Page 29 - JCAU-6-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Multidimensional image of Guilin’s central space

3. Results Mulonghu Lake, Guihu Lake, Lijiang River, and
Taohuajiang River), the scenic area along the Lijiang
3.1. Analysis of the present cognitive images based River, and commercial areas such as Zhengyang
on traditional methods
Pedestrian Street and East-West Lane.
3.1.1. Data result (ii) In terms of roads, the residents’ cognition of roads was

In this study, questionnaires were distributed in public lowest among the five elements of city image. Residents
squares, shopping malls, and residential areas with high had high cognition of Zhongshan Middle Road,
pedestrian flow from March 9 to 12, 2023. The locations followed by Binjiang Road, Qixing Road, Xicheng
included five areas: the central square in Xufeng District, Pedestrian Street, Jiefang West Road, and Zhengyang
the riverside road in Xufeng District, the intersection of Pedestrian Street, with over 50% of residents able to
Sanlidian Square in Qixing District, Guilin North Station describe their cognition of these seven roads.
in Diecai District, and Guilin South Station in Xiangshan (iii) In terms of nodes, more than 50% of residents had
District. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed, and high cognition of five nodes, namely Elephant Hill
245 valid samples were collected, including 75 from local Scenic Area, Central Plaza, Wanda Plaza, Qixing Park,
residents. The data reliability was calculated to be 0.814, and Duxiu Peak Scenic Area.
exceeding the threshold of 0.8, indicating high questionnaire (iv) In terms of landmarks (Figure 5), over 70% of residents
reliability and overall sample validity. The questionnaire had high cognition of the three landmarks, namely
was designed based on basic urban image theory, focusing Sun-Moon Twin Towers, Jingjiang Palace, and Jiefang
on five basic elements: perceived areas, perceived roads, Bridge.
perceived nodes, landmarks, and perceived boundaries The images of Guilin’s urban central space were
within Guilin’s urban central space. Simultaneously, highly correlated with residents’ daily activities. Upon
observations and interviews were conducted during the examination, it becomes evident that the most frequently
fieldwork to gather relevant information to complement encountered images in the cognition of Guilin’s residents
the questionnaire responses. The collected data provide were those associated with recreation, with commercial
insights into the specific situation of cognitive images images ranking second. On the one hand, certain scenic
within Guilin’s urban central space and facilitate the analysis areas in Guilin offer free admission or other concessions
of the similarities and differences in the representation of to local residents, thereby providing ample activity
cognitive images between local residents and tourists.
venues. Consequently, local residents are more inclined
In the sample data of local residents (Figure 3), 81.9% of to frequent these areas for recreational purposes, resulting
the residents were able to mark the geographical locations in a high level of recognition of parks and scenic spots.
of urban images within the urban central space of Guilin, Conversely, commercial districts predominantly consist
indicating a high level of cognition of the area. Further of office buildings and shopping malls, serving solely as
analysis of the five elements of the city image (Figure 4) venues for work and consumption. Hence, they exhibit
revealed the following: relatively lower recognition among residents. On the other
(i) In terms of areas, residents were most familiar with hand, compared with parks and scenic spots, the variety
the images of the Two Rivers and Four Lakes Scenic of commercial districts is relatively limited. Consequently,
Area (encompassing Ronghu Lake, Shanhu Lake, residents have fewer options when selecting destinations
within commercial areas. These two factors contribute to
a lower level of cognition of commercial images compared
to scenic images.
Based on the visitor sample data (Figure 4), it was
observed that only 62.6% of the visitors demonstrated a
basic ability to identify the geographical locations depicted
in images of Guilin’s urban central space, indicative of a
certain level of cognition regarding this area. Over 50% of
the visitors exhibited a high level of cognition concerning
the Two Rivers and Four Lakes Scenic Area, Ludi Rock, the
Lijiang River coastline, as well as roads such as Zhongshan
Middle Road and Qixing Road, along with nodes and
Figure 3. Statistics on the description of cognitive images by residents landmarks such as Elephant Hill Scenic Area and Sun-
and tourists. Source: Bar chart by the authors Moon Twin Towers. Notably, visitors predominantly

Volume 6 Issue 3 (2024) 5 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1032