Temporal and Spatial Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Public Space Vitality in Historical Blocks—Taking Songcheng First Road in Zhaoqing as an Example

This study aims to construct a perfect evaluation index system for the public space vitality in historical blocks and explore the influence of different factors on space vitality. Taking the ancient city wall historical block of Songcheng first road in Zhaoqing as the research object, the temporal and spatial change characteristics of crowd behavior in historical blocks were firstly analyzed by questionnaire and network big data. Then, the vitality evaluation index system in historical blocks was analyzed combined with literature review and survey data, and the weight value of impact factors was calculated by exploratory factor analysis and AHP. Finally, the strategy to improve the historical blocks vitality was put forward based on important factors and research area. The results showed that the block location at the spatial scale level, block safety and greening coverage at the aesthetic attribute level, block sanitation, architectural characteristics and visual effects were the strong correlation factors affecting the block vitality. The research also found that people have subjective intentional cognition on overall situation of the block, and thereby more attention should be paid to maintaining spatial quality and cultural characteristics in the block construction in the future. This study added the corresponding indicators that could reflect the subjective feelings of the population from the perspective of individual psychology, which is of certain value to enrich the research on block space vitality.