Path·Landscape·Communication

Urban pedestrian space seems to be insignificant in a city. However, its role played in the city could not be ignored all the time. With the rapid development of economy, network, science and technology, the process of urbanization has also been promoted fast. The"popularity"of city rises, but the"popularity"doesn't equal"vitality". In this era of high-speed, high-strength and high-pressure, we should take enhancing"urban vitality"as the top priority to urban development. Nevertheless, the most important but easily neglected way is: improving the pedestrian environment of city.In combination with the epoch feature of present society, this paper starts with the research on resident's living conditions and life needs. It analyzes the features and advantages of traditional pedestrian space, and also introduces the idea of System Theory. Through the holistic analysis and thinking of pedestrian space, the paper strives to help us understand it completely, and form a set of effective solutions, to achieve the purpose of enhancing urban vitality.According to the use of thought of systematic design and the emphasis of research, some definitions and classifications of pedestrian space have been given a new explanation in this paper. The current problems existing in pedestrian space are proposed, and its characteristics, such as constituent elements, space forms etc., are analyzed thoroughly. Meanwhile, the paper makes a study of human behavior and psychological features in the pedestrian space. A tentative idea has been put forward: community pedestrian space and networking pedestrian space will become a trend of China's urban future development.To build a free, comfortable, relax and humanized pedestrian space, the idea of"People-centered"is blended into the design. Taking full consideration of physiological and psychological need of people, some details of design embody the concern to people. On that basis, the main designed points of pedestrian space are brought forward: first, emphasize the principle of"entirety", to make urban pedestrian space keep pace with architecture, natural environment and other transportation, and make optimum utilization of social resource; second, reflect the principle of"characteristic", not only point out the specific measures to different kinds of pedestrian space, but also come up with a solution to seek"characteristic"elements; third, respect human's"memory"and satisfy the affection need of people; last, provide the measures that should be taken in the protection and development of pedestrian space.In brief, urban pedestrian space is an important component of urban public space. If the waste pedestrian space in city could be utilized and organized effectively, that would be of great use for enhancing urban vitality and improving the quality of city residents'life.