Research on the impact of campus road network form on spatial cognition based on anchor point theory: case studies of Peking University and Tsinghua University

Human-oriented campus planning and design intended to realize the sustainable development of university campuses is concerned by domestic and foreign experts from planning and design academia. Research in the perspective of spatial cognition can provide important empirical references for human-oriented campus planning and design. Current research on spatial cognition of university campuses lacks both elaborate quantitative description of campus space form and association analysis of space form and spatial cognition of campuses, thus leading to limited reference value for campus planning and design. Therefore, the study takes Peking University and Tsinghua University as study objects and selects road network form, a representative spatial variable, to explore the impact of road network form on spatial cognition. Firstly, the study summarizes the evolution process and the spatial characteristics of road networks in Peking University and Tsinghua University. Based on literature review, the study discovers that the campus space of Peking University is organized with Weiming Lake and Boya Tower as the center and multiple secondary cores distributed in the periphery and the campus space of Tsinghua University is organized along some major design axes. The campus of Peking University is featured with multiple axis intercalation and centrality while the campus space of Tsinghua University is mainly featured with several main roads, such as Huangdao Axis, East District Axis and Xuetang Road. On the basis of literature review, this study conducts a questionnaire survey on the students’ familiarity of the locations in the two campuses and performs a correlation analysis among the students’ familiarity, integration degree, road network density of different locations. The study discovers that in Tsinghua University, locations with high familiarity are located along major axes, such as Xuetang Road while in Peking University locations with high familiarity are mainly located around the core area of the campus. According to correlation analysis, the familiarity with the locations of participants from the two universities will be improved if the global integration degrees of road network around the locations are higher while in Tsinghua University the increase of road density will also contribute to the improvement of participants’ familiarity of different locations. Finally, this research conducts externalization of cognitive map to further explore the impact of road network on spatial cognition of students. This research discovers that participants in Tsinghua University mainly encode spatial information in the perspective of the relationship between cognitive locations and road networks and the auxiliary elements of Tsinghua University in cognitive map are mostly path elements such as major roads (Xuetang Road) as well as design axes (East District Axis). The directions and the dispersion degrees of the cognitive location distortions in Tsinghua University are all highly related to major roads and axis. On the other hand, participants in Peking University mainly encode spatial information in the perspective of the relationship between cognitive locations and major land marks and the auxiliary elements of Peking University in cognitive map are mostly node elements. Additionally, the directions and the dispersion degrees of the cognitive location distortions in Peking University apparently are with center-edge characteristics. Through the analysis, the study discovers that participants from the two universities have the inclination to utilize path elements such as main roads as the anchor points for spatial cognition to master the surrounding environment when the campus space is featured with road network with relatively higher global integration and significant transport axes. Besides, road network with relatively low density and global integration will thus result in the declination of the familiarity of locations and the accuracy of spatial cognition. Through the analysis of the research results, this article suggests that the density and the integration degree of road network form as well as the integration of the main axes should be properly enhanced to improve the familiarity and the accuracy of spatial cognition of university campuses. The research intends to combine the analysis of road network form such as space syntax with the questionnaire on the familiarity of participants as well as the measurement of the distortion of cognitive locations. Through the analysis of research results, this research provides quantitative research evidence from the aspects of the encode and the storage of spatial knowledge on the conditions when residents will select path elements as cognitive anchors. Through the analysis of spatial cognition of campus space, this paper will provide empirical references for campus planning and design.