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The Mathematics of Spatial Structure Evolution: Using Syntactical Data to Compare the Humble Administrator's Garden in the Sixteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

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A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 17 March 2023

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Abstract

The Humble Administrator's Garden is a fine specimen of classical Chinese gardens (CCGs). Researching the Humble Administrator's Garden is helpful to understand the essence of the spatial design of CCGs. This paper puts forward a revised drawing principle for the axial map based on the theory of Space Syntax and compared the garden’s spatial structure in the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries in Depthmap. It revealed that: (1) The spatial structure of the two different periods has a common "transportation system" and a series of connected spaces. (2) In the nineteenth century, groves and scenery spots disappeared, while corridors, platforms and courtyards appeared, deepening the spatial depth of the garden. The spatial topology changed from the chain-type to the ring-type. (3) The closed-ring space combination makes it easier for visitors to obtain the information of the global space through the local space, that is, it can make the space more convenient and efficient when visiting the garden.

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Funding

This research was funded by the Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China, Grant number 20YJC760131, the National Key R&D Program of China, Grant number 2021YFE0200100, and the Talent Introduction Research Project of Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Grant number 332111306.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Architecture, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, China

    Tiantian Zhang & Gaoxing Tang

  2. Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215011, China

    Zefeng Lian

Authors
  1. Tiantian Zhang
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  2. Gaoxing Tang
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  3. Zefeng Lian
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Contributions

TZ: Conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft preparation, writing—review and editing, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition; GT: Software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, visualization; ZL: Validation, project administration, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Zefeng Lian.

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Zhang, T., Tang, G. & Lian, Z. The Mathematics of Spatial Structure Evolution: Using Syntactical Data to Compare the Humble Administrator's Garden in the Sixteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Nexus Netw J 25, 387–407 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-023-00649-9

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