Social vitality within and beyond the gates: Decoding spatial usage patterns in Chinese gated and non-gated housing estates and their relation to housing form

The impacts of gated housing have been extensively debated in Anglophone literature since the 1990s. However, in China, the gated housing form has been taken for granted as a commonplace architectural solution for hundreds of years. Consequently, little attention had been paid to Chinese gated housing until a directive was announced to abolish it in 2016. Since then, studies on Chinese gated housing have sprung up. However, it is still unclear whether and how gated housing influences social vitality in China, particularly from an architectural perspective. Therefore, this thesis addresses two main questions: how gated and non-gated housing estates differ in housing form and social vitality, and how the housing form influences social vitality. Six pairs of gated and non-gated estates in Wuhan were studied. Combining space syntax and morphological analyses, the housing form was assessed for spatial centrality, visibility, functional-use density and diversity, frontage permeability, and perimeter enclosure. Meanwhile, the social vitality was evaluated through spatial usage patterns observed onsite, including pedestrian movement, stationary occupancy, and networks of co-presence. The main findings suggest that compared to gated estates, the non-gated ones have a higher level of social vitality, manifested by greater pedestrian flows, denser stationary activities, and higher co-presence and social mixing levels. These differences are largely determined by the housing forms more than merely housing types. Furthermore, simply dividing the plot into smaller gated clusters (i.e., “semi-gated”) without considering other critical spatial aspects may facilitate spatial accessibility, but it may not promote and sometimes even discourage stationary activities and co-presence. Therefore, both configurational and physical forms are essential in creating a vibrant community. These findings encourage policymakers and designers to pay more attention to critical spatial features rather than simply physical boundaries, contributing to the upcoming housing reform in China and helping create more vibrant and inclusive cities