Spatial Organization and Residential Behaviour in Subdivided Traditional Dwellings: A Case Study of Subu Old Street

In many non-tourism historical districts in China, property division has subdivided traditional dwellings into multi-household units. While such subdivision reshapes spatial sequences and connections, its consequences for everyday space use and circulation are rarely documented with continuous in situ evidence, partly because residential behaviour is temporally continuous and difficult to observe directly. This study examines two typical subdivision patterns in Subu Old Street: a longitudinal, single-axis serial dwelling (Case A) and a transversal, courtyard-centred dwelling (Case B). We formalize spatial units, connections, and operational nodes using a semantic ontology and map day-long Ultra-Wideband (UWB) trajectories to quantify occupancy and transition characteristics. Case A concentrates both staying and passing at the entrance-end kitchen, where activities overlap with through-movements and transition durations are short in most events but highly volatile with a long tail. Case B channels most transitions through the courtyard hub, keeping indoor rooms mainly for staying and producing longer but more stable transition durations. This study is positioned as a comparative exploratory case study of two representative subdivision patterns identified in Subu Old Street. Semantic ontology modelling, UWB-based behavioural tracking, and behavioural indicators are used together in a comparative analytical approach for examining how subdivision reorganises spatial structure and everyday residential behaviour. The results reveal pattern-specific differences in occupancy concentration, transition organisation, and movement duration. These findings are analytical observations derived from two representative cases. They provide a basis for spatial adjustment and micro-regeneration in still-inhabited subdivided traditional dwellings.