Page 84 - JCAU-6-4

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Village spatial form and activation

unique identity (Su, 2018). Today, traditional villages (Ma, 2021; Zhu et al., 2022). In recent years, with the
face various challenges, such as a lack of productivity and advancement of related research, many objective and
vitality, becoming “hollow villages,” or facing extinction. quantitative methods have matured, and spatial syntax has
In addition, the adoption of urban-style housing has led emerged as a prominent model for quantifying the static
to new buildings that are incompatible with the original spatial morphology of traditional villages. This approach
vernacular architecture, damaging the historical features of effectively visualizes and analyzes the public spaces of these
these villages and resulting in a homogenized landscape. villages, transforming abstract cognition into intuitively
With this background, the protection of traditional villages perceived forms and revealing the relationships between
has become an urgent task. To preserve the material and internal socioeconomic factors and spatial structures
cultural heritage of traditional villages, it is necessary through the language of schematization. Spatial syntax thus
to comprehensively understand and master their folk provides a more intuitive reflection of spatial attributes and
customs, regional cultural characteristics, and spatial enhances the operability of research into spatial morphology
form. This requires strengthening construction controls and structure. Therefore, spatial syntax serves as a powerful
and applying scientific and reasonable theoretical methods theoretical basis and methodological support for exploring
to analyze the spatial form development of traditional the relationship between the evolution mechanism of
villages, exploring the inherent laws of their spatial form, public spaces and human activities in traditional villages.
and optimizing existing spatial layout and structure issues. For example, Xiong et al. (2024) used spatial syntax theory
Furthermore, efforts should be made to develop protection and selected three main variables – degree of integration,
and inheritance planning models for traditional village selectivity, and comprehensibility – to explore the spatial
spatial forms (Zhu et al., 2021). morphology characteristics and patterns of Su Er village
in Su Xi County, Zhanjiang City, Guangdong province.
With the continuous development and transformation
of information technology, digital spatial information Their research proposed spatial optimization strategies
for the village, providing new insights into the sustainable
technology has not only revolutionized people’s lives but development and preservation of the traditional village
has also become an important support means for the spaces. Similarly, Yang et al. (2023) applied axial and
protection and development of traditional villages. This visual field analysis within the spatial syntax theory. They
technology provides robust data support and decision- analyzed the spatial morphology of the streets and alleys in
making foundations for the protection planning and Xilimen village, a traditional village from the western and
landscape design of these cultural landscapes. Spatial eastern Jin dynasty (266 – 420), using five main variables
data acquisition technologies, represented by remote of spatial syntax: integration degree, topological depth,
sensing, have emerged as primary methods for capturing comprehensibility, control value, and visual aggregation
three-dimensional spatial data of traditional villages. coefficient. Their multi-perspective analysis provided a
These technologies are mainly applied to the collection of scientific and rational quantitative assessment of the village’s
three-dimensional geographic information data, vector spatial morphology characteristics, providing theoretical
interpretation of landscape elements, and monitoring references for the protection and renewal of traditional
spatial changes in the village environment. villages.
Research on traditional village protection based on The focus of traditional village protection should
digital spatial information technology has attracted be on safeguarding the spatial characteristics of these
considerable attention from scholars. For example, using traditional villages. Research on the spatial morphology of
digital surveying and mapping technology, Li (2022) traditional villages using spatial information technology
analyzed the spatial defense characteristics of Taoping can effectively identify basic prototypes, formation
Qiang village at the levels of villages, streets, and buildings. mechanisms, and core influencing factors of spatial
Similarly, Peng & Kong (2020) developed a digital morphology. This approach clarifies the basic paradigms
protection system for Chengzi village with the help of and causal logic of traditional village spatial morphology,
digital technology to provide a reference for the inheritance while also recording and transmitting spatial information
and protection of ethnic minority architectural culture. to support the protection of the spatial morphology of

Through effective planning that integrates traditional traditional villages. At present, although spatial syntax has
protection with spatial information technology, traditional produced significant achievements in studying traditional
villages can not only inherit the history and culture villages, there are still relatively few studies that combine
accumulated over thousands of years but also put forward digital information technology with spatial syntax to
new ideas for their revitalization and development, analyze traditional village spatial patterns. Therefore, the
providing a new direction for their sustainable development current study comprehensively applies digital preservation

Volume 6 Issue 4 (2024) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.2502