Characteristics, correlations of traditional street space elements and tourist density following spontaneous renovation: a case study on Suzhou’s Shantang Street

Shantang Street in Suzhou serves as the object of this study; field investigation, street mapping, data statistics, and other methods are utilized to observe spatial elements, tourist density, and the relationships among them. The spatial elements of Shantang Street are divided into basic elements (store density, facade opening, water proximity, D/H) and activity elements (upper shelter, commercial overflow, life overflow). These characteristics are also analyzed quantitatively. Next, tourists on Shantang Street are counted on-site to analyze their basic density. The SPSS software Canonical Correlation tool is utilized to establish a relationship between basic elements and activity elements; a set of canonical variates with a significant correlation between the two are obtained. The SPSS Multiple Regression tool is then used to observe the correlation between tourist density and street space elements. Store density, D/H, water proximity, commercial overflow, life overflow, and tourist density are found to be significantly correlated.