A Context-based Approach for Neighbourhood Life Circle Delineation and Internal Spatial Utilization Analysis Based on GIS and GPS Tracking Data

With the growing concern for urban residents’ living environment, neighbourhood life circle research has drawn increasing attention from urban planners and geographers. The neighbourhood life circle refers to the spatial range of people’s daily activities around their residential neighbourhoods and the city facilities in such an area for meeting their needs. It has been used as a new type of planning unit in people-oriented urban planning. Therefore, how to delineate the neighbourhood life circle has become one of the primary topics of neighbourhood life circle research and planning. Despite several existing methods for neighbourhood life circle delineation, they ignored people’s actual daily activities. Further, few studies have examined the internal spatial utilization of neighbourhood life circles. To fill the gaps, this study proposes an innovative context-based approach for neighbourhood life circle delineation, which takes accessibility and walkability into account. It also presents an analytical framework for examining the internal spatial utilization and shared spaces of neighbourhood life circles based on people’s GPS tracking data. With a case study of three neighbourhoods in Beijing, China, the proposed approach successfully identifies the context-based neighbourhood life circles as well as their internal spatial utilization and shared spaces. The findings provide a practical way for identifying the spatial scope of neighbourhood life circles and understanding their internal spatial utilization and neighbourhood spatial sharing relationships. The proposed method will also serve as a fundamental method for neighbourhood life circle research and shed light on urban planning practices.