A Study on the Evaluation and Process Mechanisms of Publicness of Event Places in Capital Functional Core Area

In the post-industrial society, public life has been transformed from necessary activities to the elective and social activities, with urban festivalisation becoming a global development trend. An increasing number of festivals and events are being staged in public spaces, and the urban public spaces are increasingly being used as venues for festivals and evens to activate public life. Such culturally significant public spaces that stage events frequently, referred to as event places, are emerging as a new focal point of interest in both domestic and international academic circles. The dissertation focuses on the variation in the value of public spaces in a publicness perspective, examining the interaction between “place and event”. The dissertation systematically reviews the progress of research related to public space public life, event places and publicness, and constructs a theoretical framework and analytical methods for understanding the event place shaping processes, mechanisms and outcomes in the perspective of publicness. Building on this foundation, the dissertation conducts the empirical analysis focusing on the Capital Functional Core Area of Beijing (Dongcheng District and Xicheng District). At the urban level, the research cognises the patterns and characteristics of urban festivalisation and identifies representative festivalised zones. At the public space level, it evaluates the publicness performance and perception of event places, validating the relationship between the two. Besides, the research explores the key elements significantly affecting the publicness perception of event places and analyses the processed and mechanisms involved in event place shaping. Finally, based on the empirical results at both the urban and public space levels, the dissertation proposes responsive urban design strategies towards urban festivalisation and public space eventisation. The main conclusions of the dissertation are as follows: Firstly, the development of urban festivalisation in the Capital Functional Core Area of Beijing is closely related to the important urban structures of public activities and exhibits certain geographical differentiation. Through clustering analysis and overlay analysis, six representative festivalised zones are identified in the research. Secondly, the introduction of events to the public spaces leads to varying directional variations of the publicness performance and perception across different dimensions. Furthermore, aside from spatial environment accessibility not having a significant impact on perceived heterogeneity, all dimensions of publicness performance significantly enhance the explanatory power of the dimensions of publicness perception. The elements that significantly influence publicness performance include physical accessibility, pedestrian environment, functional flexibility, agency, maintenance, activity quantity and density, activity quality and diversity, and user diversity. Thirdly, event places, as a unique kind of public space, more intensely reflect the balance of interests and power dynamics among various stakeholders. The event place shaping continuums in the Capital Functional Core Area of Beijing can be categorised into three categories: corporate-led event places, government led event places, and government-corporate collaborative event places. Moderate and balanced regulation, effective intervention from grassroots government sectors, close collaboration among various entities, and active public participation, are crucial for reconciling event development objectives with public interests and ensuring that the publicness of event places is enhanced rather than compromised. The dissertation provides empirical evidence for optimising the interaction between events and public spaces at both urban level and public space level, with the aim of offering policy recommendations and practical references for revitalising urban public life.