Urban spatial form analysis based on the architectural layout -- Taking Zhengzhou City as an example

PLoS One. 2022 Dec 9;17(12):e0277169. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277169. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The analysis of urban spatial form is the basic research of urban development. Traditional fractal research often focuses on the urban spatial layout, which cannot visually express the specific form, change characteristics and development trend of urban architectural spaces.The urban architectural form is simplified and the basic architectural form templates are extracted, and then, the correlations between architecture form and fractal dimension are built. The results of the case study show that the architectural layout of Zhengzhou City exhibits obvious fractal characteristics, and the combination of the two-dimensional and three-dimensional fractal dimensions is helpful for comprehensively revealing the architectural layout information. Moreover, the fractal dimension of buildings shows that the gradient from the inner to outer ring decreases, similar to the 'annual growth rings' of trees. Obvious differences exist in the fractal dimensions of urban buildings in different directions, reflecting the urban expansion direction. This study promotes the visualization of fractal theory and the expression of fractal theory in spatial gradient, providing theoretical and data reference for urban spatial form optimization.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cities
  • Fractals*
  • Spatial Analysis
  • Urban Renewal*

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the School of Architecture, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou, China through grants 2022 Key R&D and Promotion Projects in Henan Province (No. 222102320064), and 2022 Henan Science and Technology Think Tank Research Project (HNKJZK-2022-51B).