Page 32 - JCAU-5-3

Journal of Chinese

Architecture and Urbanism

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Study on the walkability of old city streets in

Beijing from the perspective of application of
Central Axis for World Heritage List

Xiaoyong Zhang, Changming Yu*, and Yue Gong

School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

Abstract

The year 2023 is a key year for Beijing’s Central Axis to apply for World Heritage List. As
the social space of urban culture, the streets are the communication space between
modern-day residents and living heritage. In the blocks applying for World Heritage
status, the walkability of the streets has an important impact on the presentation
of the scene, cultural exchange, and tourist guidance. Based on the perspective of
Central Axis application for World Heritage List, this study attempted to provide
updated planning suggestions for the improvement of street walkability quality.
Focusing on the human scale, first, 13 objective indicators and three subjective
indicators of the streets in the buffer zone were evaluated by semantic segmentation,
virtual audit, Likert scale, and other methods, as well as by acquiring the latest street
view. Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to explore the main factors affecting the
*Corresponding author:
Changming Yu walkability of the streets. The results show that 13 objective indicators such as street
(yuchangming@bjfu.edu.cn) interface, street facilities and street style in space show a trend of gradual decline
from the central axis to both sides. Buildings on the north side of Chang’an Avenue
Citation: Zhang, X., Yu, C., &
Gong, Y. (2023). Study on the in Beijing’s Old Town better preserve the architectural style of the traditional hutong.
walkability of old city streets in The factors that were strongly related to the sense of security were the proportion
Beijing from the perspective of of fences and the width of the street. The strongest correlation factor concerning
application of Central Axis for
World Heritage List. Journal of comfort is the street aspect ratio, whereas the most important factor related to
Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, aesthetic perception is the degree of preservation of traditional features. Finally,
5(3):1033. the paper puts forward some new strategies, such as clearly distinguishing street
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1033
pedestrian and vehicular functions, controlling green visual ratio to adjust street
Received: June 1, 2023 visual aspect ratio, and protecting traditional street pattern.
Accepted: July 28, 2023
Published Online: August 21, 2023 Keywords: Central Axis; Buffer zone; Walkability; Street view; Index analysis
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s).
This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution- 1. Introduction
Non-Commercial 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all In his praise about the Central Axis of Beijing, Liang Sicheng acclaimed the unique
non-commercial use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, magnificent order of Beijing created by the construction of this Central Axis. To date,
provided the original work is there are seven world heritage sites in Beijing, and the heritage elements of the Central
properly cited. Axis include three world heritage sites, which are the Forbidden City, the Temple of
Publisher’s Note: AccScience Heaven, and the Grand Canal Wanning Bridge. Beijing has attached great importance
Publishing remains neutral with to the protection and inheritance of the Central Axis since it was included in the
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional preliminary list of China’s World Heritage Sites in 2012. In 2023, the application of the
affiliations. Central Axis for World Heritage List will enter the crucial stage (Song, 2022).

Volume 5 Issue 3 (2023) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1033