban centers coupling planning. The Planner, 30(1), 116–120. Kenworthy, J. R. (2006). The eco-city: Ten key transport and planning dimensions for sustainable city development. Environment and Urbanization, 18(1), 67–85. Li, X., & Hou, J. (2011). Spatial organization of industry in Sub-CBD: A case study on Shinjuku district in Tokyo Metropolitan. Modern Urban Research, 2, 71–77. Li, T., et al. (2015). Evolving TOD Concept and its sinicization. Urban Planning International 30(3), 72–77. Lu, H. (2012). Analysis of existing urban transport problems and countermeasures proposal. Urban and Rural Planning, 2, 38–41. McLoughlin, J. B. (1969). Urban and regional planning: a systems approach . Faber and Faber. Murkami, J., & Cervero, R. (2010). The transit-oriented global centers for competitiveness and livability state strategies and market responses in Asia. Newman, P., & Thornley, A. (2010). Planning world cities: Globalization and urban politics (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. Nikken Sekkei ISCD Study Team. (2014). Integrated station-city development: The next advances of TOD. China Building Industry Press. Okata, J., & Murayam, A. (2011). Tokyo’s Urban Growth Urban Form and Sustainability. Springer Japan, 10, 15–40. Sassen, S. (1991). The global city. Princeton University Press. Scott, A. J., & Storper, M. (2014). The nature of cities: The scope and limits of urban theory. International Journal of Urban and Region Research, 1–16. Takashi, Y., & Takayuki, K. (2016). Transit-oriented development (H. Lu, Trans.). China Building Industry Press.

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Tang, Z., & Wang, L. (2013). Planning and institution of urban transition: A reflection of international experience. Tokyo Metropolitan Government. (2017). Creating a sustainable city: Tokyo’s environmental policy. http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/english/about/environmental_policy/index.html Wang, W., & Lu, H. (2013). Research on the coupling of metropolis circle Rail Transit and the Spatial System. Urban Development Studies, 20(4), 112–118. Xue, M., et al. (2017). The evolution of Shanghai traffic development policy (pp. 40–43). Tongji University Press. Yang, D., & Han, H. (2000). A study on metropolitan rail transit and transportation structure. Urban Mass Transition, 4, 10–15. Zhu, L., et al. (2011) Research of urban underground space planning led by core ideas of TOD. Urban and Rural Planning, 5, 75–82.

Chapter 4

Overview of the Research Progress of TOD at Home and Abroad—Based on the Visual Analysis into Citespace Software Xuan Zhuo, Jiang Chang, and Yuanyuan Deng

4.1 Introduction The urbanization started late in China. But under the background of favorable macroeconomic environment and forwarded national urbanization policy, the process of urbanization in China is extremely rapid. With the acceleration of urbanization process, the degree of motorization in China is increasing rapidly. The scale of using private cars has been expanded continuously. Accelerating urbanization and motorization has demonstrated the prosperity of China’s economy and remarkable improvement of people’s living standards. But the potential problem behind this situation should not be underestimated. A good deal of rapid in burst of non-agricultural population into city brought by accelerating urbanization makes the population beyond the carrying capacity of social resources for the city, which leads to a series of urban problems. Unreasonable urban spatial structure and form is one of the problems for disorderly expansion of urban land brought by wasting of land resources. The increase in motorization makes “the car disease”, quietly spread. The traffic congestion situation in first-tier and second-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen is extremely severe. Even worse, the exhaust gas emissions of private cars also affect the urban environment. Faced with the current situation, people attempt to seek for a new type of urban development model to solve the existing contradictions. In foreign countries, typical metropolis such as Singapore and Paris adopt a TOD (Transit Oriented Development) model based on public transport (rail transit). These countries realized the importance of the leading role of public transport (rail transit) for urban spatial structure and urban morphological evolution. In China, the guiding role public transport play in land utilization has also been recognized. Guiding Ideas for Priority Development X. Zhuo (B) Xuzhhou Tianheng Engineering Consulting Co. Ltd., Jiangsu, China J. Chang · Y. Deng School of Architecture & Design, China University of Mining and Technology, Jiangsu, China © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_4

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of Public Transport in City issued by the State Council in 2013 advocates planning pattern of the rail transit support and guiding the development of the city. It requires that governments must plan as a whole the city space layout, function zoning, land utilization and traffic demand when compiling and adjusting urban overall planning, land planning and control planning to improve leading ability of public transport to the urban development. It can be predicted that many large cities will make rail transit guide urban morphology and land use structure. Under this background, this essay attempts to sort out and analyze the knowledge structure and vein of TOD research literature at home and abroad in 1998–2017 through literature researches. Compared with the research status at home and abroad, inadequacy is found to provide enlightenment and reference for making further theoretical and empirical researches in relevant fields.

4.2 Data Collection and Analysis Method 4.2.1 Data Sources and Collection Based on the study of the web of science (WOS) core database, this paper uses the CiteSpace V software to search for the “transit-supportive development”, “transitfriendly design”, “transit-oriented development” as the theme of 259 English articles on TOD as the analyzed data. At the same time, for the domestic research, this paper selects the CNKI database, with the “transit-Oriented development” as the key word to remove the irrelevant documents, getting 432 Chinese articles as the analyzed data. The time span of both domestic and foreign research is 1998–2017.

4.2.2 Research Methods CiteSpace is a kind of information visualization software developed by JAVA language. It is mainly based on cocitation analysis and pathfinder network scaling (PF-NET). It is based on the specific field literature (collection) Measurement, Citespace can find key nodes to draw the knowledge map, in order to realize the visualization of information analysis. The knowledge map can display the development trends of a discipline or knowledge domain in a certain period and form several evolution process of research frontier (Chen et al., 2005). The software depicts the knowledge map using different colors to reflect the time period that the various knowledge nodes appear and contact. Among them, the nodal concentric structure of the node reflects the appearance of nodes (representing cocitation references and research of brust or keywords appearing in the documents) at different times. The size of each concentric circle reflects the number of nodes, if it’s large, the circle is big. The node with a purple frame is considered to change

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the research direction or lead to a large number of scholars focusing on the sudden node, which need to focus on. The connection of the different colors between the nodes reflects the age at which the nodes are associated, and the thickness of the connection reflects the size of the association between the two.

4.3 Overview of Literature Research 4.3.1 Issued Number Change in literature number over the year reflects theoretical level and development speed of academic research in this field. Overall situation of the issued literature shows the research number in this field basically presenting growing state. In 1998, there have been experts and scholars who began their researches, but there are few. Since 2006, foreign relevant researches increased, afterward, they have been presenting stable slight fluctuation (Fig. 4.1). Domestic researches began late, and they have grown since 2006, and present characteristic of wave mode changes. Contrasting the changes between domestic and foreign issued literature tendency, there are findings below (Fig. 4.2). First, TOD research originated from foreign country, but there is few researches in this field in foreign country. Second, domestic early TOD research originated from the introduction of foreign ideas, there are few for early researches. They grew since 2006. The growth may be linked with reality factors such as great mass fervor of rail transit construction and stock planning.

Fig. 4.1 Changes in the number of published articles in TOD based on WOS

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Fig. 4.2 Changes in the number of published articles in TOD based on CNKI

4.3.2 Characteristics of Regional Distribution The regional distribution of the published articles can respond the hot areas of the “transit-oriented development” intuitively. It can be found that the foreign study of this topic is concentrated in the United States, European countries and Oceania countries. The US has the earliest and the most amount of related researches (Figs. 4.3 and 4.4). The concept of “transport-oriented development” (TOD) originated in the United States in the 1980s, which is closely related to the development of the United States. After World War II, the US economic has been recovering and showing a good momentum of development. At that time, the auto industry in US matures, private transportation has become the most important way of urban transport (Ma, 2003). And the car-led traffic model is accompanied by the continuous expansion of the urban scale, the decreasing density of urban land use. Until the end of the twentieth century, the urban decline in the United States brought about by the decline of the central area, and urban problems like traffic congestion, environmental pollution become increasingly serious. However, TOD as a new model of urban planning advocates urban public transport as the main way to promote urban land use development intensively and orderly and restrain urban sprawl, which has received recent attention. Therefore, the research of this theme in the United States is more inclined to the revival of the urban central area under the influence of TOD, the compactness of urban spatial structure and the change of urban land use efficiency. From the color

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Fig. 4.3 The number of documents in different areas of WOS database

Fig. 4.4 Knowledge map by the regional distribution of documents

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of the ring on the knowledge map can be seen, the concern of TOD in other foreign countries occurred in 2005. Not only later than the United States, but the degree of concern is also lower than the US. From the connection of ring map can be seen, the study of other countries is based on the relevant research in the United States, European and Asian countries except China are often concerned about the impact of rail transit network on the metropolitan area. In China, the relevant research in TOD is hot, the early stage is the progress of foreign research, as well as the theoretical research on its connotation and framework. The characteristics of localization in the middle and late period are very obvious. Based on the perspective of TOD, the study of urban public transport and urban land use patterns and land use development in different cities is dominated.

4.3.3 Issued Features in Research Field As the data in Chinese database can not provide professional field data, so this article only selected English document database for analysis. The knowledge map of the field derived from CiteSpace shows that engineering, engineering civil, transportation science and technology and transportation all have large quantities of documents. Other nodes are environmental sciences, environmental sciences and ecology, urban studies as well as economics, management, and other social sciences (Fig. 4.5). The research in these fields reflects that the study of transport-oriented development model (TOD) is more influential in the aspects of technology and application. It is concerned with the influence of TOD concept in the original urban traffic mode, the choice of residents’ travel mode, and the influence in economic, environmental,

Fig. 4.5 Knowledge map of the relevant disciplines of the English documents

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ecological and other aspects has been brought out by the implementation of TOD concept, which also attracts the attention of many scholars. The connection in the map represents the year in which the document of the two fields is co-cited for the first time, and the changes of its color show the morning and evening of the year, which can be seen that the early part of the study focused on Engineering including Transportation, Civil Engineering and other disciplines. After 2002, the research field of TOD began to expand, and the impact on the economic society brought by the concept of TOD was of great concern. This part of the study mainly focused on science and technology, urban studies, business economics. After 2008, the original research fields have been further expanded, and Environmental Sciences, Ecology and other fields have been studied. Overall, the current research for TOD owns more and more disciplines, it has formed a research basis but has not yet formed a clear structure of the system.

4.3.4 Representatives and Viewpoint In the co-citation map, each circular node represents a cited document, the size of the node represents the frequency of the cited document. And the higher the node, the higher the frequency of the node. The author’s collaboration map can show the relationship between scholars in this field, the larger the node, the scholar has greater influence (Fig. 4.6). By the analysis of the foreign author’s collaboration shows that Calthorpe P., Cervero Robert, Ewing R. have a great influence on the field. Calthorpe P. is one of the representatives of the New urbanism in the United States, and he first proposed that the “transit-oriented development” (TOD) replaces the development model of suburban spread, which was first published in the book “The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream”. He also proposed that the TOD model develops detailed and specific criteria for urban land use function area, and he introduced a number of practical examples of the use

Fig. 4.6 Author’s cooperation knowledge map of English documents

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of TOD strategies (Calthorpe, 1993). Cervero Robert put forward the 3D principles of the TOD model, the diversity, the density, and the design of the space in 1997, and in 2004, he deduced the core experience of carrying out the TOD model by summarizing 10 typical cases (Cervero, 2004). Ewing and Cervero believed that the built environment and traffic travel are closely linked. They expanded the TOD 3D principle to 5D, who increased the “The accessibility of destination “ (Destination), “distance from the public transport” (Distance to transit) (Ewing & Cervero, 2010). From the perspective of social public life, Kuby and other scholars study the impact of carrying out TOD mode for travel or some social problems like traffic congestion, and they found that accessibility is one of the important factors affecting people travel, public transport to attract travel (Kuby et al., 2004). Bernick quantified the spatial scale of TOD to find the most reasonable distance from the station (Bernick & Cervero, 1997). Thus, the study of TOD is a process from the theory of connotation of the principle to quantify figurative research, and its extension is also constantly expanding. Compared with the English literature, there is no obvious node and network characteristic between the co-authors of the Chinese literature, and no clear map is formed. The emergence of this situation, there are two possible reasons: First, the domestic research are basically introduced from abroad, the country for the TOD field research is not in-depth. Second, the domestic scholars for the field of research did not form a consensus basis, they lack of cooperation. Therefore, this article statistics the highest cited frequency of the eight documents in this field (Table 4.1), and found that these contents are mostly on the principles of foreign TOD or classic case summary, they hope to find TOD development mode land strategies suitable for Chinese actual condition. So most of the domestic research is qualitative research. In the high frequency citation, only Yang Liya constructed the evaluation index system with TOD as the concept, and quantitatively studied the relationship between urban transportation and land use.

4.4 Analysis into Research Hotspots and Frontier 4.4.1 The Analysis of Research Hotspots The focus of the research is a scientific problem or special topic which is discussed in a certain period of time. Keyword is the refined expression of a subject and content of the research, and its relevance can reflect the hot spot in the field of research to a certain extent. Through the keywords in English documents and Chinese documents, we can understand the hot spots at home and abroad and analyze the common and differences between domestic and foreign research.

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Table 4.1 The top 8 ranking tables of TOD in the CNKI Frequency

Author

Title

Year

Content Validity

238

Ma Qiang

Recent Studies on Transit-Oriented Development in North America

2003

This paper systematically present whole aspects of TOD and its new progress in USA (Ma, 2003)

203

Chen Yanping

The Public Transport Community and the Urban Land Use Form Guided by the Public Transport

2000

The author expounds the important role of the land use form to the public transport by introducing the concept and cases of public transport community, and puts forward an idea that to develop land use form guided by the public transport is the effective solution (Chen, 2000)

183

Guan Chiming, Cui Gonghao

A Probe into Transit-oriented Spatial Structure Pattern of Metropolis in China

2003

It points out that Chinese metropolis must set up a transit-centered transportation system. Accordingly, a transit-oriented spatial pattern of metropolis must be built to realize this system, which means a CBD centered spatial structure model with public transport stops as sub-centers (Guan & Cui, 2003)

125

Zhang Ming, Liu Jing

The Chinese Edition of Transit-Oriented Development

2007

This paper introduces the characteristics of TOD in foreign countries, draws lessons from the operation mode of TOD in USA, and summarizes the TOD planning and design principles that is applicable to China (Zhang & Liu, 2007) (continued)

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Table 4.1 (continued) Frequency

Author

Title

Year

Content Validity

121

Yang Liya

Theory and Methodology of Relationship Between Urban Transportation and Land Use

2007

The evaluation index system based on TOD model is established, and the DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) model is established to evaluate the coordination relationship between urban traffic and land use (Yang, 2007)

117

Feng Jun, Xu Kangming

A Study on Copenhagen’s Transit-Oriented Development

2006

This paper takes Copenhagen’s experience as an example to promote Transit-Oriented Development concepts and to explore the feasibilities and benefits of adopting a Bus Rapid Transit system in cities of China based on TOD strategies (Feng & Xu, 2006)

117

Jiang Qian

The Enlightenment from the Study on the Transit-Oriented Development Overseas

2002

This paper introduces the transit-oriented development strategy in some foreign countries and went through the situation and problems in system co-ordination and in effective usage of the resources with Guangzhou as the case (Jiang, 2002)

103

Pan Haixiao, Ren Chunyang

The Review of ‘Transit Oriented Development in America: Experiences. Challenges, and Prospects’

2004

This paper introduces ‘Transit Oriented Development in America: Experiences. Challenges, and Prospects’ (Pan & Ren, 2004)

4.4.2 Keyword Analysis of English Documents Using the CiteSpace V to analyze the keywords of 259 study papers of WOS, the cooccurrence map of keywords is drawn (Fig. 4.7). Because the search theme is “transit oriented development”, so remove this keyword and come to other high frequency of

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Fig. 4.7 Co-citation network map of keyword of TOD research based on WOS

keywords (Table 4.2). The number of foreign articles is small and it can be studied from the centrality of hot spots in the field. Chen C. believes that the centrality of the word more than 0.1 has a strong influence, indicating that the word played by the greater the role of the next, that is, the study of the relationship between the Table 4.2 Ordered list of keyword in keyword co-citation network in TOD research based on WOS Number

Frequency

Centrality

Year

Keyword

1

28

0.31

2005

Land use

2

19

0.13

2012

Impact

3

14

0.1

2008

Transportation

4

11

0.09

2014

Rail transit

5

11

0.03

2008

Travel

6

11

0.11

2008

Built environment

7

11

0.26

2013

Urban form

8

10

0.05

2014

Transit station

9

10

0.06

2006

Sustainable development

10

10

0.08

2004

Rapid transit

11

8

0.26

2011

Public transportation

12

8

0.09

2010

Design

13

8

0.08

2005

Metropolitan area

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strong transition between the hot, which can be explored the evolution of the logic of knowledge in the study. The keywords are land use (0.31), impact (0.13), built environment (0.11), public transportation (0.26), urban form (0.26), these words form the basis of foreign research in TOD. Early research in this area focuses on the impact of TOD on land use and urban built environments. TOD research and transportation research are inseparable, the further development of public transport research will also have a great impact on the development of TOD. With the emergence of new concepts such as sustainable city and ecological low-carbon community, the concept of TOD is more closely integrated with urban design and urban planning. From the co-currence map of the keyword, we can see that the foreign research has the following characteristics: Firstly, the distribution of the keywords in each node is balanced, which indicates that the research fields of TOD in foreign countries have a certain development from connotation to extension. Second, qualitative research and quantitative research are existing.

4.4.3 Keyword Analysis of Chinese Documents The keywords of 428 articles in CNKI were analyzed by CiteSpace V, and this article marks the keywords used by the researchers in this field, and draw the co-currence map of the keywords (Fig. 4.8). The size of the cited ring indicates the number of times the citations of the vocabulary included, and the keywords with high frequency usually reflect a hot spot in the field of research, that is, the greater size of citation ring

Fig. 4.8 Co-citation network map of keywords of TOD research based on CNKI

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Table 4.3 Ordered list of keyword in keyword co-citation network in TOD research based on CNKI Number

Frequency

Centrality

Year

Keyword

1

62

0.36

2003

Land use

2

59

0.55

2001

Public transport

3

34

0.23

2004

Rail transit

4

29

0.25

2003

Urban transport

5

27

0.25

2004

Urban rail transit

6

21

0.22

2005

Bus-oriented

7

17

0.13

2007

Urban spatial structure

8

12

0.09

2007

Transportation planning

9

12

0.04

2004

Sustainable development

10

11

0.07

2003

New urbanism

11

10

0.08

2008

Development model

12

8

0.12

2009

Land development

represents that the vocabulary is shared by scholars of different research directions. Since this study uses “transit oriented development” as the search theme, so we need to exclude the frequency of two keywords—“tod”, “tod mode”, then we listed other frequency greater than or equal to 8 keywords (Table 4.3). It can be found that keywords with the occurrence of high frequency also have high centrality. In addition, the keyword who looks larger node has high degree of overlap in research content. Such as public transport, rail transit, urban transport, urban rail transit, they have difference in connotation but belong to the traffic carrier; Sustainable development, New urbanism belongs to urban and rural planning concept; Land use, land development, urban spatial structure are associated with urban land. Chinese scholars have discussed the connotation of the concept, and paid more attention to the public transport mode, especially the research on the direction of rail transit (urban rail transit and intercity rail transit), and in the middle and late period their focus shifted to the impact of land use and development in TOD research.

4.4.4 The Analysis into Research Frontiers The frontier of research represents the most advanced and most promising research topic in the field of disciplinary research. Based on Citespace V’s separately existing in the keyword co-citation diagram in foreign literature and Chinese literature, spectral clustering method is adopted to make cluster of co-citation network. Through log-likelihood rate algorithm, automatic identification is made for each cluster from the consequence of word extraction from keyword. The keywords of English paper are divided into nine categories, named “land use”, “stakeholder participation”, “air pollution”, “urban sustainability”, “value capture”,

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Fig. 4.9 Keywords cluster map based on WOS

“travel demand measure”, “eco design”, “TOD”, “planning and assessment”, “china” (Fig. 4.9). Each cluster represents a large gap in the direction of TOD research. Foreign research covers the study of material objects and behavior subjects, both theoretical research and quantitative modeling research. The study of the hot spots in the TOD study is still divergent. On the whole, the clustering overlap is high, which indicates that the various knowledge units cited a general phenomenon. 432 Chinese articles present more clear results. The keywords are divided into 7 clusters: “public transport”, “TOD”, “development mode”, “rail transit”, “land reuse”, “urban traffic”, “public transport oriented development” (Fig. 4.10). Chinese researches attach more attention to the influence of land use mode, urban transport operations and urban development. There is less attention to the deeper content of the actors involved in the implementation in TOD and the socio-economic environment that may be brought about.

4.5 Conclusion and Prospect The results of this paper show that the academic circles at home and abroad have paid attention to the research into TOD field. However, resulting from the differences in social-economic environment and policy system, direction of TOD research at home and abroad has differences. From the perspective of foreign research, the research

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Fig. 4.10 Keywords cluster map based on CNKI

into TOD mainly occurs in the United States. TOD has specific embodiment of the new urbanism and smart growth concept. It is a means of restraining urban sprawl and revitalizing the city center. Due to the difference in land area and the development of history, various countries and regions have large differences in urban scales, therefore, the degree of dependence on private car is also different. Nations such as Japan and Singapore have perfect public transport system. Public transport is the most important way for residents travel. In such areas, TOD pay more attention to the efficient use of land and the rational evacuation of high-density urban population. Although the focuses are different, foreign researches are more abundant from connotation to extension, and from theory to practice. For domestic research, TOD research is introduced from abroad. Domestic scholars attach importance to localized research, but the focus is always on the basic research of its material object. On one hand, it is because it is not long for the introduction of TOD, which means china lacks of the implementation case. On the other hand, it is because there are differences between China and foreign countries in urbanization level and motorization level, and huge differences in policy system. Therefore the localization of TOD has much fierce discussion but has not reached a consensus. The research of TOD in China should be further improved in theory and practice. It not only needs to increase the depth of research, but also to expand the breadth of research to form a all-round, multi-angle network system. Meanwhile, as the users of the urban public facilities, residents should be paid more attention to. There are few studies relevant to humanities and social sciences at present stage,

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which should be further made. Attention should be paid to the social influence brought by its implementation.

References Bernick, M., & Cervero, R. (1997). Transit villages in the 21st century. McGraw Hill. Calthorpe, P. (1993). The next American metropolis: Ecology, community, and the American Dream. Princeton Architectural Press. Cervero, R. (2004). Transit oriented development in America contemporary practices, impacts, and policy directions. University of California. Chen, Y. (2000). The solution to urban traffic problems—Public transport community and public transport oriented urban land use form. City Planning Review, (03), 10–14 + 64. Chen, C., Chen, Y., & Maulitz, R. C. (2005). Understanding the evolution of NSAID: A knowledge domain visualization approach to Evidence-Based Medicine. In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Information Visualization (IV ‘05), London, July 2005. Ewing, R., & Cervero, R. (2010). Travel and the built environment. A meta-analysis. Journal of the American Planning Association, 76(3), 265–294. Feng, J., & Xu, K. (2006). A study on Copenhagen’s transit-oriented development. Transport Planning, (02), 41–46. Guan, C., & Cui, G. (2003). A probe into transit-oriented spatial structure pattern of metropolis in China. City Planning Review, (10), 39–43. Jiang, G. (2002). The enlightenment from the study on the transit-oriented development overseas. City Planning Review, (08), 82–87. Kuby, M., Barranda, A., & Upchurch, C. (2004). Factors influencing light-rail station boardings in the United States. Transportation Research Part A Policy and Practice, 38(3), 223–247. Ma, Q. (2003). Recent studies on transit-oriented development in North America. Urban Planning International, (05), 45–50. Pan, H., & Ren, C. (2004). The review of ‘Transit oriented development in America: Experiences, challenges, and prospects.’ Urban Planning International, (06), 61–65. Yang, L. (2007). Theory and methodology of relationship between urban transportation and land use. Beijing Jiaotong University. Zhang, M., & Llu, J. (2007). The Chinese edition of transit-oriented development. Urban Planning Forum, (01), 91–96.

Chapter 5

Towards a Definition of Bikeability in the Chinese Context Aline Chevalier, Manuel Charlemagne, and Leiqing Xu

5.1 Introduction Similar to western countries from the 1960s through 1980s, China faces now a dramatic surge in carownership. It is therefore appropriate to investigate this phenomenon in light of those past experiences. Particularly how the increase in motorized traffic had a direct impact on the Soft and Eco-mobilities of Western countries. Indeed, while the urban design and infrastructure development perfectly accommodated cars, walking and cycling suffered from little attention. When not ignored, they were relegated to segregative paths often recognized as inappropriate and/or fragmentary (Program on Health Equity and Sustainability, 2016). Most Western governments now strive at reversing the trend of auto-mobility and boost the bicycle mode-share which had dropped to an extremely low level. China is now on the edge where the mode-share could tumble into one extreme or another. As many authors noticed, the first obstacle to the expansion of urban cycling in Western countries resides in the complexity of urban mobility (Héran, 2014). This is a highly sophisticated process resulting from the combination of various factors such as trends in transport mode choice, sociological considerations, and other complicated phenomena including inter-modality. In this context, modal shift towards A. Chevalier (B) Centre for Urban Studies, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 15629, 1001 NC Amsterdam, The Netherlands M. Charlemagne University of Michigan, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China M. Charlemagne e-mail: [email protected] L. Xu College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_5

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Soft-transportation is often viewed as a means to mitigate the negative impacts of urban mobility. In China as in the rest of the World, urban design placed cars in a preponderant position within urban traffic and infrastructure development. While Western countries had long realized the need for a re-orientation in urban mobility, that approach was brought to a quite dramatic extent in China. From 2000 to 2006, major cities such as Shanghai, banned cycling traffic from key central arteries and implemented various measures to limit the number of bicycles on the roads (Pan, 2011). In the last few decades, the country often referred to as the “Bicycle Kingdom” drastically changed its view on bicycles. Starting in 1949 bicycles rapidly developed into the symbol of democratic and proletarian freedom of movement. Later, with the emergence of the car it was progressively viewed as an obsolete travel mode. In harsh competition with the motorised vehicles, symbols of modernity, the bicycle was therefore relegated to the vehicle of the poor or at best as old-fashioned (Zhang et al., 2014a). However, the persistence of this perception is now questioned by the renewed interest in Soft-mobility and the rapid development of Eco-mobilities. We must acknowledge the specificity of the Chinese context. Today’s Western governments strive at reversing the trend of auto-mobility. Indeed, the greatest difficulty resides in the extremely low level of these countries’ bicycle-mode-share. Fallen into a restricted level of practice, their goal is to remodel the city to render cycling more appealing. In turn they hope this will contribute to adjusting the population’s travelling habits. These circumstances widely differ from the Chinese context: despite tremendous economic growth and wide motorization, walking and cycling continue to account for almost half of all travel in urban areas (Pan, 2013). Therefore, in this specific ball game the goal shifts from helping people “get back on the saddle” to “remain on the saddle”. In this regard the new initiatives that rose up in 2016 are of great interest. In fact, for about a year the number of bicycles available through bike sharing systems have steadily increased to the extent of overflowing the cities (Wang, 2017). As a result, the transport mode-share rapidly changed setting bikeability at the heart of the problem. Thus, motivated by the difficulty of evaluating this concept using common indices, we decided to investigate the specifics of the Chinese context in hopes of providing more fitted tools for the study and future development of bikeability in China. Therefore, in an effort to acquire a global perspective on bikeability we widened our scope of research to other fields such as geography, history, sociology, psychology, and medicine. This multidisciplinary approach allows us to better evaluate bicycle facilities, infrastructure, and related policies in light of historical and sociological insight, while replacing it into the broad realm of sustainable urban transport. Following the approach initiated by Chevalier and Xu (2017), who assessed the applicability of Western indices to the Chinese context, we propose two new statistical models for the perception of bikeability and the riding propensity. The study of these models allows us to significantly refine our understanding of bikeability in China and draw conclusions on the most important variables involved in our research

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scheme. We believe our results are of a notable significance especially regarding the perceptions in bikeability and cycling as a practice. With the advent of dock-less bike-sharing systems it has become clear that the decrease of cycling was not solely due to the depreciation of the practice, but rather a consequence of the urban planning orientations adopted over the past few decades. This study is therefore of major importance for the future development of governmental policies and planning in mobility. It should in particular help meet the aspirations of citizens for more liveable cities. First we examine a couple of initial problems that inherently motivate this study (Sect. 5.2). Then we explain the two related concepts of bikeability appreciation and riding propensity through the elaboration of two statistical models (Sect. 5.3.1). Beyond their simple enunciation and assessment, we thoroughly investigate each of the factor following a inter-disciplinary strategy (Sect. 5.3). Finally, we conclude on the significance of our work, observing how it can be applied to improve bikeability in the Chinese context (Sect. 5.5).

5.2 Motivations As a motivation for our study we present two examples highlighting the discrepancy existing between the expected goal of developing bikeability and the limitation of the tools available, resulting from the specificity of the Chinese context.

5.2.1 Bikeability Indices Due to relatively recent interest in urban cycling, bikeability only benefits from limited literature and few evaluation tools. This is especially true when comparing with its neighbour field, Walkability. In a context of worldwide growing interest for walking, the Walk Score (2015) was founded in 2007, with the aim of “promoting walkable neighborhoods”. In practice main areas of a city, and entire cities themselves, are ranked with respect to the adequacy of their environment for walking. Complementary to this scoring, the Walk Score has recently extended its scope to bikeability for specific areas of Western cities. Unfortunately, these rough scores appear limited both geographically and qualitatively. Furthermore, since bikeability is simply treated as a subsection of walkability, its importance appears to be minimised. Bikeability finds its proper counterpart in the more recent Copenhagenize Index (Copenhagenize Design Co., 2017). As a reliable tool providing accurate scoring for Western cities, the Copenhagenize Index was instrumental in elaborating several research methods. For instance, it is the performance index taken as a reference by the TDM Encyclopedia (2016). The index features a set of performance indicators

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organised within a framework such as to facilitate the comparison of cities in terms of bikeability. Another symptomatic fact highlighting the little attention received by bikeability is the existence of a Wikipedia article on walkability while bikeability does not benefit from a dedicated webpage.

5.2.2 A Real Demand for Bikeable Cities While our survey will be properly introduced in the next section, let us now focus on a striking element extracted from our data, which will provide a determinant incentive for this work. When respondents were asked whether or not Shanghai is a bikeable city, we observed a gap between the Chinese and Western perception. While only 62% of the Chinese view Shanghai as bikeable, Westerners living in Shanghai are much more positive, as 80% perceive Shanghai as bikeable. Resulting from the ubiquity of bicycles in Chinese cities, coupled to a booming E-bike industry, cycling is “normalised” in China to a level generally not found anywhere else in developed economies. This can explain the positive view of Western respondents who mainly come from cities where the bicycle mode-share is extremely low. In contrast the more critical viewpoint of Chinese people, can be explained by a real desire for better infrastructure and improved overall cycling conditions. This idea is consistent with the clear disparity between the respondents’ favoured and most common means of transportation. As observed in Fig. 5.1 the common transportation surpasses the favoured one in all cases with the exception of softmobilities. In particular respondents aspire to a higher practice of 2-wheelers and walk, suggesting a strong demand for soft-mobilities. These two examples clearly contrast what people are expecting—namely a more bikeable city—and the difficulty of finding solutions. Until a clear definition of bikeability is proposed, no answer can be offered. Therefore, we now introduce an element of response to this elusive question.

5.3 Data Collection and Modelling In order to implement effective bikeability measurement tools that take into account both the perceptions and level of practice, we developed two distinct models. A questionnaire was carefully designed with the goals of collecting relevant data, while preventing the introduction of confounding variables.

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85

70 favoured

60

common

50 40 30 20 10 0 Metro

2-wheelers

Bus

Walk

Car

Others

Means of transport Fig. 5.1 Common versus favoured transportation

5.3.1 Sample Description and Validity A survey of more than 400 respondents was carried out from January to March 2017 in the city centre of Shanghai. People were randomly picked in public places, or in the street without discrimination of age or of any other kind. The sample includes 50 Westerners living in Shanghai for over a year and more than 350 Chinese citizens. Respondents were asked to answer a questionnaire focusing on the barriers and perceptions of cycling. The survey was composed of three parts. It first addressed the respondents’ general information such as social background, the most travelled districts, and whether or not they have children. The second part is aimed at understanding the barriers to cycling and evaluating the overall social acceptance of bicycles. The final part, only for cyclists, was intended to precisely evaluate their perception of other road users and of their cycling environment while also detailing their typical journey. Once all the results were collected a basic analysis was performed in order to evaluate the quality of the sample. In particular we extracted some key aspects and compared them to well established facts on the Shanghai population. A first indicator is provided by the average door-to-door commuting time of the sample, 39 min, which is matching the figures announced in the China’s New-Urbanization Report. Indeed, Shanghai residents spend an average of 38 min commuting to their workplace (Niu, 2012). The car ownership, 32% in the sample, corresponds to the 32.5% recently announced by the Shanghai Bureau of Statistics (Shanghai Bureau of Statistics, 2017). Moreover the 54% bicycle ownership displayed in the sample is close to the official statistics of 55% (Pan, 2013). Regarding

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the gender parity of the respondents, men are slightly more represented than women. In fact, this corroborates the imbalanced ratio observed over the city (113 boys for 100 girls) (World Population Review, 2017). As for the age of the respondents, it ranges from 15 to 72, following a right skewed normal distribution with a median of 30 years old and a mean age of 33.8. Although this slightly differs from the official statistics, our sample fits the purpose of the study. While the elderly may be less inclined to cycle due to their physical condition, middle-aged people are more likely to provide an accurate vision of what the future of cycling could be in the city. Although the size of the sample does not allow an in-depth understanding of the phenomena related to bikeability, it is still possible to observe emerging patterns. In particular, since the aim of this work is to offer new directions for a refined study of bikeability in China, the size of the sample should not represent a major hindrance.

5.3.2 Elaboration of the Models The main purpose of our models is to determine the various components involved in bikeability perception and those influencing the bicycle practice. This approach is meaningful since those aspects are likely to relate to each other. Indeed, people who view the city as bikeable are likely to cycle more. We derived our two models by using the R environment for statistical computing (The R Project statistical computing, 2017). Since the two models describe the binary dependent variable bikeability we decided to apply logistic regressions. After formulating several hypotheses, the independent variables were tested and selected with respect to their p-value, i.e. small enough not to fall under the “null hypothesis”. In order to assess the quality of our models we applied several strategies. Some information was collected from the variance, but the accuracy being better on large samples we also referred to Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) in order to distinguish two promising models. In addition, we compared the residual deviance to the χ-squared distributions with appropriate degree of freedom. When dealing with nested models we kept the one that was the most meaningful with respect to the difference between their deviances. This is appropriate according to standard likelihood theory which states that the difference of deviance for two nested models is approximately χ-square distributed. Once a model had passed the previous tests, we checked its McFadden’s R2 , a pseudo R2 metrics for logistic regression. The McFadden’s R2 takes values in the range [0, 1), 0 meaning no predictive value. Although value close to 1 imply a very good prediction level, lower values in the range [0.2, 0.4] are considered to measure a very good fit (Louviere et al., 2000). Finally, we tested the prediction accuracy of our model using a bootstrap method. Once all the previous steps had been performed, we studied the model into more details. In some cases, we returned to the raw data and interpreted it in terms of the model. However, we also obtained meaningful information for the model itself by rotating the level of the independent factors. In other words, we used different

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categories for the baseline. While this does not impact the model itself, it provides a pairwise comparison of the various levels within a factor. A very important point to note is that over-fitting is less dangerous than underfitting. Therefore, we included the intercept despite a larger p-value. More precisely, as over-fitting only inflates the standard error of our estimates this is not an issue as soon as the data size is reasonably big. However, removing the intercept would lead to under-fitting which could generate a bias in our estimates. Hence, we included the intercept such as to be “on the safe side”. Since the two problems are modelled using logistic regressions, the probability of the event X, taken as “finds Shanghai is bikeable” or “rides a bike” depending on the model, is given by   n E vi σ (Vi ) exp I nter cept + i=1   Pr(X = 1) = n 1 + exp I nter cept + i=1 E vi σ (Vi ) where n is the number of variables V i , E Vi the estimate of V i , and σ ∈ {id,

√

, log}.

5.3.3 Variables and Models’ Quality Our two models focus on the bikeability perception and the riding propensity. They were designed based on the data described and assessed in Sect. 5.3.1. The Shanghai’s bikeability perception model exhibits a relatively similar level of influence from three different variables: car ownership, level of bicycle acceptance, and common transportation. We also identified a slight influence of the gender. Another variable, riding time, is attached to the model by the log. This is reasonable in the sense that perception of bikeability may be influenced by the actual time spent on a bicycle. New or occasional cyclists, riding on shorter distances might put more emphasis on their cycling environment. On the other hand, regular cyclists are more likely to settle down into routines, not paying the same attention to how bikeable the city is. Applying a bootstrap method to this model yields a prediction level of 77.44%, while McFadden’s R2 reaches 0.325. The significance of each of the variables can be observed in Table 5.1 and will be thoroughly studied in the subsequent sections. Our second model aims at modelling the riding propensity of Shanghai population. Not surprisingly, twowheeler ownership and ride on shared bicycles are highly influential in the propensity to cycle. Two other variables related to the overall typical journey display a similar level of importance: overall travel time and the mixed mode commuting. The favoured transportation was also determined as influential with a special emphasis on car and metro relatively more important than bus or walking (Table 5.2). Therefore, people preferring two-wheelers display a riding frequency that strongly differs from the ones preferring metro and more especially those having car as their favourite transportation. The ones preferring walking or riding buses, though noticeably different from the bikes’ adepts, do not differentiate themselves as much in

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Table 5.1 Coefficients for the variables in the bikeability perception model Variable (Intercept)

Estimate

Std. error

0.02199

1.29852

z value 0.017

Pr(> |z|) 0.9865

Car ownership

−0.74036

0.34661

−2.136

0.0327*

Bikes viewed as an issue

−0.64278

0.31482

−2.042

0.0412*

GenderM

−0.53041

0.30289

−1.751

0.0799#

log(Time of usual.ride)

0.34112

0.20797

1.640

0.1010

sqrt(Riding frequency)

1.10477

0.55747

1.982

0.0475*

−1.52287

0.72068

−2.113

0.0346*

factor(utransp)bus factor(utransp)car

0.18238

0.68533

0.266

factor(utransp)metro

−0.96717

0.48290

−2.003

0.0452*

factor(utransp)walk

−0.06291

0.95049

−0.066

0.9472

Signif. codes 0, ***0.001, **0.01, *0.05,

# 0.1

0.7901

‘’1

Table 5.2 Coefficients for the variables in the riding propensity model Variable (Intercept)

Estimate

Std. error

z value

Pr(> |z|)

0.1306

0.5759

0.227

−0.0322

0.0062

−5.194

2.06e−07***

Mixed mode commuting

1.6168

0.3525

4.587

4.50e−06***

Own a two wheeler

2.9587

0.4571

6.473

9.62e−ll***

Ride only on shared bike

2.5958

0.4671

5.557

2.74e−08***

factor(ftransp)bus

−2.6901

0.9051

−2.972

factor(ftransp)car

−3.0322

0.5537

−5.476

4.35e−08***

factor(ftransp)metro

−1.9310

0.4007

−4.818

1.45e−06***

factor(ftransp)others

11.2726

852.6427

0.013

factor(ftransp)walk

−1.6189

0.5417

−2.988

Travel time

Signif. Codes 0, ***0.001, **0.01, *0.05,

# 0.1,

0.82053

0.00296**

0.98945 0.00280**

‘’1

terms of riding propensity. In the end the prediction tests showed a level of accuracy of 80.43%, while McFadden’s R2 was as high as 0.406. We now turn our attention to the interpretation of the two models, and in particular proceed to an indepth analysis of the various factors following a multidisciplinary approach. Our aim is to gain a global comprehension of each variable.

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5.4 Model Analysis and Discussion 5.4.1 Car Ownership and Transport Mode Choice In our models, car ownership and transport mode choice appear as important factors influencing the perception of bikeability. Today’s cities assume the shape of sprawling megalopolis where the automobile is an omnipresent icon (Davison & Yelland, 2004). In emerging economies such as China, car ownership is a key element in mobility development, and its impact should be considered while studying bikeability. Social status indicators With the ever-increasing mobility, the car represents an emblematic object of individual consumption. It is viewed as a promise of freedom, a place of privacy and a proof of status (Whitelegg, 1997). Cars became powerful referents, almost comparable to the dwelling place and perceived as “homes away from home” (Banister, 2005). This is especially true in China, where it represents the incarnation of western capitalism (Urry, 2001). Another important factor is the commuting distance which keeps increasing as the cities expand. In this context the automobile quickly became for many the prime object of consumption as symbolically materialising the economic development. Country after country, the “automobility culture” is developing worldwide and China is long recognised as the most significant example currently under this process (Urry, 2004). The rise of income, surge in automobiles and expansion of highway system in this country are pointed out as major factors responsible for the sharp decrease in bicycle ownership (Zhang et al., 2014b). According to a 2008 report by the Earth Policy Institute, in ten years “China’s bike fleet declined by 35 percent, from 670 to 435 million, while private car ownership more than doubled, from 4.2 million to 8.9 million. Blaming cyclists for increasing accidents and congestion, some city governments have closed bike lanes. Shanghai even banned bicycles from certain down-town roads in 2004” (Wetherhold, 2012). In terms of bicycle’s perceived status, China follows the already observed phenomenon in Western countries where the bicycle became increasingly popular during the first half of the twentieth century and after the second half was viewed as an obsolete tool of transportation. The marginalised cyclists were the first victims of the automobile traffic and by a startling reversal quickly became scapegoat for the lack of safety on the roads.1 With a gap of roughly two decades, Chinese cities follow a similar evolutional pattern. Hence, the perception of car as a higher status indicator has a double impact on bicycle perception: it gives a comparatively lower image of cyclists and stigmatize them as a stream of urban congestion. As a result, the image of cyclists is usually low on the scale of the road users status. In the end this greatly hinders the social 1

The sociologist Dave Horton highlights the effects of this persistent way of thinking on the current mass perception of urban cycling (Horton et al., 2007).

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acceptance of the bicycle. It is however necessary to temper the impact of this process since our model did not find any relationship with social status and riding propensity or bikeability perception. In fact, this corroborates with actual research in Western context which found no evidence linking the low level of bicycle use with its relative affordability (Parkin, 2004). The car as a social obligation When further investigating our data, we identified two major points related to the car ownership. The first one refers to the ambiguous duplicity of the perceptions in automobility while the second one focuses on the main reason for buying a car. When asked what was their favourite means of transportation, 85% of the car owners picked public transports or soft-mobilities. The most represented, at a high ratio of one over two, is the metro for its speed. Moreover, among all kinds of transportations, 20% of the car owners preferred riding a two-wheeler. While 33% justified their choice by convenience, no less than 40% expressed a perception of enhanced freedom when being on a two-wheeler. This is clearly of a strong significance as freedom has long been quoted as the most appealing quality of cars (Whitelegg, 1997). Based on this observation we can reach a first conclusion related to car ownership. Car owners do not have a positive perception on urban automobility in terms of efficiency or of personal preferences. Confronted to urban congestion, car owners do not appreciate driving in the city. In such a context, the notion of freedom seems to have transferred from the expected promises of the car to the practicality of bicycles (Chevalier & Xu, 2017). This assertion is however to be balanced in view of the perception of non-car owners. In our sample still 5% of the respondents not owning a car selected it as their favoured transportation. The vast majority of them being students, this illustrates how it still represents an ultimate achievement, especially for those who cannot afford it. This confirms the well establishment of the automobile among the young Chinese generation, despite the recent renewal of the bicycle (Yang et al., 2015; Zhu et al., 2012). A final observation regarding the car ownership is related to having children. In fact, less than a third of the car owners drive it to commute, which highly contrast with more than half of them transporting their children. As in this half, less than 50% use it also for commuting, this means a quarter of all the car owners only use it to drive their children. Hence, although children do not directly appear in our models, they seem to be at the source of car ownership, as such slightly impacting the view and practices in bikeability. This result finds its explanation in the phenomenon of the “cab-parents” already observed for decades in Western context. Because they are scared by the increasing motorised traffic, parents not dare any longer to send kids to school walking or cycling. They take them by car, thus increasing themselves the danger (Eric, 2004). Therefore, a close examination of the vicious cycles and fears related to cycling is necessary.

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5.4.2 Barriers to Cycling: Perceptions and Fears Many authors pointed out the correlation between perceived risk and level of cycling, especially when it comes in comparison with the perceptions of car users (Basford et al., 2003). On the importance of safety perception In the automotive industry, safety has been the object of many technical developments such as the seat-belts and the air-bags. As a result, the car is definitely perceived as a safer personal transport mode. Feeling which in turn directly impacts on the safety of more vulnerable road users (Adams, 1995; Krag, 1989) The overestimation of danger related to cycling and the resultant vicious cycles are well investigated phenomena. Despite the diminution of cyclists and the explosion of motorised vehicles on the roads, many studies prove that the objective risk did not significantly increased (Krag, 1989). However, the subjective risk, perceived by the population is considerable. This gap between objective and subjective risks leads to the disregard for cycling as a reliable means of transportation. In turn this drags the modal shift towards motorised transportation (Horton et al., 2007). Although none of our two models take safety into account, 56.7% of the cyclists in the sample selected it as the most important element. Hinted by this clear cleavage we tested several models featuring what people felt the most important when cycling. However, neither the p-value, nor the AIC, nor the comparison of the residual deviance to the χ-squared distribution showed any indication of a direct correlation with the level of bikeability or the propensity to ride. In fact, the whole picture becomes clearer when confronting what is the most important for cyclists to the major issues formulated by respondents about urban cycling. More precisely danger as an issue gathers less than a third of the Chinese population on our sample. This contrasts with the higher proportion of Westerns which reaches a half. Moreover, for the Chinese respondents, danger was overweighted by the fear of robbery and of bad weather which represent 22% and 11% of the answers, respectively. Although recognized as a major component in Western countries, the weight of perceived danger as a major barrier in cycling can however be questioned in the Chinese context. According to our model of the riding propensity there is no direct relationship between the perceived risk and the riding frequency. This is consistent with the conclusion presented by Chevalier and Xu (2017). Fear of cycling and gender Another important aspect to discuss is the gender split. According to the models the gender does not impact the riding propensity when being correlated to the bikeability perception. Though the practice of cycling appears very high for both sexes, the gender split in our sample is slightly unbalanced with 75% of the women and 87% of the men riding a two-wheeler. An extensive literature related to gender differences in cycling exists

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and greatly emphases the highly gendered nature of the perceived safety (Aldred, 2008; Atkins, 1986; Dalton, 2010). While examining the various forms given to the fear of cycling, we isolated the fear of technology, as defined by Horton et al. (2007). More precisely, this type of fear is twofold as it encompasses both the fear of using technologies and the one of manipulating it by underestimating the ability to comprehend the way it works. Note that this fear was again found highly gendered. People might be afraid of learning how to ride or how to repair or maintain a bicycle. Moreover, the nonexistence of a “cycling license” undeniably brings discredit to a whole kind of road users who cannot claim any level of expertise in their practice. This type of fear was significantly represented in our sample. Only 34% of the respondents said they felt able of maintaining or repairing their own bicycle. In practice 24% of the men and 4% of the women were actually taking care of the maintenance of their bike by themselves. Thus, an adjustment on the definition of “fear of cycling” seems necessary. In this case, major components such as perceived risk and danger can be overlooked as they do not have a real impact. Instead the emphasis should be set on the fear of technology and the fear of robbery which both have an actual effect on the bicycle practice and could in the long run play a much greater role in the overall bikeability of Chinese cities (Chevalier & Xu, 2017).

5.4.3 Typical Ride In the survey, respondents were asked to explain their typical journey, by listing their various modes of transport and evaluating the time spent on each one. For those riding, they were asked to describe their typical ride by specifying the time, main purpose, and secondary purpose for non-continuous rides. Travel time and riding purpose Based on the overall travelling time we can exhibit common cycling patterns. When referring to the twowheeler mode share, represented in blue on Fig. 5.2a, we notice that the graph splits into three parts: less than 12 min, where there is a sharp increase, then from 12 to 40 min with a strong decrease which is attenuated over 40 min. As expected, short travels not requiring any particular skill or physical strength yield a higher mode share for two-wheelers. Then the decrease observed from 12 to 40 min can also be easily explained by looking at the mixed mode commuting. In fact, as the travel time grows the proportion of mixed mode commuters strongly increases, lowering the overall two-wheeler mode share. The slower decrease, over 40 min, is however slightly more complex to explain and interpret. A potential element of response could be the last mile problem which expresses the difficulty of a person to cover the distance separating a transportation hub from his final destination. However, if we assume a direct connection between

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0

20

40

60

80

Travelling time (min) 2-wheeler mode share Car/taxi mode share (a) Travelling time dependence of the mode shares

0

93

20

40

60

80

Riding time (min) Shanghai bikable city Ride only shared bikes (b) Impact of shared bikes on the bikeability perception

Fig. 5.2 Impact of time on the propensity to ride and perception of bikeability

the travelling time and distance it means a non-uniform distribution of this last mile problem over the city. Before further investigating this direction, we decided to test the impact of car usage, since people living remotely were likely to use their car or a taxi to overcome the last mile problem. Moreover, this hypothesis is compatible with our propensity to ride model where travel time appears as a strong individual predictor. The red curve on Fig. 5.2a shows the evolution of the car and taxi mode share as the travel time increases. In this context their use stabilises after only 20 min, strongly hinting for a minor impact on the decrease of the two-wheeler mode share after 40 min. Note that this conclusion is in line with the last Mobike data published (Mobike, 2017), which states that over 5 km their bike use drops by more than half, in favor of the car. In particular this is consistent with our observation of the increase in car mode share around 20 min. Since the car use does not explain the decrease in the two-wheeler mode share after 40 min, we reconsider our initial assumptions on the last mile problem. From a basic perspective this problem is clearly related to the distance to the city center, all the transportation infrastructures being much denser in that part of the metropolis. However, it appears that bicycle sharing systems have a bearing on the matter. A simple observation shows that in Shanghai only three to four shared bike providers are implanted in the city center while over a dozen is present over the whole city. While those few actors answer the last mile problem in the densest area of the city, much was left to solve it at a larger scale. Therefore, as new bike sharing providers implant themselves in more remote areas of the city the bicycle mode share increases even in the case of a longer travel time. As a consequence, this inflects the

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shape of the curve representing the two-wheeler mode share as a function of time (Fig. 5.2a). The examination of the purposes in riding is also of great help to understand patterns in bicycle use. Commuting rides (two-wheelers only or included in intermodal transportation) represents 40% of the typical journeys in our sample. These commuting trips are the more likely to be short without stops and following only the main purpose of going to or from work or school. Their average riding time, 17 min, is relatively short. And three quarter of them are performed on shared bicycle systems. While leisure and health related trips roughly constitute another 40%, they are comparatively interrupted more often by secondary purposes. Leisure cycling is therefore well represented and constitutes with commuting, over 80% of the riding trips in our survey. The 20 remaining percents are composed, for more than half, of shopping as a main purpose. More remarkably children transportation constitutes a very small share in the purpose for cycling (Table 5.3). A recent study in the Western context emphasizes the limiting factor in cycling that family obligations represent, especially for women. Since they often need to transport children and groceries the study highlights the importance of bicycling comfort for women. It suggests encouraging children to cycle and promote the use of bicycle trailers in order to increase bikeability (Emond et al., 2017). This result, together with the previous figures could explain the presence of the gender in the bikeability perception model. Indeed, under such circumstance women are less likely to appreciate the bikeability of the city. New shared bicycle schemes and the advocacy effect Dockless app-based schemes have made Shanghai the world’s largest shared-bikes city, with 280,000 shared bicycles citywide according to the local government (Wang, 2017). The striking point of these systems is their visibility in the urban environment: bicycles can be found everywhere, not only in the vicinity of subway stations, and are instantly recognizable as branded products. The Mobike phenomenon, launched in Shanghai in April 2016 is probably the most remarkable advocacy campaign ever seen in urban China (Mobike, 2016). A year later, it has scaled up to an astonishing level. With massive founding from private investors, bike-sharing start-ups stormed the streets of Chinese cities. Mobike alone recently claimed to have 100,000 bikes just in the city of Shanghai while being present in 50 cities across the country (Mobike, 2016). Ofo, another highly visible actor on the market, started in 2015 as a Peking University project. It now announces over 10 million users over 33 cities (Ofo, 2016). In total, since the middle of 2016 a dozen of copycats have added their fleet to the rainbow of bicycles standing alongside the streets of Chinese cities. In a context of sharp decline in urban cycling, and a climate where private cars are still viewed as the icon of economic success, these new schemes have revived the appreciation for bicycle as an efficient transport mode. According to various newspapers, they have managed to reverse a countrywide tendency within less than a year (Van Mead, 2017).

Total riders

100.0

3.0

11.0

Shopping

Drop off-pick up children

11.0

Physical exercise

3.0

31.0

Leisure

Work

40.0

Commuting

Main purpose

31.1

1.0

1.0

4.0

2.1

6.0

17.0

52.0

2.0

0.0

5.0

5.0

22.0

18.0

17.0

0.0

2.0

2.0

4.0

4.0

5.0

38.3

1.8

0.0

6.0

2.0

12.5

16.0

Secondary purpose Shopping

Often

Never

Sometimes

Stop

Table 5.3 Purpose and stops over a typical two-wheeler journey (%)

23.5

0.2

0.0

1.0

6.0

12.5

3.8

Leisure

4.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

1.0

0.2

3.0

Children

2.0

0.0

2.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

Work

1.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.8

0.2

Other

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As discussed in the previous section, this incredible tour de force helped at partially solving the last mile problem. These systems however present various drawbacks that are worth investigating. While 52% of the surveyed population is using dockless app-based schemes, it should be pointed out that half of the users also own a private bicycle. In other words, such persons have shifted from a private to a public bicycle and as a positive side increased their riding frequency. These shared bike users can however not be counted as new cyclists. Another beneficial factor related to these new schemes is their performance on the shift from car to bike, compared to conventional shared bicycles systems. Car-owners without a private bicycle and using shared bicycles represent 15% of the shared bicycle users in our sample. This is three times more than the estimated achievement of conventional schemes (Zhu et al., 2013). According to the last figures released by Mobike, the bicycle mode-share, which does not include other two-wheelers, roughly doubled since their concept has first been introduced (Mobike, 2017). Looking at our model it appears that the riding time has a non-negligible impact on the perception of bikeability. In fact, non-cyclists appear to have a relatively bad appreciation of the city’s bikeability as only 48.7% of them judge it as bikeable when the level of appreciation reaches 71.7% over the whole sample. This is logical since as external witnesses, they assess something they have never really experienced, as such being more likely to fear it. The graph presented on Fig. 5.2b compares the evolution over time of the bikeability perception with riding only on shared bikes. We observe that the level of appreciation increases between 12 and 40 min and then stabilizing to a high level. A valid interpretation is that the more cyclists spend time on their bicycle and are familiar with their environment, the more they are likely to feel confident and appreciate the bikeability of their surroundings. On the contrary new riders appear less appreciative, explaining the lower level, and especially the slight decrease for times less than 12 min. A quarter of the shared bicycles are ridden as part of an inter-modal journey and as high as 47% of the users do so on a daily basis. Noting that almost a third of the dockless shared bicycle users ride for less than 12 min we decided to compare the bikeability perception to the riding of shared bicycle only. As a result, it seems the increase in the two-wheeler mode share is connected to the decrease in the perception of bikeability for short rides. Despite this relationship it is normal not to consider ride only on shared bikes in the bikeability perception model. Indeed, the riding frequency is already a factor in our model. As by definition it is also highly correlated to the riding propensity, listing ride only on shared bikes as a factor of our model would lead to multicollinearity, which should be prevented at all cost in order to preserve the correctness of our bikeability perception model. Hence, confronting Fig. 5.2a, b yields a sharper understanding of how the introduction of dockless bike sharing systems impacted the appreciation for bikeability. Many new people started to ride while they had previously felt partially hindered by their lack of skills, and as such did not acquire a bike. Not feeling confident, their level of appreciation for bikeability appears as biased by their lack of practice. However

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as soon as this new fringe of the population get off their bikes, only more acquainted and skilled riders are left, leading to an increased in the perceived bikeability as the riding time increases. These new bicycle sharing schemes clearly appear as positive and effective solution to many issues, and in particular the last mile problem discussed above. However, it is important to also be aware of their downside. Among the most noticeable side effects of those schemes are the emergence of new environmental and sociological issues. For instance, the over-production of bikes could constitute a major problem in the next few years. Another potential drawback is related to the encroachment of pedestrian circulations by more or less organized rows of parked bicycles which could have a negative impact on the variable bike viewed as an issue. Since this is a major component of the bikeability perception model, this could have strong consequences on the perception of bikeability. Moreover, despite tangible achievements these systems have not yet been able to overcome some issues related to daily utilitarian urban cycling, such as the ones underscored at the end of Sect. 5.4.3. For instance, many of the first bicycles released were not equipped with a basket, discouraging cyclists to use them for shopping or grocery. Moreover, the absence of a back seat is a limiting factor since parents cannot ride with their child. Since children represent a strong motivator for car driving, these limitations should be addressed. Only then, can a shift from private car to bicycle be encouraged. On the long run this could represent the viable and sustainable solution every city has been longing for.

5.5 Conclusion Through the design of two statistical models describing the bikeability perception and the cycling propensity, we were able to determine the elements central to our problem, namely clarifying the meaning of “bikeable” in the Chinese context. Those variables were then analysed in details through the evaluation of various hypotheses. In particular we estimated the impact of the travel time and of the purpose of a typical journey, on the bikeability perception and riding propensity. As major findings of this study we first reconsidered the assumption that Chinese people look-down at urban cycling which in turn bears the idea “the more affluent, the more disregard for cycling”. In fact, while confronting our two models, we found the evidence that Chinese citizens want to cycle more and that they actually enjoy cycling. Then our analysis noticed the importance of utilitarian cycling, that is cycling to fulfil daily purposes such as commuting, transporting children, or shopping. An answer to this pressing demand would represent a sustainable solution to the problem of urban congestion and travel efficiency. Most importantly, while a vast majority of people have a positive view of twowheeled vehicles, many do not ride them as their common transportation. This is a critical point as according to our model, the cycling propensity is impacted by the favoured transportation, when the bikeability perception relies on the common

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transportation. Therefore, a simple shift from the common transportation to the favoured transportation could have a dramatic effect on the perceived bikeability of the city. Hence a line for further research is the determination of the precise parameters preventing potential riders to “get on the saddle”. Moreover, we have re-evaluated the impact of variables not accounted for in Western countries or others found of lesser importance in China. Therefore, this work precisely fit the Chinese context and as such can be used as a solid basis for the future design of a Chinese counterpart to the Copenhagener index. Another substantial application could be the improvement of the urban environment such as to better accommodate two-wheelers. As a conclusion, urban policies should not rely on the assumption that the negative impact of the bicycle on the perceived status implies a disregard for cycling as a practice, unless clear evidences of such impact are exhibited. Regarding mobility urban planning should rather be viewed as a multiple paradigm articulated around inter-modality and including utilitarian cycling. In that context accommodating two-wheelers becomes an asset for the development of contemporaneous livable cities. Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for supporting the current study (Grant No. 51778422).

References Adams, J. (1995). Risk. Routledge. ISBN: 10:1857280687 Aldred, R. (2008). Cycling cultures: Some initial findings from a narrative research project. In 5th Cycling and Society Symposium, University of the West of England, Bristol (pp. 8–9). Atkins, S. T. (1986). Women’s fears when travelling: An accurate perception of risk? In Second International Conference on Teaching of Statistics University of Victoria, BC, Canada. Banister, D. (2005). Unsustainable transport: City transport in the new century. Routledge. Basford, L., Reid, S., Lester, T., Thomson, J., & Tolmie, A. (2003). Drivers’ perceptions of cyclists. Crowthorne: TRL. Chevalier, A., & Xu, L. (2017). On the applicability of a Western bikeability index in the Chinese context. In International Conference 2017 on Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development (to appear). Copenhagenize Design Co. (2017). Copenhagenize index [online]. Retrieved April 19, 2017, from http://copenhagenize.eu/index Dalton, A. (2010). Cycling circles: Gender perspectives and social influence in UK cycling. Ph.D. thesis. University of the West of England. Davison, G., & Yelland, S. (2004). Car wars: How the car won our hearts and conquered our cities. Allen and Unwin. Emond, C., Tang, W., & Handy, S. (2017) Explaining gender differences in bicycle behavior. In Active living research [online]. Retrieved April 19, 2016. Eric, B. (2004). La véritable histoire des transports scolaires [The true story of school transportation]. In Transports scolaires No. 145. Héran, F. (2014). Le retour de la bicyclette: Une histoire des déplacements urbains en Europe, de 1817 à 2050 [The return of the bicycle: a story of urban mobilities in Europe, from 1817 to 2050]. Éditions La Découverte.

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Horton, D., Rosen, P., & Cox, P. (2007). Cycling and society. Ashgate. Krag, T. (1989). Safety—An Achilles’ heel for cycling. In Velo-city conference in Copenhagen. Louviere, J. J., Hensher, D. A., & Swait, J. D. (2000). Stated choice methods: Analysis and application. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 0-52178275-9. Mobike. (2016). Official website [online]. Retrieved November 1, 2016, from http://mobike.com/ blog/ Mobike. (2017). Bicycle and urban development white paper 2017 [online]. Retrieved April 25, 2017, from http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/MK8BafUZbklEvfl6xVR_uQ Niu, W. (2012). China’s new urbanization report. Science Press. ISBN: 10:7030356241 Ofo. (2016). Official Website [online]. Retrieved April 20, 2016, from http://www.ofo.so/ Pan, H. (2011). Implementing sustainable urban travel policies in China. In International Transport Forum. Discussion Paper No. 2011–12. Pan, H. (2013). Sustainable urban mobility in Eastern Asia [online]. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2013. Parkin, J. (2004). Determination and measurement of factors which influence propensity to cycle to work. Program on Health Equity and Sustainability. (2016). Bicycle Environmental Quality Index (BEQI) [online]. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://www.sfhealthequity.org/elements/24-elements/ tools/102-bicycle-environmentalquality-index Shanghai Bureau of Statistics. (2017). Shanghai Economic and Social Development Statistical Bulletin 2016 (in Chinese) [online]. Retrieved April 19, 2017. TDM Encyclopedia. (2016). Performance evaluation [online]. Retrieved December 10, 2016, from http://vtpi.org/tdm/tdm131.htm The R Project statistical computing. (2017). R [online]. Retrieved April 25, 2017. http://www.r-pro ject.org Urry, J. (2001). Inhabiting the car. In Conference on the future of the car. Urry, J. (2004). The ‘system’ of automobility. Theory, Culture and Society, 21(4/5), 25–39. Van Mead, N. (2017). Uber for bikes: how ‘dockless’ cycles flooded China—And are heading overseas. The Guardian [online]. Retrieved April 19, 2017. Walk Score. (2015). 2015 cities and neighborhoods. Retrieved January 11, 2016, from https://www. walkscore.com/cities-and-neighborhoods. Wang, S. (2017). Why bicycles are piling up in a Shanghai parking lot. CNN [online]. Retrieved April 19, 2017. Wetherhold, S. (2012). The bicycle as symbol of China’s transformation. The Atlantic [online]. Retrieved November 1, 2016. Whitelegg, J. (1997). Critical mass. Pluto Press. World Population Review. (2017). Shanghai population 2017 [online]. Retrieved April 23, 2017, from http://worldpopulationreview.com/worldcities/shanghai-population/ Yang, J., Chen, J., & Wang, Z. (2015). Major issues for biking revival in urban China. Habitat International, 47, 176–182. Zhang, H., Shaheen, S. A., & Chen, X. (2014a). Bicycle evolution in China: From the 1900s to the present. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 8(5), 317–335. Zhang, Yi., Wu, W., Li, Y., Liu, Q., & Li, C. (2014b). Does the built environment make a difference? An investigation of household vehicle use in Zhongshan Metropolitan Area, China. Sustainability, 6, 4910–4930. Zhu, C., Zhu, Y., Lu, R., He, R., & Xia, Z. (2012). Perceptions and aspirations for car ownership among Chinese students attending two universities in the Yangtze Delta, China. Journal of Transport Geography, 24, 315–323. Zhu, W., Pang, Y., Wang, D., & Timmermans, H. (2013). Travel behavior change after the introduction of public bicycle systems: Case study in Minhang District, Shanghai. In 92nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board.

Chapter 6

The Activation System of the “Three-Dimensional City” in Urban Renewal Qing Mei

6.1 Introduction 6.1.1 The Theory of Urban Diversity The theory of urban diversity first emerged in Jane Jacobs’s book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. She pointed out that in order to make cities dynamic, attention must be paid to the diversity of urban development patterns and to the four essential conditions that support their emergence: the mixing of basic functions, the small cohesive areas, the preservation of both old buildings and low density buildings. The mixing of basic functions is central of the theory of urban diversity. Jacobs argues that a region should include two or more primary functions so that enough people can be attracted at different times. Kevin Lynch’s book, The Image of the City, published in 1960, utilized Jacobs’ method of field observation and personal experience. This research method, which forms a theoretical system through direct cognition and field visits, has been widely used in many disciplines. William H. Whyte’s book, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, published in 1980, discussed the conditions and methods for the establishment and use of public spaces. He believed that the square should be linked to the streets, which would allow both pedestrians and business owners to supervise the streets.

Q. Mei (B) College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_6

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6.1.2 The Concept of the Three-Dimensional City The three-dimensional city is a kind of urban renewal activation system which can increase the vertical diversity of the city through the development of mixed functions. With more high-rise buildings than traditional cities built on flat terrain, the threedimensional city maximizes the use of space in the air, thus achieving the purpose of saving land (Smith & Waterman, 1981). Usually it consists of vertical transportation systems, such as elevators, high-rise connections, and vehicle traffic between floors, such as a series of staggered elevated expressways, and intricate and diverse internal structures. Generally speaking, there is no strict definition of the size and form of a three-dimensional city. The concept of three-dimensional city sprouted in the period of western modernism with the idealurban model proposed by Le Corbusier in 1925 (Fig. 6.1). Even though the final form is different, the shared characteristic of all threedimensional cities is a highly modern and efficient man-made urban system. The ideal urban model failed in the West because social complexities and human factors were neglected. However, the concept of the three-dimensional city is being gradually realized today through vertical function mixing (i.e. two or more urban functions mixed) and evidenced in cities’ land use patterns, functional layout and spatial form

Fig. 6.1 Western ideal city model by Le Corbusier in 1925 (image Source Ville Radieuse/Le Corbusier)

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(May et al., 2006). On the one hand, function mixing is the aggregation of different functions located in horizontal and vertical spaces with a certain scale and density. On the other hand, there are direct or indirect internal links between the different functions, displaying an orderliness and an interrelationship. Tokyo is a good example of a three-diemnsional city. Tokyo’s urban construction is not confined to the development of the plane, but extended above and below ground. In order to save urban space, Tokyo has built underground transportation hubs, parking lots and large entertainment centers, together with high-altitude facilities, such as overpasses, making the city “three-dimensional” and efficient.

6.1.3 The Opportunity Within the Historic District Update With today’s urban renewal in full swing, the renewal of historic districts often uses direct, rapid, and extreme intervention methods: vacate tenants from historic buildings, dismantle large numbers of historic buildings, and insert commercial shops while improving the building volume rate within the block. Such an approach not only makes us lose tradition, but also cannot satisfy people’s diverse needs. However, if we do not carry out appropriate demolition, and do not utilize appropriate highintensity development, we will not be able to utilize land efficiently and ensure the efficient operation of urban functions. So completely retaining old buildings is another extreme. Therefore, the “three-dimensional city” activation system strikes a balance between the two extremes and presents a new mode of limited intervention. Therefore, the renewal of historic blocks in the city is an unprecedented opportunity for finding this balance (Foster & Kesselman, 1999). Based on the concept of three-dimensional city activation system and the opportunities from historic street renewal, this paper will examine Wuhan’s historic district and study the application of the three-dimensional city activation system in urban renewal.

6.2 Research on Lifen Districts in Jianghan Road 6.2.1 Lifen Historic District Overview The Lifen building form is similar to Shanghai’s Li Nong and Beijing’s Hutong, but it exists as a unique residential form in Wuhan. It is a combination of Western lowlevel townhouses and Chinese traditional courtyard buildings and is the product of cultural exchanges between the East and the West (Czajkowski et al., 2001). Hankou, a very prosperous city, has a large number of historic buildings, worthy of further research. As a unique residential structure, Lifen displays Wuhan’s urban charm and

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Fig. 6.2 External forms of Lifen buildings in Wuhan (image Source Google real map)

regional culture, symbolizes Wuhan’s history and traditions and is an indispensable component of the city (Fig. 6.2). There are two main types of historic districts. One is built by the residents themselves. This kind of poor neighborhood planning results in relatively small houses and incomplete facilities but neighborhoods are lively in character. The other type of historic district is the result of early development. The planning structure and the functions in the neighborhood is complete, and typically consists of two floors with spacious and comfortable walkways. However, due to the accelerated urbanization process and the current emphasis on business and economic benefits since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Lifu District, like many historic cultural cities and famous streets in China, is faced with being demolished. Wuhan’s largest district, Huazhongli, was demolished in a short period of time. Thus, the protection and transformation of the historic district of Lifen does not have an optimistic outlook (Foster et al., 2002).

6.2.2 An Analysis of the Location of Lifen Districts The subject of this study is the Lifen district of Jianghan Road in Wuhan (Fig. 6.3). Jianghan Lifen Historic District is located in the center of Wuhan City, within the city’s first ring, and refers to the Lifen area on the north side of Jianghan Road (Fig. 6.4). The district’s main transportation corridors are Jianghan Road and Jiqing Street which are two major commercial streets and perpendicular to the Yangtze

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Fig. 6.3 District location

Fig. 6.4 Main transportation corridors in LiFen district in Jianghan road

River. Zhongshan Avenue and Yanjiang Avenue are two major roads running parallel to the Yangtze River. The subway station is located in the middle of the site. Around the site, there are also other areas with different characteristics. (Fig. 6.5)The main areas of the site are Jianghan Road Business District, Hanzheng Street Central Service District and Dazhi Road Science and Technology District. And others are Youth Palace Cultural Area, the Hankou Jiangtan Riverside Landscape Area and the residential area.

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Fig. 6.5 Main area around LiFen district in Jianghan road

6.2.3 Lifen District Status Survey in Jianghan Road Fieldsurveys were conducted in the form of questionnaires on Jianghan Luli District to obtain representative and reference data. The questionnaire is shown in Table 6.1. In accordance with the sociological research methods and procedures used to design the questionnaire form, Baoyuanli District was designated the investigation point and random sampling was used to conduct the questionnaire survey. Research methods included asking local residents the survey questions, listening to their answers and suggestions, recording relevant data and photographing the inside of the buildings. Analyzing the results of the surveys showed: (1) (2)

(3)

The residents of the Lifen district are mainly older and their family structure is typically comprised of one to two generations. The business service environment and external transportation conditions in the surrounding area of the district are very convenient and fast. District sanitation conditions are poor. Buildings in the Lifen district generally have few windows, resulting in dimly lit conditions and poor ventilation. Few households have a fully-equipped separate bathroom and a separate kitchen, which are typically shared by two or even three or four households.

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Table 6.1 Questionnaire for residential environment in Lifen district Investigate subject

Resident evaluation

Resident evaluation

Resident evaluation

Resident evaluation

Options

Tick Options

Tick Options

Tick Options

Age

≤35



36–55



≥56



Family structure

one generation



Two  generations

Three generations



Four  generations

The surrounding business services environment

Perfect



Good



Poor



Very poor



External traffic conditions

Very convenient



Convenient



Inconvenient 

Residential indoor daylight conditions

Perfect



Good



Poor



Residential indoor ventilation

Perfect



Good



Poor



Main fuel

Gas pipeline 

Coal stove



Liquefied gas



Electronic furnace



Kitchen and bathroom usage

Independent 

Two households use



Three households use



Four  households use

The urgency of updating and renovating

Very urgent



Urgent



Not very urgent



Not need



Is it satisfied Very with the satisfactory living environment?



Satisfactory 

Bad



Very bad



(4) (5)

Tick

Residents generally feel that they are not satisfied with their living conditions and hope that the buildings in the area can be reconstructed or remodeled. Residents also generally stated that the unique forms and characteristics of the buildings in the area make them reluctant to give up. They hope that the rebuilt blocks and buildings can embody the original district’s essence.

From the survey results, it is not difficult to see that the Lifen district is a special part of the Wuhan City. Despite the residents’ poor living conditions and environment, the buildings have a profound historical value when compared with the villages in the city. Compared to modern cities, district management, operation

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and development is inefficient and antiquated. The Lifen district can be seen as an intermediate form between the village in the city and the modern city. The district should be strongly protected and urgently requires a limited intervention to align it with the modern urban concept. The three-dimensional activation system formally incorporates updated historic buildings within a high-intensity development model, connecting and unifying the updated model to bring unprecedented possibilities for the renewal of the historic district (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).

6.3 Mixing Units—Activation System Operating Unit 6.3.1 The Establishment of Mixing Units In order to update the historic district, an analysis of the types of existing buildings should be done first. Then the types of buildings can be sorted and classified, revealing the links connecting them and acting as the operable units of the three-dimensional city’s activation system. On the north side of Jianghan Road, the current buildings can be roughly divided into the four types (Table 6.2). Table 6.2 shows the complexity of building types in Jianghan Road historic blocks and the main problems exhibited in different building types. However, the most important quality is the historic protection value of each building type. Obviously, the residential and western buildings are cultural heritage buildings with the highest protection value. Therefore, we should take the historical building as the core, find the relationship between historical buildings and other building types, and construct these different types of operating units as pilots for the activation system. The definition of the mixing unit is clear: the mixing unit is based on historic buildings and includes a construction group of any type of residential, cultural, educational and commercial buildings. The group is based on the three-dimensional city as the activation system of the operating unit and the different types of buildings in the unit can reciprocate each other. Each mixing unit can be reproduced and distributed through other similar blocks in other historic areas of the city.

6.3.2 Classification of Mixing Units After analyzing the relationship between historic buildings and surrounding buildings, and clarifying the definition of the mixing unit, it is necessary to divide and classify the mixing units in the neighborhood. Investigation and analysis show there are 56 cultural security units, 63 high-rise buildings, and 28 architectural buildings in the study area. The remaing buildings are all less than 8-story buildings of differing quality. Therefore, we choose to build a hybrid unit with 14 historical buildings or cultural preservation buildings with high

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Table 6.2 Building status classification Building type Representative building

Representative building picture

Architectural style

Value

Existing problems

Historic buildings

Lifen residential buildings, Western architecture

Classic architecture

High

The Lifen residential buildings has poor living conditions and the Western buildings are occupied by the government

Residential buildings

Multi-story or high-rise residential buildings

Modern architecture

Low

The number of residential quarters is high, and the high-level residents lack the space for activities

Cultural and Educational buildings

Cultural buildings, School buildings, Exhibition buildings

Modern architecture

Low

Cultural and educational buildings are of typically public in nature, but the surrounding square space is not utilized

Commercial buildings

Low-level shops along the street

Modern architecture

Low

Street lacks resting and stopping spaces

historical value and existing layout and texture. The 14 historical building clusters are used as each mixed unit. The 14 mixing units can be divided into the following categories: “Historic Buildings—Residential Buildings” Mixing Units, “Historic Buildings—Cultural and Educational Buildings” Mixing Units, and “Historic Buildings— Commercial Buildings” Mixing Units. The distribution of the mixing units in the is shown in Fig. 6.6.

6.3.3 The Skeleton of Mixing Units After determining the basic classification of the mixing unit, the distribution within the study area and the flow direction of the site, three basic flow lines can be drawn (Fig. 6.7). The first flow line connects Xulimen Subway Station, Jianghan Road

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Fig. 6.6 The distribution of the mixing units in the research area

Fig. 6.7 Three basic flow lines

Subway Station and Jianghanguan Marker and coincides with Jianghan Road Pedestrian Street. The flow line is dominated by commercial activities; Xulimen Subway Station, Dazhi Road Subway Station and the commercial street of Jiqing Street together make up the commercial action flow line. The third linking the Youth Palace, Jincheng Square and Hankou Jiangtan Scenic Spot is a pedestrian flow line based on landscape nodes, which can be simply referred to as the “Landscape Line.“ The position of these three lines of motion is the main flow of people within the study area and makes up the main skeleton of the mixed elements that run through different properties. Therefore, the future development of the mixing unit and the generation of potential flow lines can be predicted by the layout of the skeleton and the distribution of the mixing units. As shown in Fig. 6.8, the area can be divided into two parts: the line and the grid. (1)

The grid indicates the coverage of the study area. The empty grid represents the free area in the study area, while the filled grid represents the area that has been

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Fig. 6.8 The future development of the mixing unit and the generation of potential flow lines

Fig. 6.9 The final system of efficient urban operation

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developed. The rectangles, triangles and circles in the grid represent the mixing units of “Historic Buildings—Residential Buildings”, “Historical Buildings— Cultural and Educational Buildings”, and “Historic Buildings—Commercial Buildings”. The red it solid line and the blue double solid line represent the commercial movement line and the landscape line, respectively. The forecasting part can also be divided into two parts.

(1)

(2)

Prediction of the mixing units’ properties: Free zones and mixing units near commercial lines tend to evolve into matching commercial properties, as shown by the red area in the figure. Free zones and mixing units near the landscape lines tend to evolve into matching landscape properties, as shown by the blue area in the figure. The grey area between the commercial line of motion and the landscape line tends to evolve into a mixed cultural and commercial landscape. Potential line prediction: due to the position of commercial lines and landscape lines, the middle grey area forms a cultural mixed zone. The commercial line and the landscape line may also be directly vertically related. Evolution into a fishbone shape is shown in the solid orange line. Ultimately, a potential line of action with an undetermined function and with multiple possibilities for development is formed, shown by the green dotted line in the figure. This potential development line is a special flow line with the nature of commercial and landscape flows. The nature of this line can change over time. At some point in the future, it will be formed through a little guidance and be consistent with future the development characteristics.

6.4 The Application of the Activation System in the Mixing Unit 6.4.1 Application Classification of the Three-Dimensional City Activation System Through the definition and classification of the skeleton of the mixing unit, the framework of the mixing unit has been initially formed. The next step is to formulate the application modes of the system under different classifications according to the different properties of the mixing units. As shown in Table 6.3, depending on the scale of the mixing unit, the percentage of users, operation interface, and differences in building height, the three application modes of the three-dimensional city activation system can be determined as follows: three-dimensional community mode, threedimensional square, and three-dimensional street mode. For the “Historic Buildings- Residential Buildings” mixing mode, the blending of the old and the new are very obvious since most of the Lifen blocks are adjacent to the surrounding high-rise residential buildings. Therefore, it is imperative to choose

Scale

BIG

Classification

“Historic buildings—Residential buildings” mixing units

Worker

Tourist

Resident

Population proportion

Irregular interface

Operable interface

Building below 3F and high rise building

Internal building height relationship

Table 6.3 Application classification of three-dimensional city activation system

(continued)

Building LOOP concatenated communities at different heights

Activation system operation method

Three-dimensional community mode

Using multi-story buildings as a medium

Activation system media form

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Scale

MIDDLE

Classification

“Historic buildings—Cultural and educational buildings” mixing units

Table 6.3 (continued)

Worker

Tourist

Resident

Population proportion

Complete interface

Operable interface

Building below 3F and multilayer building

Internal building height relationship

Three-dimensional square mode

Using the square and underground space as a medium

Activation system media form

(continued)

Build a multi-story square service public building user

Activation system operation method

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Scale

SMALL

Classification

“Historic buildings—Commercial buildings” mixing units

Table 6.3 (continued)

Worker

Tourist

Resident

Population proportion

Linear interface

Operable interface

Building below 3F

Internal building height relationship

Three-dimensional street mode

Horizontal corridors for the media

Activation system media form

Build an air-street to provide tourists with rest sites

Activation system operation method

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the gap zone for the new construction. We need to find a set of control systems and frameworks so there is no difference in historic protection and that buildings of different ages and periods can have their own characteristics and be regarded as equal in value. The inner part of the Lifen block should retain the historic buildings with higher historical value, while the outer gap area is suitable for increasing the living density and attracting people with new buildings utilized as businesses, a visitor center, service sites, etc. The newly constructed multi-story buildings are used as the main medium to connect the low-level areas and the high-level areas in series to form a complete LOOP system, allowing the community to operate efficiently at the low, medium, and high levels and to form a “three-dimensional” community. The specific transformation methods and details will be introduced in the next section and combined with sample pilots. For the “Historic Buildings—Cultural and Educational Buildings” mixing mode, the main method should be reservation. The cultural and educational buildings that are currently used should be preserved along with the historic buildings and public buildings between them. Through the redesign of the ground floor landscape and by utilizing the underground floor, a multi-dimensional “stereo plaza” was constructed. This will not cause too much damage to the buildings themselves and will maximize the effectiveness of the areas between buildings, such as plazas, greenery and landscapes. Populations in and around cultural and educational buildings, used as residents, tourists, and students, can share the areas between the old and the new buildings, rejuvenating the entire space. For the “Historic Buildings—Commercial Buildings” mixing mode, meeting the needs of tourists is the main function and the resting site should be increased to reshape the interface along the “three-dimensional street”. Specifically, the two following two points should be included: the interface trigger and the appropriate space in series. First, renovation and restoration of the interior building facade elevation and of the small historic commercial building should be done, which will improve the hardware facilities and guide crowd behavior, resulting in a micro-update of the street interface. The second is the appropriate space in series. For a commercial building with a large number of people, green corridors can be partially erected to connect previously unconnected historic buildings, so they can be combined to form a whole. This can not only disperse the flow of people and help tourists relax, but also enable the conversion of historical buildings from closed to open, reimagining the buildings’ cultural and historical value.

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6.4.2 “Three-Dimensional Community” Pilot Project—a Case Study of the Historic District of Jiqing Street The combination of the design of the historic district of Jiqing Street with the above analysis illustrates the application of the “three-dimensional community” activation system in the “historical building-residential building” mixing unit. (1)

(2)

Retention, demolition and new construction, and renovation. After assessing the construction age, existing functions, current quality and historic value of the buildings in the historic block of Jiqing Street, the buildings are identified as those that need to be preserved, those that need to be built and those that need to be transformed. First, the historic buildings are preserved and function replacements are performed. Some of the buildings are transformed into shops, some are converted into tourist attractions. The residential community should be kept intact. As the Baocheng community buildings are mostly multi-story with a height of around 8F along with a few higher-rise buildings, they should all be wholly preserved and retain their original functions. Second, the method of direct demolition and new construction should be adopted for buildings with poor quality, no historical value, and undesired existing functions. With the use of irregular space after demolition, new highdensity residential buildings will be built to increase residence density. As new high-rise buildings are constructed, the volume ratio between buildings will be increased, and more residential and office functions will be accommodated. The aim is to renovate and design quality buildings and the original open space. Due to their neatly arranged features, the buildings in the area can be transformed into shops on the ground floors, forming a mall with a sense of scale and history. For the vacant space, the landscape design is mainly used to make it a square that residents and tourists can use together. Build a three-dimensional service system shared by high and low levels. The three-dimensional community’s complete service system is gradually constructed using the method of phased development. In the early stages of development, the relationship between historic buildings and the retention of multi-story buildings was established, constituting a leisure and service system that runs through the second floor of the building. On the second floor of is a green main line that can be connected to the ground floor to connect different types of buildings. And through the partial transformation of historic buildings, the use of roof platforms and other strategies to increase more green areas. This green area can be used as a leisure space by the residents of the second floor and the tourists on the first floor. At the same time, setting up several service stations on this greening line will serve as a service space. As the city continues to expand upward in the middle period of development, suitable locations to build new high-rise residential buildings, which also

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provide corresponding leisure and service systems, will be selected when the historic blocks need to accommodate more people. The upper part of the highrise building should create more corridor spaces, greening platforms, observation platforms, etc., as leisure space, and introduce small service stations to serve residents in high-rise areas. In the later stages of development, consideration should be given to the relationship between new high-rise buildings, existing high-rise buildings and existing multi-story buildings. The use of existing multi-story buildings for additional construction should be considered, the upper part of which is positioned as a mixture of leisure space, service centers and as an appropriate introduction of green space. Finally, through the penetration of the greening line, communication between the higher and lower floors’ green space and public space can be achieved. Ultimately, both the low-level and high-level areas have their own independent service systems, are connected through a three-dimensional green space, and reach efficient urban operations (Fig. 6.9).

6.5 Conclusion In summary, from the definition of the three-dimensional city concept, through the investigation of historical districts in Jianghan Road and the specific application of the activation system in the Lifen neighborhood, we can see the significance of the “threedimensional city” activation system in urban renewal: the construction of a new model of “mixing units” of old and new buildings, centered on historic buildings, is a balance between the two major extremes of demolition and construction and complete preservation. It is a new mode of limited intervention. Through the construction of mixing units, it is possible to realize the reciprocity and juxtaposition of original and new functions as well as the alienation of industries and the appreciation of land benefits. Through this mixing of new and old functional groups in the city, this mode can inject new vitality into the entire city and create a new paradigm of urban rejuvenation that can be repicated in other cities. Acknowledgements This paper is subsidized by the NSFC project “Research on Technical System of “Downtown Factory” Community-oriented Regeneration in Yangtze River Delta Region”, No. 51678412. We would like to thank the project owner, Professor LI Zhenyu, Dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University.

References Czajkowski, K., Fitzgerald, S., Foster, I., & Kesselman, C. (2001) Grid information services for distributed resource sharing. In 10th IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Distributed Computing (pp. 181–184). New York : IEEE Press

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Foster, I., & Kesselman, C. (1999). The Grid: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann. Foster, I., Kesselman, C., Nick, J., & Tuecke, S. (2002) The physiology of the grid: An open grid services architecture for distributed systems integration. Technical report, Global Grid Forum May, P., Ehrlich, H. C., & Steinke, T. (2006). ZIB structure prediction pipeline: Composing a complex biological workflow through web services. LNCSIn W. E. Nagel, W. V. Walter, & W. Lehner (Eds.), Euro-Par 2006 (Vol. 4128, pp. 1148–1158). Heidelberg: Springer. National Center for Biotechnology Information, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Smith, T. F., & Waterman, M. S. (1981). Identification of common molecular subsequences. Journal of Molecular Biology, 147, 195–197.

Chapter 7

Research on the Generation Mechanism of Urban Innovation Space Peng Zeng and Jinxuan Li

7.1 Introduction Under the context of knowledge economy,1 global integration and rapid urbanization in China, the academic circles have realized that innovation is one of the most important functions of the city. The planning and construction of urban innovation space originated from the foundation of Stanford Industrial Park in 1951, which has experienced a long-term development more than half a century. Subsequently, a series of global practice of initiative planning and construction is produced in several countries, to promote their own science and technology industry and economic development. For example, some large-scale innovative spaces such as Tsukuba Science Park or Hsinchu Science and Technology Park, and some medium-sized technology incubators scattered throughout the metropolitan areas all over the world. Although only part of these innovative space practice was developed smoothly, the role of innovation space in urban innovation has been widely recognized. Since the 80s of last century, with the city innovation activities has gradually become a powerful incentive of regional and urban economic growth, its correlation theories also have drawn more and more attention. In recent years, China’s economic development entrances into the state of “New Normal (which means a period time of new opportunities for development)”, and the central government puts forward the “popular entrepreneurship and innovation (a national level strategy to promote innovation)” call. Economic activities with technological innovation and cultural innovation increase significantly 1

This research was supposed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No: 51978447), and the Tianjin Postgraduate Research and Innovation Project (No: 2020YJSB092).

P. Zeng (B) · J. Li School of Architecture, Tianjin University, 92 Weijin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin, China e-mail: [email protected] J. Li e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_7

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every day, accompanied by urban innovation space systems entering a new stage of rapid development. Based on the relevant innovation theory put forward by the Austrian economist Schumpeter in the early twentieth century (Schumpeter, 1934), the research on urban innovation activities and spaces gradually divided into two branches. First is the “Innovative Environmental School” which emphasizes the influence of “regional and environmental characteristics” on innovation activities (Aydalot, 1988; Saxenian, 1994; Simmie et al., 1999), while the other is the “Innovation System Theory”, which focuses on the internal operation mechanism of the macro-scale innovation space system based on the theory of “structural supremacy” (Braczyk et al., 1998; Lundvall, 1992; Nelson, 1993). However, these two mainstream ideas are, to some extent, incomplete theories, and are both mechanically attribute the creation and development of innovative activities to a variety of external factors (whether space system or spatial entity). They failed to fully explore the role of “software elements” in the creation of innovative activities or spaces, such as “innovation network” and “innovation culture”. In the past ten years, the writer of this paper has systematically combed the theory of contemporary urban innovation space, including the exploration of its development mode (Zeng, 2007), type of space (Zeng et al., 2009) and space modality structure (Zeng et al., 2008). Since China’s 18th National People’s Congress in 2012, urban innovation spaces have attained a new development in the “New Normal” macro background. In the macro-strategy process of turning into innovationdriven, how to promote urban economic development through urban planning and urban policy has become a hot topic, and it is necessary to deepen the realization of the generation mechanism of urban innovation space from a new perspective of interdisciplinary view.

7.2 The Concept of Urban Innovation Space Urban innovation space is an urban space system which serves as a significant part of the contemporary city in the context of globalization and information age, which provides services to the knowledge-led industrial activities such as innovation, scientific research, cultural creation and high technology manufacturing. Urban innovation space usually includes two kinds of different connotations. The narrow connotation mainly refers to the space entity or space cluster that directly participates in the industrialization of knowledge economy (such as innovation, R & D, manufacturing and propaganda), or rather the direct conversion space for creative value in urban areas. While, the broad connotation of urban innovation space refers to multiunit urban space system that includes the above mentioned innovative spaces as well as any closely related urban departments like education, display, housing, public services and so on (Fig. 7.1). Urban innovation space refers to a series of related concepts, including: urban innovation activities, innovation mechanism, innovation culture, and innovation space units. These related concepts are different in spatial scale, and they form a

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Fig. 7.1 The concept group of urban innovation space (Source Authors)

multi-level urban innovation space concept group which contains material space and spiritual space. According to the difference aspects such as location, size, core factors, research object or service object, diversified urban innovation spaces can be further subdivided into three categories, namely: Public Innovation Spaces (ZhongChuang Space, small incubators with convenient public service), Industrial Parks and Innovative Cities. They are closely related to each other and these three categories manifest the spatial structure of the innovative space system at the urban level (Table 7.1).

7.3 Discussion on the Generation Mechanism of Urban Innovation Space In the blueprint of modern urban development, the city’s comprehensive innovation capacity occupies a pivotal position because it not only determines the scale of the city’s economic development and the level of public service, but also affects the international competition in the future. Taking Shanghai as an example, in 2016 Shanghai’s GDP growth rate outperformed the country for the first time since 2008, reflecting the urban innovation-driven effect by building a free trade pilot area with global influence in the context of being forced to abandon the investment-driven and the development model of scale expansion. As the pioneer in the development

Science City, Technology City, high-tech development zones, innovative towns, creative towns

Innovative cities

Source Authors

Science and technology industrial park, creative industrial park, high-tech park

Industrial parks

Cultivate innovative activities and provide support

Main activities

Government, university, enterprise research institute

Industrial production, innovation research, integrated services

Production Innovation enterprises, activities to research institutes achieve industrialization

Entrepreneurial Non-qualified coffee, innovation private or communes, enterprise incubators, headquarters accelerators

Public innovation spaces

Main body

Related spatial form

Spatial types

Regional economic revitalization

Innovative products, large enterprises

Innovation opportunities, start-ups

Output target

Table 7.1 The spatial types and characteristics of innovative space system at the urban level

To achieve a comprehensive planning for innovation

To achieve industrial agglomeration

Provide platform to share elements

Industry mechanism

All the core services required by city

All the features from R & D to production

Business capital services, business counseling

Supporting services

The highest, the need for capital investment to achieve industrial profits

Higher, need industry profitability

Moderate, requires a preliminary concept of innovation

Access threshold

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of urbanization and urban industrial economy in China, Shanghai pointed out the development prospects of innovation-driven transformation for other cities in China with its practical action, once again proved the importance of urban innovation space system. The implementation of investment-driven development strategy, need to take the initiative to solve the problem of urban innovation space generation mechanism. “Mechanism” is originally a concept from physics, which was borrowed later by the social sciences, that refers to “a series of related basic activities or processes that led to certain actions, reactions and other natural phenomena” (Merriam-Webster Inc. 2001). The so-called urban innovation space generation mechanism refers to “a series of basic activities or processes that contribute to the creation and development of innovative space systems in cities”. Due to the complexity of urban innovation space system, this paper divides the mechanism of urban innovation space into two levels: “creation mechanism” and “development mechanism” (Fig. 7.2). From the perspective of urban governance, the generation of urban innovation space needs to guide all aspects of the city to consciously create all kinds of elements, which are needed for urban innovation activities to promote their emergence and development. More specifically, the creation mechanism of urban innovation space, requires some basic elements to help innovative space systems establish from scratch, including “the confidence in innovation” (served as fundamental reason) and “information technology & globalization” (served as direct impetus). While, the development mechanism of urban innovation space requires the city managers to provide some “special elements” which satisfy the certain conditional attributes for the stable and orderly development of the innovative space system, which can be divided into “special material space elements” and “special planning policy elements” two categories, besides providing common elements necessary for the development of the general urban space systems.

Fig. 7.2 The concept group of urban innovation space generation mechanism (Source Authors)

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7.3.1 The Creation Mechanism of Urban Innovation Space The first aspect of urban innovation space generation mechanism is the creation mechanism of urban innovation space. The creation mechanism interprets the fundamental reason and direct impetus of innovative space system in the city, which are the necessary elements for these new urban space systems to produce and develop. On the one hand, the fundamental reason for the emergence of urban innovation space is that people can make sure that innovation activities will bring benefits in the future. According to the historian’s research, it was not until the ear of the scientific revolution that people began to realize their ignorance of the world around them and that new knowledge could bring wealth to the future (Harari, 2014). Later, with the confidence of the future transforming into “credit”, people use the “credit” for loans, access to resources to invest in innovative activities, and then “get strength and wealth from the innovative knowledge.“ On the other hand, the rapid growth of urban innovation space in recent decades has benefited from the leapfrog development of information technology and the globalization of economic markets. The leap-forward development of information technology makes the “information media” needed for innovation activities can be separated from the physical carriers such as human or letters. Thus, these information media can easily stay in the state of high-speed collision across the regional barrier, and promote many new ideas and new technology; at the same time, the globalization of the economic market formed by the international division of labor and a global market system, provide a huge development and application stage for the “fragmented” innovation achievements. In this context, the industrial transformation of innovative concepts in research is no longer limited to the local area, high-tech manufacturing R & D or other production processes that can take place whenever and wherever possible. In short, “confidence in innovation” and “information technology & globalization” together constitute the first aspect of the generating mechanism, serving as the necessary macroeconomic conditions for the creation of innovative space system in the city (Fig. 7.3). By comparing the “ecological sphere theory” of natural ecosystem, four layers of innovative space system can be put forward, so as to better explain the role of creation mechanism to the innovation network. “Innovative workers”, “innovative support conditions”, “urban innovation space” and “urban support system” actually constitute the four layers of innovation space system, and they form a new system required for innovative activities. The creation mechanism promotes the development of urban innovation activities, by establishing a mutual link between these four layers. For example, bearing the confidence in innovation, innovative workers take the initiative to use innovative support conditions around them, and finally create fragmented innovative achievements. Later, these innovative achievements are partly linked to each other by the promotion of information technology & globalization, resulting in the need for a specialized space for innovative activities. As a result, urban innovation space is created, and through the use of urban support systems, the final formation of innovative space systems is achieved. The internal link of this innovative space system actually constitutes an urban innovation network, and

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Fig. 7.3 The development of innovation activities before and after the scientific revolution (Source Authors)

the creation of each innovation space means the emergence of a complete urban innovation network (Fig. 7.4).

7.3.2 The Development Mechanism of Urban Innovation Space The “development mechanism” of urban innovation space is the second aspect of its generation mechanism, and it explains a series of necessary conditions in the development of urban innovation space. As part of a city’s material space, urban innovation space shall first to meet its “practical, economic, beautiful” or other common standards. The particularity of the urban innovation space development mechanism is that, in addition to the above common elements, urban managers need to provide some special elements that different from those need by the general urban space systems. From the perspective of urban governance, these special elements can be summed up in the following two categories, namely, the elements of material space and the elements of planning policy. Both are essential to the generation of urban innovation space in the context of “new normal” (Fig. 7.5). For example, most of the urban innovative activities are further developed through the platform of innovative enterprises, which are mainly served as a medium. The elements of “material space “ and “planning policy” as mentioned above are provided on the urban scale, and there is an application-level distance between them and innovation workers, which are the actual users of urban innovation space. Through the organization of innovative enterprises, the spontaneous innovation activities in the innovation network are promoted by creation mechanism, and then being overlapped to the hardware platform of the urban innovation space through the software platform of innovative enterprises. By integrating and utilizing the elements

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Fig. 7.4 The structure of urban innovation network (Source Authors)

Fig. 7.5 The related concepts of urban innovation space development mechanism (Source Authors)

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of “physical space” and “planning policies,” innovative enterprises provide innovative workers with rational and creative use of space, as well as flexible and purposeful organizational forms, that eventually promote urban innovation and its spatial development. Traditionally, the related research of urban innovation space mostly focusses on the size, function form or other factors of the innovation space itself, ignoring the special elements provided in many ways by the city that may be vitally important for the development of innovative space. Therefore, in attention to the material space properties of the innovation space system, we should also emphasize the supervision and guidance of urban managers in planning, policy or other “software aspects”.

7.3.3 The Relationship Between the Creation and Development Mechanism The two aspects of urban innovation space generation mechanism, “creation mechanism” and “development mechanism”, are closely related and are indispensable. Nearly 20 years, some of the cities along the southeast coast of China gradually have the necessary conditions for innovation space, “creation mechanism” began to play a significant role. However, the current management of the city usually takes a single financial stimulus measure to promote the development of innovative space systems, ignoring the diversified special elements need by the healthy development of innovative space. In fact, the ignoration of the specific requirements accompanied by the one-sided analyses of spontaneous formation of urban innovation space cases, are the final reason for the failure attempts to copy the Silicon Valley in many Chinese monopolies these decades. The creation and development of innovative space system is a result of many factors included the political, economic, social and cultural factors in the city. To explore the mechanism of urban innovation space, also need for an interdisciplinary perspective on the overall system. The next two sections of this paper will start from the two categories of special elements of urban innovation space development mechanism, one by one to explore what kinds of special element property that the city needs to provide for the development of urban innovative space systems.

7.4 The Essential Material Space Elements of Urban Innovation Space Development Even the city has had the basic elements that needed to produce innovative space systems, urban managers are still required to provide some special material space

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Fig. 7.6 The relationship between material space elements and urban innovation space generation mechanism (Source Authors)

elements as a basis for better development of urban innovation activities. The material space factors themselves can be described in terms of “quality” and “quantity” (Watanabe, 1983). The former refers to the degree of realization of the function of urban innovation space, reflecting its nature and use; the latter refers to its development intensity, including population density, floor area ratio, building density and development speed. From the perspective of “quantity”, the urban innovation space is like the other function areas of the city, that is, under the premise of meeting the indicators determined by the city planning, the development intensity can be appropriately increased and decreased according to the actual situation. While in the aspect of “quality”, the urban innovation space needs to have some unique element attributes, including “Spatial Polysemy”, “Information-Friendly” and “Readable Sense of Place”, to meet the basic functions of users (such as innovation, production, etc.) and their psychological needs (such as comfort, aesthetics, etc.). These unique attributes are the key to distinguish between urban innovation space and other functional space systems, and it is also an important condition for the stable development of urban innovation space (Fig. 7.6).

7.4.1 Spatial Polysemy (or Ambiguity) Spatial polysemy (or ambiguity) is an attribute of material space elements that are unique to the development of innovation. It refers to the ambiguity of the interior and external space of the urban innovation space units that allows to serve different contents of functions. This ambiguity creates a space that not only belongs to the innovators. This space can meet the basic requirements of innovation activities as well as other related activities (such as culture & sports, entertainment, cultural tourism, etc.). Therefore, it can add vitality to the innovation space units. The demand for spatial polysemy attributes is mainly derived from the characteristics of innovative activities, which is based on mental work and do not need to occupy

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a fixed type of space. First, the space of ambiguity can meet the changing needs of innovative work activities. Innovative workers need to do a variety of types of work to inspire themselves, discuss or preliminary practice. Their activity space is not limited to the narrow range of desks, so there is a need for ambiguous space to meet the diverse needs of innovators. Second, spatial ambiguity avoids the redundancy and inefficiency of setting up multiple job spaces separately. Through a rational organization of the indoor spaces and outdoor spaces in accordance with a certain order, a more compact and efficient innovation space unit is achieved. What’s more, the ambiguous space will welcome the participation of non-innovators. In non-working hours or holidays, urban innovation space unit should take the initiative to open to the city, so that all urban residents can easily use the facilities here. On the one hand, this method can improve the efficiency of the use of this urban public space system. On the other hand, this can increase the influence of innovative ideas in urban dwellers and increase creative communication through the multi-purpose use of innovation space units. In the current practice of urban innovation space, You + International Youth Community, for instants, has made some attempts in spatial polysemy, and has achieved good results. The so-called “family friends” in the community have a multi-functional room with living, work and basic entertainment functions. At the same time, they can share the multi-functional service facilities in the community with others, and the creativity of the young “family friends” can be totally exerted. The spatial polysemy/ambiguity attributes in urban innovation space units, can accommodate a variety of interdependent functions at the same time. In the process in which these ambiguous spaces are used, the user’s information collides with each other, and these collisions can increase the overall innovation ability of the innovators. It is worth emphasizing that, the “space polysemy” is different from the concept of “universal space” advocated by Mies Van der Rohe, and the ambiguous spaces are different from the interior spaces of Sendai Media Center (Ito Toyo, 2001), which are subdivided from a huge space that has an undefined function. Furthermore, the creation of a series of “small rooms” with clear functions through a huge space with the help of partition walls or furniture, do not contribute to the development of innovative activities. The ambiguity of the innovation space refers to the placement of different space-like activities into a fuzzy spatial scale, to promote the symbiosis and interaction of the innovative activities (Fig. 7.7).

7.4.2 Information-Friendly Having sufficient information is one of the most important factors in the promotion of urban innovation activities under the background of the global competition. The quantity, the degree of coverage, the speed of transmission, the degree of relevance, the availability and other basic factors of information resources, are the evaluative standards for the degree of information-friendly. The “information” required for innovation activities is different from the “knowledge” in the general sense. In the current explosion of knowledge resources, the

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Fig. 7.7 Floor plan and function analysis of 7th floor gallery of Sendai Media Center (Source Authors)

available “knowledge” has reached the number of scales that the ordinary people cannot exhaust. In contrast, the information needed for innovation activities is a set of well-organized knowledge systems related to innovation goals, which tend to be extracted or created from the existing knowledge system by the mental work of innovative workers. Therefore, the information-friendly attributes go beyond the hardware requirements of the Internet, while emphasizing the ease of exchange of information among the innovators in innovative spaces (Table 7.2). At the scale of the individual building, the information-friendly emphasizes the flow of information in the internal space of the innovation unit. Each innovative working group, while having uninterrupted office space, is also close to the area of communication where is easy to focus on the innovation process of “thinking exchanging - summarizing - rethinking”. For example, there are about 2,000 innovative technicians working in an organized building at the BMW Automotive Research and Innovation Center in Munich. Information exchange has become the most important part of the work, and the external office unit and the central communication hall Table 7.2 A comparison of “Knowledge” and “Information” from the perspective of innovation “Knowledge”

Unprocessed and easy to obtain

“Information”

Need to process and Need for difficult to obtain timeliness

Source Authors

No need for timeliness

Explain the objective world

Mainly purposeless

Arranged for innovative production

Clearly targeted

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constitutes a penetration of information inside and outside the system. Through the information-friendly architectural space here, a trustworthy, open and inclusive atmosphere of innovation is formed. Another example is the Airbnb Tokyo office designed by SDO Architects, located in the bustling Shinjuku area. To focus on the information exchange of the innovative workers, a simple style is created by the usage of natural wood material in internal space, making the office look like a leisure cafe or small indoor park. At the scale of the building groups, information-friendly is reflected on the availability of the “face-to-face” information exchange between workers from different buildings. The key to create an information-friendly innovation space unit is building a series of pedestrian ways within the building group which are free from the interference of vehicles. To achieve this goal, smaller building blocks can be connected by corridors across the roadway. It is also reasonable to connect certain annexes building with a sharing hall, or even use half-outdoor squares to organize the shared space. For those large-scale building combinations or innovative parks, it’s better to not only consider the convenience of direct information exchange between buildings, but also arrange a more complete walk or park-level non-motor-specific roads to connect the sub-area of the public space. Providing convenient and orderly transportation services for the information dissemination media (that is, innovative participator themselves), will achieve a more quickly and accurately information exchange process, that may contribute to the healthy development of urban innovation space.

7.4.3 Readable Sense of Place The space and environmental quality of urban innovation space itself have a catalytic effect on the emergence and development of innovation activities. In this context, the innovation space itself can be regarded as a place that can make the users to produce some specific memory, emotion or association through the repeated contact with its spatial environment, which may enhance the innovation ability and desire of the create innovative workers (Norberg-Schulz, 2000) (Fig. 7.8). The unique spirit of the innovative space is achieved through the long-term interaction with the well-designed material space through the daily use of the innovators. These space design emphasizes the scrutiny on space form, home layout, decoration, indoor colors and other details. Taking the Airbnb global headquarters (located in Silicon Valley) for an example, its overall space gives the users a warm and safe feeling, to avoid the lack of human touch, lack of scale or technical supremacy of the monumental form. Through the creation of a series of both humanized and creative space, Airbnb headquarter creates a unique sense of space, which makes the staff working here full of creativity and passion, and achieve better innovation results. The form of urban innovation space needs to meet the functional requirements of innovation activities, meet the emotional needs of innovative workers, and follow the spatial and temporal characteristics of the space where the innovative space unit is located. On this basis, the innovation space also need to have a certain artistic

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Fig. 7.8 The unique spirit of place of Airbnb headquarters in Silicon Valley (Source Authors)

quality and thus to retain a long-term attractiveness to its users. This artistic quality requires innovative space to be “readable” while having the unique creative sense of place. “Readability” refers to the fact that different users can acquire different types of subjective feelings in the same space, which is not the ease, tension, humor, or horror feelings that are evoked deliberately by the designers to meet the emotional function of the building, but the different interpretations that different users may get from their own associations to the uncertain and complex sense of space. The ideal urban innovation space should have a moderate readability, so that innovative workers can gradually generate long-term-changeable associations of the space in their daily use, to avoid the aesthetic aversion to it. Accompanied with a unique creative sense of space, this spirit of readability of urban innovation space will provide a favorable spatial environment for the development of its internal innovation activities (Fig. 7.9). It is worth noting that copying “pop style” of a given period (eg. the current era) will have a significantly negative impact on the readability of the sense of space. The use of plagiarism or piling up a lot of reference to the popular style of space design elements, will create a similar rigid form just like “the face of the web-celebrities”. In this case, the space images are extremely lack of readability, so that users of

Fig. 7.9 The concept of spatial readability and artistic quality (Source Authors)

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Fig. 7.10 The “pop style” in urban innovation space design (Source Authors)

innovative spaces prematurely produce aesthetic fatigue, which is not conducive to the development of innovation activities within the innovation space units (Fig. 7.10).

7.5 The Essential Planning Policy Elements of Urban Innovation Space Development The “Urban and Rural Planning Law of the People’s Republic of China”, which was formally implemented in 2008, gave a new elaboration of the connotation of urban planning work, highlighting its public policy attributes as a means of public intervention. Urban planning as a public policy is no longer a rigid indicator of the government’s arrangement of urban development, but rather a means of urban development with greater attention to “comprehensiveness” and “publicity”. Since the China’s “Reform and Opening up” in 1978, in the process of rapid economic development, China has developed a number of urban planning for urban innovation spaces (such as industrial parks, creative parks, etc.). However, these plans are mainly based on the detailed planning of a single campus, and them are basically focused on the spatial carrying capacity and economic rationality of the parks, always neglecting the innovation ability, innovation culture and innovation mechanism of innovation space units. In fact, these urban-innovation-space-related planning policies should consider immediate needs of the innovative activities and innovative workers, giving priority to solve the prominent contradictions of urban innovation development. These planning policies should be designed to facilitate the development of innovative activities as a standard of evaluation, and to try to avoid the relevant planning policies from becoming “castles in the air”. In the context of the “new normal”, in addition to meet the technical requirements of general urban planning, urban managers should also provide some special planning policy elements with three additional attributes, namely, “Moderate Planning”, “Sustainable Resilience” and “Relying on Stock Space”. These attributes are the specialized strategies that urban planning policy should adopt for the special development mechanism of urban innovation space.

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7.5.1 Moderate Planning “Moderate planning” is a self-made vocabulary, to explain the meaning, you can refer to the case shown on the right. In the figure, the left one is the master plan made by Netherlands firm MVRDV in 2004–2009, for one section of the TEDA City which located by the Mather river of Tianjin, while the right one is the satellite photo of that area showing its real scene today. If the former one represents the theoretical “best planning”, while the latter one represents the reality of the implementation of “bad planning”, then the “Moderate Planning” which is worth being advocated can be considered to locate between these two extreme positions (Fig. 7.11 and Table 7.3). The innovative space units in the city have their own characteristics, and they cannot be generalized for the planning of them even in the perspective of Moderate Planning. For example, for mature industrial parks that rely on technological innovation for large-scale industrialization, it is necessary to break the shackles of “profit first” in planning, and it’s better to consider the future needs of innovative space units. Therefore, it is necessary to arrange some space for the “incubator” or “accelerator” functions that rely on the park ahead of schedule, and leave enough room

Fig. 7.11 Comparison of a program plan of MVRDV with the current satellite map (Source Authors)

Table 7.3 A brief comparison of the concept of moderate planning with best planning and bad planning Planning strategy

Starting point

Interests presenting

Best planning

Frontier theories

Planner’s personal ideal Brasilia planning

Bad planning

Economic feasibility City government and its Reconstruction of land finance Tianjin Old City

Moderate planning

Fair and reasonable living environment

Source Authors

The average interest of total urban residents

Typical cases

Ideal planning for urban innovation space

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for the further adjustment of the level of innovation. While for those Public Innovation Spaces which set attracting and promoting innovative business of small and medium-sized start-ups as the goal, their development planning should be based on reality, and give priority to solve the funds, management, organization and other issues, avoiding the planning to become a castle in the air. In the 2020 campus development planning made by SOM for University of California, Merced, firstly, the planner analyzes the site, determines the long-term planning of the road grid and adjust its direction, to meet the afternoon breeze from the lake of Merced, as well as increasing compatibility of the later long-term development of campus. Secondly, the planners formulate building design guidelines to comply with the hot climate of the valley. Finally, they come up with a detailed design for the start-up area, shaping the overall sense of the environment to guide the formation of identification of the whole campus, and delineated the scope for the second phase of development. Through this structured and focused Moderate Planning policy, SOM has achieved the coordination of recent and long-term planning, and promoted the research and academic activities in University of California, Merced. There is an effective method to realize the policy of Moderate Planning. It is to strengthen the information exchange between the planners, the decision makers and the stakeholders, and carry out a participatory planning. Once ignored the participators’ interests of innovative spaces, whether the “Best Planning” that standing on the planners’ perspective, or the “Bad Planning” making from the perspective of decision-maker, cannot effectively serve the healthy development of innovative activities through the implementation of the plan, and ultimately cannot achieve the planners and policy makers’ expected goals. On the contrary, through the “up and down” communication process, planners and policymakers can adjust their subjective ideas to accommodate the collective aspirations of innovative participants. The planners should shelve the problems that cannot be solved temporarily by means of maintenance rather than abandonment, and strive to solve the prominent contradictions, and promote the emergence and development of urban innovation space through the formulation of Moderate Planning. Academician Liangyong Wu puts forward the thinking method of “a finite solving of the complex questions” in his famous research of human settlements science (Wu and Wu 2014). Similarly, the “central policy” plan suggests that, based on fully understanding the complexity of urban innovation space, planners should be oriented to practical problems, converting “infinite complex problems” into “limited key issues” to find the best way to solve the finite problems in the city-level systems.

7.5.2 Sustainable and Flexible Sustainable and flexible planning policies mean breaking the obsession with order, certainty, and static. The future of innovation activities cannot be predicted through short-term and fixed perspectives, therefore the planning for urban innovation space has its own systemic uncertainties and discontinuities. To achieve the goal of healthy

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development of urban space, the planning policies should take a series of sustainable and flexible planning means from a long-term perspective. In a context of sustainable and resilient planning, the development of innovative activities is considered as an ongoing process. Thus, each urban innovation space unit is always in the process of expansion and recession according to the development situation of its inner innovative activities. A sustainable and flexible planning can prepare in advance to cope with the possible changes that may possibly happens inside urban spaces. For example, on the one hand, the planning policy should leave some functional areas between the innovative space unit and other functional areas of the city, or retain some of the city’s existing land as a buffer for the later development, to leave adequate room for the expansion of a well-developed innovative space unit. On the other hand, taking into account the possible recession that may be affected by the macroeconomic situation, the innovative space units should also be open to the city and take the form of space that can be supplemented or replaced by other land use functions (Such as office, exhibition or business), in which the “spatial polysemy” attribute of material space is got response (Fig. 7.12). In recent years, with the great support of national and local policies, numerous planning and constructions of cultural & creative industrial park projects are appeared in Chinese metropolises. Due to the lack of long-term thinking in the planning policy, the current Chinese culture & creative industrial parks are mostly “capital-led”, that is, building up the parks for attracting investment, and rarely considering the upgrading of creativity ability or cultural connotation. Therefore, due to the relatively limited quality and quantity of cultural innovations, this unsustainable and inelastic planning can only attract commercial activities to fill the entire park, but eventually drive away potential development chance of cultural innovation activities. In the planning of some projects, there is no specific plan to promote the combination of the park spaces and cultural innovation industry, resulting in an unclear functional positioning and inadvisable management mode. This kind of innovative spaces only have monotonous forms with simple functions inside, so they cannot adapt to the introduction of other functions and always face the problems of transformation.

Fig. 7.12 The relationship between the development of urban innovation space and a sustainable and flexible planning (Source Authors)

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Fig. 7.13 The commercial activities in cultural and creative industrial parks (Source Authors)

These repetitive constructions due to the planning that are lack of sustainability and flexibility, cannot bring new vitality to the city. In fact, these are serious wastes of urban resources. As a counter-example of the practice of urban innovation space planning, it should be noticed by urban planners and government decision-makers (Fig. 7.13).

7.5.3 Relying on Stock Space The planning policy of relying on “stock space (which refers to urban built-up areas that need to be updated)”, means that urban managers should fully consider the possibility of spatial renewal in the urban built-up area, and make full use of stock spaces to develop innovation space units in related planning policies. The construction of the innovative space system does not exclude the use of stock land. For example, the urban stock space that have high density of buildings and based on pedestrian traffic, can promote innovative thoughts in the face-to-face information exchange processes. What’s more, the stock land use is always small, complex and diverse in form, but is sufficiently flexible to serve and provide a unique sense of place to the creative industries which are based on mental work. Finally, the stock spaces have already enough service facilities and diversified land use functions, that may provide better public services for start-up innovative activities (Table 7.4). In the traditional incremental planning, the city’s large urban area was demolished, and then reconstructed into some unified large-scale industrial parks, getting profit from attracting high-tech industry agglomeration through foreign investment, relying on lower local labor remuneration and house rent. In this case, the industrial parks have no incentive on their internal business and innovation activities, thus, once the labor remuneration and house rent growth to a certain threshold, high-tech enterprises will move out of the park. In the stock planning, however, the transformation of old town area is based on the conduction of detailed investigation and scenario analysis, so that innovative activities under stock planning are more promising by creating innovation space units that perfectly meet the requirements of each kind

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Table 7.4 The adaptability of stock spaces and the demand of innovation space Comparison

Spatial

Transportation

Infrastructural

Aesthetic

The characteristic Building Walking—oriented Diversified Complex and of Stock Space density is high, transport supporting services random parcel is small building forms The demand of innovation space

Mental work, less space occupancy

Face to face communication

Need for good public service

Unique and readable sense of space

Source Authors

of innovators. Through this “systematic switch” from incremental planning to stock planning, we can realize the coordinated development of urban innovation ability and urban built-up area transformation, and promote the emergence and development of urban innovation space system in the city (Table 7.5). In addition, the use of urban stock land to develop urban innovation space, can also reduce transaction costs and expand the benefits of land use change. Firstly, the working mode of innovative activities is highly depending on the information network, so its demand for material spaces are focus on the quality instead of scale. Therefore, in the case of not occupying all the space of a certain range of urban stock area, an urban innovation space unit with relatively complete functions can be achieved by transforming only part of the land use. In this case, the property rights transaction does not involve all the owners of the stock land but only part of the owners, so the city government changes its position from the passive side to active side in the negotiation process of property transaction; this change in identity can compress transaction costs and facilitate the renewal of urban stock space. Secondly, the urban innovation spaces themselves have a high productivity, so them are more likely to cover the additional transaction costs brought by the property transaction of multi-owners. In short, they realize the renewal and utilization of urban stock land and provide better public innovation-oriented services for urban residents. For example, the Xiangsi Industrial Park in Hebei District, Tianjin, which is transformed from the former Forth Rubber Factory of Tianjin, is a profitable probe and practice of the development of innovation space units in stock spaces (Fig. 7.14). Table 7.5 A comparative study on urban innovation space in incremental planning and stock planning Planning mode

Planning object

Representative innovation space

Major activities

Incremental planning

New construction land

Industrial parks, new innovative cities

R&D, manufacture Offset and inconvenience

Stock planning

Urban built-up area Public innovation spaces

Source Authors

Creative industry, innovation

Relationship with the city

Near the center and convenient

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Fig. 7.14 Xiangsi Industrial Park, which is transformed from the former Forth Rubber Factory of Tianjin (Source Authors)

Fig. 7.15 The function of PPP mode in the generation process of innovation space (Source Authors)

The developments of innovative space in urban stock area are suitable for the introduction of PPP mode for auxiliary financing. Urban stock land always has a complex ownership and narrow parcels of land, thus, it’s difficult for the city government to plan unified development, whose effect is hardly to guarantee. By introducing the PPP model, this problem can be effectively solved. By adopting policy instruments, it is possible to encourage landowners to participate directly in the transformation, to attract other social capital approaches that focus on innovative ideas on the market, and to promote cooperation in the framework of government, private and market. The replacement of one-time unified operation by the process of gradual transformation of multiple subjects, can bring better flexibility to new urban innovation space units, and avoid the lack of adaptability between unified constructions and their predetermined innovative activities (Fig. 7.15).

7.6 Conclusion By the end of 2016, China’s urbanization rate has reached 57.35%, more and more population concentrated in China’s major cities. It can be said that the sustainable development of the city means constantly strengthening its service functions, that is, continuously improving the distinctive supply of urban public goods. With innovation becoming an important part of urban functions, urban innovation space has become just one of the distinctive supplies that cities provide to innovative activities. In order to alleviate the current urban demand for high-quality urban innovation space systems, this paper uses an interdisciplinary theoretical framework to explain the generation mechanism of urban innovation space in theoretical level, and focuses

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on the theory construction of its creation mechanism and development mechanism. On the practical level, based on the analysis of practical cases, this paper discusses the elements of “material space” and “planning policy” that affect the development of innovation space, which provides guidance for the planning and construction of urban innovation space in reality.

References Aydalot, P. (1988). High technology industry and innovation environments. Routledge. Braczyk, H., Cooke, P., & Heidenreich, M. (1998). Regional innovation systems. UCL Press. Harari, Y. N. (2014). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Harvill Secker. Lundvall, B. A. (1992). National systems of innovation: Towards a theory of innovation and interactive learning. Pinter. Merriam-Webster Inc. (2001). The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (11th edn.) (Vol. 2, p. 455). World Book Inc. Nelson, R. R. (1993). National innovation systems: A comparative analysis. Oxford University Press. Norberg-Schulz, C. (2000). Architecture: Presence, language, place. Skira. Saxenian, A. (1994). Regional advantage: Culture and competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128. Harvard University Press. Schumpeter, J. A. (1934). The theory of economic development. Harvard University Press. Simmie, J., Wood, P., Sennett, J., et al. (1999). The spatial dimensions of innovation in the London metropolitan region. Paper presented at the 39th European Congress of the Regional Science Association, Dublin. Watanabe, S. (1983). New Architecture University. 17, Urban Design. Shokokusha. Wu, L., & Wu, W. (2014). Beautiful human settlements and planning reform. City Planning Review, (01), 57–68. Zeng, P. (2007). The research of urban innovation space theory and the development mode. Tianjin University. Zeng, P., Zeng, J., & Cai, L. (2008). Research on urban innovation space theory and structure of spatial modality. Journal of Architecture, 08, 34–38. Zeng, P., Zeng, J., & Cai, L. (2009). The type of space and its evolution of contemporary innovation space. Journal of Architecture, 11, 11–15.

Chapter 8

A Strategic Approach to Activating Multi-level Public Space in Neighborhoods Along Urban Expressways Yijia Guo and Yan Huang

8.1 Background In pursuing rapid urban development, China has developed a method of urban expansion—“pancake spreading” (Chang & Shun, 2017a)—that differs from that of North American cities (Fig. 8.1). In urban spatial structures, this is reflected in the form of grey infrastructure, such as through traffic and ring roads. These mega, urban express transportation infrastructures formed the most basic component of urban spatial structures, which not only strengthened the connection between the city center and suburban areas, but also alleviated traffic pressure in the city center. Because of the above reasons and the need to satisfy demand for express transportation, the express transportation infrastructure system—mainly led by ring roads, expressways and highways—became the lifeblood of urbanization and economic development in China. The express transportation system mostly exists in the form of closed ring roads which has intensified the pace of urban expansion, increased the demand for automobiles (the theory of induced demand) (Speck, 2012a), and has been responsible for the trend of single urban centers. More concerning is that this express transportation infrastructure has also led to the segregation of urban spaces, wasted urban space and damage to ecosystems. Over the past 30 years, the automobile-led development of medium-to-large sized cities has been built upon high-speed transportation infrastructure which, while solving the problem of urban expansion and transport efficiency, has caused new problems. These large-scale, urban express transportation infrastructures led to the creation of landscapes in which infrastructure—such as looping and closed, high-speed expressways—form the basic component of urban spatial structures and serves as the main arteries of urbanization and economic development. However, Y. Guo · Y. Huang (B) Academy of Art and Design, Tsinghua University, 1st Tsinghuayuan, Haidian District, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_8

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Fig. 8.1 The expressway and ring road system in Shanghai

these closed, inter-border transportation systems mostly pass through urban centers, resulting in communication gaps between communities and the formation of borders which function as multiple linear screens that restrict the movement of urban residents and impede the inward communication of communities and the formation of inter-community and social cohesive forces.

8.2 Overview and Obstacles The two-dimensional planning of early Chinese cities was mainly reflected in two monotonous modes of urban space production. First, the rough, large-scale and automobile-centric form of urban infrastructure construction lacked flexibility for future urban life. Second, economic development, especially real estate development modes, lacked social connections. These two issues intensified the unbalance between the increasingly growing needs for urban life and the supply of urban public space that was desperately needed in the severed and relatively saturated urban environments that resulted during urban development.

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Fig. 8.2 The under space of an inner ring road in Shanghai

These spaces segregated by urban express transportation systems lack the connection and interaction between neighboring communities that had existed since the beginning of their development (Fig. 8.2). The borders of communities coincided with the borders of express transportation infrastructure, forming linear barriers that restricted the movement of urban residents and impeded both the inward communication of communities and the formation of inter-community and social cohesive forces (Fig. 8.3). The above issues have become prevailing urban evils in a variety of ways: in terms of urban efficiency, express transportation systems have caused the disconnectedness of different urban spaces, leading to decreased usage and accessibility of urban green area, parks, etc. With respect to urban landscapes, express transportation systems have caused disorientation among residents because their structures block familiar street views. In addition, they can easily impact residents’ sense of belonging to, and identification of the living environment (Fig. 8.4). Lastly, in terms of urban life, express transportation infrastructure tends to be exclusive with little regard for slow paced life. The linear barriers make communication among communities difficult and hinder social interactions, resulting in inward and closed developments. Currently, the above problems have become prevailing disadvantages with regards to the urban development of China.

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Fig. 8.3 Public space has been squeezed by closed communities and closed transportation infrastructure

Fig. 8.4 Current condition of public space in residential communities in China

8.3 The Passive Emergence of Multi-level Public Space Multi-level leftover spaces emerged passively along with rapid urbanization. Due to the excessive exploitation of land, urban space tended to be oversaturated. Continuous urban expansion caused border-crossing transportation infrastructure, and thus, automobiles, causing traditional, urban public open spaces to be congested and chaotic, resulting in a series of blurry linear spaces. These forgotten spaces are not only underprivileged spaces with a suppressed voice, but also the worst-impacted areas where urban disadvantages accumulate and multiply. In China, the history of public open space is relatively short. The emergence of diversified, urban public open space occurred towards the end of the nineteenth century. Public open space has three main characteristics: utility functions, right of use, and possession (Thadani, 2010). Traditional types of public open space consist mainly of parks, squares and streets.

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Plaza The development of plazas in China is concentrated in two time periods: the first which began with the founding of the People’s Republic of China until the end of the 1970s, and the second period, which occurred in the mid-1990s when plazas became a hot spot of urban construction and an important means to shape city image, display the city’s history and culture and promote urban development. The concept of the plaza originated in the Ancient Greek era. The plaza was the center of human settlements and with the development of productive forces and commerce, gradually became a trading center as well as a political assembly place. In Ancient Greece, the plaza (Agora) was analogous with the Council, demonstrating the close relationship between the plaza and political life (Ning, 2007). The discrepancy between the need for public space in urban life and the available supply is apparent in the inefficient usage of existing public space, a deficiency of public space and fragmentation of the overall public spatial pattern. In this research, the above discrepancy is embodied in the erosion of public space, the intrusion of public space by closed expressways, and the enclosing of communities (especially closed neighborhood boundaries in cities), which results in low accessibility and utilization rate of public space and a lack of systematic connections between public spaces. Richard Rogers once described urban public space as a stage that catalyzes people to meet, exchange thoughts, shop, or relax and enjoy themselves (Gehl, 2013). However, the compressed public space typologies discussed above, seem hardly able to meet the needs for people’s daily life. From the perspective of community spatial pattern in china, real estate developers usually prefer closed-gated communities with fence as barriers for security and management reasons in China. But, because of their seclusion, these communities face ubiquitous problems, such as the duplication of functions, lack of facilities for leisure and entertainment, and aging of infrastructure and facilities. In addition, due to an increased ownership of private automobiles in recent years, there is an excessive demand for parking spaces in urban residential communities, which were planned. In these cases, private automobiles are forced to take over public and pedestrian spaces inside residential communities as well as the street space outside of the community. As a result, traffic jams increase and people struggle to accomplish their social activity needs. In addition, the imbalance of community ecology in closed communities eventually fails to meet the basic daily needs of community residents, while more and more become “homeless”. Public Parks Due to the limitations of contemporary architecture and city planning during the process of urban development, landscapes have become an important medium to solve complicated urban problems in the new era. Whether it be the landscape guide of the Olmsted period, “design with nature” or landscape urbanism, the definition of landscape has been reflecting the features of the time. Public parks emerged after the victory of the seventeenth century bourgeois revolution. Public parks in modern landscapes can be dated back to the discussions

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on density, compositionality, assembly and complexity of landscape in the 1970s and 80s. Since the Parc de la Villette competition in 1982, the concept of landscape urbanism—embodied in the landscape strategy and mechanism framework proposed by Bernard Tschumi and Rem Koolhaas—became more dominant. Landscape Urbanism regarded the public activities in cities as a process of city development and reflected the “contemporaneity” of global cities amidst the trend of globalization. Meanwhile, with the gradual diversification of the definition of an ‘urban landscape’, its’ functional boundaries became more obscure, and the related theoretical research on landscapes expanded from the natural sciences to embrace sociology, politics and economy. Consequently, the field of landscape architecture began to grow in importance and became entrusted with solving complicated urban issues. The theory of Landscape Urbanism was applied extensively to the renaissance of central towns in western countries. For the development of Chinese cities, its significance was in placing the mechanisms of landscape into the future planning and upgrading of cities and the advancement of respecting the natural ecological systems present in sites. At the same time, it considered the human impact on sites getting developed, activated the spontaneity, diversification and systemization of urban public space, and organically connected different spaces within cities to achieve long-term gain for urban spaces. However, for China, the emergence open green spaces serving the people began from the end of Qing Dynasty. It took a fundamental turn over the more than 100 years from the Opium Wars to the founding of New China, displaying changes in function, nature, content and form (Yunzhen, 2012). The emergence of urban parks has had a direct relationship with the presence of urban diseases caused by urbanization in China and the West. A study shows that until the urbanization level reaches 50%, the goal of society is to improve economic benefits, while ecological and social benefits are often neglected for economic benefits (Lu, 2007). When the urbanization rate reaches 50%, society achieves a healthy economic foundation, but an urbanization rate between 50 and 60% also corresponds with the peak of urban diseases produced during economic and urban development (Yunping & Hongyu, 2017). According to the prediction of experts, the urbanization rate of China could reach 60% in 2030 given that China already achieved 50% in 2013 (Song, 2007). This foreshadows that Chinese cities are faced with severe challenges in the eco-environment and society. Therefore, urban parks, as value-preserving spaces for urban development, have significant and positive impacts on urban ecology and political economy as well as social culture. Street The street is the most basic and daily component of urban space and life. The evolution of street space has been closely related to the use of motor vehicles since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In the early days, the narrow streets of the city were mixed with a wide variety of people, bicycles, trams, carriages and private cars. While meeting the daily transportation needs of the city, the street was also a place for people to trade goods, conduct social exchange and rest. Through the

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process of urbanization and motorization, the number of motor vehicles has increased dramatically, replacing other modes of transportation in a short time. In Chinese cities, the indisputable reality is that residents rely on the streets for their livelihood and transportation An important question for the healthy operation and sustainable development of the city is how to return to people-oriented street design and promote the integration of various modes of transportation so that the street can resume being an important public space full of positive energy. The domination of transportation infrastructure by motor vehicles in cities over the past few decades has been influenced by three elements: 1.

2.

3.

Urban planning orientation. The expansion of city size is closely related to the extension of suburban development, urban roads systems and railway system construction (Chang & Shun, 2017b). Taking first-tier cities as an example, Beijing has developed from two ring roads in the 1960s to six in the present; the central area of Shanghai also expanded rapidly from the initial inner ring roads covering an area more than 110 km2 , to the outer ring road with an area covering more than 660 km2 and is still expanding outwards. Industry orientation. The automobile industry was once one of the pillars of the Chinese economy and a primary driving force of urban development and the acceleration of the national economy (The State Council of P.R. China, 1986). After the twenty-first century, the soaring number of privately-owned motor vehicles in China influenced city planning urging people to rely on rapid forms of transportation. According to the National Statistics Bureau, by the end of 2016, the number of privately-owned motor vehicles increased from 12.19 million in 2013 to 290 million, among which automobiles accounted for 194 million, an increase of 15× within a span of nearly 10 years (The National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China, 2017); Idea orientation. Many people see automobiles as more than a source of transportation to satisfy the needs of urban life and economic development, but also a symbol of modern life and wealth; a significance second only to the house (Smith, 1894; Zhang, 2015). This perspective has been deeply ingrained in people for generations, which also adds weight to the need and dependence of people on motor vehicles.

Based on the above reasons, the conflict between rapid and slow transportation systems in the majority of Chinese cities is embodied in the following six characteristics: (1)

(2)

Urban slow infrastructure construction is superficial. The quantity, quality and functionality of facilities are outdated and insufficient to properly serve the extremely high population density in Chinese cities (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017); The development of related management measures lags behind (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2016a), impossible to meet the need of modern cities for high-speed growth of slow transportation systems;

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(3)

The safety factor and urban walk index of slow transportation is low, making it impossible to guarantee safe travel (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2016b); The proportion of coverage and coverage density of slow transportation systems in cities is insufficient, and the connectedness of the road network is poor (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017); The government fails to fully appreciate and support the planning construction of slow transportation systems, making it difficult to motivate people to utilize it; China faces challenges regarding the increase of the death rate in urban road traffic accidents (the third major cause of accidental death in China) (WHO, 2015), high urban obesity rates (number one in the world—already higher than America) (Popkin, 2018), psychological problems such as anxiety and loneliness caused by urban life, and air quality issues (Speck, 2012b), among others.

(4)

(5)

(6)

In order for Chinese cities to face the gradually falling urban energy and increased residential demand for higher quality of urban life, passive urban spaces became the new, urban public open space typologies based on the intersection of urban transportation, urban landscape and urban life. Multi-level public space expands the urban public open space interface typologies of the past and achieves a multi-level and multi-dimensional approach in realizing space efficiency, function and social activities (Table 8.1). This study proposes a multi-level and multi-dimensional public space activation strategy (Fig. 8.5). At the spatial level, the vertical and horizontal dimensions extend the living interface and the dynamic urban perception interface on the basis of urban efficiency. The public space activation strategy creates a multi-level, slow traffic experience to reconnect isolated communities with the aim of turning “grey to green”, turning “passing by to experiencing” and turning “car horns to laughter” (Fig. 8.6). Based on the principles of ecology, production and urban life, it is a compound of vertical and horizontal levels, and a potential cure to new and old urban illnesses in a complex city saturated with high speed material exchange.

8.4 The Application of Multilevel Public Space in Pudong In order to transform grey infrastructure into green areas, this research proposes the strategy of a “multi-level public space system” as a response to urban problems to achieve multi-level and multi-dimensional efficiency, activate social activities within the medium of a landscape and reveal dynamic urban perceptions through vertical urban expansion. This research examines the expressways, bridges and neighboring spaces connecting Nanpu Bridge and Zhangjiang footbridge in Pudong, Shanghai in order to propose a multi-level system design—the system takes into consideration the

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Table 8.1 A comparative analysis of urban public space typologies in China City square

Open city parks (Yunping & Hongyu, 2015)

Streets

Multilevel public space

Time

Developed since the early phase of national establishment to the 70s, with a second peak in the 90s

First emerged in the hundred years from the Opium War to the establishment of the New China

Streets are initial components of urban space formed along with construction of blocks and buildings

The rapid urbanization of China over the last 30 years caused linear spaces to appear passively but without systematic design planning

Form

Comparatively Mainly organic regular geometric and irregular shape with a clear shapes axis

Linear spaces, clear borders (buildings as borders)

Linear space, blurry borders, strong connections with neighboring communities, uneven wideness, flexible and diverse interface, multi-level spaces, strong reliance on surrounding communities

Size and area

Size of city squares in China are large in scale which results in a loss of perception of space

In the early phase of national establishment, all types of people and transportation shared streets, which were lively spaces for trade, interaction and rest. Number of automobiles increased rapidly with development of cities and cars, leaving fewer and narrower streets left for walking, and more wider streets for automobiles

Space size and area depend on the specific space; scale and form depend on expressway infrastructure and communities; maintains high flexibility and high possibility for space utilization and expansion; leftover space mostly come from fragmented “lost lands” along expressways

City centers are mainly fragmented green parcels, but large public green spaces led by the government at the beginning of its development also exist

(continued)

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Table 8.1 (continued) City square

Open city parks (Yunping & Hongyu, 2015)

Streets

Multilevel public space

Transportation

Transportation is convenient, mostly main, neighboring traffic hubs, with developed public transportation

Mainly slow lane system in parks, public transportation mainly connects to the entrance of parks

Urban transportation interface, fluid and accessible, and supports transportation

Slow traffic-led public space, complementary function along with express transportation; most significant component of urban transportation systems

Functional activity type

Big cities, municipal and general residential activities, sightseeing, entertainment and rest

Mainly for daily entertainment and physical activities, with different kinds of urban activities related to daily life

Daily commuting, and satisfies demand for entertainment and sport functions

Supports neighboring residents’ daily activities and commute, provides platforms for collective community activities, meanwhile provides space for municipal activities; has the potential of becoming a city hotspot

Static dynamic situations

Mainly static Combined static activities, slow in and dynamic; pace slow in pace

Mainly dynamic transportation interface; fast in pace

Combined static and dynamic, transportation interface; also functions as an entertainment public space for community residents

Materials

Mainly hardscape Mainly soft landscape

Mainly hardscape

Mixed landscape patterns, based on different spatial characteristics as an integrated system with high flexibility

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Fig. 8.5 Multi-level public space activation framework

neighboring communities segregated by transportation infrastructure, the narrow spaces squeezed by grey infrastructure and the available spaces under bridges (Fig. 8.7). The “multi-level” landscape strategy and minimalistic spatial design helps to achieve connectedness among communities, provides new sights and experiences for perceiving urban culture and the visual landscape, and becomes a collective, public open space with both transportation and social functions. The automobile-led development of medium-sized and mega cities were closely related to the development of high-speed transportation infrastructures. While these transportation infrastructure systems solved the problem of urban expansion and transport efficiency, they also caused new ones. These expressways mostly passed through dense urban areas, forming multiple linear screens that restricted the movement of urban residents. Rapid urban development had led to a systematic defect in urban public spaces, which have been unable to satisfy the growing needs for urban life of different groups. To overcome these challenges, the design of landscapes as a medium must address the following conflicts: 1. conflict between slow urban life and express transportation systems; 2. conflict between macroscopic twodimensional planning and space design; and 3. conflict between urban life needs and availability of public space. The urban development of Pudong, Shanghai—a quintessential model of rapid urbanization in Chine since the “reform and opening-up” of the nation—went hand in hand with its economic development and was led by an infrastructure-first strategy which shaped the urban spatial structure of Pudong (Chen, 2017). Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the construction of new ring roads and expressway bridges has increased in the Pudong New District. Infrastructure construction and real estate development in Pudong has led to an increase in population. This area alone accounts for one third of immigrants to Shanghai, and this number is predicted to reach seven million by 2028 (See “Statistical Annual of Shanghai Pudong New Area”, “Shanghai Statistical Annual” and “Population and Social Development in Opening Process”). As grey infrastructure and real estate development began to occupy more urban public space and increasing privately-owned automobiles began to exacerbate traffic congestion, issues such as parking further sharpened the conflict between urban

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Fig. 8.6 The three core targets of multi-level planning

public space and residential life, causing an increasingly sharp clash between the need for diverse urban life and grey infrastructure (Fig. 8.8). The focus of this research is to discuss the accelerated aging of urban communities caused by overly rapid development. Compared to Puxi, Pudong is a relatively new city (Fig. 8.9). This research focuses on addressing the potential problems of aging infrastructure by creating a systematic usage of space and by implementing

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Fig. 8.7 Project Location and Periphery Transportation Analysis

Fig. 8.8 The development impression of Pudong, Shanghai

Fig. 8.9 Infrastructure and real estate development in Pudong, Shanghai from 1840 to 2018

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connection modes that resist rapid aging by promoting spaces that are passive and blurry in terms of function and contain multi-levels and multi-dimensions. The characteristics of multi-level and multi-dimensional public space are based on the principles of slow life urban culture. Slow urban culture is the foundation around which connectedness, directedness, collectiveness and equality space can be shaped. The expansion of multi-level public space requires us to first mitigate the conflict between fast and slow traffic, strengthen already-existing slow life area, and eliminate both physical and mental barriers. An example of this would be Lawrence Halprin’s Freeway Park project along an expressway in Seattle, which reflected the surrounding community’s desire for parks and boosted neighborhood relationships, nearby ecosystems and even the city as a whole because of its activity-landscape balance. It also weakened spatial borders, allowing the project to attract visitors and satisfy different community needs based on different functions. By examining the characteristics of the expressways, bridges and neighboring spaces connecting Nanpu Bridge and Zhangjiang footbridge in Pudong, this research concluded the following three points: first, because of the extremely short period of Pudong New District’s development, overly rapid development has led to a change in demographics, prefacing a younger population with high mobility which has caused instability and less diversity in the community ecology (Zukin et al., 2016); second, since the project is located at the intersection of the city center and subcenter where there is a lack of public transportation, grey infrastructure became the prevailing landscape in community development, increasing the difficulty of commuting and cost for residents of high-density communities, and intensifying the difference between developments in the north and south; third, because of the high density and the lack of public space, urban sub-roads have been afflicted by parking issues—private parking takes up pedestrian lanes, bike lanes, curbs and even public activity areas in communities. Meanwhile, the problem of aging infrastructure and facilities exist due to a lack of maintenance and duplication of functions (Fig. 8.10). Thus, this research proposes the systematic activation of “multi-levels” and the idea of turning “grey to color” (Fig. 8.11), a concept by which grey urban space is infused with colorful urban life, in addition to the activation of slow urban life. The urban activation strategy of turning “grey to green”, transforming “passing by to experiencing” and changing “car horns to laughter” is presented through three dimensions: ecosystem, production and life, and design interface: A. B. C.

Sliced and fragmented spatial areas; Compressed linear spaces between neighboring spaces and expressways; Usable spaces under bridges.

This study stresses a multi-level urban strategy from macroscopic-level planning to microscopic spatial design, which is realized via the following three design strategies (Fig. 8.12): 1.

Urban strategy: Waterfront and urban areas are connected through green space, water systems and transportation axes. The waterfront is connected to the city center through green landscapes and traffic axes in order to increase the connection between the city center and the waterfront. The opening of a west–east

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Fig. 8.10 Study and analysis of urban landscape ecology, express way types, land uses, community interface, and slow traffic breakpoints

2. 3.

passage for residents creates a special quality in waterfront cities that helps form a slow life corridor beside this axis, including a main slow life passage around the inner ring roads and a green slow life passage around urban green areas and the riverside, by which multi-level connections between the city center and waterfront areas are achieved. Community strategy: Open space and communities are connected through slow traffic systems. Linear space strategy: Central areas and their surrounding development are connected through a public space system. This public space system activates fragmented areas, intensifies the advantages and qualities of passive space, and creates unique urban hot spots, fostering the bond between people and their communities.

The neighboring space strategy provides flexibility in both spatial and temporal dimensions, realizes connections between communities, and provides new sights and experiences of urban landscapes and culture (Fig. 8.13). By implementing a design concept based on the strategies of “linear space” and “central hubs”, it forms a public open space that combines transportation and social functions (Fig. 8.14).

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Fig. 8.11 The concept of turning grey to color

8.5 Turning “Grey” to “Green” Under-bridge spaces can be categorized into four types according to bridge structure: 1. 15–40 m space under the bridge; 2. 6–15 m space under the bridge; 3. 6 m or less space horizontal to the ground; or 4. a compound, cross-border transportation infrastructure whose availability of utilization and space accessibility is positively associated with the height under the bridge and negatively associated with the number of compound expressway bridges (Fig. 8.15). The space design strategy integration under the bridge is based on ecological facilities which are used as a medium for the eco/environmental education of the surrounding communities and schools. Based on the four types of expressway structures (Fig. 8.16), the utilization of space under bridges is based on green infrastructure as the ecological education base for community and schools. The infrastructure aims to incorporate storm water management, water filtration and reuse. It further extends different functions and

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Fig. 8.12 The involved design interface

programs to the public space, providing the neighboring community with more shared public space to relieve land use pressure. 1.

2.

3.

Vertical urban corridor (Fig. 8.17). The ground level under bridges is used as a zone for basic green facilities and as support for the upper landscape; the mid and upper levels function as an interface for connecting modes of transportation and as a public activity space between communities on the adjacent sides to create a public interaction area supported by a diverse, multi-level experience in which entertainment and dynamic urban perceptions are provided. Horizontal traffic corridor. For lower under-spaces of bridges (less than 15 m) that are narrow, linear and lack flexibility, the horizontal functionality should be maintained. Because of a lack of accessibility (Fig. 8.18), this type of space should mainly be used as a supplemental area to meet the demand for parking, electric car charging areas and green infrastructure facilities in order to alleviate the spatial pressures present in neighboring communities. Green infrastructure base corridor. For spaces lower than 5 m and compound spaces under bridges, central green infrastructure facilities are used as supplemental land to support ecosystems in neighboring communities; the space may also be utilized as public space, including management of pollution and purification of water.

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Fig. 8.13 The three design scopes and strategy framework

Fig. 8.14 The master plan

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Fig. 8.15 The common situation of traffic and community and the design operating interface

Fig. 8.16 Existing types of expressways along the site

Fig. 8.17 Activation strategy

Fig. 8.18 Analysis and strategy of linear space along the expressway

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8.6 Turning “Passing Through” to “Experiencing” Diversifying a slow life corridor and activating a separated, unused green urban space with low accessibility and a singular function, the High Line Park turned a forgotten urban grey infrastructure into an urban connection system and an ambiguous grey urban space into an active public space. The High Line Park’s connectedness and spatial orientation strengthened the link between urban life and culture in New York in addition to creating spatial benefits and new transportation functions. Transforming a space from one an individual simply “passes through” to one that an individual “experiences” means realizing a complete and connected slow life system through an integrated system of destinations; this includes two aspects—connecting and implanting. The High Line Park focused on reconnecting the current urban structure of New York with the past and connecting communities along an urban expressway (Sheng-Xian, 2011). The High Line Park also focused on activating public spaces compressed by tall buildings in a high-density city where slow life is a luxury and where it is difficult to add more urban green areas, parks, squares and other public interaction spaces. However, the project’s vertical expansion became a new spatial typology that activated a formerly uncertain space and diversified its urban function with its openness, completely changing the character of the lower west side of Manhattan. Now, the Lower West Side has become an energetic art and cultural area, and as the result of the High Line Park, the identity of the High Line as well as the whole lower west area by the park has been enhanced. The implementation of active urban life lies in providing spaces with a clear special identity and quality which reconstructs the role and position of communities, supplements the deficiency of public space, and acts as a catalyst of new modes of urban life. The projects introduce streets with flexibility, for instance, using corner spaces with multiple identities to create more multi-level public interaction and increase closeness among different groups of people, which can lead to an intensified spatial efficiency, collectiveness and equality and create a new order and a series of spatial patterns with public spaces combining linear space and the urban environment. For example, the A8ernA project in the small town of Koog aan de Zaan near Amsterdam is in an area divided in two by an expressway, with a municipal building on one side and a church on the other (Architonic, 2003). To connect these two separated areas, the designer create space under the bridge with diverse functions such as a parking lot, super market, mini-marina, skateboarding square and basketball court, which fostered connections between residents on both sides. The underground park, Underline, designed by James Corner in Miami transformed the lower south side of Miami into a ten-mile linear park, a city walk lane and a cultural destination (The Underline, 2018). The Underline project examined the identity of each community and proposed a specialized plan to transform the area into a hub for these communities. This project also improved slow lanes in the north, south, east and west, as well as the safety of pedestrian and bike lanes. Inspired by the culture of south Florida and Miami, the Underline Park became a very important social and residential node

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Fig. 8.19 Activation strategy-community expansion belt

in the area, improving the value of communities and encouraging entertainment and healthy lifestyles. 1.

2.

3.

Urban Life Extension Zone (>25 m)—an interactive area that can be used to activate programs for community life: (1) replacing, offsetting and even mixing existing roads with closed green landscapes; expanding slow space outwards over fly-overs to decrease the sense of overwhelming-ness; increasing the physical and psychological comfort for pedestrians under bridges; and creating a transit space in neighboring communities by adding more public space. (2) raising and sinking; interact with slow traffic corridors and landscape through topographic design by raising and lowering the slow corridor space, thereby eliminating the unease caused by vehicle noise and exhaust pollution, creating multi-level slow life experiences and providing a connected urban life corridor which connects communities on both sides of and under the bridge (Fig. 8.19). Community Experiencing Zone—10 to 25 m wide area which aims to create new slow life experiences with comfort and enjoyment: (1) clearing up and utilizing; using fly-over bridges as a platform for slow life space experiences, and making them resident-friendly slow life spaces by changing their surface and material; or after using the land and plants to improve the environment, use them as outside public viewing spaces. (2) Disturbing and blocking—using the facilities and plantation along the expressway to reduce the inconvenience brought to pedestrians due to the mass of fly-overs, which increases the interactivity between infrastructure and slow passageways (Fig. 8.20). Slow Traffic Acceleration Zone ( 0 , 0, o.w.

(11.6)

thus metro service covers a space if met = 1. (5) Bus station density (dbus, per/km2 ) (6) Road intersection density (drdse, per/km2 ) (7) Population density (dpop, kCapita/km2 ) Population density is generally used to depict the concentration and regional character of built environment. McGuckin and Murakami (1999) proved population density having a significant effect on trip chaining. (8) Job-worker ratio (jwr) Wang (2010) demonstrated the influence of jobs housing balance on trip chaining propensity. Job-worker Ratio (JWR), the ratio of jobs and residential workers, is generally used as the index of jobs housing balance degree, and regarded as the accessibility of employment by Wang (2000). (9) Average real estate price (apest, ¥10,000/m2 ) Golob (1986), Bhat (1997), Pendyala et al. (1999) and Wallace et al. (2000) have consistently indicated individual income has a significant effect on trip chaining behavior. Unfortunately, it is not possible to directly achieve commuters’ income records from mobile phone sighting data; however, the average real estate price of a residential space, is a feasible agent variable to represent for the average income of the residents in the space.

11.3.3 Sample Definition and Outlier Omission The sample utilized in this research is a short panel with 2 cross sections: (1) morning daytime (t = 0) and (2) afternoon daytime (t = 1). After the omission of commuting trajectories lacking of coordinates, 36,683 observations are selected in the morning cross section, while 36,675 observations are included in the other one, and they all belong to 36,696 commuters, i.e. groups. (1) To improve the configuration accuracy of commuters, it is required that the identified home and work sightings of all individuals in the sample should be daytime activity sightings. Therefore, any

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individual in the sample should have at least 2 daytime activity sightings, i.e. ent > 0. Hence, the records of an individual with ent = 0 are omitted from both cross sections. And (2) since some uncertainty remains in the configuration of activities and commuting trajectories, a random vector formed by 3 continuously distributed variables—frequency of daytime activities, entropy of daytime activity sightings and eccentricity of commuting trajectory SDE, are used to judge outliers. Noting the observation of individual i in cross section t as x it = ( f acti · enti · eccen it )T , thus the sample mean vector of cross section t, x t , and the sample covariance matrix of cross section t, St , are derived. The generalized square distance from xit to x t is defined as, dit2 = (x it − x t )T S−1 t (x it − x t ).

(11.7)

The distribution of dit2 according to the sample is shown in Fig. 11.3a, and 4 pairs of outliers in both cross sections with dit2 > 40 can be easily observed. Figure 11.3b shows the result of outlier omission. After outlier omissions, 36,691 individuals’ records have remained in the sample, and hereinto, 36,678 can be found in the morning cross section (t = 0), while 36,670 can be found in the afternoon cross section (t = 1). The balance rate of the final panel sample is about 99.91% (Table 11.1).

Fig. 11.3 Outlier omission based on generalized square distance

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Fig. 11.4 Chained commuting trips and home-based living trips

11.3.4 Descriptive Analysis As illustrated in Figure 11.4a.2, in the balanced sample, although 64.60% commuters’ both commutes were not chained, 35.40% commuters indeed included activities into their commuting trips. Hereinto, 14.32% commuters only had their morning commutes chained; while 15.62% commuters only had their afternoon commutes chained; and 5.47% commuters’ morning and afternoon commutes were both chained. As shown in Figure 11.4b.2, in the balanced sample, although 50.32% commuters did not conduct home-based living trips in the whole daytime, 49.68% individuals might conduct. Hereinto, 16.85% individuals only conducted living trips in the morning; while 22.23% individuals only conducted in the afternoon; and 10.60% commuters conducted home-based living trips in both cross sections.

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11.3.5 Substitution of Commuting Trip Chains for Living Trips 11.3.5.1

Model

It is hypothesized that commuting trip chains having substitution effects on homebased living trips. To infer such effect, binary response models are built on the dummy dependent, “if the commuter conducting home-based living trips”, with a dummy independent variable, “if the commuting trip being chained”, and other confounders. As the commuting trajectory and commuting space variables can be assumed only effecting on the dependent all through “chain”, variables need to be controlled are the individual variables, i.e. commuters’ mobility and activity patterns, and the residential space variables, i.e. built environment and socio-economic attributes of the spaces home-base living activities probably taking place. In cross section t, the probability that individual i conducting home-based living trips can be approximated by a panel Logit model,   P{H B AC Tit = 1|xit , u i } =  xitT β + u i =

e xit β+u i T

1 + e xit β+u i T

,

(11.8)

in which ui is the fixed effect of individual i. (1) Model 1: pooled cross-sectional Logit model with cluster-robust SE By assuming fixed effects not existing in Model (11.8), i.e. ui = 0, the panel model retrogresses to a pooled cross-sectional Logit Model,   P{H B AC Tit = 1|x it } =  x itT β =

e x it β T

1 + e x it β T

.

(11.9)

The coefficient vector, β t , can be estimated by the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) method. And it should be noticed that cluster-robust standard errors (SE) are employed to be robust against clustered autocorrelation, to make test statistics asymptotically accordingly distributed. The joint significance of the entire model can be tested with the hypothesis, H0 : β = 0 ↔ H1 β = 0.

(11.10)

According to the sample, the Wald statistic of this test is about 8502.20, and 2 > 8502.20} = 0.0000. Thus, the null hypothesis, “the entire model is not P{χ18 jointly significant”, can be strongly rejected. And this model is able to correctly predict home-based living trip decisions of 70.10% individuals in the sample.

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(2) Model 2: RE Logit model More generally, fixed effects are allowed to exist. By assuming ui is uncorrelated with all independent variables, Model (11.8) becomes a Random Effects Model (RE Model). Since some of the selected independent variables are fixed between cross sections, e.g. individual variables and residential space variables, Fixed Effects Model (FE Model) is not recommended due to its disability in estimating coefficients of time-fixed variables. For individual i, given X i = (xi0 xi1)T , assuming the random effects are independent between cross sections, according to the conditional joint distribution of HBACT i0 and HBACT i1 , a RE Logit model is built as, f H B AC Tit (hbacti0 , hbacti1 |X i )  1  −∞  hbactit 1−hbactit  T T  x it β + u i · 1 −  x it β + u i = ∫ · g(u i )du i . +∞

t=0

(11.11) where g(u i ) is the Probability Distribution Function (P.D.F.) of ui . Assuming ∀i,  {u i }i.i.d. ∼ N 0, σ 2 , by using “Gauss-Hermite quadrature” integration method proposed by Butler and Moffitt (1982) on the logarithmic likelihood function, the coefficients are estimated. According to the sample, the autocorrelation coefficient, ρ, is only 0.00000686. A bigger ρ means fix effects are more important and cannot be neglected. The hypothesis, H0 : ρ = 0 ↔ H ρ = 0

(11.12)

is tested with the sample; the Likelihood Ratio (LR) statistic is about 0.0022, and P{χ 20,1 > 0.0022} = 0.481. Therefore, the null hypothesis, “the autocorrelation structure does not exist”, cannot be rejected, i.e. the pooled cross-sectional model can be supported. By testing the hypothesis (11.10), according to the sample, the 2 > 6299.68} = 0.0000, thus “the model is Wald statistic is about 6299.68, and P{χ18 not jointly significant” can be strongly rejected. The partial marginal effects on the Odds Ratio (OR) are estimated only when ui = 0.

11.3.5.2 1.

2.

Result and Discussion

Since fixed effects hardly exist in Model 2, except for the controlled independent variables, the effects of unobserved factors on individual home-based living activity decisions are quite different between in the morning and in the afternoon, which is reasonable since the types of living activities in the early morning, e.g. buying breakfast, are essentially different from those after returning home in the afternoon, e.g. entertainment. The existences of the effects of commuting trip chains on home-based living trip decisions can be inferred by testing the null hypothesis with Model 1,

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H0 : (βchain βt·chain βlog(dist)·chain )T = 0

3.

4.

(11.13)

According to the sample, the Wald statistic is about 219.64, and  P χ32 > 219.64 = 0.0000, thus the effects are jointly significant. Significant βchain < 0 indicates morning commuting trip chains (t = 0) convincingly having substitution effects on morning home-based living trips. And from the significant result, βt·chain > 0, it can be inferred that comparing to the negative effect in the morning, the substitution effect of afternoon commuting trip chains on afternoon home-based living trips are weaker, which is mainly because: (1) the time budget is far more strict in the morning; and (2) the activity types are more similar and replaceable between commuting activities and living activities in the morning, e.g. sending children to school before or during commuting to work, than in the afternoon, e.g. buying necessities on the way back home and watching a film at cinema as a living activity. Based on Model 1, when t = 0, the marginal partial effect of having chained morning commute on the probability of conducting morning home-based living trips at mean can be estimated as,     Pˆ H B AC Ti0 = 1|chain i0 = 1, X j − Pˆ H B AC Ti0 = 1|chain i0 = 0, X j ⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞

 

⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ =  β0 + βchain + βlog(dist)·chain · log dist + β j x j −  β0 + β j x j ⎠, j

(11.14)

j

where x j can be any independent variable except chain, t chain, log(dist) chain and t. Since the statistics of these variables are similar between cross sections according to Table 11.1, pooled overall sample mean of each explanatory variable can be used as the value of x j for convenience. The estimation result is about −0.10, i.e. for the individual at mean, his probability of conducting morning living trips when having chained morning commute is 0.1 less than not having his commuting trip chained. Similarly, when t=1, by estimating,     Pˆ H B AC Ti1 = 1 |chain i1 = 1, X j − Pˆ H B AC Ti1 = 1 |chain i1 = 0, X j ⎞ ⎛  

βˆ j x j ⎠ = ⎝βˆ0 + βˆt + βˆchain + βˆt·chain + βˆlog(dist)·chain · log dist + ⎛ −⎝βˆ0 + βˆt +



⎞

j

(11.15)

βˆ j x j ⎠,

j

5.

the result is very close to 0, i.e. for the individual at mean, the substitution effect of having chained afternoon commute on afternoon home-based living trips hardly exists. βlog(dist)·chain is not significantly different from 0, thus it cannot be rejected that the substitution effect of commuting trip chains on home-based living trips being not different between long distance commuters and short distance commuters.

11 Understanding the Substitution of Commuting Trip …

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7.

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Commute distance, daytime activity frequency and residential space JWR of the commuter have logarithmic marginal decreasing positive effects on home-base living trip probability; and daytime activity sighting entropy and residential space land use mix have quadratic marginal decreasing effects on the OR of conducting home-base living trips. Significant βt > 0 reveals the probability of commuter conducting home-based living activities are inherently little higher in the afternoon than in the morning according to the difference in intercepts, which can also be explained by the different time budgets (Table 11.2).

11.3.6 Factors’ Effects on Commuting Trip Chaining Propensity 11.3.6.1

Model

To understand the factors effecting on commuting trip chaining propensity, a quasiexperiment is designed and binary response models are built on the dummy dependent, “if the commuting trip being chained” with prospective factors, e.g. commuting distance, trajectory and built environment of commuter’s residential, commuting and working spaces, while controlling individual activity pattern and socio-economic attributes of commuter’s residential and working spaces. In cross section t, the probability that commuting trip of individual i being chained can be approximated by a panel Logit model,   P{C H AI Nit = 1|x it , u i } =  x itT β + u i =

e x it β+u i T

1 + e x it β+u i T

,

(11.16)

in which ui is the fixed effect of individual i. (1) Model 3: pooled cross-sectional Logit model with cluster-robust SE The pooled cross-sectional Logit form of Model (11.16) is,   P{C H AI Nit = 1|x it } =  x itT β =

e x it β T

1 + e x it β T

.

(11.17)

The cluster-robust SE should be employed. By testing the hypothesis (11.10),  2 according to the sample, the Wald statistic is about 6585.85, and P χ44 > 6585.85 = 0.0000. Thus, “the model is not jointly significant”, can be strongly rejected. This model is able to correctly predict the commuting trip chaining decisions of 79.70% individuals in the sample.

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Table 11.2 Regression result

(2) Model 4: RE Logit model Some of the selected independent variables are fixed between cross sections, e.g. individual variables, residential space and working space variables, thus RE Model is recommended. For individual i, given X i = (xi0 − xi1 )T , a RE Logit model is built as the conditional joint distribution of CHAINi0 and CHAINi1 , f C H AI Ni0 ·C H AI N (chain i0 , chain i1 |X i )  1  −∞  chainit 1−chainit  T T  x it β + u i · 1 −  x it β + u i · g(u i )du i . = ∫ +∞

t=0

(11.18) According to the sample, the autocorrelation coefficient is about 0.059162; the LR statistic based on the hypothesis (11.12) is about 35.60, and P{χ 20,1 > 35.60} = 0.000. Thus, “the autocorrelation does not significantly exist”, can be strongly rejected. By testing the hypothesis (11.10), according to the sample, the Wald statistic 2 > 4573.05} = 0.0000, thus “the model is not jointly is about 4573.05, and P{χ44 significant” can be strongly rejected (Table 11.3).

11.3.6.2 1.

Result and Discussion

Since fixed effects are of great importance in Model 4, except for the controlled independent variables, the effects of unobserved factors on morning and afternoon commuting trip chaining propensities of the commuter are significantly correlated, i.e. the commuter prefers conducting activities on the way to work in the morning also has higher probability to conduct activities on the way back home in the afternoon.

Table 11.3 Regression result

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2.

227

The existences of the effects of commute distance on commuting trip chaining propensity can be inferred by testing the null hypothesis, H0 : (βlog(dist) βlog(dist)·eccen βlog(dist)· ppubldr βlog(dist)· ppubldc βlog(dist)· ppubldw βlog(dist)·ldmi xr βlog(dist)·ldmi xc βlog(dist)·ldmi xw βlog(dist)·metr βlog(dist)·metw βlog(dist)· pmetc βlog(dist)·dbusc

(11.19)

βlog(dist)·dr d sec )T = 0.

3.

4.

5.

According to the sample and based on Model 4, the Wald statistic is about 2 > 144.42} = 0.0000, thus the effects are jointly significant. 144.42, and P{χ13 The commuting distance itself has a logarithmic marginal decreasing positive effect on the commuting trip chaining propensity, i.e. long distance commuters have higher probabilities to have their commutes chained, but extremely long distance will reduce the marginal effect. βeccen , βeccen 2 and βlog(dist)·eccen are jointly significant. A quadratic marginal decreasing trend is found from the effect of the commuting trajectory SDE eccentricity on the OR of having chained commute. For the observation with overall mean commute distance, by increasing the eccentricity from 0 to 1, i.e. the trajectory range changing from a circle to a line, commuting trip chaining probability will firstly increase and then decline after peaking at eccen = 0.43 (between 1st Qu. and Median) according to Model 4. (1) Too zigzag commuting trajectory will increase the distance and time cost of the commuting, so as will limit the resilient time to conduct activities, thus the facilities should not be set too far from the main commuting corridors; and (2) too straight commuting traces diminish the chances for commuters to arrive at the facilities. Furthermore, significant βlog(dist)·eccen < 0 suggests the effect of increasing the eccentricity of commuting trajectory SDE on long distance commuters’ commuting trip chaining propensity are weaker than on their short distance counterparts’ when the effects are positive, and are stronger when the effects are negative. Both β ppubldr and βlog(dist)· ppubldr are not significantly different from 0. Therefore, “the public facility land use percentage in one’s residential space makes no effect on his commuting trip chaining probability” cannot be rejected. β ppubldc , β ppubldc2 and βlog(dist)· ppubldc are jointly significant. The effect of the commuting space public facility land use percentage on the OR of having chained commute shows a quadratic marginal decreasing trend. For the observation with overall mean commute distance, by improving the percentage of public facility land use in commuting space, commuting trip chaining propensity will firstly grow up and then decrease after peaking at ppubldc = 24.78% (between 3rd Qu. and Max) according to Model 4. (1) A low percentage of public facility land use in commuting space obviously will limit the opportunity of the commuter to conduct activities; and (2) too many public facilities in the commuting space will slow down the traffic on the corridor thus will increase the commuting time cost, so that the probability to conduct activities

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8.

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will also decline. Moreover, significant βlog(dist)· ppubldc > 0 indicates the facilitation of increasing public facility land use percentage in commuting space is greater on long distance commuters than on their short distance counterparts. β ppubldw , β ppubldw2 and βlog(dist)· ppubldw are jointly significant, and a marginal increasing trend is noticed from the effect of public facility land use percentage in working space on the OR of having chained commute. By comparing the results in (4) (5) and (6), a trend is obviously observed: (1) increasing public facilities in the working space is the most efficient solution in prompting commuters to include activities into their commutes; and (2) commuters hardly react to the change of public facility land use percentage in the residential space. It can be assumed that commuters tend to conduct activities near their working places during commuting, which may be because of: (1) to control the time risk, and (2) to pursue the abundance of public facilities. β ldmixr , βldmi xr 2 and βlog(dist)·idmi xr are all not significantly different from 0. Thus, “the land use mix in one’s residential space has no effect on his commuting trip chaining propensity” cannot be rejected. β ldmixc , βldmi xc2 and βlog(dist)·idmi xc are jointly significant. Within the land use mix index domain, [0, 1], for the observation with overall mean commute distance, the land use mix of a commuter’s commuting space is negatively associated his commuting trip chaining probability. This result can also be explained as too complex land use condition in the commuting space slowing down the traffic on the corridor, increasing the total time cost, and reducing the commuters’ probabilities to conduct activities. And significant βlog(dist)·idmi xc < 0 indicates the reducing effect of increasing land use mix in commuting space on the commuting trip chaining probability will is more serious on long distance commuters than their short distance counterparts. β ldmixw , βldmi xw2 and βlog(dist)·idmi xw are jointly significant. Within the land use mix index domain, [0, 1], for the observation with overall mean commute distance, the land use mix of an individual’s working space has a positive effect on his commuting trip chaining probability. By comparing the results in (8) (9) and (10), a certain trend can be noticed: (1) improving land use mix in the working space will encourage commuters to conduct activities while commuting; (2) the increasing of land use mix in the commuting space will inhibit commuting activities due to commuters’ resistance of extra time risks; and (3) commuters never feedback to the change of land use mix in the residential space. It also can be inferred here that commuters prefer to conduct activities near their working places while commuting. β metr and βlog(dist)·metr are jointly significant; and β metw and βlog(dist)·metw are also jointly significant. The commuting trip chaining probability is lower when the commuter’s residential space or working space being covered by metro service than not. It can be assumed that shorter distances to metro stations and longer time on the train may reduce the commuters’ opportunities to conduct activities while commuting.

11 Understanding the Substitution of Commuting Trip …

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14.

15.

16.

229

β pmetc , β pmetc2 , βmetr · pmetc , βmetw· pmetc and βlog(dist)· pmetc are jointly significant. A quadratic marginal decreasing trend is found from the effect of the metro service area percentage in commuting space on the OR of having chained commute. When metr = metw = 0, i.e. no metro service in both residential and working spaces, for the observation with overall mean commute distance, by increasing the metro service coverage rate in commuting space, commuting trip chaining probability will firstly improve and then decline after peaking at pmetc = 65.36% (between Median and 3rd Qu.) according to Model 4. (1) Rather low metro service coverage rate in commuting space will increase the time cost to go through, thus limit the chance to conduct activities while commuting; and (2) too high metro service area percentage in commuting space will improve the time spent on the train, which also limiting the opportunity of conducting activities. Significant βmetr · pmetc < 0 and βmetw· pmetc < 0 suggest the inhibition influence of having residential or working space covered by metro service on the effect of metro service coverage rate in commuting space, which effecting on the commuting trip chaining probability. β dbusc ,βdbusc2 and βlog(dist)·dbusc are jointly significant; and β drdsec , βdr dsec2 and βlog(dist)·dr dsec are also jointly significant. The effects of the commuting space bus station density and road intersection density on the OR of having chained commute both show quadratic marginal decreasing trends. For the observation with overall mean commute distance, by respectively increasing the bus station density or road interaction density of commuting space, commuting trip chaining probability will firstly improve and then decline after peaking at dbusc = 9.67 per/km2 or drdsec = 54.65 per/km2 (both between 3rd Qu. and Max) based on Model 4. The results may be explained as: (1) network with rather low density will limit commuters’ routing options, thus will also limit the opportunity to conduct activities on the way; and (2) high densified network will slow down the traffic and increase the time cost, thus will reduce the resilience of the activity time budget. Daytime activity frequency and residential space JWR have logarithmic marginal decreasing positive effects on commuting trip chaining probability; daytime activity sighting entropy has a quadratic marginal decreasing effect on the OR of having commute chained; and population density of one’s residential space is positively associated with his commuting trip chaining propensity. Significant β t > 0 means the afternoon commuting trip chaining probability are inherently little higher than the morning commuting trip chaining probability according to the difference in intercepts, which may result from the different strengths of time budgets.

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11.4 Conclusion 2011 Shanghai mobile phone sighting dataset was employed in this research after noise reduction. Firstly, daytime activity sightings, probable commuters and their home and work locations were configured; secondly, commuting trajectories, commuting activity sightings and home-based living activity sighting were configured based on a pre-selected workday daytime sample. In addition, each sighting was connected with the spatial zones it located in. Also several Shanghai spatial dataset were involved in this research, e.g. census, land use, transportation systems and real estate records. Finally, a panel sample formed by two cross sections, morning and afternoon, is achieved with travel behavior variables, individual variables and spatial variables aggregated in the residential, commuting and working spaces of commuters. By building binary response models on this sample, following main results were obtained: (1) The substitution of commuting trip chains for living trips 1. 2. 3.

The substitution effect of commuting trip chains on home-based living trips significantly exists; Having morning commutes chained has a strong negative effect on conducting homebased living trips; The effect of having afternoon commuting trip chained on one’s home-based living trip probability is weaker than its morning counterpart.

(2) The factors’ effects on commuting trip chaining propensity 1.

2. 3.

4.

Long distance commuters are more likely to have their commuting trips chained than their short distance counterparts, but the effect of commute distance has a marginal decreasing trend; Commuters prefer to conduct activities not too far from the main corridors while commuting; According to the land use variables, public facility land use percentage and land use mix, commuters tend to make commuting activity conducting decisions based on the built environment nearby their workplaces, and hardly react to the changes of their residential spaces, mainly to better control the time risks; The abundance of transport and path choices, e.g. roads and public transits, along the commuting corridors may improve the possibility of commuting trip chaining, but highly covered metro service may reduce commuter’s commuting trip chaining probability for more time being spent on the train.

Some policy suggestions can be proposed based on the empirical results in this research: (1) public facilities are also recommended to be set along typical distance commuting corridors based on the O-D distribution, instead of only around residential areas; (2) public facilities are better not built too far from the main commuting corridors; (3) it is more effective to increasing public facilities and improving land use mix degree near commuters’ workplaces; and (4) the road and public transportation

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networks should maintain a certain density which providing more routing options for commuters to choose and keeping the traffic rapid enough.

References Bayir, M. A., Demirbas, M., & Eagle, N. (2010). Mobility profiler: A framework for discovering mobility profiles of cell phone users. Pervasive and Mobile Computing, 6, 435–454. Bhat, C. R. (1997). Work travel mode choice and number of non-work commute stops. Transportation Research Part B Methodological, 31(1), 41–54. Butler, J. S., & Moffitt, R. A. (1982). Computationally efficient quadrature procedure for the onefactor multinomial Probit model. Econometrica, 50(3), 761–764. Calabrese, F., Diao, M., Lorenzo, G. D., et al. (2013). Understanding individual mobility patterns from urban sensing data: A mobile phone trace example. Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies, 26(1), 301–313. Golob, T. F. (1986). A nonlinear canonical correlation analysis of weekly trip chaining behaviour. Transportation Research Part A General, 20(5), 385–399. Gonzalez, M., Hidalgo, C., & Barabasi, A.-L. (2008). Understanding individual human mobility patterns. Nature, 453(7196), 779–782. Hu, S., Cheng, Q., Wang, L., et al. (2013). Modeling land price distribution using multifractal IDW interpolation and fractal filtering method. Landscape & Urban Planning, 110(1), 25–35. Kim, H., & Kwan, M. (2003). Space-time accessibility measures: A geocomputational algorithm with a focus on the feasible opportunity set and possible activity duration. Journal of Geographical Systems, 5, 71–91. Mcguckin, N., & Murakami, E. (1999). Examining trip-chaining behavior: Comparison of travel by men and women. Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1693(1). Mcnally, M. G., Greenwald, M. J., & Mcnally, M. G., et al. (2008). Land-use influences on tripchaining in Portland, Oregon. Urban Design & Planning, 161d(2), 61–73. Nishii, K., Kondo, K., & Kitamura, R. (1988). Empirical analysis of trip chaining behavior. Transportation Research Record, 1203, 48–59. Pendyala, R., Yalamanchili, L., & Prabaharan, N., et al. (1999). Analysis of global positioning systembased data collection methods for capturing multistop trip-Chaining behavior. Transportation Research Record (1). Phithakkitnukoon, S., Horanont, T., Lorenzo, G. D., Shibasaki, R., & Ratti, C. (2010). Activityaware map: Identifying human daily activity pattern using mobile phone data. MIT-Senseable City Lab. Song, C. M., Qu, Z. H., et al. (2010). Limits of predictability in human mobility. Science, 327(5968), 1018–1021. Song, Y., Merlin, L., & Rodriguez, D. (2013). Comparing measures of urban land use mix. Computers Environment & Urban Systems, 42(7), 1–13. Wallace, B., Barnes, J., & Rutherford, G. S. (2000). Evaluating the effects of traveler and trip characteristics on trip chaining, with implications for transportation demand management strategies. Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1718(1), 97–106. Wang, F. (2000). Modeling commuting patterns in Chicago in a GIS environment: A job accessibility perspective. Professional Geographer, 52(1), 120–133. Wang, A. A. F. (2010). Land use impacts on trip chaining propensity for workers and non-workers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Annals of GIS, 16(3), 141–154. Wang, M. (2014). Understanding activity location choice with mobile phone data. University of Washington.

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Xu, Y., Shaw, S. L., & Yin, L., et al. (2012) Understanding individual daily activity space based on large scale mobile phone location data. Yuan, Y., Raubal, M., & Liu, Y. (2012). Correlating mobile phone usage and travel behavior—A case study of Harbin, China. Computers Environment & Urban Systems, 36(2), 118–130.

Chapter 12

Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Passenger Travel Modes: A Study Based on Shanghai Smart Card Data Huanxi Xu and Shaozhi Hong

12.1 Introduction The rapid development of urbanization and social economy helps increase population and passengers’ travel demand. At the same time, it also causes traffic congestion, which becomes the main problem restricting urban development and residents’ travel. In order to ease road traffic congestion and further optimize urban functions, many countries are actively pursuing the construction of large capacity and fast public transport system, especially urban rail transit system. Since the reform and opening up to the world, major cities in China have gradually strengthened their urban rail transit planning efforts with construction of many mileages of rail transit. By the end of 2016, a total of 30 Chinese cities, including New Fuzhou, Dongguan, Nanning, and Hefei, opened and operated new city rail systems. There is a total of 133 lines of rail transit with a total of 4,152.8 km of rail lines. Of this total, 3,168.7 km is for subway lines which accounts for 76.3% of the total rail line mileage. The volume of urban passenger traffic has increased rapidly along with the continuous growth of operation lines. According to The Report of Urban Rail Transit, in China, the total annual passenger traffic volume of urban rail transit reached 160.9 billion passengers in 2016, increasing 2.9B passengers from last year’s total. Additionally, the passenger traffic volume growth rate reached 16.6% (Urban Rail Transit, 2017). In 2015, Shanghai’s rail transit became the world’s longest operating rail system (by mileage). The rapid development of urban rail has improved the transit options for residents’ travel or commuting needs. After years of planning and developing rail H. Xu School of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Cao’an Road, Shanghai 4800, China e-mail: [email protected] S. Hong (B) National Maglev Transportation Engineering R&D Center, Tongji University, Cao’an Road, Shanghai 4800, China e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_12

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transit, the total mileage of urban rail transit in mainland China has increased steadily every year from 2007 to 2016 which has helped it become the main mode of travel for urban residents. However, a large increase in rail transit travel causes new challenges for planning, construction and operation (Bi & Song, 2008). Effectively meeting passenger travel demand and providing a reliable basis for decision-making for planning and operation departments will be the most important challenges for urban public transportation industry to overcome. The purpose of this study is to systematically and quantitatively analyze the basic travel characteristics of urban rail transit passengers and development status of rail transit in Shanghai. Our results not only reveal the travel characteristics of Shanghai’s rail transit passengers, contribute to the rational planning of city rail transportation infrastructure, and show the efficiencies of effective management for city rail transportation systems, but also scientifically develops the corresponding decision-making basis in which to improve upon city rail traffic issues to promote healthy and long-term, sustainable development in China’s city rail transportation industry.

12.2 Shanghai Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Data Structure The data used in this paper are entry and exit transaction records of Shanghai’s rail transit system, and the original AFC data (Xin & Wang 2005) (Table 12.1). The original data is from April 2015 which includes information on traffic card numbers, credit card dates, credit card times, lines and stations, traffic mode, transaction amounts and transaction types. The card number was adjusted with x’s to protect users’ privacy. Table 12.1 Original Shanghai AFC data structure Card No.

Dates

Times

Metro lines Modes and stops

Transaction amounts

Transaction types

2602750xx

2015/4/1

15:57:29

Xin Zha Road of Line 1

Metro

0

Non-preferential

3101450xx

2015/4/1

12:50:54

Yang Si of Line 8

Metro

0

Non-preferential

101585xxx

2015/4/1

12:57:01

Jingan Temple of Line 2

Metro

4

Preferential

2203340xx

2015/4/1

10:32:12

Longyang Road of Line 2

Metro

4

Preferential

3103918xx

2015/4/1

17:44:55

Yu Garden of Line 10

Metro

0

Non-preferential

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The traffic card number corresponds to an unique passenger traffic card, which can then be queried and used select the individual data card The credit card date and time represents the date and time passengers’ used their credit cards. The lines and stations correspond to the subway lines and station used. The transportation mode can be identified as the subway, bus, ferry. Transaction amount represents the actual amount paid for each trip, including greater than 0, and equal to 0. From the transaction amount, information about the entry station (the corresponding transaction amount will equal to 0) and the exit station (the corresponding transaction amount will be greater than 0) can be determined. Transaction type are divided into two kinds of categories: preferential and non-preferential, they actually refer to whether or not having taken any favorable terms, hereby correspond with ‘transaction amounts’.

12.3 Data Processing of Shanghai AFC Data Since the Shanghai SCD is tied to credit card records, passengers’ subway entrances and exits are recorded separately, and passengers’ complete OD travel information cannot be obtained. Therefore, we need to get passenger entry and outbound data separately, and then match passengers’ travel OD information according to card number and credit card time. Additionally, the passenger travel time field is inserted into the database, and AFC data is used to calculate the passengers’ travel time. Finally, the credit card line and station field is matched to the line and station names, which can be difficult since different stations may correspond to multiple lines when matching to passengers’ credit cards. In order to facilitate the analysis of passenger trip line and station characteristics, we need to segment the field and to retrieve the fields that include lines and stations. The specific steps are listed below: • Step 1: Design the SQL database and table structure and store the Shanghai SCD into the SQL database naming the table by the credit card date. • Step 2: Delete unused fields such as credit card date, traffic mode and transaction type to help facilitate quick querying and filtering of the data. • Step 3: Since the Shanghai rail transit system records the final amount of passengers’ activities when they exit the station, the passengers’ entry data and exit data by transaction amount can be determined using binary coding. That is, the passenger’s enter station is indicated when the field of transaction amount is equal to 0, and the passenger’s exit station is identifiable when the field of transaction amount is more than 0. Therefore, we can determine the passengers’ entry data table and exit data table, respectively named as O table and D table. • Step 4: In order to get the OD data of each passenger, we need to merge the O table and D table by the card number according to the order of entrance stations, exit stations, and credit card times. There was one repeat credit card numbers found in our dataset; however, it only accounted for 0.3% of the entire dataset so we deleted this one record.

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Table 12.2 Passengers’ OD travel table 26020xx

16:21:59

Line7

Changshu Road

16:51:58

Line1

Xinzhuang

1799 s

31010xx

16:52:20

Line7

Xincun Road

17:00:37

Line7

Zhenping Road

497 s

1015xxx

11:17:49

Line4

Dongan Road

11:51:42

Line7

Xincun Road

2033 s

22030xx

09:17:26

Line1

Xinzhaung

09:38:09

Line1

Xujiahui

1243 s

• Step 5: The same credit card may match multiple records, so we removed any unreasonable matching results. Since passengers transferring at the Shanghai Railway Station, the South Shanxi Road Station and the Hongqiao Airport Terminal 2 Station can transfer free of charge within a 30 min timeframe, we deleted all matching OD data that had the same entrance and exit stations except the three stations mentioned above. • Step 6: After completing the OD table, we inserted the travel time field into the table to get each passenger’s travel time within the rail transit network. Travel time was calculated by using the exit station time minus entrance station time. • Step 7: Finally, we utilized SQL querying to separate the line station field to get the individual line and station field of each matching OD record. The final OD table of each passenger is shown below (Table 12.2).

12.4 Characteristics of Passengers Travel Understanding the travel characteristics of passengers will help us understand the overall mode of transportation distribution status and Shanghai’s urban rail transit development trend. This paper analyzes the passenger travel characteristics from two aspects: the overall travel of passengers in Shanghai and the travel of each line and station. This analysis will help us understand the holistic time and spatial distribution characteristics of passenger urban rail transit and help show the above travel characteristics of passengers on key routes and locations.

12.4.1 The Overall Travel Distribution of Passengers Figure 12.1 shows the OD distribution of passengers in the Shanghai rail network. Based on these distributions, passengers are mainly concentrated between Line 1 and Line 2 stations on workdays, non-workdays, and holidays. The stations of Line 1 with the highest amount of people exiting are Shanghai Railway Station, People’s Square Station, Xujiahui Station, South Shanghai Station and Xinzhuang Station, and the stations for Line 2 are Lujiazui Station, East Nanjing Road Station, and Zhongshan Park Station. Regarding the overall OD spatial distribution, the network OD distribution is similar on working days and non-working days, but differences

12 Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Passenger Travel Modes …

Workday

237

Non-workday

Holiday

Fig. 12.1 OD distribution of passengers

exist on holidays. Compared with working days and non-working days, the total travel flow of passengers decrease on holidays; however, OD trips on Line 11 stations are higher. As a commuter line, many non-local passengers live around Line 11 which may explain why it has different travel flow on holidays.

12.4.2 Line Travel Passenger Characteristics on Workdays Figure 12.2 shows passenger travel times on all lines in Shanghai on workdays which highlights a “double peak” distribution during workdays. In terms of waveforms, the waveforms of Lines 12, 13 and 16 are relatively irregular, and passenger travel fluctuations are relatively large. In general, the travel distributions are asymmetric, but the distribution of passengers’ travel time on Line 16 is the most dispersed. The travel time for Shanghai’s 14 lines is concentrated on two peak times during workdays: 8:30 and 18:30. Passengers’ travel characteristics shows certain regularity, and the travel distribution is stable. Passenger travel flow on Lines 1, 2, and 9 are more concentrated, and the peak travel flow for each is greater than 3,000 passengers. The peak travel volume of passengers on Lines 3, 4, 7, 8, and 10 are over 2,000 passengers each and all other lines are below 2,000 passengers. For waveform differences, the peak travel flow of Lines 5, 12, and 13 are similar between the morning and evening peak times, below 200 passengers, yet all the other lines are more than 500 passengers.

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Monday

Tuesday

Thursday

Friday

Wednesday

Fig. 12.2 Time series of lines on workday

12.4.3 The Characteristics of Passengers’ Line Travel on Non-workdays Figure 12.3 shows passenger travel times on all lines in Shanghai on non-workdays. A large difference exists between passenger travel characteristics and different rail lines. Most passengers travel between 6:00 and 18:00 on non-workdays, and the overall ridership is steady and the traffic flow is small with no “double peak” phenomenon. Passengers on Lines 1, 2, 3, 8 and 9 have similar travel flows, and Lines 5, 12, 13 and 16 have sporadic and small travel flows. As suburban lines, Lines 5 and 7 share similar characteristics such as volume and spatial distribution. There are major differences in the travel time on holidays. The number of passengers on Lines 5 and line 11 quickly decrease after they first spike in passengers, showing a “leaving early

Holiday

Holiday

Saturday

Sunday

Fig. 12.3 Time series of rail lines on holidays and non-working days

Holiday

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in the morning and being back late in the evening” distribution. During holidays, passengers on Lines 5 and line 11 have the greatest differences. The first two days, passengers traveled in similar patterns where the ridership grew rapidly and reached its highest concentration around 9:00, then quickly decreased. On the last day of a holiday, Lines 5 and line 11 ridership is mainly concentrated from 6:00 to 18:00, and the purpose of the passengers’ trips are mainly to return to Shanghai. Comparing passengers on Saturdays and Sundays, the differences between passengers on nonworkdays and holidays is quite large. For Lines 5 and 11, the main reason for this difference is passengers whose hometown is not in Shanghai leave from Shanghai. Passengers on Lines 12, 13 and 16 were dispersedly distributed on holidays. The passenger travel flow is relatively small, and the travel characteristics of other lines are relatively even and consistent.

12.4.4 The Characteristics of Line-to-Line Distribution The travel distribution of passengers between different lines can be visualized by chord diagrams. Figure 12.4 reflects the passenger exchange volume of Shanghai rail transit on workdays, holidays and weekdays. The boundary widths of the chord diagrams represent the total amount of inbound and outbound traffic, the line thickness between lines indicates the exchange amount between lines, and the color of each line is designated to be the same color of the line which has smaller exchange volumes. The characteristics of lines are mainly “self-in, self-out” distributions on workdays, holidays, and weekdays, and Line 5 is “5 lines in and 1 line out”. Based Fig. 12.4 Line exchange volume chart on working days, holidays and non-working days

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on the total volume of travel, passengers on Lines 1 and 2 have the most ridership with Lines 3, 7, 8 and 9 also having relatively large ridership. For exchange volume, there is a large amount of exchange between Lines 1, 2 and many other lines, and where Line 1 has a larger exchange volume with Lines 2, 7, 8, 5, with the exchange volume the highest with Line 2. Compared to workdays, holidays and weekdays, the exchange volume of others lines (except Line 1) with Lines 2 and 3 is mainly the outbound traffic of Line 2 and 3 on workdays and weekdays, but the reverse is true on holiday.

12.4.5 The Travel Characteristics of Passengers on the Distribution of Stations Table 12.3 shows the linear relationship between the inbound and outbound traffic at stations on workdays, weekdays and holidays. It reflects the stability of passengers’ travel choice and the equilibrium of stations, and highlights the stations that are key concerns for metro operation departments because they have large differences between inbound traffic and outbound traffic. Shanghai Railway Station and Hongqiao Railway Station are two external hub stations, and there are more passengers traveling at these stations on weekdays, though the same characteristics are also exhibited on April 11 (Saturday) with the opposite on April 12 (Sunday). Shanghai Railway Station and Hongqiao Railway Station have large differences between inbound traffic and outbound traffic on holidays, especially on April 6 where there was more than a 60,000 inbound and outbound passenger difference. The largest of this passenger difference comes from passengers living near Lines 5 and 11, and are returning to Shanghai between 6:00 and 18:00. This variance is worthy for the relevant departments to pay attention because it important to make better preparations during operation process. In general, the number of passengers entering and exiting at different line stations is relatively stable. For external hub stations such as Shanghai Railway Station and Hongqiao Railway Station, due to some passengers going out and unable to return on the same day. There is a large gap between the number of passengers entering and leaving. Value, mainly going out on weekdays, mainly returning on weekends on non-working days, mainly going out a few days before holidays, and returning mainly on the last day of holidays.

12.5 Conclusion This paper systematically analyzes passengers’ travel characteristics of the Shanghai rail transit system based on past data from the Shanghai smart card in April 2015. Through data processing, this article concretely researched the spatial and temporal

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Table 12.3 The inbound and outbound traffic at stations Station

Inbound

Outbound

Linear equation

R2

4/1

Shanghai Railway Station

90,750

97,891

y = 1.0244x − 576.55

0.9944

4/13

Zhangjiang Hi-tech

32,427

38,539

y = 1.0124x − 387.88

0.9934

4/14

Zhangjiang Hi-tech

32,244

37,628

y = 1.0233x − 558.84

0.9940

4/16

Zhangjiang Hi-tech

32,141

37,539

y = 1.0188x − 491.23

0.9950

4/17

Hongqiao Railway Station

47,443

55,207

y = 1.0445x − 959.02

0.9900

Shanghai Railway Station

97,350

116,056

Hongqiao Railway Station

37,922

44,711

y = 1.0273x − 513.57

0.9942

Shanghai Railway Station

74,706

81,918

Hongqiao Railway Station

60,022

34,376

y = 0.9414x + 482.78

0.9737

Shanghai Railway Station

80,408

67,518

Hongqiao Railway Station

38,080

80,927

y = 1.108x − 1326.2

0.9269

Shanghai Railway Station

68,459

107,311

South Shanghai Rail Station

43,149

62,666

Hongqiao Railway Station

60,117

39,603

y = 0.9569x + 277.07

0.9810

Shanghai Railway Station

74,605

64,694

Data Workday

Weekday 4/11

4/12

Holiday 4/4

4/5

travel characteristics of passengers. We analyzed passengers’ travel time selections of different rail lines, which reflects passengers’ travel choice behaviors at different times. We also found passengers’ travel patterns in different lines and stations, which can help relevant departments know more about the operation of rail transit. Our results provide theoretical support and a decision-making basis for transit planning and management departments. Acknowledgements The research was sponsored by National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFB1200602-02), China Intelligent Urbanization Co-creation Center for High Density Region, and Shanghai Peak Plateau Discipline Program (Urban-Rural Planning, Discipline No. 0833). We also wish to recognize the contribution of Junjie Ma in the preparation of this paper.

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References Bi, X. L., & Song, J. (2008). On the planning, construction and operation of rail transit from the perspective of efficiency. Shanghai Construction Technology, 000.002, 1–3, 11. Pelletiera, M. P. (2011). Smart card data use in public transit: A literature review. Transportation Research Part C, 10. Sun, Y., & Xu, R. (2012). Rail transit travel time reliability and estimation of passenger route choice behavior: Analysis using automatic fare collection data. Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2275(1), 58–67. Urban Rail Transit. (2017). 2016 annual statistics and analysis report of Urban Rail Transit. Urban Rail Transit, 2017(01), 20–36. Xin, Y. U., & Wang, F. Z. (2005). Research on automatic fare collection of Urban Railway. Railway Computer Application.

Chapter 13

Study of the Spatial–Temporal Characteristics of College Students’ Activities Based on Mobile Phone Data Chenchen Sun, Xinyi Niu, and Xiaodong Song

13.1 Introduction With the continuous development of communication technology and positioning technology, the emergence of mobile positioning data has provided a new data source for the study of space–time behavior which has resulted in a new trend of quantitative analysis of behavior characteristics. In terms of using data, travel studies have changed from traditional questionnaire data composed of activity logs and travel surveys to mobile positioning data combined with questionnaire data (Chai et al., 2009; Huang et al., 2010). Mobile location data can provide large sample sizes and dynamic updates. Additionally, in terms of research methods, there is a trend for diversification in which quantitative methods are combined with qualitative methods. Multi-level models, structural equation models, and other metering models are applied in the analysis and simulation of spatial–temporal behavior (Zhang & Chai, 2009). Meanwhile, the wide application of GIS enables visualization of the spatial–temporal behavior within a three-dimensional space (Kwan, 2004; Kwan et al., 2010; Zhao et al., 2009). In terms of the research objective, studies have gradually changed from focusing on the macro dimension to the micro dimension, from the group to the individual, from the phenomenon to the interactive mechanism between the individual activities and the urban space (Chai, 2005).

C. Sun (B) · X. Niu · X. Song Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China X. Niu e-mail: [email protected] X. Song e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_13

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13.2 Context and Literature Review 13.2.1 Literature Mobile location data can be divided into two different categories: voluntary data and involuntary data. Voluntarily provided data is the position information that the users offer, such as the sign-in information from social network sites, uploaded photos with geographical positions, etc. This data has the advantage of having high positioning accuracy and activity description information, which allows for the analysis of individual behavior. However, it tends to be a biased sample with a higher percentage of specific types of users. Involuntary data is recorded by service operators to collect passive location information. When you turn on your phone, if you choose to call, send messages, connect to the Internet, and other activities, your location and time will be recorded after connecting to the base platform. This data has the characteristics of having uniform sampling and continuous location data, which provides more complete information about the flow of people. However, involuntary mobile data cannot record the activity’s purpose, so an algorithm is needed to identify the residence, employment, and recreational locations according to the laws of the activities. Using involuntary mobile location data, scholars have explored the spatial structure of cities (Calabrese et al., 2010; Niu et al., 2014; Reades et al., 2009), occupational balance (Niu & Ding, 2015), commuting behavior (Ahas et al., 2010; Liang et al., 2015; Yuan et al., 2012), recreational behavior (Wang et al., 2015), and identified activity patterns (Calabrese et al., 2013; Diao et al., 2016). While some experts have used voluntary data to focus on diversity and human behavior, such as geo-tagged social media data (Yang et al., 2019), existing research has used involuntary mobile phone data collected by network operators to mainly focus on the aggregation and commuting behaviors of urban groups. These are the primary topics of focus because of mobile phone data’s disadvantage to collect social attributes, which often overlooks the diversity and differences among people and the lack of follow-up research on specific populations, especially in the study of college students. Current studies are mostly based on questionnaire survey data describing the spatial and temporal behaviors of students on campus (Liu, 2015; Lou et al., 2010). College students, as a non-negligible immigration population with little to no income, participate in activities in the city, which has a strong influence on the urban space, both inside and outside of the campus. Their living and learning spaces are highly concentrated geographically which shows clustering features, while their properties are relatively simple and homogeneous. Thus, college students are suitable for identification and comparison by using mobile positioning data.

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13.2.2 Context Through the quantitative analysis and a comparative study, we analyze the spatial and temporal activity patterns of college student groups from the dimensions of time, space, and social attributes. In addition, we attempt to answer the following questions in order to describe the space around the campus to provide guidance on the spatial layout of the campus. (1) (2) (3)

Is the spatial distribution of the college students the same at different times of the day? What does the daily activities ranges of students in each college look like and what are the differences, if any? What are the spatial distribution characteristics of leisure time for student groups? What influences the spatial distribution of these leisure activities?

13.3 Data and Methods 13.3.1 Data Hangzhou has many colleges and universities located in the central area and suburbs, including Zhejiang College, the China Academy of Arts and the Zhejiang College of Technology. Overall, Hangzhou has 39 colleges, 475,600 students and 50,200 graduate students. Since the precision of mobile positioning data is limited, we choose several large and centralized high education parks belonging to the colleges and universities, including the Xiasha, Xiaoheshan, Xiaoshan, Binjiang, Zijingang campus of Zhejiang College, Yuquan campus of Zhejiang College, Xixi campus of Zhejiang College, Zhijiang campus of Zhejiang College, and the Zhaohui campus of Zhejiang College, which encompasses a total area of 18.84 km2 . The spatial distribution is shown in the Fig. 13.1. The data used in this paper is a 1/32 sampling of the mobile positioning data focused on the mobile 2G users in Hangzhou over a one-month period in November 2015. The data has been encrypted and cleaned so only the position change signaling was retained. Each of the signaling data contains the users’ IDs in an anonymous form, along with the timestamp and base station location information. There are about 86,000 base stations in the entire city. The distance between each base station in the main urban area is of about 100 to 300 m, while in the outer suburbs, this distance expands to 1,000 m. The research scope of this paper is designated within the main urban area, which means the distance between the base stations is small and the accuracy is higher.

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Fig. 13.1 Research area

13.3.2 Method This paper discusses the spatial–temporal statistics and the influential mechanisms of the college students’ activity patterns based on the time, location, and land use dimensions. By selecting the locations where the phone users spend the longest accumulating time at night and day time during weekdays, we identified these positions as residential and employment points. And we identify those locations where the phone users spend the longest accumulating time during weekends as recreation points. Then, we used a spatial overlay to find the college students and kernel density analysis to obtain the density of the students’ activities. Finally, we used the standard deviation ellipse to measure the life circle range and direction.

13.3.2.1

Identification Model

Considering the continuous but limited precise characteristics of mobile positioning data, we extracted the user activities from as many location points as possible using the timestamp. Then, we identified the special activity points in combination with the time interval of the living, employment, and recreational behavior. We regarded the point with the longest accumulation of staying time from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. as the employment point for that day, while the point with the longest

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Fig. 13.2 Distribution of student residential space

accumulated staying time from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. was the residential point for that day. If the existing times of the residential or employment points met the threshold (60% * effective number of days), then the employment or residential point would be identified as the final employment or residential point. Otherwise, the user was not identified. The recreation spot is the place in which the user stops for more than 3 h on the weekends, except for the home and work points. This point also needed to meet the repeated threshold (60% * effective number of days). By combining the educational parks with the residence distribution, we identified 5,948 college students, and after the expansion we could identify 346,065 students. We found the proportion of the total number of identified students in the higher educational parks was consistent with statistics. So, using the identification results as a basis for analysis to study the college students’ activities is reasonable. We removed the Zhaohui and Huajiachi campuses of Zhejiang University from our research study because of their low identification numbers (Figs. 13.2, 13.3 and 13.4).

13.3.2.2

Spot Extraction and Kernel Density Method

Mobile positioning data has unevenly distributed origin data. For example, the data is produced more frequently during the day time because of higher activity behavior, but the regularly updated location data is usually recorded at night. Due to this situation, we needed to extract the original data by retaining the valid points every

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Fig. 13.3 Distribution of student employment space

Fig. 13.4 Identified students in each district

two hours. The rule of selection was to choose the point nearest to the start of each hour. Based on these distribution points, we used the kernel density method to obtain the distribution of students every two hours per day. The kernel density method was used to calculate the density of the point elements around each output grid pixel. Above each point, there is a smooth surface. In the place where the point is located, the surface value is the highest and the surface value

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is gradually reduced as the distance from the point increases. The surface value is equal to zero at the location of the search radius. The volume of the space enclosed by the surface and the plane below is equal to the field value of this point. In this paper, the field is the number of college students, while the density of each output grid pixel is the sum of the values of all core surfaces superimposed on the grid’s pixel center (Silverman, 2018).

13.3.2.3

Life Circle and Standard Deviational Ellipse

The concept of the life circle was derived from Japan. It was proposed as the geographical distribution of the daily production and life activities of the people living within a specific scope, such as a geographical range or social villages in the Rural Living Environment Development Plan (Zhu et al., 2010). The methods for measurement of the life circle include the standard distance ellipse, standard deviation ellipse, minimum convex polygon, and buffer method (Buliung & Kanaroglou, 2006; Buliung et al., 2008; Schönfelder & Axhausen, 2003; Yin et al., 2013). For this paper, we use the standard deviation ellipse method. This algorithm was proposed by D. Welty Lefever to describe the life circle using the shape and direction of the ellipse. The standard deviation ellipse is centered on the arithmetic mean center and the angle of the ellipse is:  n tanθ =

˜2 i=1 xi −

    2 n 2 2 2 2 n n ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ + − + 4 yi xi yi xi yi i=1 i=1 i=1 i=1 n ˜ ˜ 2 i=1 xi yi

n

The elliptic formula is: 

   x y + =s σx σy  2   n ˜ ˜ − yisinθ √ i=1 xicosθ σx = 2 n  2   n ˜ ˜ + yicosθ √ i=1 xisinθ σy = 2 n (x˜i y˜i is the difference between the average center as well as the x and y coordinates). The long axis of the ellipse represents the direction of the data distribution. The short axis represents the range of the data distribution. The larger the difference between the length and the short axis, the more directional the data is.

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13.4 Results 13.4.1 One Day Activity The spatial distribution of the students’ activities at different times of the day may be disparate because a large amount of trace data needed to be cleaned. Thus, we simplified the trace point of each ID to 12 points per day by taking two hours as the interval and regarding the location nearest the hour as the effective position point in order to characterize the spatial distribution of the students. After completing the calculations, we chose the Binjiang higher educational park, Xiaoheshan educational park, and the Zijingang campus of Zhejiang College as three plots distributed in different administration cells and from various distances from the center of the city. The comparison of distinct geographical locations can explain the impact of location on living space. The spatial distribution of the effective position point on a weekend is shown in Table 13.1. When we compared the distribution of different time points in the diagram, we could easily find that the higher educational parks revealed a similar activity pattern. First, most students tended to stay within a small geographical range inside the campus from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. This tendency was consistent with the students’ living habits. Second, starting from 8 a.m., the geographical ranges of students’ activities gradually expanded until 10 a.m. However, by noon, the activity space narrowed slightly, which may be related to students’ lunch habits. After 12 p.m., the activity scope reached a peak activity value from 2 to 4 p.m., with the largest activity distribution range primarily located in the periphery of the school’s location going in the direction of the downtown area. Finally, after this activity period, most of the students began to return their schools between 6 and 10 p.m. In conclusion, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. was the prime time for students to study and recreate, although there was a break from these activities at 12 p.m. From 6 to 8 p.m., the activity scope and density outside the campus was lower than during the daytime. This phenomenon may imply that students in Hangzhou are more inclined to go out in the daytime, which is different from the night activities in the mid-west district.

13.4.2 Life Circle In this paper, the term “life circle” is used to measure the activities of the students’ life behaviors and activities, such as entertainment, education, etc. After placing all the positioning points within the geographic regions, we created an ellipse that included 75% of the positioning points as the main life circle of students. Then, according to the data, we respectively created a daily life circle for weekdays and weekends. Additionally, we used the ellipse (68%) with a standard deviation to measure the students’ travel directions. Based on the consecutive calculation of seven higher educational parks, we compared the students’ living spaces in these parks in

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Table 13.1 One day space distribution (2 h intervals) Binjiang High-edu Park

Xiaoheshan High-edu Park

Zijingang High-edu Park

2: 00

4: 00

6: 00

8: 00

10 :0 0

(continued)

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Table 13.1 (continued)

12 :0 0

14 :0 0

16 :0 0

18 :0 0

20 :0 0

(continued)

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Table 13.1 (continued) 22 :0 0

24 :0 0

relation to location and time differences. However, both campuses in Xisha were not calculated due to missing data. From the perspective of time, the weekend life circle range was significantly greater than the weekday school life circle for all educational parks. In other words, the students often left the campus and traveled long distances on weekends. When we compared the directions of the standard deviation ellipse during both periods, their directions were similar, heading toward the downtown area, but the weekend ellipse was much narrower meaning a longer travel distance. In addition, the narrower weekend life circle was often on the main roads or metro lines, which is consistent with the fact that college students tend to take metro and other public transportations to the municipal or regional commercial centers for their recreational activities. From the perspective of the location differences and when we compared the standard ellipse of the schools located in different districts, we discovered that the life circles of those educational parks in the outer suburbs lacking a mature commercial center had longer major axes (e.g., Xiaoshan, Xiaoheshan, Binjiang). For example, the students in Xiaoheshan park arrived at the Wulin commercial square along Tianmushan road and the students of Xiaoshan park traveled along the metro Line 2 and Shixin road. However, several campuses of Zhejiang College had much shorter travel distances because they are located next to the central city or mature commercial complexes, such as the Zijingang campus near the West-Yintai center. The life circles of these campuses on the weekends and weekdays were rounded and the two kinds of ellipses are nearly the same. In addition, the life circle of the Xixi campus on the weekend was even smaller than during the weekday. To some extent, this may indicate that the entertainment resources around the Zhejiang College campus are more abundant and the students of Zhejiang College are more willing to stay near

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the school on the weekends. Except for links with commercial areas, communication between schools also exists. The Xixi campus has a close connection with the Zijingang campus, but the influential factor and dynamic mechanism of this link are still unclear (Table 13.2). Table 13.2 College student life circle (Blue ellipse represents the weekend life circle & the yellow ellipse is the weekday life circle) Binjia

Weekday space distribution

Weekend space distribution

Life circle

ng Highedu Park

Xiaohe shanHi gh-edu Park

Xiaosh an Highedu Park

Zijinga ng Highedu Park

(continued)

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Table 13.2 (continued) Yuqua n Highedu Park

Huajia chi Highedu Park

Xixi Highedu Park

13.4.3 Recreational Activity The weekend recreation activity distribution of the college students was obtained by joining the results of the recreation point with the user IDs of the college students. The spatial distribution (Fig. 13.5) and the descriptive statistics (Fig. 13.6) show that the recreation spots are mainly concentrated in the vicinity of the West Lake business circle and the Xiasha commercial sub-center. The number of students in other commercial areas is very low because of the uneven distribution of the college students. According to the spatial distribution of the nine college parks, we obtained the following characteristic. First, the recreational area with the highest density of the high educational parks is along the Yanan road near the Xihu, which includes Wulin square, Phoenix road, and the Longxiang Bridge. Second, the distribution of recreational space has a strong connection with traffic accessibility, which means spatial proximity. The recreational density of business areas next to the colleges is always high. Students who live in the Xiashan high educational park tend to choose the

256

Fig. 13.5 Distribution of the weekend recreation space

Fig. 13.6 Identified students in each business center

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Xiasha commercial center and students in the Xiaoheshan park often go to the Xixi commercial area. On the other hand, accessibility can refer to the convenience of public transportation, especially the metro. For example, the Xiaoshan high educational park has a high recreation density in Shixin square, which is the site of metro Line 2. This may reflect that college students are more likely to choose the metro as a travel method (Table 13.3).

13.5 Conclusions Using Hangzhou as the case study, this paper gave a more in-depth understanding of the higher educational park construction situation. With the help of mobile positioning data, we identified the work, home, and recreation points using predetermined rules. Then, according to the geographical area of the higher educational parks, we found the college students who lived in the parks. Next, we compared the respective space distribution of the students’ different behaviors at different times of the day, including analysis on weekdays and weekends, by using the kernel density and standard deviation ellipse methods. The analysis showed the activity characteristics of the students in the higher educational parks as well as the differences in the activity ranges under different location conditions. (1)

(2)

(3)

The distribution of the activity space had a clear temporal pattern. Between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., the activity gradually grew until its peak time at 10 a.m., which was followed by a valley around 12 p.m., and then continued to grow until the second peak at 3 p.m. During this time period, many students left the school. After 6 p.m., the activity range gradually shrunk until 10 p.m. From 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. there was generally little activity where almost all of the students stayed on campus. This temporal pattern was consistent with the students’ living habits. The range of the students’ weekend activities was generally larger than the range on the weekdays, and their travel distances were also longer. This difference significantly reduced when the nearby commercial facilities had many different amenities. The distribution of the students’ weekend recreational space was concentrated in the urban commercial centers and sub-centers next to the schools. Regardless of the campus, most students chose the urban commercial centers and business areas near Westlake except for those living in the Xiasha higher educational park. This indicates that the construction of the commercial sub-centers in Hangzhou has not been very successful. The students’ choices were influenced by the commercial center’s quality, spatial proximity, and accessibility to public transportation. Based on this, we recommend establishing a commercial complex near the campuses that appeal to the students wants and needs, and improving the accessibility and efficiency of public transportation to serve the commercial centers.

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Table 13.3 Distribution of the students’ recreational space on each campus Xiasha High-edu Park(West District)

Xiasha High-edu Park(East District)

Binjiang High-edu Park

Xiaoheshan High-edu Park

Xiaoshan High-edu Park

Zijingang High-edu Park

Yuquan High-edu Park

Huajiachi High-edu Park

Xixi High-edu Park

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Limitations to our research include the sampling data used in the study. The data source had the problem of unevenly sampling and limited precision. Additionally, the analysis concentrated primarily on the visual expression of the current distribution instead of discussions on the internal influence mechanism. Regarding the influential mechanisms, we prioritized qualitative observations and lacked quantitative indicators. Meanwhile, we didn’t set up any experimental and control groups—nor did we rule out any irrelevant variables. Therefore, we still need further discussion on the influential factors. From the perspective of the selection of research objects, we need to control variables such as comparing the differences of student activity characteristics of different types of education parks in the same location. On the other hand, in terms of data usage, the passively positioned mobile phone data currently used has limited accuracy. If it can be combined with more detailed GPS positioning data and field survey questionnaire statistics, maybe we can find more microscopic behavior patterns from the student’s personal attributes.

References Ahas, R., Aasa, A., Silm, S., & Tiru, M. (2010). Daily rhythms of suburban commuters’ movements in the Tallinn metropolitan area: Case study with mobile positioning data. Transportation Research Part c: Emerging Technologies, 18(1), 45–54. Buliung, R. N., & Kanaroglou, P. S. (2006). Urban form and household activity-travel behavior. Growth and Change, 37(2), 172–199. Buliung, R. N., Roorda, M. J., & Remmel, T. K. (2008). Exploring spatial variety in patterns of activity-travel behaviour: Initial results from the Toronto Travel-Activity Panel Survey (TTAPS). Transportation, 35(6), 697–722. Calabrese, F., Colonna, M., Lovisolo, P., Parata, D., & Ratti, C. (2010). Real-time urban monitoring using cell phones: A case study in Rome. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 12(1), 141–151. Calabrese, F., Diao, M., Di Lorenzo, G., Ferreira, J., Jr., & Ratti, C. (2013). Understanding individual mobility patterns from urban sensing data: A mobile phone trace example. Transportation Research Part c: Emerging Technologies, 26, 301–313. Chai, Y. (2005). Methodological problems in behavioral geography study. Areal Research and Development, 24(2), 1–5. Chai, Y., Zhang, W., Zhang, Y., Yaning, Y., & Ying, Z. (2009). The production and quality management of disaggregated space-time data of individual’s behaviors—A case study of activity-diary survey in Beijing. Human Geography, 24(6), 1–9. Diao, M., Zhu, Y., Ferreira, J., Jr., & Ratti, C. (2016). Inferring individual daily activities from mobile phone traces: A Boston example. Environment and Planning b: Planning and Design, 43(5), 920–940. Ding, L., Niu, X., & Song, X. (2015). Identifying the commuting area of Shanghai central city using mobile phone data. City Planning Review, 39(9), 100–106. Huang, X., Chai, Y., Zhao, Y., & Shen, Y. (2010). Application analysis of mobile phone data source in the study of tourists. Tourism Tribune, 25(8), 39–45. Kwan, M.-P. (2004). GIS methods in time-geographic research: Geocomputation and geovisualization of human activity patterns. Geografiska Annaler: Series b, Human Geography, 86(4), 267–280.

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Chapter 14

Cycling to School in China: Identifying Patterns in Safety Perception Aline Chevalier, Manuel Charlemagne, and Leiqing Xu

14.1 Introduction With one of the highest bicycle mode shares in the world China represents a perfect place to understand the barriers to cycling and their related issues. This is especially true when considering that in most Chinese cities cycling remains a secondary concern in transport planning (Pucher et al., 2010; Yang et al., 2015; Zhao, 2017). The recent advent of shared-bicycles and the amount of lanes provided to cyclists set a good start for a new era of pro-cycling policies. However, an extensive network of bicycle lanes has long been recognized as a necessary but non-sufficient condition to encourage cycling (Bracher, 1988). Therefore to provide efficient solutions, a comprehensive set of measures, answering the demand and aspirations not only of those already cycling, but also of those discouraged by the surrounding environment should be implemented. A considerable and ever-increasing number of researches have focused on the connection between the built environment and the travel behaviour. In fact, the potential to influence the travel choice by modifying urban forms is among the most researched topics in Urban Planning. Acknowledging the need for a sustainable and healthy transportation, studies in this field isolate various components influencing a modal shift towards soft and eco-mobilities. Initially coined as the 3-Ds, for Density, Diversity and Design (Cervero & Kockelman, 1997), the list of factors keeps expanding as their impact on cycling is progressively investigated (Cervero & Kockelman, 1997; Ewing & Cervero, 2010; Wang A. Chevalier (B) University of Amsterdam, Centre for Urban Studies, Amsterdam 15629, 1001 NC, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] L. Xu College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China M. Charlemagne University of Michigan, Shanghai Jiaotong University Joint Institute, Shanghai, China © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_14

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et al., 2016). A large literature clearly establishes the connection between mental health, physical activity, and the features of the built environment (Moudon et al., 2005; Winters et al., 2010). This evaluation of the physical environment encompasses the visual appreciation of the streetscape and its induced perceptions (Yu-Tzu et al., 2014). For this reason, research in Public Health covers active transportation to school, with the aim to provide solutions for children to walk or cycle safely to and from school.1 In turn this results in the development of strategies for Safe Route To School (SRTS) programs (National Center for Safe Routes to School, 2018; Safe Routes to School National Partnership, 2018). A previous study on bikeability perceptions in the Chinese context isolates children transportation as an effective target for potential growth in urban cycling (Chevalier et al., 2017). In fact, cycling with young children is still relatively common in China especially for school drop off or pick up. However it only represents a very small share in the reasons for riding a bicycle (>10%) highlighting the pressing need to reassess the built environment such as to determine the specific issues encountered by cyclists when carrying children. As a matter of fact, children transportation on bicycle and its related apprehensions remain little understood and under documented. Indeed, few studies investigate child transportation on two-wheeled vehicles (Liu et al., 2634), while the correlation between the built environment attributes and the road safety perception, in this specific setup, remains untouched for the Chinese context. Following such an approach would however lead to a more accurate evaluation of the perceived danger for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists (Horton et al., 2007). To address these unknowns, we based our study on empirical observations and aggregated data such as to develop a model exhibiting the important factors of the physical environment playing a role in safety perception when cycling with a child. Moreover, the perceived danger appears as an important component in transport mode choice. For instance, a wide literature highlights the phenomenon of the modal shift towards the automobile viewed as safer than walking and cycling specially in the case of parents transporting children (Horton et al., 2007; Urry, 2004). In fact the overestimation of danger related to cycling and its resultant vicious cycles are well investigated phenomena. Despite the decreasing amount of cyclists and the explosion of motorised vehicles on the roads, many studies prove that the objective risk did not significantly increased (Krag, 1989). However, the subjective risk, perceived by the population is considerable. This gap between objective and subjective risks leads to a disregard for cycling as a reliable means of transportation. In turn this drags the modal shift towards motorised transportation. In fact, when asked what could prevent our respondents to transport their child on bicycle, danger was mentioned in more than half of the cases. Therefore, improvement in the safety perception while cycling could be a major incentive in the decision to transport children on bicycles. 1

Safe Routes to School (SR2S or SRTS) programs include education, encouragement, infrastructure, and enforcement programs aimed at increasing the safety and number of students (and parents) walking and bicycling to school.

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In the first stage we are refining our understanding of the problem and present our methodology (Sect. 14.2). Then we model the safety perception when riding a two-wheeler with a child (Sect. 14.3). After exposing our results (Sect. 14.4), we proceed to a thorough investigation of the various parameters appearing in this model and derive major directions on how to implement SRTS programs in the Chinese context (Sect. 14.5). In some cases we returned to the raw data and interpreted it in terms of the model.

14.2 Methodology In order to evaluate the level of danger perceived by cyclists when transporting a child and exhibit its source we investigate the drop-off and pick-up of children at kindergartens. The choice of focusing the study on schools appears to be the most relevant way to identify the specific barriers related to road safety and the built environment whilst riding with a child. More specifically, the decision to limit the study to kindergartens was motivated by the likeliness of children to be carried on bikes as they are all within “transportable size”. Moreover, technically the study could not extend to primary schools as The Road Traffic Safety Law in China stipulates the interdiction for children under 12 years old to cycle on their own (People’s Republic of China, 2003). This would have induced major difficulties in studying cycling to school behaviour as it produces a few years gap (above seven years old and under 12 years old) during which children are less likely to be transported on bicycle due to their size and yet not allowed to cycle themselves.

14.2.1 Survey and Questionnaire This study focuses on individual perceptions which has seldom been investigated in the context of children transportation and never in the specific case of cycling with a child. In order to provide meaningful directions, the investigation required a thorough exploration of both objective and subjective factors having a potential impact on children transportation. As such, detailed information was needed and could not have been provided by a conventional simple random sample (for example a sample obtained from arbitrary picks within parents lists provided by schools or questionnaires randomly distributed to parents). In fact, only semi-structured interviews could provide the various reasons informing safety perception and the level of importance given to each element. Therefore we opted for the intercept interview method. As kindergarten enrolments and the number of kindergartens themselves have steadily increased in Shanghai these past few years and since it is expected to continue

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growing due to the official measures undertaken since 2010,2 the kindergartens were selected within central areas provided with the greatest amount of preschool educational institutions per inhabitants. This measure insures that our results could be useful in the long-term. In fact, Xuhui district, where four of the seven schools we investigated are located, is the district in Shanghai with the highest number of kindergartens relatively to the population, providing a kindergarten for every 11,000 people (Yutouhui.cn 育投汇., 2017). In our endeavour to fully grasp people’s perception of their cycling environment, we carefully designed a questionnaire and surveyed more than 400 respondents spread over seven kindergartens located in three adjacent districts of Shanghai citycentre: Xuhui, Changning, and Minhang. Data collection took place at drop-off and pick-up times in front of the kindergartens. Since our study focuses on personal perceptions and in order to insure the pertinence of our results, respondents were approached on different days, at different times, and under various meteorological conditions, including heavy rain and high pollution levels. They were randomly interviewed, regardless of their actual means of transportation to and from the kindergarten. We must note that for each kindergarten, the survey covers at least a third of the students population. The survey was divided into two parts: (i) a questionnaire defining the personal profile and preferences in terms of children transportation and cycling environment; (ii) a map onto which each respondent was asked to draw their usual route to and from the kindergarten and pinpoint the Major safety issue encountered along the way. It was explained that the Major safety issue referred to the exact spot where people felt the most at risk. As they were familiar with their itinerary, it was fairly easy to specify the precise locations of the problems commonly encountered on their way to school and to isolate the greatest among them. However, explaining why some locations were spotted as “points of danger” in most cases required more information from the respondents. Therefore both cyclists and non-cyclists had to describe this Major safety issue within a few sentences, and precisely locate it on the provided map. This allowed us to more accurately understand the problem and later proceed with an objective on-site evaluation. In particular, cyclists were asked to spot the existing issues faced on their way to school, while others had to express any major hindrances preventing them from transporting their child on bicycle. Non-cyclists were also asked where they would consider to be a Major safety issue if they were cycling along their usual route to school. People were also asked to rank ten factors (Less traffic, Better bicycle lanes, More green, No cars parked on the circulation lanes, More streets open to bikes, Less traffic lights, Safer bike parking, Better air quality, More bike facilities at school, More bike 2

The Chinese government has introduced a number of policies such as the Outline of Medium and Long-term Programs for National Education Reform and Development (2010–2020), Preschool Education Three-Year Action Plan, to support the development of preschool education. In 2014, public investment in this area reached 204.876 billion RMB, 8.37 times that in 2009, which lead to a substantial increase in the number of kindergartens, growing from 1,16,000 in 2003 to approximately 2,19,000 in 2015 (Industry report, 2016).

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facilities at home or/and work) that would render their cycling to school safer, or if not cycling, would encourage them to do so. Finally they were asked to rate their perceived danger on their route to school with respect to a three-level scale: ‘Possibly dangerous’, ‘Dangerous’ or ‘Extremely dangerous’. Furthermore, notes relative to their choices and justifications were recorded as semi-structured interviews. The personal profile gathered some basic socio-demographic information given by respondents such as their age, gender, level of education, occupation (and if working, their job), car and bike-ownership, their relationship with the child transported. Regarding the child, people were asked to give their age, gender, which year of preschool education they were attending, whether or not they have a “Shanghai Hukou” (上海户口),3 and specify who was the most often in charge of their transportation. Several questions also allowed us to evaluate the accuracy of the answers. In the event of contradictory information, the respondent was systematically removed from the data.

14.2.2 Data Presentation and Sample Validity Attached to each questionnaire a school-specific detailed map (scale 1:15,000) was printed on an A3-paper sheet. Each respondent had then to draw his personal route on it and specify what major issues were or would be faced when following this itinerary. Using this information we were able to precisely measure the distance between any reported major issue and the kindergartens, as well as finding patterns relating the safety perception to features of the physical environment. As for the evaluation of the built environment, the seven kindergartens can be classified into four main typologies exposed in Table 14.1. Based on objective data, the surrounding environment is evaluated with respect to (i) its distance to major environmental features such as public transport, parks, schools, and commercial areas measured on maps provided by Internet map applications (Baidu map, 2018); (ii) the average distance separating home from school (determined from the route drawn by the parents); and (iii) the specifics of the built environment within a radius of 250 m from the kindergarten (on-site investigation). We evaluated the surrounding environment of each school based on an on-site visit during which we counted or measured the following parameters: level of greenery, road width and road network configuration, proportion and characteristics of the bike-lanes, number of major roads or highway, number of traffic lights, and type of land-use. Similarly the surroundings of each Major safety issue identified on the route to school, was evaluated along the same criteria within a 250 m buffer around the given location. This range appears as suitable for a study on cycling based on aggregate data (Moudon et al., 2005). The seven kindergartens were selected in order 3

“Hukou” is a system of household registration implemented after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 providing social benefits to people attached to a certain area.

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Table 14.1 Kindergarten’s classification with respect to a 250 m buffer

to provide a wide range of spacial configurations. Two of them are located in narrow streets (less than 8 m wide), another two along major arteries, one in a dead-end and two inside a residential area (小区). The specific set-up of the kindergartens also varies within this general classification, some being along the street, others on intersections or inside private lanes. These variations lead to the definition of four typologies reflecting the built environment attributes while also taking into account both the morphology and the cycling environment of the studied areas. After data collection a basic analysis was performed in order to evaluate the quality of the sample. In particular we extracted some key aspects and compared them to well established facts on the investigated population. A first indicator is provided by the two-wheeler ownership, 77% in the sample, which is consistent with the estimation of 76.5% for Shanghai population (Li et al., 2016). Although the car ownership, 61% in the sample, does not match the 32.5% announced by the Shanghai Bureau of Statistics (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2015), it becomes consistent once we acknowledge the fact that car-ownership for a household is greatly motivated by having a child. Indeed, all households investigated in this study have at least one child and thus are more likely to be car-owners. This observation is consistent with the results displayed in a recent study of the Shanghai population where more than half of the car-owners use it to transport their children and a quarter of them only for that purpose (Chevalier et al., 2017). Grand-parents represent 44% of the respondents in our sample. These results corroborate an investigation on children transportation to primary school in Shanghai finding that 46% of the children are transported by grand-parents. The slight variation maybe due to the fact that we excluded respondents when they were not the person mostly in charge of the child transportation, thus erasing grand-parents acting as a

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supplement to parents, while this survey was not addressing that information (Liang et al., 2018). The proportion of students enrolled in each year also reflects the official numbers. Our sample is composed of 123 children in the third year, 144 in the in the second year and 134 in the first year (respectively 31%, 36% and 33% of the total number of students in our sample). In fact, this distribution matches the figures displayed for Shanghai in the China Statistical Yearbook as it records a slight increase of the birth rate every year from 2011–2014 (growing from 6.97–8.35‰) except a spike in the year 2012 with 9.56‰ which corresponds to the children enrolled in the second year at the time of our investigation (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2018). This repartition of the students also corroborates with the statistics on Shanghai’s kindergartens annual growth enrolment as it displays an increase of only 0.38% in the year 2014 (starting year for children enrolled in the third year during the survey) which is the lowest from 2012–2016. Moreover, our ratio of students in second year at the time of our survey also matches the pick of registrations recorded in 2015 with an increase of 6.56% (Yutouhui.cn 育投汇., 2017). In China child transportation on two-wheelers remains fairly common. This is reflected in our sample where more than 45% of the respondents ride a bicycle or an e-bike to school with their child. However, this rate fluctuates over schools, ranging from 6–32% for the conventional bicycle and 11–36% for e-bikes (Fig. 14.1). These variations allow us to accurately evaluate the effect of the physical environment, while providing a clear picture of the perceptions in road safety.

Fig. 14.1 Proportion of children usually going to school on two-wheeler

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14.2.3 Two-Wheeler Types Usually in a western context, studies of the cycling environment focus on conventional bicycles or e-bikes complying with the following definition from Weinert et al. “a type of two-wheeled bike that is propelled by human pedalling, supplemented by electrical power from a storage battery” (Weinert et al., 2006). The dramatic surge of e-bikes in Chinese cities—especially in Shanghai where they represent about 70% of the traffic on bike lanes (Pan, 2013)—forbids the exclusion of this transport tool from our investigation. We however need to consider whether or not to include them with bicycles and expand our study to all kinds of eco-friendly two-wheeled transportation. This is especially pertinent as China holds the greatest share in the global e-bike market (Campbell et al., 2016; Dill & Rose, 2012; Pucher et al., 2010; Rose, 2011). When referring to The Road Traffic Safety Law of People’s Republic of China it appears that e-bikes are expected to be light vehicles with a low speed limitation. In particular Shanghai’s regulations on e-bikes requires them to weigh less than 40 kg, to feature pedals, and not to exceed 20 km/h (新增电动自行车上牌点! (new regulations on e-bikes!), 2017). To enforce these rules all e-bikes must be approved by the authorities in order to obtain a registration plate and be allowed on the road. Hence, in Shanghai e-bikes satisfy Weinert et al.’s definition. However before combining them we must ensure their similar behaviour. Whereas in the general case e-bikers are traveling longer distances, feel safer, and generally have a higher education level (Weinert et al., 2006; Xue et al., 2006), our sample differs from this typical profile. This discrepancy results from our specific setup where all respondents ride short distances, and grand-parents constitute over 43% of the people taking the children to school. In fact the average distance travelled on ordinary bicycles is actually slightly greater than for e-bikes (Fig. 14.4) and is correlated with the age and gender of the rider. Parents on two-wheeler tend to use more conventional bicycles than e-bikes, especially when less than 25 years old. This tendency is inverted for grand-parents (above 46 years old) where e-bikes prevail over bicycles, even in the case of shorter traveling distances. This may be due to the decline in physical strength among elderly people who may not be in condition to travel with a passenger. Similarly for the eduction level the e-bike usage follows a “U-shaped” curve which culminates with the less educated respondents and the most highly educated ones, while bicycle usage progressively increases with the level of education (Fig. 14.2). It is worth noting that in China elderly are usually less educated. Therefore, in a study focusing on the identification of factors playing a role in the danger perceived whilst riding with a child, combining bicycles and e-bikes is fully relevant from the viewpoint of both the legal definition and specifics of the respondents. Moreover as our aim is to provide hints on how to improve the cycling environment and encourage people to ride to school it is worth noting that e-bikes are recognized as a stimulator for bicycle use and mode share (Fyhri & Fearnley, 2015). More specifically, e-bikers in general would not shift to conventional bicycles

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Fig. 14.2 Education level and means of transport

if e-bikes are restricted (Cherry & Cervero, 2007; Simha, 2016; Weinert et al., 2006). Hence this induces a loss in the two-wheeler’s mode-share and a potential gain in the car mode-share, which in the end could hinder the advancement of a sustainable and active transportation to school.

14.3 Modeling the Perceived Danger When Riding with a Child In our endeavour to determine the roots of the danger perceived by parents when taking their children to school we strived to determin the strongest factors contributing to this feeling.

14.3.1 Preprocessing of the Data Since our questionnaire featured parts composed of drawing, for the route, or of semi-structured interviews we started with the interpretation of this data. When answering the survey, respondents were asked to describe in a few sentences the reasons why they were feeling at risk in the specific locations they spotted. During the preliminary data analysis phase, we manually processed their text and classified the reasons into eight main categories: no issue, cycling infrastructures, traffic speed, traffic density, cross-road, presence of a commercial area, neighbouring schools, proximity of transportation hubs. Note that the existence of these categories does

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not mean that they will all appear in our model; They only described the source of the feeling of danger as perceived by the respondent. Furthermore, based on the drawing of the respondent’s itinerary we extracted the precise location of the major issue encountered as well as the exact distance separating the home from the school. Besides useful information could also be extracted and cross-referenced with the semi-structured interview when the respondent was for instance using a detour to avoid a greater issue. Following the preprocessing of the data we proceeded with the elaboration of the model.

14.3.2 Elaboration of the Model To derive our model we ran the R environment for statistical computing (The R Project statistical computing, 2017) with the packages the MASS, cnnet, and pscl loaded. Since the respondents had to express their perception of the danger on a three-level Likert’s scale (Likert, 1932), we applied an ordinal regression and fitted an ordered logit model. After formulating several hypotheses the independent variables were tested and selected with respect to their p-value, i.e. small enough not to fall under the null hypothesis. In order to assess the quality of our models we applied several strategies. Some information was collected from the variance, but the accuracy being better on large samples we also referred to Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) in order to distinguish two promising models. When dealing with nested models we kept the most meaningful one with respect to the difference between their deviances. This is appropriate according to standard likelihood theory which states that the difference of deviance for two nested models is approximately χ-square distributed. Once our model had passed the previous tests we checked its McFadden’s, a pseudo 000metrics taking values in the range [0, 1), 0 meaning no predictive value. Although value close to 1 implies a very good prediction level, lower values in the range [0.2, 0.4] are considered to measure a very good fit (Louviere et al., 2000). After performing all the previous steps we studied the model in more detail. A first approach consisted in rotating the levels of the independent factors, i.e. we use different categories as baselines. This had the advantage of not impacting the model itself, while providing an insightful pairwise comparison of the various levels within a factor. The second strategy we employed was the direct study of the raw data that was interpreted in light of our model. Finally we split our sample into two subsets, training and testing, and applyed a bootstrapping method in order to evaluate its prediction level.

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14.3.3 Variables and Model’s Quality To render the “perceived level of danger on the road to school”, we applied an ordinal regression and generated a model featuring ten variables that can be split into four main categories: (i) built environment, (ii) physical environment, (iii) environmental hostilities, and (iv) personal profile. The exact variables composing those four categories are detailed in Table 14.2 and will be further investigated in the remaining of this article. In turn if we call X the event “perceived level of danger”, the general equation governing our model is given by   n E Vi σ (Vi ) exp Ik + i=1  , Pr(X ≤ k) = n 1 + exp Ik + i=1 E Vi σ (Vi ) where I k is the intercept for level k on our three-level Likert’s scale, n is the number of variables V i , E Vi is the estimate of V i , and σ ∈ {id, log}. The quality of the fit is confirmed by the McFadden’s metric, which reaches 0.243, and by the 60% accurate prediction level of our model. We can now turn our attention to the interpretation of our model and discuss the various factors involved in the perception of danger when cycling to school with a child. Then we will proceed to an in-depth analysis of the results following a multidisciplinary approach. In this context our final aim is to gain a global comprehension of each variable and to fully grasp how they relate to each others.

14.4 Results We now present the results of our model and expose in more detail the factors explored in this study, either based on objective measurements or on the respondents’ perception. As explained in Sect. 14.2, the environmental attributes of both the kindergartens and Major safety issue locations were thoroughly and objectively evaluated in order to be added to the initial database composed of the responses to the questionnaire. In our model, the variables related to the built environment only refer to attributes of the major issue’s locations, regardless of the kindergartens and home locations. In this context the width of the road appears as a determinant factor inducing the feeling of danger. Similarly the “Level of greenery” impacts the safety perception while riding with a child. The effect of the urban forms on the level of perceived danger is also highlighted by the presence of the “Cross-road issue” in our model. While this is consistent with previous studies on the relation between cycling and the built environment (Wang et al., 2016; Moudon et al., 2005; Winters et al., 2010), this fact also emphasizes the role of the surroundings’ appraisal when deciding whether or not to cycle with a child.

1.69229235 1.56280859 −0.13461887

GreenLevel4

GreenLevel5

Intercepts

Personal profile

Environmental hostilities

7.65007794

2—3

1.23889525

FavoriteTransportWalk 5.80426226

0.27854215

FavoriteTransportPublic

1—2

1.23463333

FavoriteTransportCar

1.71958971

TrafficSpeed 0.45483529

1.29773963

SchoolIssue

log(Distance)

0.21749696

WeatherIssue

CarParkedOnLanesIssue

0.77652695

0.05264806

1.53843344

GreenLevel3

BetterAQ

1.81806266

GreenLevel2

Physicalenvironment

0.59851868

0.96254897

CrossroadIssue

Std. error

1.22454352

1.18969971

0.61303477

0.33642257

0.39517766

0.12708912

0.26585755

0.40403693

0.05952038

0.27272166

0.55710619

0.65818992

0.57252500

0.34494867

0.01562447

0.07513678

Builtenvironment

Value

Variables

RoadWidth

Categories

Table 14.2 Summary of the model “perception of danger on the road to school” p-value

4.408846e-03

6.2472896

4.8787625

2.0209217

0.8279532

3.1242488

3.5788689

6.4680869

3.2119332

4.176364e-10

1.067535e-06

4.328787e-02

4.076970e-01

1.782596e-03

3.450845e-04

9.925144e-11

1.318450e-03

2.580256e-04

−2.8473241 3.6541597

1.055920e-02

9.024424e-03

2.384325e-03

1.941995e-02

1.495700e-03

5.264098e-03

1.517514e-06

−2.5569579

2.6111275

3.0376477

2.3373701

3.1755166

2.7904122

4.8089154

t-value

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When considering elements perceived as major hostilities in cycling, our model identifies only two specific issues derived from the semi-structured interviews: the speed of the traffic and the presence of neighbouring schools. In other words the remaining six categories have either no or little impact on the perceived danger. Similarly the question asking to rank what would render cycling to school safer yields the factor “No car encroachment on bicycle-lanes”, leaving aside the expected parameter “Less traffic”. In the same way, our model takes in account the wish for better Air Quality (AQ) highlighting the importance of this factor in the safety perception while riding with a child. Respondents were also asked to point out the major safety reason preventing them to take their children to school on a bicycle. Due to the large amount of people mentioning it, “Bad weather” was isolated as an independent factor in the data analysis. Therefore, our model defines that whether people have a “Weather issue” or not plays a role in the overall safety perception when riding to school. Regarding the factors derived from the respondent’s personal profile, our model includes two elements relating to distance and personal preferences. For consistency, although respondents provided their detailed route to school and the exact location of their major issue, we chose to measure distances relative to kindergartens as the crow flies. Since our attempt is to define general and clear directions to improve safety on the way to school, the prime information appears to be the radial distance between kindergartens and home or points of danger. The exact length of the respondents routes, although not used in this study, is also recorded and does not vary significantly from the radial distance applied in this analysis. In our model, the distance from home to school is attached by the log. Moreover, when asked what was their favourite way to transport children in general, respondents had to pick between all modes of transportation. As ‘safety’ was often mentioned as the reason for this choice, it is not surprising to find it included as a factor in our model of safety perception. We are now going to discuss these results and provide insightful information derived from our exploration of the factors related to road safety perception when riding with a child.

14.5 Discussion To fully grasp the perceived danger on the road to school we organise our investigation of the various factors with respect to their categories. Therefore we start with a discussion on the built environment characteristics, first referring to the distances, then to its attributes, in the hope of finding directions on how to render it suitable for a Safe Route To School. Then we describe potential ways to limit the negative impact of the atmospheric environment on safety perception. Finally we identify the main features that render the environment hostile to cycling and expose the limitations of this study.

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14.5.1 Distances 14.5.1.1

Distance from Kindergarten to Major Safety Issue

While travelling in the city, begin and end trip locations are fixed, thus the impact of distances on the perceived danger seems hard to mitigate. However we suggest several simple strategies that could contribute to improving safety on the way to school. As a first observation we notice that the average distance between the location of the Major safety issue and the related kindergarten is only equal to 267 m, with the median being only 200 m. In fact even when considering each kindergarten individually, the mean distance of the issue does not follow the mean distance travelled by respondents. Even though the ones travelling longer distances to reach school are more likely to encounter problems in a wider perimeter, the vast majority of the respondents locate their major issue within a relatively small distance from the kindergarten. Indeed, about 87% of respondents travel more than 250 m to go to school while more than 53% of the major issues are located within a distance of 250 m from the kindergarten (see Fig. 14.3). This result is even more striking when considering a 500 m range: while about 65% of respondents travel more than half a kilometre, over 85% of the major issues are within 500 m from the kindergarten. This becomes even clearer when we isolate kindergartens according to typologies: Yishu and Zhongxin kindergartens belonging to Typology 4, are both located in a

Fig. 14.3 Average distance from the kindergarten to the major safety issue

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relatively quiet surrounding, at the extremity of a dead-end and within an exclusively residential area respectively. They are however situated at a distance of about 300– 400 m from the closest major arterial road (see Table 14.1). This specific set-up results in increasing dramatically the distance of the identified issues as the quietness of the kindergarten’s neighbourhood greatly contrasts with the business of the major roads in the vicinity. The five other kindergartens are either relatively close (100–200 m) or quite far (500–800 m) from major arteries. Therefore, the contrast in the built environment and level of traffic is not as strong as in the fourth typology. When excluding Yishu and Zhongxin kindergartens which display a singular setup, close to 75% of the major issues are located within a radius of 250 m from the kindergarten. This means that in the vast majority of the cases, the enhancement of road safety perception lies in the treatment of only a small area in the kindergarten’s vicinity. In other words, the improvement of cycling conditions within a distance of 250 m would dramatically reduce the level of perceived danger. It also demonstrates the feasibility of Safe Routes To School (SRTS) programs in inner Shanghai.

14.5.1.2

Distance from Home to Kindergarten

At first glance, we could assume that the longer people travel, the more they are likely to encounter issues and feel unsafe. However, as discussed in the previous subsection, this is not systematically the case as most of the major issues are located in the kindergarten’s vicinity (Sect. 14.5.1.1). In fact, looking at the mean distance travelled according to the various means of transportation establishes that a greater distance is not necessarily an obstacle to cycling to school. It is rather the opposite: In our sample, among the 107 children never transported on bikes (either to school or elsewhere), while close to 62% of this subset find it too dangerous, none of them link the perceived danger to the remoteness of the destinations. In contrast, nearly 10% of respondents explain that their child do not need to be transported on a bike since common destinations are all within walking distance. Therefore, it is in fact shorter distances which have a negative impact on riding a bike to school. The perceived danger itself is thus not correlated to long distances, but rather to short ones, specially when considering that those travelling longer tend to use public transport, while cyclists cover roughly the same distance as car drivers (Fig. 14.4). This observation also clarifies the role of theFavourite Transportation as a factor in the safety perception. Indeed, as people live close by, they are more likely to consider cycling as taking an unnecessary risk. Similarly, people favouring car as a means of transport for their children would obviously be more demanding towards the cycling environment’s quality, as it would have to represent in their mind a transportation as safe as the sheltering enclosure of the car. It should also be pointed out that on average, people travel less than one and a half kilometres to reach the kindergarten. Therefore, most of the respondents live within a cycling distance from school. This situation is quite common in Chinese

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Fig. 14.4 Average distance covered by various means of transport

cities, due to the “Hukou” system (户口) generally allowing people to register only in the public establishments close to their dwelling place.

14.5.2 Features of the Built Environment Beyond the travelled distance, attributes of the kindergarten’s surroundings and its relative position to them play an important role in the perceived danger.

14.5.2.1

Kindergarten’s Location Relative to Major Arterial Roads

As a primary observation we noticed that people without any major issue when cycling to school mostly belong to three kindergartens (Huijia, Yishu and Zhongxin), all within 300–500 m from major arteries and highways.As discussed earlier in Sect. 14.5.1.1, the relative quietness of the school’s neighbourhood appears as a plausible explanation for this circumstance. However, two of these kindergartens are also the ones displaying greater travel distances from home to school, which implies that respondents are very likely to run into primary arterial roads. This means that cycling along major roads does not necessarily appear as a highly dangerous situation. In fact, in Shanghai, all main arteries open to bikes are equipped with bicycle-lanes. Therefore, this result highlights the fact that respondents feel safer when cycling on infrastructure specifically designed to this effect. Although this statement should be tempered by the influence of the actual quality of the infrastructure that we will

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discuss later in Sect. 14.5.4.1 (which were also found to have a great impact on the safety perception). Regarding the school’s location, Hongqiao kindergarten (cf. Table 14.1, Typology 2) displays interesting results: Like Yishu and Zhongxin (Typology 4), it is located in a residential area. However, it is one of the kindergarten with the greatest number of people having a major issue on the way to school. This kindergarten is in the direct vicinity of a major arterial road (less than 100 m from Hongqiao road) and only 200 m away from an elevated highway. It also exhibits a relatively short distance from home to school. Indeed, as people live closer, the presence of major roads in their neighbourhood inevitably leads respondents to come across specific issues related to these roads. The shortness of the trip and the closeness of the major arteries also surely plays a role in the safety perception as the conjunction of these factors prevent the relieving effect of a direct comparison (calm neighbourhood against busy roads) in the ways it operates in kindergartens such as Yishu or Zhongxin. The conclusion drawn from this analysis is that despite a relatively positive evaluation of riding along major arterial roads, and a beneficial effect when these roads are established in a reasonable distance from the kindergarten (so as to ease the access to school but not endangering the students by being too close from it), danger perception greatly increases if they are located in the immediate neighbourhood of the school.

14.5.2.2

Road Width

To ensure the accuracy of the streetscape evaluation the built environment was precisely measured within the 250 m buffers, with a special attention given to the cycling amenities. On top of the total width of the circulation lanes, these measurements also include the width of pavements and bike-lanes, the proportion of roads equipped with bicycle-lanes and the proportion of protected bike-lanes reported to the total length of the bicycle-lanes, being either equipped with protection barriers or medians to isolate them from motorised traffic. The road width, that is the total width of the circulation lanes including any median strip but excluding the pavements, is identified as an important factor in our model of the safety perception. Indeed in our sample, close to 22% of the major issues encountered by our respondents relate to the narrowness of the road even though the formulated problem has often more to do with the actual usage of the road rather than the distance between the two frontages of the built environment. In fact, among those perceiving the road as “too narrow”, 11% are in fact incriminating the encroachment of the circulation lanes by car parking and bus stops. Along with that six more percent complain about the speed of the motorised traffic not being adjusted to the narrowness of the street, while close to 50% of the respondents feel

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that the high level of activity and traffic is not well accommodated in the restricted space available on a narrow road.4 In the end, close to 25% of the identified major safety issues are related to the street being perceived as too narrow, when only 12% are the consequence of riding along a road exceeding 20 m in width.This discrepancy can be explained by the systematic provision of relatively wide and uninterrupted bike-lanes on all major arteries when allowed to bikes, while narrower roads seldom benefit from such kind of infrastructure. As a result most respondents feel safer riding on wider roads even with a higher traffic density, as long as they feature suitable cycling amenities. This is however to be contrasted with the feeling riders display when crossing such kind of wide roads. In practice their perceived danger dramatically increases. In fact, the most common issue among the respondents is caused by intersections wider than 25 m, reaching a level as high as 27% of them feeling at risk. Hence large crossroads are an important source of perceived danger as they induce numerous side-effects amplifying other identified issues related to the level of greenery and the atmospheric conditions. These notions will be further discussed in the following subsections (Sects. 14.5.2.3–14.5.3.2). Understanding that the perceived danger greatly increases when cycling along relatively narrow and busy streets or while crossing very wide roads is of a major importance for the implementation of an efficient SRTS program in the Chinese context. In general, planners should pay special attention to en-route cycling facilities on narrow roads while ensuring their safety, both objective and subjective, on major crossroads.

14.5.2.3

Level of Greenery

As general features of the built environment such as the width of the road or the location of major arterial roads clearly impact the safety perception, smaller attributes also affect this perception. In fact, our model finds a relation between the ‘Level of greenery’ and the level of perceived danger. Among the various criteria according which we evaluated the surrounding environment of the major issue’s locations, the level of greenery was characterised by a ranking from 1–5, 1 defined as “isolated trees” and 5 as “abundant vegetation”. It should be noted that in the Shanghai city centre, trees are planted at regular intervals in most streets, inducing the feeling of a relatively green city. There is however a great difference in perception due to the essence and the level of maturity of the trees. It also varies according to the presence of ground level vegetation such as flowers or bushes. The average objective score for the locations of the respondents’ Major safety issue is as low as 1.5. Even for kindergartens such as Xinhua located in Fahuazhen road, where trees are mature, thick and densely planted, often associated with ground 4

Though a few of these complaints apply to a 4 to 5 m width road, the vast majority of them refers to a road of 8 to 9 m width.

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Fig. 14.5 Built environment attributes related to the perceived danger on Major safety issues

level vegetation, the score hardly exceeds 2 out of 5. This observation displayed on Fig. 14.5 reinforces the idea that vegetation plays a key role in the road safety perception. As it becomes sparse, riders feel a greater discomfort. Especially in the event of intense sunshine or light rain, trees can provide a protection allowing a substantial raise in the riding conditions. In turn this improves the awareness, visibility, and ability to concentrate on the traffic. Therefore, in the particular case of major crossroads, the lack of greenery induced by the complexity of the intersection’s geometry partly explains the increased level of danger perceived by riders. This is especially true for non-riders. In their ranking of the various elements that would decrease the perceived danger, greenery is classified among the three most important ones. This subjective appreciation greatly differs from the riders’ viewpoint. Consequently, increasing the level of greenery in the city would render the environment more appealing to those inexperienced in cycling.

14.5.3 Atmospheric Environment As vulnerable road users, cyclists are not only confronted to barriers raised by the built environment, but also those relating to the atmospheric environment in general such as weather or atmospheric pollution. Our analysis demonstrates the impact of these circumstances and how the improvement of the built environment could minimize their effect on safety perception.

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Air Quality

In addition to the level of greenery, our model also includes the Air Quality (AQ) as a factor in the road safety perception. Shanghai, in the same way as other big cities in China, suffers from a high level of atmospheric pollution. Most of our respondents were perfectly aware that while riding, they were not only exposing themselves to pollution, but also and maybe more importantly the child they carry. While crossing the information collected in a semi-structured interview form with our data, AQ appears as a real concern increasing the level of perceived danger on the road. In fact, many respondents complained about the waiting time at traffic lights on busy roads. Indeed this time is wasted in term of displacement, but it also increases their exposure to atmospheric pollution. While evaluating the built environment, we calculated the number of traffic lights found within the 250 m buffers. Although according to our model this count does not have a direct impact on the level of perceived danger, personal comments given by the respondents allowed us to clearly establish the importance of the traffic lights. In fact it is not their number, but their location, especially for those with a long waiting time, that impacts the safety perception. More precisely close to 40% of the major safety issues are located on traffic lights or major intersections, most being related to a long waiting time in the middle of the motorised traffic. As a matter of fact, perceived danger is not impacted directly by the amount of traffic lights passed by, but their influence is transposed into the factor “Cross-Road Issue” included in our model as it refers also to the waiting time on busy intersections. A simple solution to this problem consists in protecting vulnerable road users from the rest of the traffic. This can be achieved through the addition of corner refuge islands, setbacks crossing for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as forward stop bars. These simple adjustments would allow bikers to avoid waiting behind a polluting vehicle and therefore not feel they are putting the health of heir child at risk. For instance in the Netherlands cross-roads usually feature either separate staging signals or an early green light for cyclists. Cross-roads in Dutch cities are also generally designed to permit right turn for cyclists on red lights as well as left turn depending on the geometry of the intersection (Pucher & Buehler, 2007). This not only prevents conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists but also allows them an early start over the motorised traffic, as such decreasing both the objective and perceived dangers. Furthermore, it often saves cyclists the massive energetic expense of restarting, especially when carrying the extra-load of a child.5 Following the renewed interest for cycling in western countries, and its recognition as an effective means to improve transport sustainability and public health, these measures have been widely adopted.6 As a result, cross-road designs focus more and more on the 5

The important expense of energy and time spent in restarting at green lights has been long recognized as one of the difficulties in urban cycling (Tucker, 1975). From a physical viewpoint this is translated into the inhalation of more oxygen but also more gas and micro-particles in polluted environments. 6 In North America for instance NACTO, an association composed of 62 major cities and 10 transit agencies, promotes “safe, sustainable, accessible, and equitable transportation choices that support

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ability of cyclists to go through an intersection without stopping. The green waves system, timing the phasing of traffic signals to match the speed of cyclists instead of cars, first implemented in Copenhagen in 2004 is now spread to other cities. New technologies are implemented to give precedence to cyclists such as the smart traffic lights which can sense the amount of cyclists, staying on green for a longer time thus allowing a greater number of them to go through if necessary. Others are equipped with rain detectors, shortening the waiting time for cyclists in the event of bad weather. Some North-European cities even equipped themselves with traffic lights that can measure the congestion on bicycle-lanes and redirect cyclists on faster alternate routes (Evans, 2018). In Shanghai however, the combination of such installations (even the most simple ones) minimising the restarts for cyclists has seldomly been implemented. A route to school that would highly benefit from such an improvement is from Panyu road to Yishu kindergarten. On this 1.4 km long section, the average distance covered by Yishu kindergarten respondents, features seven traffic lights, one every 200 m on average. As a result a trip that should last no more than 5 min at a steady speed of 15 km/h takes over 8 min 30 s in average, i.e. 1.7 times longer. The picture becomes even more vivid when considering that over 1 min 30 s is spent in average solely waiting along Hongqiao and Zhongshan roads, a major artery and an elevated highway, thus breathing-in a muchlarger amount of micro-particles and gas. In this context, it is evident that waiting time at traffic lights increases people’s concern for their own health and above all for that of their child, thus amplifying the perceived danger. The connection of traffic signals to pollution sensors on major cross-roads could be a satisfying solution for this issue.

14.5.3.2

Weather

Weather is another factor highlighted by our model. Indeed it is clear that heavy rain and wind greatly impacts the bikers’ ability to focus on traffic and control their vehicles, therefore increasing the perceived danger. By extension even minor inconveniences such as cold or high temperatures and sharp sunlight can induce a discomfort and have an impact on safety perception. In Shanghai the climate is rather harsh on cyclists. Extreme temperatures, wind and heavy rains are very common, even typhoons occur occasionally. In that regard regularly planted trees are much appreciated by bikers who often stop in under them to benefit from their protection. However when the road widens the protective effect loses its efficiency, especially when trees are planted with a set-back on the pavement. A potential solution to better benefit from the shading, thermic regulation, and partial rain protection would be to not only plant trees at short intervals on both sides of the road, but also on the median divider island in the case of wider roads. This simple solution would preserve and expand the roofing effect to more a strong economy and vibrant quality of life”. Their “Urban Bikeway Design Guide” is based on the Dutch design standards (National Association of City Transportation Officials, 2018).

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types of streets, hence increasing the cyclists’ comfort. In some Chinese cities such as Kashgar, bikers can enjoy covered waiting boxes at major cross-roads in order to lessen the negative impact of weather. Such apparatuses coupled with a shorter waiting time at intersections would greatly contribute to an improved comfort and a decrease in the level of perceived danger.

14.5.4 Hostilities in the Cycling Environment 14.5.4.1

Quality of the Cycling Amenities

Although according to our model the quality of the cycling infrastructure has no direct statistical impact on the safety perception, the raw data points to the quality of bicycle-lanes as the primary way to increase the respondents’ level of perceived safety. For all kindergartens, “better bicycle-lanes” was ranked as the first condition to render cycling to school more attractive in terms of safety and comfort.7 From the respondents’ perspective improved bicycle lanes, in terms of both quality and quantity appears as a prime solution to safety issues. Thus it also implies the opening of roads where cycling is banned. From our results, the provision of measures in favour of cyclists such as protected traffic lights and the enforcement of existing regulations such as the interdiction for cars to park on the bicycle-lanes, is also considered as an effective way to improve the safety and comfort for riders. Interestingly, the respondents’ rating reveals that end of trip facilities (namely: “safer bike-parking”, “better bike parking at school”, and “better bike parking at home or work”) are considered as less important elements regarding safety and comfort when transporting a child on bike to school. The actual evaluation of the bicycle-lane’s quality is trickier to handle as the vision of riders and non-riders diverges. Indeed when many non-riders highlighted the lack of protection barriers along the cycling lanes as a source of perceived danger, most riders considered them as a factor increasing the danger as they feel the lane is narrower. Therefore, though protection barriers contribute to render bicycle-lanes more appealing to non-riders, they are in practice increasing the risk for some bikers who find it difficult to cope with other two-wheelers of different speeds. Another important fact highlighted by respondents is the conflicts with pedestrians resulting from the location of bus stops on the bicycle-lanes. Despite the configuration of these bus-stops, often providing a median to protect cyclists and isolate the people waiting for their buses, the level of traffic and rush situations induced by those hopping-on and off the buses discourage bikers to engage in these provided areas and force them to ride into traffic. This known issue remains an open problem that

7

This evaluation consisted in ranking ten elements according to their relative importance in providing a safe and pleasant way cycling to school.

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would require a full reassessment of the built environment and as such can not be easily mitigated.

14.5.4.2

Traffic

In our sample, close to 70% of the respondents consider motorized traffic as a source of annoyance while cycling. However, one of the major results in our study is the fact that the wish for “less traffic” is not included in our model of the safety perception when riding to school with a child. This singular fact becomes clearer when examining specific issues related to land-use such as the crowdedness of commercial areas and the vicinity of the schools. Three out of our seven kindergartens are located close to commercial areas: Xinhua kindergarten is situated along Fahuazhen road, a street with many small shops opening directly onto the street; Leshan kindergarten is at a distance of 140 m from a local vegetable and meat market; and Wuzhonglu kindergarten is 300 m away from a market place. In the case of Fahuazhen road, the perceived danger induced by commercial activities is transposed into “RoadWidth”. In this nine meter wide street, complains about narrowness often refer to the built environment not accommodating properly the current level of activity. However the simple solution consisting in shutting down the small stores would not be fully satisfying. While this would decrease the traffic density this would also allow motorised vehicles such as cars to drive faster, hence increasing the danger for the vulnerable road users. From our model what contributes most to the perceived danger is not the density of the traffic but rather the cars parked on the bicycle lanes and the inappropriate speed of cars as perceived by cyclists. The case of Leshan kindergarten confirms this idea as the crowded environment in front of the market is commonly described as a disturbance more than as a source of danger. In fact, the large fleet of bikes and the various delivery trucks parked in front of the market, as well as the mass of pedestrians going in and out, force motorized traffic to slow down in the school’s vicinity. In the end this phenomenon prevents commercial activity spots from being included in our model of safety perception although many respondents detour through a longer road to avoid the annoyance induced by the crowdedness of the market place. Another issue noted by respondents and appearing in our model is the “School Issue”, that is problems occurring when other schools are located on the way to the kindergarten. In fact the semi-structured interview part of our questionnaire revealed that this source of danger is related to the amount of cars on the road. Unlike local market places where people come on foot or bike from the neighbourhood, parents transporting their child to school are more likely to drive a car. Since they need to stop and drop off their children, they are blocking the bicycle-lanes, forcing bikes to ride into the traffic and thus increasing the perceived and effective danger. The conflicts induced by neighbouring schools clearly reveals the necessity of implementing SRTS programs that would be mutually beneficial among the various schools in the area. Therefore as the problem does not lie on the vehicle’s density

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but rather on their speed, solutions fostering traffic calming would be better suited for mitigating most traffic related issues.

14.5.5 Limitations Throughout this study we strived at clarifying the impact of the perceived danger on the transportation mode choice when taking a child to kindergarten. Although at this stage clear directions can be drawn a more refined approach would be required in order to define precise guidelines. As already highlighted in Sect. 14.2.1 our approach was dictated by the setup of the investigation, and a side effect was the impossibility of a simple random sample, hence preventing the inference conditions to be met. However we hope that this work can open the way to collaborations between researchers and schools or officials such that more data covering all inner Shanghai could be gathered. More precisely, a larger simple random sample should be generated over all, or most of the kindergartens in Shanghai city centre. Then a refined version of our questionnaire based on the patterns observed in this study should be presented to the respondents. Finally our “manual processing” of the answers to open questions should ideally be replaced by the use of natural language processing. The results from such a study would without any doubt help in the design of SRTS programs in China. Therefore, the emerging patterns revealed by our study as well as the simple proposed solutions appear as a necessary initial step in the improvement of safety perception when cycling to school with a young child.

14.6 Conclusion In China, cycling is being currently reinvigorated by the advent of shared bicyclesystems, therefore the definition of pro-cycling policies becomes more pressing. In this context we focused on the perceived danger on the route to school and developed a statistical model that highlights three main aspects impacting the respondents’ perception: the built and atmospheric environments and the hostilities in the surroundings. Our detailed analysis of the various factors showed that SRTS programs can be implemented at a minor cost since most issues arise within a small radius from the school. Then we realised that even though the atmospheric environment can not be easily improved on a local scale, it is still possible to mitigate its impact by applying simple adjustments to the built environment. Finally we highlighted that the traffic density had no impact on the perceived danger, while its speed and encroachment on the bicycle-lanes greatly increased the perceived danger. In this context minor changes on the existing built-environment or enforcement of the actual regulations could provide an incentive for cyclists to transport their children to school. This evaluation of the built environment coupled to a complementary study on the transport

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modal choice will allow not only to provide directions on the design of a safer routes to school, but also understanding and meeting the demands for such routes. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the sixteen Master’s students from Tongji University (CAUP) who kindly assisted us in the data collection. This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 51778422).

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Yu-Tzu W., Nash, P., Barnes, L. E., Minett, T., Fiona E. M., Jones, A., & Brayne, C. (2014). Assessing environmental features related to mental health: A reliability study of visual streetscape images. In Wu et al. (Ed.),BMC Public Health. Accessed 01 Nov 2016. Zhao, C. (2017) Understanding the preconditions for revitalizing bicycle transport in Beijing, with a reference study from Copenhagen. Ph.D thesis, University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science.

Chapter 15

Effects of the Built Environment on the Route-Choosing Behaviors of Recreational Cyclists in Shenzhen Ting Wen and Kun Liu

15.1 Introduction In recent years, with the increasing interest in green transportation, cycling activities like recreational cycling and greenway cycling have become more popular. Cycling is becoming one of the most common types of leisure and exercise activities for urban residents. The increasing number of bike clubs and social organizations organizing leisure cycling and physical mobility activities has also promoted the development of recreational cycling. Even the popularity of shared bicycles has been expanding. According to bike-sharing companies in Shenzhen, there are more than 3,20,000 bicycles on the market in Shenzhen, and an average of more than 2 million people ride bikes every day. Previous studies of bicycle route choice can be classified into two types based on trip purpose: studies of commuting cycling activities and studies of recreational cycling activities. Commuting and recreational cyclists both use a bicycle as a travel tool, but the purpose of the former is to travel to and from work, whereas the purpose of the latter is leisure and exercise. Unlike commuting cycling, recreational. cycling cannot be considered a purely traffic behavior. Therefore, it is influenced by not only the conditions of the road, but also the quality of the built environment. There are quite a few studies of bicycle route choice for all purposes (Axhausen & Smith, 1986; Davis, 1994; Hopkinson & Wardman, 1996; Ortúzar et al., 2000; Harris & Associates, 1991; Guttenplan & Patten, 1995; Lott et al., 1978; Sacks, 1994) and for commuting purposes (Bovy & Bradley, 1985; Aultman-Hall et al., 1997; Stinson & Bhat, 2003; Tilahun et al., 2007), but very few studies have focused on route choice in recreational cycling (Chang & Chang, 2009; Chen & Chen, 2013). This study focused on the route-choosing behavior of recreational cyclists.

T. Wen · K. Liu (B) School of Architecture and Planning, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, HIT Campus, University Town, Shenzhen, Xili, Shenzhen G1109, China e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Li et al. (eds.), Human-Centered Urban Planning and Design in China: Volume II, GeoJournal Library 130, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83860-7_15

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Although recreational cycling is becoming increasingly common, there are still many factors hindering recreational cycling activities. First, the current road system does supply sufficient bicycle facilities, and bike lanes on motorways are not common. Current bike lanes are narrow or discontinuous, and there is a lack of bicycle parking facilities, making cycling activities inconvenient. Although Shenzhen has recently built greenways for recreational physical activities, only 9.44% of the 2,600 km of greenways in Shenzhen are suitable for bicycle activities. Furthermore, some factors negatively influence cycling activities, such as the lack of a special bicycle management system and incomplete bicycle facilities. Moreover, the erosion of road space by motor vehicles exposes recreational cyclists to risk. In addition, the lack of shade trees and beautiful scenery along the routes has a negative effect on recreational cycling activities. As mentioned previously, the current built environment does not support recreational cycling. The increasing demand for recreational cycling requires us to understand how to design and build an environment that supports recreational cycling activities. To ensure a match between recreational cycling and the built environment, we need a better understanding of the characteristics of cyclists’ route-choosing behavior and environmental preferences. Studies of cycling behavior have mainly been conducted from a transportation perspective, focusing on topics such as bicycle route choice and characteristics (Bovy & Bradley, 1985; Axhausen & Smith, 1986; Aultman-Hall et al., 1997; Stinson & Bhat, 2003; Sener et al., 2009), the demands, characteristics, and preferences of bicycle facilities (Lott et al., 1978; Harris & Associates, 1991; Calgary, 1993; Sacks, 1994; Hopkinson & Wardman, 1996; Dill & Carr, 2003; Tilahun et al., 2007), the effect of roadway conditions on bicycling (Davis, 2014), the factors influencing bicycle trail use (Guttenplan & Patten, 1995), and the factors influencing bicycle use (Hunt & Abraham, 2007). Most of these studies have focused on commuting cycling behavior; only a few have examined recreational cycling behavior, particularly recreational cyclists’ route choices and preferences. In addition, the correlation between cycling route choices and the built environment has not been studied. Accordingly, this study examined the effect of the built environment on the route-choosing behavior of recreational cyclists. This study examined the effects of the built environment on recreational cyclists’ route-choosing preferences by comparing actual recreational cycling routes to the shortest possible routes. We attempted to develop effective planning and design recommendations for governments that would enhance the urban built environment for recreational cycling activities.

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15.2 Methods 15.2.1 Research Sample This study was conducted in the City of Shenzhen in China, which has a population of nearly 20 million and covers an area of approximately 1,996.85 km2 . The city contains 2,400 km of greenways, which run through the main part of the city. Greenways consist of car shops, rest stations, travel shops, specialty shops, other recreational facilities and a certain width of the green buffer. They were constructed to encourage various types of physical activities such as cycling. The climate of Shenzhen permits bicycling throughout most of the year.

15.2.2 Data Collection 15.2.2.1

Cycling Activity VGI

VGI is a kind of crowdsourced geographic information that can be collected on an open data platform. This study used VGI data of cyclists’ routes collected from Codoon, one of the most popular smartphone self-tracking applications in China. It records the data for each trip and submits the information to the Codoon server. The data include maps and simple statistics such as distance, time, and average speed. To understand activities in different seasons, we collected the VGI data for recreational cycling activities in Shenzhen for both weekdays and weekends in January, April, and July of both 2014 and 2015. Repeated records from the same cyclists, those without complete data, and those with activity times shorter than 5 min were excluded. Our final dataset consisted of 139 recreational cycling trips, distributed throughout most of Shenzhen. These routes and their attributes, including the ID, Web name, activity date, time, distance, speed, duration, point of origin, and destination, were geocoded into ArcGIS 10.2.

15.2.2.2

Traffic Data

Greenway data Greenway data were acquired from the Shenzhen City Management Bureau (2013). We used these data to measure the connectivity of the routes. Street network data In order to identify how long the cyclists had ridden on each type of road facility (motorway, primary, secondary, branch, and others), traffic data in Shenzhen from Open Street Map has been employed in this study.

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Environment Data

DEM data The elevation changes in the routes were calculated using a digital elevation model (DEM) of Shenzhen with a 30-m spatial resolution. The model was provided by the Geospatial Data Cloud site. NDVI data A normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) value, collected by the US Geological Survey’s Landsat-5 TM with a 30-m spatial resolution, indicates an area’s vegetation coverage. Land-use data The land-use data were derived from the Shenzhen Land Use Survey, in which land was classified into nine types (residential land, commercial land, government and institutional land, industrial land, warehouse land, street land, infrastructure land, parklands, and other lands). POI data We obtained information about tourist attractions using POI data from the Shenzhen greenway network special plan.

15.2.3 Measures 15.2.3.1

Measure of the Shortest Routes

We used the urban street network and the greenways in Shenzhen to calculate the shortest route between the start and end points of the actual trips. For this analysis, our calculations of the shortest possible routes did not consider any restrictions due to speed, topography, intersections, one-way streets, or turning restrictions. The shortest possible routes were generated on the network using the Network Analyst tool included in ArcGIS 10.2. After comparing the recreational cycling routes with the shortest distance between the origin and destination, detours were calculated to the closets meter and as percentages of the total route.

15.2.3.2

Measure of Attributes

A significant step in this study was to generate a list of the environmental components that could affect route choice. These were drawn from previous studies of cyclists’ bicycle route choices. In addition to basic bicycle facilities, studies have identified the level of cycling experience, topography, crossings, bicycle lane type, street types,

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and scenery (Antonakos, 1994; Sener et al., 2009) as important elements of route choice. Chang and Chang (2009) found that separation from the main road was the most favored attribute of bicycle paths for recreational cyclists in Taiwan. Downward and Lumsdon (2001) highlighted the importance of quiet roads and traffic-free routes in the choice of recreational cycling routes. Furthermore, intangible attributes, such as beautiful scenery, have been found to be very significant. The following list of important attributes was extracted from previous studies: trip length, trip speed, travel time, proportion of greenways, road types, number of turns, number of intersections, route slope, NDVI, green and aquatic density, residential density, commercial density, industrial density, land-use mix, and tourist attractions. We used these attributes in the GIS analysis of the routes in our dataset. For the traffic data, we accurately mapped all of the cyclists’ routes to the urban street network of Shenzhen, which had more than 15,451 undirected links and 28,644 nodes. The proportion of each cyclist route made up of each street type and greenway was calculated to the closest meter along the total route length. Intersections and turns were quantified and scaled as points per 1 km. An average NDVI was calculated for each route using a 25-m buffer along the path. The terrain along the route was assessed using the mean of the gradient class values. Each trip was separated into links based on the fishnet of the street network. The elevation changes for each link were calculated separately as the ratio of the height difference between the start and end points of each link using the DEM. The environment data were collected from a 1,000-m buffer zone along the routes. This expansion buffer of 1,000 m could be cycled in 5 min by recreational cyclists. The density of specific environments were measured as a percentage of the route buffer area. The land-use mix was calculated according to the definition proposed by Frank et al. (2005). The index ranged from 0–1, with 0 representing only one land-use type and 1 indicating an area with a variety of land uses. Tourist attractions were estimated as number of points per 1 km2 along the routes.

15.2.3.3

Statistical Analysis

The statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 18. The normal distribution of each variable was tested using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. To calculate the differences in the trip characteristics and built environment of the actual recreational cycling routes and the shortest possible routes, paired t-tests were used for the normally distributed variables and Wilcoxon tests for the skewed variables.

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15.3 Results 15.3.1 Trip Characteristics The 139 recreational cycling trips were not normally distributed. The trips had a mean length of 17.72 km, a mean speed of 9.90 km/h, and an average duration of 107 min. Table 15.1 provides a description of the recreational cycling activity VGI about trip characteristics. Comparing the actual recreational cycling trips to the shortest possible routes (Fig. 15.1 vs. Fig. 15.2), the difference in mean length was 6.11 km (median, 3.53 km). The actual recreational trips were on average 53% longer than the shortest possible routes. The detours on the actual routes were between 0–1,275% of the shortest routes. Only 8% of the actual trips did not differ from the shortest possible routes. Previous studies have found that actual cycling routes are 6–16% longer than the shortest possible routes. Table 15.2 summarizes the lengths of the actual and shortest possible routes. The Wilcoxon test revealed a significant difference between the lengths of the actual and shortest possible routes (Z = −9.817; p < 0.001). Table 15.1 Description of the recreational cycling activity VGI in January, April and July of both 2014 and 2015 (n =139) Mean

Median

Min

Max

SD

Distance (km)

17.72

14.68

2.17

50.27

11.36

Duration (min)

107

77

11

329

145

Speed (km/h)

12.91

12.5

2.23

45.1

6.03

Fig. 15.1 The 139 actual recreational cycling routes

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Fig. 15.2 The 139 shortest possible routes

Table 15.2 Differences in length between the actually used and the shortest possible bicycling routes (n =139) Actual lengths (km) Shortest lengths (km) Detour (km) Detour (%) Significance 17.72

11.61

6.11

53