Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A quantitative analysis of inequality of urban cultural space distribution in Xi’an

  • Article
  • Published:
Science China Technological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Urban cultural space (UCS) has been of great social and economic value for sustainable development, and the existing researches about it mainly focus on some specific aspects, such as historical heritage or cultural service facility. However, UCS hasn’t been quantitatively assessed as an independent system with clear definition and comprehensive classification. Thus, we present a quantitative analysis based on the statistic of UCS provision in different categories between 44 sub-districts in Xi’an and find its inequalities. Xi’an urban land use data and population data of sub-district level are introduced in the analysis process with GIS, SPSS and MATLAB. Our results indicate that inequalities of UCS in Xi’an are mainly reflected in three aspects, including categories, geospatial and population. Among the four categories of UCS, historical heritage and cultural park account for higher percentage, while cultural service facility and religious space are lower. The inequalities in geospatial could be estimated from two indicators. The first indicator named cultural space rate ranges from 0 to 66.88%, while the other named distance between residential and cultural space varies from 100.47 m to 2004.75 m. The inequalities in population could be assessed by cultural space per capita and Gini coefficient. The results indicate that per capita ranges from 0 m2 to 214.79 m2. The Gini coefficient of Xi’an is 0.86, which means that the UCS distribution in population is extremely inequitable. Our studies would further the research on UCS and provide constructive suggestions in urban planning and policy formulation to ensure adequate UCS provision and improve its distributional order in Xi’an.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Shan J X. Urban cultural heritage protection and cultural city construction (in Chinese). Urban Plann, 2007, 31: 9–23

    Google Scholar 

  2. National Bureau of Statistics. Statistical Communique on National Economic and Social Development in 2017 (in Chinese). 2018

  3. United Nations, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. China Human Development Report. Beijing: China Translation Corporation. 2013

  4. Shang Z Z, Huang Y P. An analysis of the concept, goals, contents, planning strategies and misunderstandings of new urbanization (in Chinese). Urban Plann Forum, 2013, 2: 16–22

    Google Scholar 

  5. Yang B J, Chen P, Lü X B. Urban and rural planning in transition: Starting from “National New-type Urbanization Planning” (in Chinese). City Plann Rev, 2014, 38: 67–76

    Google Scholar 

  6. Shan J X. Thoughts on “city”, “culture” and “city culture” (in Chinese). Literature Art Stud, 2007, 5: 35–46

    Google Scholar 

  7. Mumford L. The City in History. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press, 1961

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hall P. Cities of Tomorrow: An Intellectual History of Urban Planning and Design in the twentieth. Oxford: Black well Pub, 2002

    Google Scholar 

  9. Miles S, Paddison R. Introduction: The rise and rise of culture-led urban regeneration. Urban Stud, 2005, 42: 833–839

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Zhang J Q. City culture and city spirit: Integrating urban planning dialectics (in Chinese). Planners, 2008, 24: 10–13

    Google Scholar 

  11. He X J, Chen C J. City culture development research review under urban planning (in Chinese). Planners, 2012, 28: 96–100

    Google Scholar 

  12. Pratt A C. The cultural contradictions of the creative city. City Culture Soc, 2011, 2: 123–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Amin A, Thrift N. Cultural-economy and cities. Prog Human Geography, 2007, 31: 143–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Gunay Z, Dokmeci V. Culture-led regeneration of Istanbul waterfront: Golden horn cultural valley project. Cities, 2012, 29: 213–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kana K. An experiment in urban regeneration using culture and art in Senba, Osaka’s historic urban center, with a focus on the regeneration of urban space. City Culture Soc, 2012, 3: 151–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Evans G. Measure for measure: Evaluating the evidence of culture’s contribution to regeneration. Urban stud, 2005, 42: 959–983

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Keitumetse S O. Cultural resources as sustainability enablers: Towards a community-based cultural heritage resources management (COBACHREM) model. Sustainability, 2014, 6: 70–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Gogolou C, Dimopoulou E. Land administration standardization for the integration of cultural heritage in land use policies. Land Use Policy, 2015, 49: 617–625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Shen L, Lu W, Wang B. Strategic thinking on the cultural spatial planning of shanghai toward a global city (in Chinese). Urban Plann Forum, 2016, 229: 63–70

    Google Scholar 

  20. Jin S, Yan A, Zhou L, et al. A study on the spatial distribution of public cultural facilities from the perspective of spatial cognition: A case of Shenzhen (in Chinese). Archit J, 2015, 3: 19–23

    Google Scholar 

  21. Owens R P. World Cities Culture Report. Shanghai: Tongji University Press, 2013

    Google Scholar 

  22. Tian D D, Rui J X, Chen N. Shanghai public cultural facility numerical character and spatial layout (in Chinese). Planners, 2011, 27: 24–28

    Google Scholar 

  23. Fuller R A, Gaston K J. The scaling of green space coverage in European cities. Biol Lett, 2009, 5: 352–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Wüstemanna H, Kalischa D, Kolbeb J. Access to urban green space and environmental inequalities in Germany. Landscape Urban Plann, 2017, 164: 124–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Astell-Burt T, Feng X, Mavoa S, et al. Do low-income neighbourhoods have the least green space? A cross-sectional study of Australia’s most populous cities. BMC Public Health, 2014, 14: 292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Byrne J, Wolch J, Zhang J. Planning for environmental justice in an urban national park. J Environ Plann Manage, 2009, 52: 365–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Wolch J R, Byrne J, Newell J P. Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The challenge of making cities ‘just green enough’. Landscape Urban Plann, 2014, 125: 234–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Kabisch N, Haase D. Green justice or just green? Provision of urban green spaces in Berlin, Germany. Landscape Urban Plann, 2014, 122: 129–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Yin H W, Kong F H, Zong Y G. Accessibility and equality assessment on urban green space (in Chinese). Acta Ecologica Sin, 2008, 28: 3375–3383

    Google Scholar 

  30. Zhou X, Zhang X G, He L B, et al. Equity assessment on urban green space pattern based on human (in Chinese). Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Pekinensis, 2013, 49: 892–898

    Google Scholar 

  31. Xi’an Municipal Bureau of Statistics, National Bureau of Statistics Survey Office in Xi’an. Xi’an Statistical Yearbook. Beijing: China Statistics Press, 2017

  32. Wang S S. Promote the idea of the sublime order of oriental ancient capital, explore the pattern of the modern city of Xi’an (in Chinese). J Xi’an Univ Arch Tech, 2011, 43: 761–767

    Google Scholar 

  33. Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China. Code for Classification of Urban Land Use and Planning Standards of Development Land. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press, 2011

  34. National Bureau of Statistics. Population Census office of the State Council. Tabulation on the 2010 Population Census of the People’s Republic of China by Township. Beijing: China Statistics Press, 2010

  35. Barbosa O, Tratalos J A, Armsworth P R, et al. Who benefits from access to green space? A case study from Sheffield, UK. Landscape Urban Plann, 2007, 83: 187–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Sotoudehnia F, Comber L. Measuring perceived accessibility to urban green space: An integration of GIS and participatory map. In: Proceedings of the 14th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information: Advancing Geo-Information Science for A Changing World. 2011

    Google Scholar 

  37. Kabisch N, Strohbach M, Haase D, et al. Urban green space availability in European cities. Ecol Indicators, 2016, 70: 586–596

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Hu C R, Jiang D, Tang X. Sampling analysis of national urban land use status based on Lorentz curves (in Chinese). China Land Sci, 2009, 23: 44–50

    Google Scholar 

  39. Qu S J, Hu S G, Tong L. Spatiotemporal patterns of urban land use transition in the middle Yangtze River Economic Belt (in Chinese). Resour Sci, 2017, 39: 240–251

    Google Scholar 

  40. Yang J, Huang X, Liu X. An analysis of education inequality in China. Int J Educ Dev, 2014, 37: 2–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Asada Y. A framework for measuring health inequity. J Epidemiol Community Health, 2005, 59: 700–705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Tsai Y H. Quantifying urban form: Compactness versus sprawl. Urban Studies, 2005, 42: 141–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Li F, Liu X, Hu D, et al. Measurement indicators and an evaluation approach for assessing urban sustainable development: A case study for China’s Jining City. Landscape Urban Plann, 2009, 90: 134–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Ran S Q, Pei C R. Research on the coordination of city space development and conservation of big cultural site: A case study of Xi’an (in Chinese). Modern Urban Res, 2014, 11: 92–96

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Green Building in Western China, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, 710055, China

    ShuSheng Wang, YuQian Xu & ShaoFei Yan

  2. College of Architecture, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, 710055, China

    ShuSheng Wang, Yao Zhang, YuQian Xu & ShaoFei Yan

Authors
  1. ShuSheng Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yao Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. YuQian Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. ShaoFei Yan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to ShuSheng Wang.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, S., Zhang, Y., Xu, Y. et al. A quantitative analysis of inequality of urban cultural space distribution in Xi’an. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 62, 502–510 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-018-9433-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-018-9433-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation