Assessment and Optimization of Age-Friendly Public Spaces in a Peri-Urban Village Based on Space Syntax and Multiple Regression Analysis: A Case Study of Shixia Village, Beijing

As rural revitalization advances, the age-friendliness of public spaces directly impacts the well-being of left-behind elderly populations. However, the spatial and social marginalization of these vulnerable groups in tourism-driven peri-urban villages remains critically underexplored. To bridge this gap, this study proposes a quantitative evaluation framework integrating space syntax and multiple linear regression to investigate the matching mechanism between physical spatial layout and elderly activity needs. Focusing on Shixia Village in Beijing, surveys and satisfaction assessments were conducted with 30 elderly residents (representing a rigorous 27.3% of the permanent population). Space syntax analysis revealed a distinct “core-periphery” spatial differentiation. Despite a moderate spatial intelligibility (0.586), the rapid decay of integration in peripheral clusters acts as the primary physical bottleneck restricting the elderly’s social radius. Furthermore, regression results indicate that public facility accessibility (β = 0.703) and residential environment quality (β = 0.779) are the core positive drivers of satisfaction (p < 0.001). Conversely, road connectivity exhibited an unexpected negative correlation (β = −0.308). This highlights a crucial “double-edged sword” effect: in traditional villages with tourism development, excessive spatial permeability diminishes the elderly’s territorial sense of security due to external traffic interference. Finally, targeted optimization strategies—including traffic-calming interventions and hierarchical node layouts—are proposed, providing an operational evaluation model and design reference for age-friendly environmental construction in similar peri-urban villages.