# Effect of Space Configurational Attributes on Social Interactions in Urban Parks
## 4 Discussions and Conclusions  
By examining two parks in Beijing, China, this study investigated the association between spaces configurational attributes calculated using space syntax theory and social interaction activity. Space scale and space configurational attributes (depth to gate, NACH, and NAIN) were found to have a joint effect on social activity intensity. The results show that more social interactions can be found in prominent activity zones with a larger area, higher walking accessibility (NAIN-1K), and that are closer to the city main road network (depth to the main road). On the contrary, long pathways with low walking accessibility (NAIN-1K), large usability (NACH-10K) in the urban context, and that are far from city road network (depth to city main road) tend to improve social interactions on the pathways of urban parks.  
The results in this study indicate that people's behaviors in parks are affected by park design. Depth and integration have been identified as the influential attributes, which agree with the results in the literature [26; 33; 35]. Higher integration value and lower depth lead to higher accessibility and lower cost of use. Therefore, more integrated spaces are likely to be preferred by the frequent users, including the social groups in this study, walking seniors in parks [23], and residents in the neighborhood [29]. Because of privacy demands, more close interactions are more likely to happen in the less integrated spaces to avoid possible interruptions [31]. The value of these two parameters is determined by both the location information (including the spatial location in the park and the park's location in the city road network) and the park pathway configuration.  
The findings from this study can be useful for guiding the planning and design of urban parks to improve social interaction activities under different conditions. First, the results in this study offer some advice on the design of open spaces and pathway networks in parks, squares, for instance. Location and pathway configuration determined the accessibility of each open space. To improve social interactions in general, open spaces should be located near the main city road and connected with highly accessible pathways. More accessible walking pathways are produced by setting longer pathways that connect different areas. Further detailed optimization of pathway networks can be conducted by utilizing space syntax software. To improve the social interactions of personal groups, 'hidden' pathways with less accessibility are favorable. Therefore, a pathway configuration with a certain mixture of different degrees of accessibility could meet the diverse needs of social interactions. On the other side, the findings of this study can be used to optimize the spatial distribution of support facilities, such as benches. Pathways and zones preferred by social interactions can be recognized by analyzing spatial attributes in the design stage. More support facilities should then be placed to meet the demands of social interactions. The same principle can be also used in activity zones to improve cultural and physical activity.  
Conceptualization, Q.S. and B.Y.; methodology, Q.S. and B.Y.; software, D.W.; validation, D.W.; formal analysis, B.Y.; investigation, D.W.; resources, Q.S. and D.W.; data curation, D.W.; writing--original draft preparation, B.Y. and D.W.; writing--review and editing, Q.S. and B.Y.; visualization, D.W. and B.Y.; supervision, Q.S. and B.Y.; project administration, Q.S.; funding acquisition, B.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, grant number 2020 RCW001.  
Not applicable.  
Data Availability StatementData is contained within the article.  
The authors wish to acknowledge [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON], for their help in the field behavior observation.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.