Configurational exploration of pedestrian and cyclist movements: A case study of Hangzhou, China

Özet

This research organized a systematic survey on both pedestrian and cyclist movements in Hangzhou, to test whether the strong correlation between spatial confguration and movement discovered in western countries is also valid in a Chinese city with different urban morphology and social/culture conditions. Both axial model and angular segment model are adopted. A statistical analysis then shows that angular segment model provides stronger explanation for the movements than axial model. Confgurational variables are well correlated with cyclist movement, while R2 value drops signifcantly with pedestrian volumes. To understand the movement fow which cannot be interpreted by spatial model, three reasons are deduced. First, the gated community management culture in China brings diffculty in constructing an accurate axial map. Second, due to the water channels across the site and abundant crossing points with level changes, there is a signifcant difference between accessibility graph and visibility graph. Finally, the hierarchy street system made the wide road not only a spatial connector but also a line with severance effect. Standard axial map cannot represent this feature and on the other hand how to deal with different resolutions of axial lines in one model has not been properly discussed. It is believed that these problems are common issues need further discussion.