Bridging Subjective and Objective Dimensions of Resilience: A Space Syntax Approach to Analyzing Urban Public Spaces

Public spaces are fundamental spatial units within cities, serving as essential venues for residents’ daily activities and as resilient environments for responding to emergencies. They play a crucial role in enhancing urban resilience and promoting sustainable urban development. However, existing research predominantly focuses on objective spatial entities, often neglecting users’ behavioral and psychological perceptions. Studies that incorporate perceived resilience typically necessitate extensive, time-consuming, and costly fieldwork. To address these gaps, this study innovatively integrates space syntax into the Public Space Resilience (PSR) analytical framework, thereby bridging the subjective and objective dimensions of resilience in the evaluation process. A comprehensive resilience measurement framework is developed, linking ‘material entities’, ‘spatial perception (via space syntax)’, and ‘spatial resilience’. Using the Yuzhong Peninsula in Chongqing, China, as a case study, this research employs indicators such as integration, connectivity, and comprehensibility to quantitatively evaluate PSR. Based on the findings, this study also proposes strategies and recommendations to enhance PSR. The results contribute to both a practical measurement method and a theoretical framework for advancing PSR in urban planning and design.