The Impact of Street-Edge Scales on Everyday Activities in Wuhan’s Urban Village Streets

Jie Xiong, James Simpson, Kevin Thwaites and Yichao He ()
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Jie Xiong: Joint Laboratory of Healthy Space Between the University of Edinburgh and Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 102488, China
James Simpson: School of Architecture and Landscape, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Kevin Thwaites: School of Architecture and Landscape, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Yichao He: College of Art and Design, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: Despite extensive research on what draws people to urban streets, most existing insights originate from Western contexts, offering limited perspectives from wider urban contexts. This study addresses this gap by examining everyday street activities in Chinese urban villages, focusing specifically on how two spatial scales, the entire street edge and territorial segments, influence necessary, optional, and social engagements. Drawing on video recordings and walk-by observations in two urban villages in Wuhan, China, the research systematically measured the type and duration of activities across 110 territorially defined segments. The findings reveal that territorial segments, i.e., smaller-scale personalised subdivisions at a micro-scale often shaped by bottom–up adaptations, exert a significantly stronger influence upon how people use and linger in street space rather than entire street edges at a macro-scale, which shows only limited impact. This underscores the importance of fine-grained socio-spatial design and local ownership in fostering vibrant people-centred streets. By demonstrating the decisive role of micro-scale features, which span storefront layouts, semi-public alcoves, and adaptive uses, these results carry important implications for urban practitioners seeking to balance top–down redevelopment with bottom–up initiatives. Ultimately, the study enriches the global discourse on street-edge understanding and design, emphasising that territorial segments can be powerful catalysts for promoting activity and community life in dense urban contexts.

Keywords: Chinese urban villages; street edges; territorial segments; people’s activities; bottom–up adaptation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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