Historic Neighborhood Design Based on Facility Heatmap and Pedestrian Simulation: Case Study in China

With the rapid growth of tourism in China, the spatial conflict between tourists and the host community has become a major issue in historic neighborhood design. This study employed big data and pedestrian simulation technologies in the improvement design of Pingjiang Historic Quarter. Multisource big data including the cell phone signal data of WeChat (social media application), point of interest (POI) data, and field survey statistics have been processed in geographic information systems (GIS), statistical product and service solutions (SPSS), and the simulation software AnyLogic to diagnose the current facility shortage and traffic problems in the study area, and to calculate and test the key parameters for the simulation modeling of alternative schemes with emphasis on facility location and pedestrian traffic. Results showed that a more centralized layout of new tourist attractions on the northwestern portion of the vacant land to be developed could reduce the through traffic of tourists in residential zones, and the joint development of urban mass transit and the new Visitor Center in the southeastern portion could alleviate current traffic congestion.