A Multi-Dimensional Data-Driven Study on the Emotional Attachment Characteristics of the Renovation of Beijing Traditional Quadrangles

Abstract

In recent years, the development of China’s megacities has entered the stage of stock renewal. Research and practice concerning old city renewal in cities with a long history, represented by Beijing, has also become a hot spot for researchers and designers in the fields of urban planning, architecture and landscape architecture. As one of the main spatial components of the old city, Beijing’s traditional quadrangles are closely related to the spatial perception and emotional experience of citizens and tourists due to their near-human scale characteristics. However, current research focuses more on the evaluation of the historical value of the quadrangles in the early stage of renovation and the specific design and construction methods in the process of renovation, and few studies pay attention to the characteristics of the built environment that promote the emotional experience of users after renovation is completed. Under these circumstances, the study focuses on the emotional attachment between people and the spatial composition and built environment characteristics of the renovated traditional Beijing quadrangles; the avant garde small-scale quadrangle renovation type, which has a wider coverage, more types of user, and pays more attention to people’s emotional experience in the renovated space, was selected as the research object. Four typical quadrangle cases were selected for in-depth discussion. Based on the theory of emotional attachment from a multidisciplinary perspective, this study constructed a series of scales that can measure the degree and dimension of emotional attachment between people and the built environment, coupled with local observation and interviews, to obtain multi-dimensional data reflecting attachment, and used SPSS to conduct correlation analysis and exploratory factor analysis to quantitatively explore the effects of different built environment characteristics on attachment. The results show that: (1) As for the material characteristics, the organic integration of traditional and modern materials, structures and colors can effectively enhance people’s positive emotional experience and promote the establishment of emotional attachment. The combination of these characteristics and the process of people’s three-dimensional spatial experience can further enhance the degree of attachment. In addition, the consistency of materials and technologies, the organic integration of the old and the new, and the carrying capacity of the renovation method for traditional history and culture are the basis for promoting this kind of emotional attachment, which needs to be further explored and considered. (2) As for the non-material characteristics, the diverse, variable, recognizable, unique, and digital spatial function settings that respond to changes in people’s need and current developments can significantly promote the establishment of emotional attachment between people and the environment. This further emphasizes the importance of positioning the space in the early stage of the renovation and the operation of the space in the later stage. (3) The results further support the validity and rationality of the series of scales constructed in this study in quantitatively measuring the attachment characteristics between people and the built environment. As a result, the study provides a reference for emotion-oriented design means, research logic and quantitative evaluation methods in the practice and research of urban renovation and renewal in the future.

1. Introduction

1.1. Background

As China’s urban construction has entered the stage of stock renewal [1,2,3,4], in China’s megacities with a long history, represented by Beijing, the renewal and transformation of historic districts has become a hot spot in the field of built environment research and design in recent years [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Whether the complex problems brought about by rapid urbanization can be solved through stock renewal has been a continuous concern of scholars in the fields of architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture in many developed countries, and has also provided a reference for China’s exploration. In relevant explorations at home and abroad, the small-scale architectural units that make up the historic districts are often the most basic research objects [12,13,14,15,16]. Correspondingly, the traditional quadrangle dwelling is the main constituent unit and most typical representative of Beijing’s historic districts [6,17,18,19,20]. In 2021, the Beijing Municipal People’s Government issued its guiding opinions on the implementation of urban renewal actions for Beijing, which also proposed the renewal of traditional quadrangle dwellings in the core area of the capital as the main renewal task. As the most representative practice unit in the renovation of Beijing’s historic districts, the unique cultural and social value of the traditional quadrangle dwellings makes the individual and collective “emotion” carried by them a theme that needs urgent attention during the full life circle of the renovation. However, current research focuses more on the evaluation of the historical value of the quadrangles in the early stage of renovation and the specific design and construction methods in the process of renovation [21,22,23,24,25,26], and few studies and evaluations pay attention to the characteristics of the built environment that promote the emotional experience of users after the renovation is completed. This may largely be due to the lack of theoretical methods in the traditional field of architecture to quantitatively measure the emotional relationship between people and the environment [27,28,29,30]. At this time, emotional attachment theory and its quantitative measurement methods promoted by multidisciplinary researchers provide an opportunity to solve the above problems. Therefore, based on the multidisciplinary theory of emotional attachment and its measuring scales, this study aims to research and evaluate the renovation of Beijing’s typical traditional quadrangles from an emotion-oriented perspective.

1.2. Literature Review

1.2.1. Research on the Renovation of Beijing’s Traditional Quadrangles and Related Evaluation

As is known, the renovation of historic districts has been studied and practiced in China for more than 30 years [21], and as a typical spatial unit of Beijing’s historic district, Beijing’s traditional quadrangle dwellings have become an important object for architects, historians, and planners to explore [6,17,18,26]. Based on the degree of intervention of renovation methods in quadrangle dwellings, existing practice and research can be divided into four categories: restorative restoration, organic renewal and urban fabric insertion, micro-renewal and micro-circulation, pioneer intervention and architecture transformation.

The first category aims to protect and restore the historical characteristics of the quadrangle itself and is mostly oriented to houses with a high level of protection. Therefore, research and evaluation mostly focus on the basic typological, morphological, and technological aspects of the traditional quadrangles with high historical preservation value [31,32,33]. This is the main field that has been paid attention to by the vast majority of scholars related to architectural history, cultural relics protection and old city renewal in the study of traditional courtyard houses in Beijing. For example, the famous Chinese architectural historians Wang Qiming, Ma Bingjian, Jia Jun, etc., summarized the historical development, overall layout, building units, and construction methods of Beijing quadrangles in their classic books [34,35,36]. Combined with emerging technologies, some scholars further use digital surveying and mapping methods, images and 3D models to analyze the spatial characteristics and scales of courtyard buildings, and study the reasons for their formation and their development process [37,38]. Correspondingly, the evaluation of this kind of quadrangle building pays more attention to its material characteristics, especially its architectural style, and some evaluations even construct an index of the completeness and magnificence of its detailed decoration and structure, such as courtyard brick carving, stone carving, wood carving and oil decoration painting, street doors, screen doors, partition doors, curtain frames, air doors, branch windows, upside-down friezes, bench lintels, windows, assorted windows, etc. [33,39,40]. Since most of these quadrangle houses are not open to the public, there is little attention paid to the characteristics of people’s emotional attachment in their evaluation. Therefore, this study did not select such quadrangle houses as the research object. However, the systematic study of their historical context, development and evolution, and spatial form provided the possible emotional attachment dimension characteristics of the original architecture of quadrangles for this study, which is an important reference for the subsequent construction of an emotional attachment measurement scale.

The second and third types are derived from the concept of organic renewal proposed by Professor Wu Liangyong, focusing on the gradual means of the urban renewal of old cities at the urban scale [41,42,43]. This part of the research is mainly driven by scholars in the field of urban planning in China. Based on this, in the past two years, scholars in this field have begun to pay attention to the boundaries and balance between the renewal of Beijing’s old city and the preservation of traditional quadrangle houses. For example, in the face of the differences accumulated in the history of different areas, some scholars have carried out differentiated and targeted protection paths on the basis of continuing the overall protection of traditional features [44,45]. From the perspective of conflict and coordination between multiple user groups, some scholars have proposed that the protection and renewal of the historic districts with quadrangles needs to solve the contradiction of multi-party participation [46,47]. Although the scale of related research and practice is quite different from the scale of architecture space and the human body, the influence of social relationship value on people’s emotions regarding the renovation of quadrangles is discussed from a more macro perspective. Previous studies from multidisciplinary perspective have also shown that the social relationships of different people often has a decisive impact on attachment. Therefore, these practices and studies provide a reference for the construction of attachment scales from a more social perspective.

The last category focuses on the renovation of the building itself. In the past two years, some old quadrangles that are idle or in urgent need of upgrading their status quo have been particularly favored by individual or group avant garde architects. Combined with new formats, such as cafes [48], homestays [49], and cultural and creative shops [50], a variety of newly renovated traditional quadrangles have sprung up in Beijing’s hutongs. This kind of renovation focuses on the materials, structures, and spatial forms that make up the built environment [51], responds to the improvement in contemporary demand for spatial experience through design close to the human scale, and helps promote emotional attachment. Therefore, this category provides the appropriate object for this study. However, at present, on the one hand, research on this kind of quadrangle pays more attention to the unique and personalized spatial form transformation and design methods of avant garde designers, including the discussion of how to organically couple new materials and new forms with old buildings and old spaces, as well as the designer’s own style [48,52,53,54]. On the other hand, driven by technological development, how to optimize the environment of traditional quadrangles to meet the needs of contemporary people and emerging functions through new construction technologies is discussed, such as focusing on wind environment and building energy consumption by means of computer simulation, studying the impact of traditional spatial scale changes on heat and wind, and the possibility of prefabricated construction methods in quadrangle renovation [54,55,56,57]. In the past two years, there have been a large number of relevant studies, but few of them have focused on the user experience [58,59], let alone the most complex and diverse emotional experiences. With the changing needs of people in the digital age, this kind of more flexible form of courtyard renovation has become an important way to continue the vitality of traditional courtyard houses, and it is urgent to achieve a more user-oriented research. This is exactly what this study is trying to explore.

Overall, the renovation and transformation of traditional quadrangle dwellings in Beijing are varied and complex, and covers multiple scales from architecture to cities, so the corresponding evaluation research also has multi-scale and multi-perspective characteristics [60,61,62,63]. However, similar to the lack of consideration of user experience in renovation practice and research, the evaluation of people’s emotional experience is rarely seen in evaluation. Some scholars who focus on the post-occupancy evaluation of architecture have made preliminary explorations of this aspect. For example, the team of Professor Zhuang Weimin of Tsinghua University conducted some evaluation studies on the renewal and transformation of Beijing’s historic districts on the basis of the Pilot Research Report on Post-evaluation of Large Public Building Projects, such as the emotional semantic evaluation of Nanluoguxiang combined with big data [64], and the overall evaluation of the restorative repair of Yiningqiao No. 7 Courtyard [21], etc. On the one hand, the emotion-oriented evaluation of the renovation results for traditional quadrangle dwellings aims to test the results and put forward targeted improvement suggestions for the evaluation project. On the other hand, the accumulated data and experience can provide a reference for similar renovation projects in the future, especially to improve the rationality of the decision-making process under the guidance of people’s emotional attachment.

1.2.2. Research on the Mechanism of the Emotional Attachment between People and the Built Environment

Driven by the research of multidisciplinary scholars, such as in psychology and environmental behavior, research on the emotional attachment between people and the built environment systematically explores the mechanism of the emotional association between people and specific spatial characteristics, as well as the multi-dimensional influencing factors of the built environment on human emotion [65,66,67,68,69]. Based on this, the research framework of related theories, such as place attachment [67], place dependence [70,71], and sense of place [72,73], has been established, and the mechanism of attachment establishment has been further revealed [67,74].

Specifically, the establishment of emotional attachment between people and the built environment is first driven by the “place” formed by the physical environment, which triggers different degrees and dimensions of attachment in people. Among these, the origin of emotion includes multi-dimensional interactions with the environment, such as pre-conscious perception, functional use, and cognitive selection, and correspondingly, when the physical space provides possible emotion-carrying characteristics for the relevant dimensions [66,70], it is more conducive to the establishment of attachment. Combined with previous research, it can be seen that the above three dimensions [75,76,77] play a joint role in the process of every interaction and emotion generation, but the emphasis is different in different contexts. In this way, the physical environment promotes emotional connection with people through its hierarchical spatial scale, dynamic form and structure, materials that integrate natural factors, and design and construction based on local society, history and culture [27,28,78].

From the perspective of the built environment, the connotations of these four parts can be further analyzed. Firstly, the spatial scale, with a sense of hierarchy, can effectively trigger emotional experience, which is the essential appeal of the process of life evolution [79,80,81]. Studies have shown that people are more likely to perceive and understand an environment associated with a human scale [75,76]. In the built environment, this feature is achieved by the harmony of materials, colors, decorations, and forms, giving people a perceived and cognitive experience from the visual to the physical [80], thereby increasing the intensity of emotional attachment. Secondly, the reason that the dynamic shape and structure of the built environment can effectively trigger people’s emotional experience is mainly related to the human body’s perception and cognition of actions [75,82,83]. In the built environment, the architectural boundaries that fit the scale of the human body, the architectural space flow lines that guide physical behavior, and the architectural forms that trigger visual dynamic perception can further enhance people’s emotional attachment to space. Thirdly, the intervention of natural factors in the built environment is inseparable from people’s pro-life demands, which is also the core content of Edward Wilson’s “biophilia hypothesis” [84]. In the built environment, this is manifested not only in the introduction of natural flora and fauna, natural smells and sounds, but also in the use of materials derived from nature and structural design that mimics natural organisms or plants [27,85]. Fourthly, the social, historical, and cultural characteristics of the built environment are the most abstract and complex of the four categories. If the above three constitute the material characteristics of the built environment in promoting emotional attachment with people, then this category has become an important identity representation of the built environment and the cognitive core of the construction of emotional attachment in people, and may change or even subvert the emotional experience brought about by the physical environment [67,74,86].

It can be seen that the construction of emotional attachment between people and the built environment is jointly promoted by the material and non-material characteristics of the built environment, the former including the characteristics of material, color, form, structure, natural elements, etc., and the latter including the characteristics of regionality, diversity, sociality, etc. In the digital age, with the improvement in people’s demands for change of spatial functions, the variability of the built environment also affects the emotional experience it offers. This provides the theoretical basis for the subsequent determination of specific measurement dimensions in the emotional attachment scale.

1.2.3. Research on the Evaluation Method of Emotional Attachment between People and Built Environment Based on Multi-Dimensional Data

On the basis of the above theoretical research, in order to scientifically and objectively measure the emotional attachment between people and the built environment characteristics of the renovated quadrangle dwellings, it is necessary to use the emotional measurement method jointly promoted and improved by multidisciplinary scholars. Measurement is a fundamental activity in all branches of science and, in the social and behavioral sciences, it aims to quantify behavior or help understand and predict behavior, and has developed into a specialized branch of research, psychometrics, with scales as its main research tool [87,88]. Due to the complexity, diversification and individualization of behaviors and related psychological phenomena, measurement is always aimed at one, or a certain, aspect of the content, and the classification of the scale is becoming more and more detailed and diverse [43,89,90]. At this time, the selection and construction of appropriate scales based on the problem is the key to the success of the evaluation [91]. The purpose of this study is to explore the strength of the emotional attachment between people and the built environment, the emotional dimension, and the specific attachment characteristics of built environment factors. Among these, objective 1 describes the intensity of place attachment, and this study selected the evaluation scale of emotional attachment (Place Attachment Scale) between people, environment and dynamic processes, constructed by Scannell et al. [86,92,93]. On the one hand, it emphasizes the role of environment in the process of attachment establishment and corresponds to the logic of this study and on the other hand it has high reliability and validity, which has been confirmed in recent empirical studies [78,94]. Objective 2 aims to explore the positive or negative orientation of the attachment, so the positive and negative affective scale (PANAS Scale) was selected for measurement [95]. Objective 3 aims to explore the emotional relationship between the specific built environment characteristics and people’s emotion after the renovation, so a scale composed of dimensions that describe the spatial characteristics, including structure and material, colors, natural elements, accessibility, privacy, diversity, communication, diversity, and playfulness, has been established, and the reliability and validity of the scale have been supported by previous research [27,28,94].

Therefore, the study takes the above-mentioned fourth type of traditional quadrangles dwellings with avant garde renovation as the research object and selects four newly renovated quadrangles that have been widely recognized by users for the research and evaluation of the emotional association characteristics after transformation: No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang, Dongjingyuan, 27 Yuan, and Yuangu Water House. With the help of the multi-dimensional attachment scale, the study attempts to quantitatively examine the following three questions:

(1)

Did the four avant garde renovated traditional quadrangle dwellings establish a closer emotional attachment with people?

(2)

What is the degree and dimension of emotional attachment, and are there any differences between the four quadrangles?

(3)

To what extent do the specific characteristics of the built environment of the quadrangle play a role in emotional attachment, and what are the similarities and differences between the four quadrangles?

Hopefully, the results can help reveal the specific spatial elements and corresponding design methods that are conducive to improving the emotional attachment of people in the process of quadrangle renovation and provide a reference for the development of more human-oriented urban renewal methods in the future. On the other hand, it is hoped that, through this study, the evaluation dimension of the renovation of traditional quadrangle dwellings under the guidance of emotional attachment can be clarified, and the corresponding post-occupancy evaluation framework of building renovation in historic districts can be improved. As a result, the renewal and transformation of the historic district will be truly promoted with care for people’s emotions.

2. Research Objects and Methods

2.1. Research Objects

2.1.1. Site: Four Pioneer Renovated Beijing Quadrangles

Based on the above background and the purpose of this study, it selects four traditional quadrangles that have been renovated by avant garde architects or teams in the past two years: No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang, Dongjingyuan, 27 Yuan, and Yuangu Water House (Figure 1). The selection criteria were mainly based on the following three aspects. First, the four traditional quadrangles were renovated to create architectural spaces that focus on user experience and originated at the human scale, which was in line with the problems to be explored in this study. Second, the four traditional quadrangles were open to the public, which was conducive to the research team in measuring the emotional attachment via scales and obtain more reliable data. Last but not least, the four pioneer quadrangles selected in this study do not belong to the scope of cultural relics protection in Beijing, so they have more flexible possibilities for renovation. At the same time, the updated functions of the four quadrangles are all public and open, facing the demands of contemporary people and including the emerging functions and formats brought about by contemporary developments, so the study has more reference value for the future development of a large number of Beijing quadrangles that do not belong to the protected category but are in urgent need of renovation. The basic situation and the characteristics of the built environment of the four quadrangles are as follows.

No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang is located at No. 91 Beiluoguxiang, Beijing, with an area of about 1400 square meters (Figure 2). It is the largest of the four traditional quadrangles with an untraditional underground space, a special space with a unique double-height patio. Though with a long history, the original courtyard house is in an abandoned state. Although the original sloping roof building in the courtyard is retained as a whole, the structural stability is poor. Therefore, the renovation of this courtyard does not involve the local indigenous people, and is conducive to the restoration, protection and continuation of the built environment itself. The quadrangle has been transformed into a space with a restaurant, afternoon tea, and homestay, with a design concept of “the dialogue of interlocking new and old”. The renovated courtyard house retains the original two-courtyard pattern and restores the sloping roof building, while creatively inserting a set of roof corridor systems to unify the front and rear courtyard spaces, forming a spatial sequence of three-level paths in the sky, ground, and underground. In terms of architectural structure, the structure of the original old house has been retained and the traditional wooden frame is maintained. The addition of new spaces, such as paths and staircases, is completely separated from the traditional structure. In terms of building materials and colors, the new part adopts the combination of the traditional red and green colors from the traditional quadrangles and pure white new materials, while the old building maintains the original charm of blue bricks, gray tiles and wood frames, providing users with a multi-dimensional experience in the space. Meanwhile, the existing old trees and the newly installed pond in the courtyard provide users with the opportunity to interact with nature.

Temple Dongjingyuan, formerly known as the Zhizhu Temple, was founded at the beginning of the 15th century, and the current buildings date from 1700 (Figure 3). It is located between the northeast corner of the Forbidden City and Jingshan Park. It was in a dilapidated and chaotic state before it was renewed, and there were many temporary and illegal structures in the temple courtyard. At the beginning of the 20th century, the temple was included in the scope of cultural relics protection of buildings in Beijing. Therefore, its subsequent renovation and development comply with the laws and regulations on the protection of cultural relics, the intensity and degree of development are the lowest among the four courtyards, and the means of renewal are basically repair and restoration. Of course, in the use of space, new functions and activities are carried in the old space and form, which triggers a more dramatic and different spatial experience. It is also a unique way to promote the emotional attachment between people and the environment among the four research quadrangles. Specifically, it has been refurbished from 2009 to 2012 as a high-end hotel, restaurant and exhibition space, which holds various art exhibitions and cultural activities from time to time. The courtyard also houses Gathered Sky, a long-running art installation by renowned artist James Turrell. It is the only important heritage building among the four research objects, and its renovation is therefore based on restoration and conservation. In addition to the space used for the Turell permanent exhibition, in terms of architectural structure, the wooden structure, Dougong and blue brick walls of the original temple have been almost 100% restored, and in terms of architectural colors and materials, the original combination of red walls, gray tiles and glazed decorations has been maintained. In some of the spaces, the slogans with characteristics of the period have also been retained. Unlike the other three research objects, the architectural space of Dongjingyuan provides users with diverse, variable, and even customizable activities and events, which in turn add a polysemy to the built environment. For example, some artists have combined the colonnade of the main hall of the temple to set up their works or used the courtyard as an exhibition and show venue.

Next, 27 Yuan is located at 27 Neiwubu Street, Dongcheng District. It was renovated from an old dwelling into an art, culture, and café space made from a repurposed hutong courtyard to hold hutong-centric events and activities in 2016 (Figure 4). Unlike the first two quadrangles, which were in an abandoned and unused status before the renovation, 27 yuan was already a public activity space for the surrounding hutong community. However, due to the poor maintenance of the built environment, it is not used effectively and there is no possibility of providing public activities for the residents of the hutongs. Therefore, the original intention of its renovation is to make it truly the center of an emotional anchoring of the community through updating the status of the built environment, and at the same time to meet the new needs of contemporary people and activate the surrounding hutong space. Therefore, 27 Yuan focuses on the protection and restoration of the original quadrangle space form and architecture to remain its sense of place. Among these features, the wooden structure of the original building, the blue bricks and gray tiles, and the color and scheme of the doors and windows of the traditional courtyard house have been retained, and the flower beds have been restored in the courtyard to enclose the century-old trees. The renovated architecture is distributed with 10 independent spaces, which are used to carry out a series of activities covering drama, dance, music, art exhibitions, literature, salons, workshops, etc., providing a space and platform for community residents and art lovers in the city to share, communicate, and educate through entertainment.

Although it has a similar functional ambiguity and variability to the above-mentioned Dongjingyuan, and responds to contemporary demands for spiritual space and individuality, the difference is that it is also community-oriented and more down-to-earth, compared with the high-end groups facing Dongjingyuan, demonstrating the continuation of the memory of the original quadrangle life in terms of renovation methods, spatial organization, and architectural scale, which reflects care for the aborigines around the Hutongs.

Yuangu Water House is located at No. 10 Liuyin Street, about 200 meters away from Houhai, which is the most prosperous commercial Hutong area in the old city of Beijing (Figure 5). Its original quadrangle house dates back to the Qing Dynasty, but it does not belong to Beijing’s cultural heritage protection category and was uninhabited and idle before its renovation. It has been transformed into a small design hotel, as well as a tea house in one of the three courtyards of the original quadrangle. After renovation, the courtyard retains the spatial form of the original quadrangle, and its new function revolves around the ancient trees preserved in the center of the courtyard. The surrounding buildings with sloping roofs have been transformed into hotel rooms and ancillary facilities, and a small indoor tearoom space and an outdoor pool have been added. In terms of building structure, the designer added more windows on the basis of retaining the wooden frame, which improved the dark and crowded nature of the original old house and, in the use of materials, the designer continued the combination of wood and masonry, and used more natural wood to enhance the warmth of the space both indoors and outdoors. A state of restraint and a natural tendency has been maintained during the renovation and design. In this way, on the basis of meeting the needs of contemporary use, the warm memory of the courtyard is preserved by the designers, so as to convey the charm of the traditional courtyard space form.

The built environment and spatial characteristics of the four courtyard houses are integrated into

Table 1. Information on the four chosen quadrangles.

Object	Location	Area	Original Construction Time	Renovation Time	Status before Renovation	Status after Renovation	Degree of Renovation (of the Four)
No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang	No. 91 Beiluoguxiang, Beijing	1400 m2	Back to Yuan Dynasty, around 1300s	2022	A traditional two-tier courtyard with a patio of lower level in the second courtyard. It was originally unused.	A space with a restaurant, afternoon tearoom, and homestay.	Strongest
Dongjingyuan	No. 23, Songzhu Courtyard, North Beach Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing	3000 m2	Back to Qing Dynasty, around 1700s	2012	The abandoned 600-year-old main hall of Zhizhu Temple and dilapidated houses of various ages.	A high-end hotel, restaurant and exhibition space with restorative repair, renovating the old as before, retaining the traditional hall and surrounding buildings, and restoring the form of the courtyard.	Lightest
27 Yuan	27 Neiwubu Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing	600 m2	Back to Qing Dynasty, around 1700s	2016	An idle small quadrangle dwelling in a residential area of traditional Hutong.	Restorative restoration, preserving and perpetuating the traditional courtyard environment. The community cultural and art activity center is not only for all kinds of cutting-edge and avant garde art activities outside, but also for the elderly residents of the surrounding Hutong community.	Light
Yuangu Water House	No.10 Liuyin Street, Xicheng, Beijing	280 m2	Back to Qing Dynasty, around 1800s	2020	An idle small quadrangle dwelling in a residential area of traditional Hutong.	A small design hotel for the Yuangu Hotel series with a teahouse inside the courtyard.	Strong

and

Table 2. Renovation characteristics of the four chosen quadrangles.

Object	Material	Color	Form and Structure	Natural Elements	Highlight Features
No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang	Old: original wood and bricks New: Reinforced concrete, steel (with special color)	Natural Color from material; Designed color: Red, green, white.	Architecture: Traditional brick-and-timber structure with reinforced concrete structure. Courtyard: Maintain the original introverted form.	Water area, natural plant landscaping, natural materials including wood and stone.	An architectural experience space with and encounter between the traditional space of Beijing’s old courtyards and contemporary space that conforms to the time and to the present. Including “two courtyards, three paths, and three space colors”.
Dongjingyuan	Continuation of traditional materials: wood, bricks, stone.	Restore traditional colors (red columns, green tiles, etc.) while maintaining the original colors of traditional materials	Architecture: Traditional brick-and-timber structure. Courtyard: Maintain the original introverted form.	Water area, natural plant landscaping, natural materials including wood and stone.	The renovated Dongjingyuan holds various art exhibitions and cultural activities from time to time. The courtyard also houses Gathered Sky, a long-running art installation by renowned artist James Turrell. The public space is open to the public free of charge, and at the same time serves the residents of the surrounding hutongs.
27 Yuan	Continuation of traditional materials: wood, bricks, stone.	Restore traditional colors (red columns, green tiles, etc.) while maintaining the original colors of traditional materials	Architecture: Traditional brick-and-timber structure. Courtyard: Maintain the original introverted form.	Natural plant landscaping, original trees, natural materials including wood and stone.	It is a new comprehensive community cultural center in a traditional quadrangle built environment for residents and the public, integrating art activities, cultural excavation, lifestyle, public education, and aesthetic training.
Yuangu Water House	Old: original wood and bricks New: Reinforced concrete, steel (with white color) for the new tea house.	Restore traditional colors (red columns, green tiles, etc.) while maintaining the original colors of traditional materials. Use new white color with new material for new function.	Architecture: Traditional brick-and-timber structure with reinforced concrete structure. Courtyard: Maintain the original introverted form.	Water area, natural plant landscaping, natural materials including wood and stone.	The renovation is carried out in a restrained way, continuing the architectural structure and spatial enclosure form of the traditional quadrangle house, and intervening in the new material structure in a way that minimizes the impact on the original built environment to meet the living requirements of the current high-end hotel residence.

. Specifically, Table 1 is mainly a documentation of the basic information on the four quadrangles. Table 2 shows the specific situation and the characteristics of the built environment of the four quadrangles after the renovation. Thus, the similarities and differences between the four quadrangle houses can be further compared. In addition, since the focus of this study is on the emotional attachment characteristics of the built environment of the quadrangle space after the renovation, rather than the discussion of cultural history or cultural relics protection, contents related to historical structure, technology, and materials that have been extensively studied before the renovation have not been included here.

2.1.2. Participants: Users of the Four Renovated Quadrangles

The purpose of this study is to explore the real emotional attachment characteristics concerning the renovated built environment and people in the four quadrangles more objectively and scientifically through multi-dimensional data collection and analysis. Therefore, the participants who conducted quantitative scale measurement and qualitative observation and interviews were all real users recruited in the four quadrangles. The data collection time of this study was from June to July 2023, 200 scales measuring emotional attachment were distributed in each of the four quadrangles, and 154, 151, 146, and 147 scales with valid data were collected from No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang, Dongjingyuan, 27 Yuan, and Yuangu Water House, respectively. According to the renovated functions of different quadrangles, participants include merchants, consumers, and surrounding residents. Overall, consumers account for the highest proportion, with a relatively large number of young and middle-aged people. This is closely related to the functional planning of the four courtyard houses after the renovation.

2.2. Research Methods: Multi-Dimensional Data Collection and Analysis

2.2.1. Quantitative Data: Emotional Attachment Scale Construction and Analysis

The purpose of this study is to excavate, collect and analyze the emotional attachment characteristics between people and the architectural space of four representative avant garde renovated quadrangles in Beijing through the mining, collection and analysis of multi-source attachment data, including the scale measurement method based on place attachment theory, site observation and interview. These three methods are not independent, but complement and corroborate each other, so as to explain the mechanism of emotional attachment establishment more comprehensively, and quantitatively explore the spatial characteristics that arouse people’s emotions regarding the contemporary renovation mode of traditional quadrangles.

The method of using the scale to measure people’s emotion is derived from the emotional attachment theories represented by place attachment, and the corresponding scale is constructed for different research objects or problems. For this study, there are three goals in quantitatively evaluating the emotional attachment between different groups of people and the built environment of the renovated quadrangle space: the positive or negative status of attachment between people and the built environment, the degree of attachment, and the attachment characteristics of specific environmental factors after the renovation. Goals 1 and 2 can be achieved with the help of the Place Attachment Scale constructed by Scannell et al. in 2013, which describes the process relating people, the built environment and emotional attachment in a more complete way, corresponds to the logic of built environment design and research, has high reliability and validity, and has been used by scholars in the past two years in multi-scale research, from a single building to a whole urban area. Based on this, this study integrated the Positive and Negative Affective Scale (PANAS) and the pre-survey of the aforementioned four quadrangles and modified the Place Attachment Scale to make it more suitable for research into traditional building renovation in the context of Chinese cities. Goal 3 is to construct a scale to explore the relationship between specific spatial characteristics and people’s emotions towards the research object. Based on the psycho-statistical construction method, the pre-study of the spatial characteristics of the four quadrangles and the scoring method of the Likert scale, the semi-structural measurement scale has been constructed. This scale has been scored by experts in previous related studies, and its reliability and validity have been verified.

2.2.2. Qualitative Data: Observation and Interview Methods

Observation and interview methods are the classic qualitative methods that have been maturely used in the field of built environment evaluation, and these two methods are particularly indispensable because the renovated quadrangles are related to multiple demands of different kinds of people. In this study, the observation method focuses on recording the dimensions of the emotional attachment between people and the built environment as completely as possible and, on the other hand, it is used to determine the most prominent emotional triggering factors of the four renovated quadrangles, which is then used for coupling analysis with the results of the scale. The interview method is used to excavate the key to the emotional attachment between different groups of people and the four quadrangles, which pays more attention to the latent needs of people’s preconscious. It is helpful to deeply understand the promotion effect and the difference in the spatial renewal method of the four quadrangles on the emotional attachment between people and the built environment, so as to conduct a more comprehensive analysis of the spatial characteristics when renovating quadrangles that promote attachment.

Therefore, the data in this case were obtained from the aforementioned emotional attachment scales, local observations and interviews. These three complement and corroborate each other. According to the purpose of the study, the analysis of the results included four levels. The first was descriptive statistical analysis, in which the average and standard deviation of place attachment, positive and negative emotion, and the attachment intensity of the spatial factors of the built environment were calculated to describe the overall characteristics and differences in the emotional relationship between people and the four renovated quadrangles. The second was the correlation analysis, which studied the correlation between the spatial factors of the built environment and the emotional attachment characteristics of people. The third was the exploratory factor analysis, which summarized the specific spatial factors of the built environment into a systematic spatial dimension with the help of principal component analysis. The fourth consists of the qualitative research results. On-site observation and interviews were used to interpret and refine the results of the above quantitative analyses.

2.3. Research Framework

The study took four representative avant garde renovated quadrangles in Beijing as examples, coupled with the multi-dimensional emotional data obtained from the emotional attachment scale, local observation and interviews, to analyze the spatial characteristics of the renovated quadrangles based on the value orientation of emotional attachment.

Based on the above-mentioned research on the mechanism of attachment between people and the built environment, combined with the characteristics of the four renovated quadrangles, the research first clarifies the attachment dimensions to be discussed: the overall intensity of emotional attachment, the positive and negative degrees, and the degree of attachment to the specific characteristics of the built environment. The first two parts were measured by the Place Attachment Scale (PA Scale) and the Positive and Negative Affective Scale (PANAS Scale), and the third part was based on the above theoretical review of the attachment establishment process to construct an attachment degree measurement scale for the characteristics of the built environment of the renovated quadrangle. The observation and interviews of the people interacting with the four quadrangle houses were carried out simultaneously with the distribution and measurement of the scales, and the process and results supported and complemented each other. Among these, the scale measurement is led by the researcher and collects top-down quantitative data. The combined observation and interview scale provides bottom-up qualitative data. Therefore, by coupling multi-dimensional data, the characteristics of the built environment that affect the attachment to the renovated quadrangles were analyzed, and related design methods, research techniques and renewal policies are therefore promoted. The research framework of this study is depicted in Figure 6.

3. Results and Discussion

The constructed scales were used to measure the emotional attachment of users in four quadrangles (No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang, Dongjingyuan, 27 Yuan, Yuangu Water House), and 154, 151, 146 and 147 valid results were obtained, respectively, which met the sample size required for the scale to obtain reliable conclusions. SPSS v26.0 software (IBM, New York, NY, USA) was used to process the scale data and analyze the results. At the same time, combined with interviews and observations, the paper analyzes more completely the specific spatial characteristics that promote people’s emotional experience in the renovated quadrangles.

3.1. The Overall Features of Participants’ Emotional Attachment to the Four Quadrangles

The overall characteristics of people’s emotional attachment to the four renovated quadrangles are shown in

Table 3. The overall characteristics of emotional attachment to the four quadrangles.

Emotional Attachment	No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang (N = 154)		Dongjingyuan (N = 151)		27 Yuan (N = 146)		Yuangu Water House (N = 147)
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Positive Affect	3.13	0.79	3.04	0.67	2.21	0.11	2.24	0.77
Negative Affect	1.49	0.75	1.40	0.52	1.21	0.05	1.33	0.50
Place Attachment	4.45	1.09	4.32	0.99	4.19	0.14	4.13	0.81
Overall attachment to quadrangle characteristics	5.28	1.00	5.17	0.99	4.86	0.14	4.55	0.92

. The results showed that most people had strong attachment and an emotional experience regarding the built environment characteristics in the four quadrangles (the mean values for the four were all higher than the median), but the results for positive emotion were different. Specifically, the positive experience of No. 91 Courtyard and Dongjingyuan was stronger (the mean value was higher than the median), while the positive experience of 27 Yuan and Yuangu Water House was weaker (the mean value was lower than the median). Among these, the standard deviation of the positive emotion of 27 Yuan was the smallest, indicating that the difference between people’s positive experience was small, i.e., most people feel no positive feelings towards 27 Yuan. Meanwhile, the intensity of attachment to the spatial characteristics of the built environment in the four quadrangle houses was at a high level (the scores for the four quadrangles are all around 5), indicating that the ontology of the built environment contributed greatly to the establishment of affective association, while the mean and standard deviation of negative emotions were at a low level, indicating that users rarely had a negative experience of the four quadrangle houses. This is consistent with the relaxed, happy, and energetic state of the people spotted during field observation and interview.

Specifically, people’s negative feelings towards the four quadrangles were all weak; among them No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang was the strongest and 27 yuan was the weakest. At the same time, the SD results showed that the difference in negative emotions for 27 yuan was very small, indicating that almost all the participants did not have negative feelings about 27 yuan. Combined with the follow-up specific attachment scale of built environment characteristics, observation and interview results, it can be seen that this is largely due to the fact that 27 yuan has been updated into a public space that not only has the function of community activity, but also carries new business forms, such as coffee spaces. This not only provides a valuable gathering place for the surrounding aborigines, but also shortens the gap between the young and the elderly via the built environment, so that people of different ages and backgrounds have a positive emotional attachment to the place. This also shows that social and cultural characteristics have a great influence on people’s emotional attachment to the built environment.

3.2. The Correlation between Place Attachment, Positive and Negative Affect and Attachment to Specific Built Environment Characteristics of the Four Quadrangles

3.2.1. Correlation Analysis Result for No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang

As is shown in

Table 4. The correlation analysis result for No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang.

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
1. positive affect	1.000
2. negative affect	0.121	1.000
3. place attachment	0.530 **	−0.149	1.000
4. material	0.407 **	−0.153	0.572 **	1.000
5. color	0.563 **	−0.117	0.703 **	0.735 **	1.000
6. natural-related feature	0.396 **	−0.115	0.794 **	0.478 **	0.657 **	1.000
7. form and structure	0.544 **	0.056	0.459 **	0.586 **	0.674 **	0.434 **	1.000
8. privacy	0.320 *	−0.013	0.660 **	0.507 **	0.565 **	0.632 **	0.386 **	1.000
9. diversity	0.465 **	−0.060	0.615 **	0.577 **	0.758 **	0.710 **	0.589 **	0.578 **	1.000
10. sociability	0.370 *	−0.226	0.535 **	0.546 **	0.618 **	0.409 **	0.467 **	0.313 *	0.637 **	1.000
11. territoriality	0.149	−0.092	0.317 *	0.297 *	0.409 **	0.346 *	0.236	0.380 **	0.343 *	0.283	1.000
12. playability	0.343 *	0.106	0.381 **	0.451 **	0.407 **	0.324 *	0.425 **	0.398 **	0.438 **	0.443 **	0.440 **	1.000
13. uniqueness	0.316 *	−0.033	0.389 **	0.504 **	0.610 **	0.343 *	0.511 **	0.271	0.605 **	0.576 **	0.503 **	0.612 **	1.000
14. changeability	0.547 **	0.119	0.481 **	0.332 *	0.556 **	0.389 **	0.498 **	0.430 **	0.503 **	0.411 **	0.557 **	0.558 **	0.619 **	1.000
15.Overall attachment to quadrangle characteristics	0.573 **	−0.086	0.755 **	0.718 **	0.878 **	0.735 **	0.705 **	0.657 **	0.846 **	0.718 **	0.543 **	0.661 **	0.727 **	0.723 **	1.000

* p < 0.05 (2-tailed), ** p < 0.01 (2-tailed).

, the results of correlation analysis showed that the degree of place attachment to No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang was significantly positively correlated with positive affect (0.530 **) and negatively correlated with negative affect (−0.149), indicating that positive emotions had promoted the formation of people’s place attachments. Specifically, the results show a very significant positive correlation between the built environment characteristics of materials, colors, natural elements, privacy, diversity, sociability and place attachment (0.572 **, 0.703 **, 0.794 **, 0.660 **, 0.615 **, 0.535 **), and the factors of form and structure, regionality, playability, uniqueness, and variability also have a positive promoting effect on this, but are weaker than the former (0.459 **, 0.317 *, 0.381 **, 0.389 **, 0.481 **). Overall, the correlation analysis for No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang showed that the specific characteristics of the built environment had the greatest impact on positive emotions and the degree of place attachment among the four pioneer renovated quadrangles in this study.

According to the correlation results between quadrangle characteristics, the effects of specific characteristics of the built environment on attachment and emotion can be further analyzed. For example, there is a significant positive correlation between color and material and diversity of the built environment for No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang (0.735 **, 0.710 **; all values are greater than 0.700), indicating that the diversity of colors in the renovation of the quadrangle effectively improves people’s emotional experience of space, while the color is closely related to the selection and use of materials. Actually, in the design concept of No. 91 Courtyard and its subsequent updates, the unique use of Chinese traditional red, green, and white colors is an important renovation method, and the results of correlation analysis support its emotional promotion value. However, this reinterpretation of traditional architectural elements does not enhance the role of the territoriality of the renovated courtyard house on attachment, suggesting that the emotional impetus of color may be more in itself than necessarily related to culture or history. In addition to color, diversity also showed a very significant positive correlation with the characteristics related to natural elements, indicating that the design of the natural environment and the use of nature-related elements in No. 91 Courtyard effectively improved people’s attachment to the environment by promoting the diversity experience brought about by the environment. It can be inferred that the small courtyard landscape set up by the designer in different rooms and the water area designed in combination with the corridor can provide people with an obvious emotional experience.

Focusing on the non-material characteristics of the quadrangle, the correlation results show that territoriality did not promote attachment and specific emotions, indicating that the renovated built environment may have lacked the characteristics and style of traditional Beijing quadrangle houses to a certain extent, and weakened the spatial experience of “old Beijing”.

3.2.2. Correlation Analysis Result for Dongjingyuan

The results of correlation analysis (

Table 5. The correlation analysis result for Dongjingyuan.

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
1. positive affect	1.000
2. negative affect	−0.218	1.000
3. place attachment	0.701 **	−0.382 **	1.000
4. material	0.375 **	−0.096	0.502 **	1.000
5. color	0.491 **	−0.379 **	0.524 **	0.397 **	1.000
6. nature-related feature	0.321 *	−0.389 **	0.441 **	0.308 *	0.711 **	1.000
7. form and structure	0.392 **	−0.192	0.341 *	0.613 **	0.497 **	0.343 *	1.000
8. privacy	0.474 **	−0.237	0.499 **	0.486 **	0.462 **	0.446 **	0.515 **	1.000
9. diversity	0.368 *	−0.329 *	0.493 **	0.339 *	0.528 **	0.434 **	0.300 *	0.579 **	1.000
10. sociability	0.329 *	−0.293 *	0.270	0.163	0.526 **	0.348 *	0.388 **	0.499 **	0.441 **	1.000
11. territoriality	0.296 *	−0.100	0.347 *	0.331 *	0.412 **	0.301 *	0.468 **	0.428 **	0.218	0.440 **	1.000
12. playability	0.349 *	−0.100	0.486 **	0.264	0.461 **	0.288	0.156	0.446 **	0.586 **	0.323 *	0.228	1.000
13. uniqueness	0.251	−0.287	0.445 **	0.481 **	0.460 **	0.281	0.288 *	0.312 *	0.379 **	0.293 *	0.352 *	0.442 **	1.000
14. changeability	0.344 *	−0.270	0.424 **	0.186	0.386 **	0.397 **	0.215	0.450 **	0.704 **	0.489 **	0.264	0.571 **	0.428 **	1.000
15.Overall attachment to quadrangle characteristics	0.561 **	−0.436 **	0.660**	0.519 **	0.818 **	0.653 **	0.557 **	0.735 **	0.764 **	0.646 **	0.550 **	0.643 **	0.579 **	0.693 **	1.000

* p < 0.05 (2-tailed), ** p < 0.01 (2-tailed).

) showed that the degree of place attachment of people to Dongjingyuan was significantly positively correlated with positive affect (0.701 **) and significantly negatively correlated with negative affect (−0.382 **), indicating that positive emotions had effectively promoted the formation of people’s place attachments, while people had little negative feelings during the interaction. Specifically, the results show a significant positive correlation between the built environment characteristics of material, color and place attachment (0.502 **, 0.524 **), and the factors of nature-related features, privacy, diversity, playability, uniqueness, changeability also have a positive promoting effect on this, but are weaker than the former (0.441 **, 0.499 *, 0.493 **, 0.486 **, 0.445 **, 0.424 **). The characteristics of form and structure and regionality also show a certain degree of significant correlation (0.341 *, 0.347 *), but weaker than the previous ones. Meanwhile, sociality did not show a significant correlation with attachment. Combined with the spatial characteristics of Dongjingyuan, it can be inferred that the relatively high-end commercialization and customized private functional settings may weaken the social attributes of the quadrangles to a certain extent. On the other hand, the correlation results show that, after the renovation, the uniqueness of this quadrangle environment has little effect on emotions. This may also prove the success of the “repair the old as the old” approach, and renewal and protection have made the Dongjingyuan better integrated into the environmental context of the surrounding old city.

The effects of specific characteristics of the built environment on attachment and emotion can be further analyzed according to the correlation analysis results between each other. For example, there is a significant positive correlation between color and nature-related features (0.711 **), indicating that the renovation of Dongjingyuan provides users with an emotional experience by retaining the naturalized color, which is consistent with the results of the conservation renovation of the ancient buildings of the original quadrangle and proves the emotion-arousing value of the traditional wooden structure of the courtyard building; on the other hand, it may also be related to the permanent exhibition of the color master Turell in Dongjingyuan. The significant correlation between form and structure and material (0.613 **) also proves once again that the renovation of traditional courtyard buildings is conducive to improving the emotional experience and attachment of users. In addition, diversity is positively correlated with variability, privacy and playability (0.704 **, 0.579 **, 0.586 **), especially with variability (whose correlation factor is greater than 0.700), which proves that Dongjingyuan’s renovation of the courtyard space into a clubhouse-like space open to the outside world and flexible functions has indeed improved its ability to improve attachment of specific groups of people to a certain extent. In addition, the significant correlation between variability and playability further suggests that the interesting experience brought by Dongjingyuan is partly based on the changeable spatial functions it provides.

However, as the object that retains the characteristics of the original environment most completely among the four courtyards, the function of Dongjingyuan is the most singular for a small group of people. Most of the activities, such as catering, gatherings, exhibitions and yoga provided by it, are oriented to elites with strong consumption power. This functional orientation separates it from the residents of the surrounding hutongs. Therefore, although the results of the scale show that the users have emotional attachment to the characteristics of the built environment of Dongjingyuan, the surrounding residents have certain negative attitudes towards this transformation, which can be further understood by combining on-site observation and interviews.

3.2.3. Correlation Analysis Result for 27 Yuan

The results of correlation analysis (

Table 6. The correlation analysis result for 27 Yuan.

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
1. positive affect	1.000
2. negative affect	−0.095	1.000
3. place attachment	0.469 **	−0.313 *	1.000
4. material	0.297 *	−0.095	0.579 **	1.000
5. color	0.318 *	−0.227	0.637 **	0.799 **	1.000
6. nature-related feature	0.397 **	−0.008	0.530 **	0.763 **	0.748 **	1.000
7. form and structure	0.470 **	−0.271	0.672 **	0.633 **	0.721 **	0.607 **	1.000
8. privacy	0.213	−0.203	0.433 **	0.584 **	0.416 **	0.522 **	0.425 **	1.000
9. diversity	0.262	−0.350 *	0.721 **	0.512 **	0.580 **	0.502 **	0.596 **	0.488 **	1.000
10. sociability	0.380 **	−0.310 *	0.639 **	0.459 **	0.503 **	0.528 **	0.750 **	0.474 **	0.783 **	1.000
11. territoriality	0.333 *	−0.023	0.532 **	0.574 **	0.459 **	0.391 **	0.583 **	0.320 *	0.420 **	0.343 *	1.000
12. playability	0.184	−0.077	0.314 *	0.293*	0.375 **	0.374 **	0.367 **	0.241	0.372 **	0.362 **	0.214	1.000
13. uniqueness	0.158	−0.169	0.073	−0.023	0.077	0.026	0.236	−0.101	0.110	0.133	0.051	−0.007	1.000
14. changeability	0.031	−0.268	0.048	0.130	0.196	0.175	0.117	0.145	0.092	0.001	0.101	0.217	0.192	1.000
15.Overall attachment to quadrangle characteristics	0.453 **	−0.229	0.745 **	0.793 **	0.811 **	0.809 **	0.838 **	0.627 **	0.762 **	0.728 **	0.621 **	0.450 **	0.256	0.296 *	1.000

* p < 0.05 (2-tailed), ** p < 0.01 (2-tailed).

) showed that the degree of place attachment of people to 27 Yuan was relatively significantly positively correlated with positive affect (0.469 **) and significantly negatively correlated with negative affect (−0.313 *), indicating that positive emotions had promoted the formation of people’s place attachments, but this is not as significant as the role of No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang and Dongjingyuan. Specifically, the results show a significant positive correlation between the built environment characteristics of material, color, form and structure, diversity, sociability and place attachment (0.579 **, 0.637 **, 0.672 **, 0.721 **, 0.639 **). Among these, the role of diversity is particularly significant. This is in line with the characteristics of 27 Yuan after its renovation as a place to accommodate both public activities of the aborigines of the surrounding Hutong community and a space for various emerging avant garde art activities for Beijing. The factors of nature-related features, regionality, and playability also have a positive promoting effect, but are weaker than the former (0.530 **, 0.433 *, 0.532 **, 0.314 *). Unlike the first two quadrangles, the uniqueness and changeability of No. 27 were not significantly correlated with place attachment and positive and negative affect. As for the former, it may be related to the renewal method of restoring the original environment of the traditional quadrangle, and as a result its built environment characteristics are consistent with the surrounding traditional blocks and are not prominent, while, for the latter, the lack of relevance is consistent with the characteristics of the built-up environment dominated by the traditional courtyard form of No. 27 Courtyard: there is no obvious space with variable form.

For the specific characteristics of the quadrangle’s built environment, the correlation analysis results show that, among the physical characteristics of the built environment, there is a very significant positive correlation between material and color, nature-related features (0.799 **, 0.763 **), as well as color and nature-related features, form and structure (0.748 **, 0.721 **) of 27 Yuan after renovation. Meanwhile, there is also a significant positive correlation between material and form and structure (0.633 **). It can be inferred that the ontological color of natural materials, such as wood, stone, and brick, and the original mechanical characteristics of the materials displayed through the brick and wood structure are to some extent conducive to people’s emotional experience. This further shows that, as a representative of traditional Beijing residential architecture, the quadrangle house has a unique charm and is worth continuing with its original spatial characteristics. In addition, sociability is significantly correlated with diversity, form and structure. Combined with on-site observation and interviews, it can be inferred that, for the former, the diverse functional settings provide the possibility of different activities for different groups of people, and generally meet the emotional demands of the vast majority of people, while for the latter, this mainly originates from the form of courtyard space presented after the renovation of 27 Yuan, which promotes communication between residents as well as tourists and in this way activates the value of the quadrangle space.

The results of correlation analysis also revealed another problem: almost none of the non-material characteristics of 27 yuan evoked positive emotions in people, indicating that the renovated built environment of the quadrangle might experience weak feedback and carrying capacity for the culture and history of the surrounding hutong and the community.

3.2.4. Correlation Analysis Result for Yuangu Water House

The correlation analysis results for Yuangu Water House (

Table 7. The correlation analysis result for Yuangu Water House.

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
1. positive affect	1.000
2. negative affect	0.614 **	1.000
3. place attachment	0.182	0.157	1.000
4. material	0.027	−0.073	0.382 **	1.000
5. color	0.018	−0.171	0.309 *	0.400 **	1.000
6. nature-related feature	0.007	−0.199	0.120	0.270 *	0.315 *	1.000
7. form and structure	0.196	0.187	0.353 **	0.214	0.217	0.307 *	1.000
8. privacy	0.023	−0.215	0.239	0.119	0.234	0.433 **	0.100	1.000
9. diversity	0.258	0.226	0.214	0.030	0.238	0.338 *	0.334 *	0.297 *	1.000
10. sociability	−0.035	−0.254	0.322 *	0.049	0.355 **	0.484 **	0.382 **	0.422 **	0.282 *	1.000
11. territoriality	0.070	0.035	0.257	0.363 **	0.320 *	0.422 **	0.257	0.345 *	0.038	0.244	1.000
12. playability	0.329 *	0.304 *	0.177	0.208	0.168	0.270 *	0.319 *	0.156	0.468 **	0.249	−0.025	1.000
13. uniqueness	0.007	0.018	0.202	0.294 *	−0.029	0.412 **	0.395 **	0.333 *	0.316 *	0.171	0.259	0.413 **	1.000
14. changeability	0.131	0.009	0.212	0.196	0.196	0.364 **	0.515 **	0.411 **	0.317 *	0.371 **	0.526 **	0.234	0.372 **	1.000
15.Overall attachment to quadrangle characteristics	0.116	−0.116	0.337 *	0.331 *	0.419 **	0.669 **	0.616 **	0.557 **	0.570 **	0.566 **	0.467 **	0.476 **	0.582 **	0.687 **	1.000

* p < 0.05 (2-tailed), ** p < 0.01 (2-tailed).

) showed that its attachment to people was the weakest among the four research subjects. Among the data, there were no results greater than 0.700 that were significantly correlated. However, based on the correlation results between the overall quadrangle characteristics and attachment, it can be seen that the renovated built environment still promotes the formation of attachment to a certain extent (0.337 *), and materials, colors, form and structure, and sociability all play a certain role (0.382 **, 0.309 *, 0.353 **, 0.322 *). In addition, the correlation analysis results for Yuangu Water House also showed a completely different feature than the other three quadrangles, i.e., the positive and negative affect aroused by it showed a significant positive correlation with each other, and the characteristic of playability also showed a positive correlation with these two completely opposite emotional experiences. It may be inferred that people’s positive and negative emotional experiences of Yuangu Water House may have occurred at the same time and may have come from the playability it provides. Of course, the intimate room in Yuangu Water House is its main functional space, the afternoon tea space is also relatively niche and, in the process of measuring emotional attachment with scales, some participants have not lived here, or only experienced its space for a short time, which may also affect the results of the data.

The correlation between specific quadrangle built environment characteristics can still provide us with clues about the characteristics that affect people’s emotional experience. For example, changeability, form and structure, and regionality show the relatively most significant correlation among all characteristics (0.515 **, 0.526 **), and it can be inferred that the contemporary expansion of the traditional building structure and spatial form in the renovation not only retains the charm of the original wooden structure, but also provides a new form, combined with contemporary needs, to promote emotional experience to a certain extent. For example, the traditional sloping roof of the water house opens on the basis of the wooden structure, the skylight is built to bring in natural light, and the new teahouse is built combining a traditional wood structure and new materials. This also reaffirms the value of construction technology for the protective restoration of the building structure and materials of the traditional quadrangle house.

In addition, compared with the first three quadrangles, the Yuangu Water House has the worst effect on people’s emotional attachment, and its material and non-material characteristics do not promote people’s emotional experience well. The qualitative results collected from interviews and observations also show that the residents around the Yuangu Water House are not positive about its renovation, and even believe that the original affects the privacy and integrity of their Hutong life.

3.3. The Results of Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Four Quadrangles

The purpose of exploratory factor analysis was to condense and refine the spatial factors that specifically describe the characteristics of the quadrangle in the above scale with minimal information loss, and to explore the environmental factors that play a major role in the construction of the emotional attachment process for the four quadrangle houses in this study from the bottom up. The results of the KMO and Bartlett spherical tests of the scale data for the four subjects showed that the structural characteristics were good and met the conditions for factor analysis (

Table 8. The results of the KMO and Bartlett spherical tests.

KMO and Bartlett’s Test		No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang	Dongjingyuan	27 Yuan	Yuangu Water House
KMO Measure of Sampling Adequacy		0.841	0.795	0.766	0.753
Bartlett′s test of Sphericity	Approx. Chi-Square	236.999	298.047	192.307	192.307
	df	55	55	55	55
	Sig.	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000

).

3.3.1. Exploratory Factor Analysis Results for No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang

The main factors (principal components) that play a role in the establishment of emotional attachment to the built environment characteristics of No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang can be extracted into three categories (

Table 9. Exploratory factor analysis results for No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang.

Specific Spatial Characteristics	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3
Form and Structure	0.777
Sociability	0.776
Color	0.737
Uniqueness	0.730
Material	0.686
Diversity	0.612
Changeability		0.797
Territoriality		0.783
Playability		0.759
Privacy			0.832
Nature-related Features			0.799

). Factor 1, which has the strongest explanatory effect on emotional attachment, is composed of form and structure, sociability, color, uniqueness, material, and diversity, which indicates that the physical characteristics of the built environment, including form and structure, color, and material, enhance its sociability, uniqueness, and diversity, and effectively promote people’s attachment. This proves the value of the main renovation methods for Courtyard 91. Designers used new colors and materials for the new roof corridor system to create an architectural experience space, with the encounter between the traditional space of Beijing’s old courtyards and the contemporary space that conforms to our time and the present day. The entire site has been defined into “two courtyards, three paths, and three space colors” to provide this spatial experience. However, on the other hand, combined with the above correlation analysis, the original intention of designers to use new materials to carry traditional colors does not promote a positive emotional experience in users, which to a certain extent shows a lack of consideration of material technology consistency in the renewal of historical buildings: that is, how can new materials can be organically integrated with old elements? This problem may also affect people’s emotional experience generated from the historical and cultural aspects of the environment.

Factor 2 that has a relatively strong explanatory effect on emotional attachment includes changeability, territoriality, and playability, and describes the diverse and interesting experiences brought by the renovated quadrangle space, as well as its unique characteristics brought by the traditional courtyard. This once again to some extent proves the value of the unique walking space and courtyard design of No. 91 for people’s emotional experience. However, this design method, as the most desired feature of the space that the architect wants to highlight, has not become the most important factor in establishing emotional attachment. To a certain extent, this also shows that the architect’s design inspiration is subjective. Especially for the renewal of historical buildings, it remains to be further tested whether the renovation of space with modernist design methods can ultimately promote positive emotions in actual users.

Factor 3, with the weakest explanatory effect on attachment, includes privacy and nature-related features. On the one hand, this may be due to the fact that the newly introduced materials and colors are more attractive to people and, on the other hand, to a certain extent, it also shows that the current water and natural landscape spaces in No. 91 do not significantly promote emotion.

3.3.2. Exploratory Factor Analysis Results for Dongjingyuan

Different from No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang, the factor analysis results for Dongjingyuan (

Table 10. Exploratory factor analysis results for Dongjingyuan.

Specific Spatial Characteristics	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3
Playability	0.790
Changeability	0.789
Diversity	0.726
Uniqueness	0.658
Nature-related Features		0.799
Color		0.680
Sociability		0.605
Privacy		0.513
Material			0.858
Form and Structure			0.641
Territoriality			0.568

) showed that the main Factor 1, which had the strongest explanatory effect on the establishment of emotional attachment, did not describe the physical characteristics of the renovated built environment, but was composed of playability, changeability, diversity and uniqueness. To a certain extent, this shows that the emotional experience brought by Dongjingyuan is derived more from the various activities, events and stories it carries, which is consistent with the results of on-site observation and interviews. For example, many people mentioned that the various concerts, yoga experience activities, art exhibitions, and luxury brand activities hosted by Dongjingyuan are very interesting, which have become their memory points and an emotional anchor for this quadrangle. However, on the other hand, it also shows that the material ontology of the renovated built environment space has not effectively promoted the generation of emotional attachment. The activities corresponding to the non-material characteristics that arouse emotions are relatively niche and the corresponding user groups are relatively single; in fact, they lack integration and response to the surrounding traditional Beijing old city environment. Therefore, although Dongjingyuan has adopted the method of repairing the old as the old to retain the materials, structure, and even color and decoration of traditional buildings as much as possible, how to carry out functional positioning after renovation directly affects the value of these built environments.

The second main factor in the establishment of emotional attachment includes nature-related features, color, sociability and privacy, describing the emotional value of the wonderful experience of ancient and modern interaction brought about by the protective renewal of this historic courtyard. To a certain extent, this shows that the natural features and traditional colors of the quadrangle courtyard space of the Dongjingyuan are still full of charm and can still promote contemporary social and personalized activities. The main components in factor 3, which have the weakest explanatory effect on the establishment of emotional attachment, include material, form and structure, and territoriality, which describe the material characteristics of the built environment, indicating that the emotional attraction of the Dongjingyuan courtyard building ontology is probably weaker compared with the activities it promotes. This further suggests that the renewal of the Dongjingyuan may not have considered how to effectively integrate the cultural, historical, aesthetic, and social values that make a building or site significant along with the updated function and built environment.

3.3.3. Exploratory Factor Analysis Results for 27 Yuan

The results of exploratory factor analysis for 27 Yuan (

Table 11. Exploratory factor analysis results for 27 Yuan.

Specific Spatial Characteristics	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3
Material	0.870
Nature-related Features	0.764
Privacy	0.737
Color	0.710
Territoriality	0.577
Sociability		0.875
Diversity		0.771
Form and Structure		0.690
Changeability			0.859
Uniqueness			0.613
Playability			0.514

) showed that the element in Factor 1 with the strongest explanatory effect on the establishment of emotional attachment was composed of material, nature-related features, privacy, color and territoriality. Combined with the current situation of 27 Yuan after renovation, it can be seen that the classic quadrangle space enclosed by houses with traditional brick and wood structures, red columns, eaves decorated with traditional colors, blue bricks and stone slabs has been restored after the renovation, forming the purest introverted enclosed space for a traditional quadrangle experience in old Beijing, thus providing people with a private and natural social experience at the same time, and also proving the emotional promotion value of this space. Compared with Dongjingyuan, as a quadrangle that also focuses on repairing the old as the old, the built environment of 27 yuan better integrates the social and cultural characteristics of the surrounding Hutong community, which may also be the reason why these characteristics consist of the main factors that are most effective in promoting emotional attachment.

The elements in Factor 2 that have a relatively strong explanatory effect on the establishment of emotional attachment to 27 Yuan include sociability, diversity, form and structure, which also describes the emotional experience brought by the built environment space by providing opportunities for diverse activities and promoting interaction for diverse groups of people, which not only proves that the spatial form of the quadrangle is still very important to current social life and public communication, but also shows that the opening strategy for multiple groups of people and multiple activities in the renovated 27 Yuan is conducive to strengthening its emotional connection with people. The elements in Factor 3 that have the weakest explanatory effect on the establishment of emotional attachment include changeability, uniqueness and playability, which describe the degree of individualization and flexibility of the built environment, indicating that such characteristics of 27 Yuan do not effectively promote the generation of emotional attachment. On the one hand, this may be due to the fact that the renovation strategy for 27 Yuan is more focused on restoring the characteristics of traditional quadrangle houses, making it more integrated with the surrounding hutongs and not spaciously prominent, and on the other hand it may also be related to the fact that the richness of its organizational activities in the post-epidemic period (the data was collected just after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.) has not yet been fully realized.

3.3.4. Exploratory Factor Analysis Results for Yuangu Water House

Different from the above three quadrangles, the exploratory factor analysis results for the Yuangu Water House (

Table 12. Exploratory factor analysis results for Yuangu Water House.

Specific Spatial Characteristics	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3	Factor 4
Uniqueness	0.747
Changeability	0.718
Form and Structure	0.574
Territoriality	0.560
Sociability		0.802
Privacy		0.691
Nature-related Features		0.540
Material			0.833
Color			0.768
Playability				0.835
Diversity				0.756

) extracted four main factors. Among them, Factor 1, which has the strongest explanatory effect on the establishment of emotional attachment, is composed of uniqueness, changeability, form and structure, and territoriality, which indicates that the improvement based on the traditional quadrangle building structure in the renovation of the Yuangu Water House not only retains the original spatial form and structural logic of the traditional building, but also provides people with a new experience in combination with new materials and new functions, and this strategy successfully promotes the establishment of emotional attachment. However, the data source for this result is mainly the guests who eat and drink in the Yuangu Water House and have a shorter time using the space, indicating that this kind of “fusion of old and new” transformation can trigger a strong emotional experience in a short time. However, for the residents of the surrounding hutongs, combined with observation and interviews, the Yuangu Water House is seen more as an “intruder” into traditional life.

The elements in Factor 2 that have a relatively strong role in explaining emotional attachment include sociability, privacy, and nature-related features. This shows that the high-end B and B that provides a private living experience in Yuangu Water House combined with the function of the afternoon tea space has promoted the establishment of emotional connection with users. To a certain extent, it also proves the significance of its continuing use of natural materials, such as the wooden structure of the original quadrangle houses and the creation of the natural space in the courtyard. Of course, like the main elements in Factor 1, the continued use of traditional materials and the renewal of traditional structures may bring some emotional experiences due to the sense of place and the novelty of history and culture to guests, but whether it can bring strong attachment value to a wider range of people at the same time on a larger scale, such as communities and cities, needs to be further explored.

Elements in Factor 3 that have a relatively weak role in explaining emotional attachment include material and color, which describe the basic material characteristics of the built environment of Yuangu Water House, suggesting that the primary colors of the traditional wooden structure and the new materials in pure white may provide some emotional experience for people, but not significantly. This also shows that, after the renovation of the built environment, the emotional value of the material features, such as materials and the structure of the space that the architect originally wanted to emphasize, is not significant. Factor 4, which has the weakest role in explaining emotional attachment, includes playability and diversity, indicating that the variability of Yuangu Water House is not strong, which may largely be related to its fixed accommodation and tearoom function.

3.4. Coupling Analysis of Multi-Dimensional Data: Commonalities and Differences in Emotional Attachment Characteristics of the Four Pioneer Renovated Beijing Quadrangles

In general, the four avant garde renovation quadrangles selected in this study have all established a strong emotional attachment with the users, and the characteristics of their material built environment have a significant effect on the overall promotion of emotion, which proves the value of space and the effectiveness of the renovation method to a certain extent. For the specific positive and negative affects aroused by the four quadrangles, except for the Yuangu Water House, the other three quadrangle houses all provide people with a more positive emotional experience. Although the Yuangu Water House does not reflect the tendency of triggering in people a more positive or a more negative affect, the results show that people’s positive and negative emotions always appear at the same time in the interaction with its space. On the one hand, this may be related to the most private functional positioning of the Yuangu Water House among the four quadrangles, and on the other hand, it may also be due to the fact that not all the people who participated in the scale have the experience of living in the Yuangu Water House, and some participants had negative feelings towards it because they could not enter the accommodation part of the house for a tour. At the same time, the negative emotions towards the Yuangu Water House also stem from the disagreement of the surrounding residents with the way it is renovated, which is also reflected in the observation and interviews.

Specifically, the multi-dimensional data results reveal the value of the built environment in the four renovated quadrangles selected in the study from three aspects: spatial characteristics, material characteristics and non-material characteristics. Firstly, the distinctive introverted courtyard space form of the quadrangles plays an important role in the establishment of emotional attachment between the four research subjects and people. The mechanism of promoting emotional attachment can be divided into two categories according to the different numbers of users: for partners or groups traveling together, the space is able to provide them with a more comfortable sense of communication and promotes the formation of attachment by promoting a more private social experience than the fully open public urban space and, for individuals who are alone, the courtyard provides a space with a sense of wrapping and shielding from the hustle and bustle of the outside world, so that people can focus on the relationship between nature and earth and themselves, which conveys the natural concept of the unity of nature and man in traditional Chinese architecture, thereby promoting the formation of emotional attachment. For example, this is clearly presented in the correlation analysis and exploratory factor analysis results for No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang and 27 Yuan. Of course, the related experience of the latter will also subtly appear in the former situation, which comes precisely from the introverted spatial form of the Beijing quadrangle: an external space that is closer to the human scale, providing both a sense of security and openness. It also proves once again the emotional value of this traditional form of space. However, the promotion of attachment by this aspect is also largely related to whether the materials, structures, and functions in the renovation are consistent with the traditional spatial form. To a certain extent, new materials and new structures might destroy the historical atmosphere brought by traditional spaces, and the intervention of new functions that have not been carefully measured may also produce a sense of conflict with traditional quadrangle houses.

Secondly, the creation of the material characteristics of the built environment that promote emotional attachment in the renovation can be summarized as the continuation of traditional features and the introduction of contemporary features, including materials, structures and colors. The ways to promote emotional attachment can be summarized in two categories: first, the continuation of the use of traditional wood, masonry and stone from the original quadrangle houses in the renovation can effectively improve the emotional attachment degree of users, which may be through the continuation of local environmental memory in enhancing the cultural experience with a sense of place, so as to establish attachment. This is reflected in the results of all the four quadrangles in the study and is especially evident in the two cases of Dongjingyuan and 27 Yuan, which more completely restore the original quadrangle and its architectural features while relatively introducing fewer new material structures. Second, by introducing new materials or structures to carry out new functions, or to provoke a contrast between the old and the new, emotional attachment can be strengthened by enhancing people’s satisfaction in using the space or experiencing novelty. However, whether these methods can effectively promote emotional experience requires further consideration of whether materials, structures, and colors are related to three-dimensional spatial forms, i.e., whether they could also promote people’s spatial experience. For example, both No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang and the Yuangu Water House have introduced new materials and colors and formed new architectural structures, but the scale results for the No. 91 Courtyard have shown that these three physical characteristics have much greater effect on the attachment than the Yuangu Water House, precisely because the use of new colors, materials and structures in No. 91 Courtyard has helped to form a new spatial form, thus guided a new way for people to have a spatial experience. As a result, the emotional attachment promotion value of “one plus one is greater than two” is formed. In addition, it is worth noting that whether the renovated quadrangle space can promote the generation of attachment is closely related to whether the spatial renewal technique effectively maintains the intangible characteristics that make the quadrangle house valuable, e.g., whether the social, cultural, historical, and site uniqueness can be organically integrated with the updated space. For example, the negative emotions generated in the 27 yuan and Dongjingyuan may be due to the lack of the above considerations.

Thirdly, the non-material characteristics of the renovated quadrangle space also play an important role in promoting emotional attachment, which on the one hand can enhance the emotional value of the above-mentioned material characteristics, but may sometimes also weaken their established emotional promotion ability. Specifically, firstly, based on the characteristics of different kinds of people, it is clear that the functional positioning of the renovated quadrangles is the basis for the formation of emotional attachment. For example, the high-end commercialization and artistic function of Dongjingyuan and the private hotel function of Yuangu Water House cut off their emotional connection with the general public to some extent. At the same time, whether the non-material functional planning is consistent with the sense of place of the original quadrangle will greatly affect the emotional experience it brings to people after renovation. In addition, as a component unit of the old city of Beijing, the quadrangles have important collective value and play an indispensable community role. This should not be overlooked during renovation. Ignoring the content will have a negative impact on the residents of the surrounding hutongs. Besides, in response to contemporary times and social development, setting up functions that can flexibly change and take care of more types of people is conducive to the formation of a good emotional experience. For example, 27 Yuan has a multi-functional plan that cares for the indigenous people and residents of the surrounding Hutong, as well as the young public, which more effectively provides an emotional experience for a wider range of people. In addition to the basic function, whether the renovated quadrangles can trigger unique, variable, and diverse activities, and even combine the characteristics of the digital age to form a long-lasting, virtual and real integration event, may also affect emotional attachment value. For example, although the function of Dongjingyuan is aimed at high-end niche people, its space has a strong variability and thus holds diverse events. Its operations team effectively uses the digital platform to continuously promote the activity and its traditional, historical Beijing quadrangle space before, during and after the activity, prolonging the time of the emotional experience obtained through the interaction between people and the real built environment of Dongjingyuan, and thus enhancing emotional attachment.

4. Conclusions

This study focuses on using multi-dimensional data to evaluate the emotional attachment characteristics of the renovated traditional Beijing quadrangles in the context of stock renewal. According to the research purpose, the avant garde small-scale quadrangle renovation type, which has a wider coverage, more types of users, and pays more attention to people’s emotional experience in the renovated space, was selected as the research object. Four typical quadrangle cases were selected for in-depth discussion: No. 91 Courtyard of Beiluoguxiang, Dongjingyuan, 27 Yuan, Yuangu Water House. Based on the theory of emotional attachment from a multidisciplinary perspective, the study then constructed a series of scales that can measure the degree and dimension of emotional attachment between people and the built environment, coupled with local observation and interviews, to obtain multi-dimensional data reflecting attachment, and used SPSS to conduct correlation analysis and exploratory factor analysis to quantitatively explore the effects of different built environment characteristics on attachment in a more objective and scientific way. All participants were real users of the four courtyard houses. At the same time, the subjects of observation and interviews also included the aborigines of the Hutong community around the quadrangles. The main results of the study are as follows.

(1)

First of all, for the material characteristics of the renovated quadrangles, the organic integration of traditional and modern materials, structures and colors can effectively enhance people’s positive emotional experience and promote the establishment of emotional attachment. However, the premise is that, firstly, the materials used in the renovation are consistent with the technology, i.e., the materials can effectively reveal the structural logic of the space they compose. Second, the material character created by the renovated courtyard responds to the local cultural, historical, and social environment. For example, the continuation of the original brick and wood structure and traditional colors of the quadrangle architecture in the renovation can strengthen the degree of attachment by arousing more regional memory and perception, while the introduction of new materials and structures in the renovation can arouse people’s sense of novelty through the contrast between old and new, thereby strengthening the attachment. In addition, when these two-dimensional material characteristics that make up the built environment can be effectively combined with the spatial form of the built environment, whether it is new or old, they help trigger a three-dimensional dynamic experience of the body in space, and the degree of positive emotional experience and attachment can be further significantly improved. At the same time, the nature-related characteristics are also emphasized in the renovation of the quadrangles. This is not only manifested in the natural landscape design of courtyards that provide people with direct contact with natural plants and natural life, but also in the use of materials derived from nature and structural forms that can express the physical characteristics of materials themselves to renovate quadrangle houses.

(2)

Second, for the non-material characteristics of the renovated quadrangles, the diverse, variable, recognizable, unique, and digital spatial function setting that responds to the changes in people’s needs and to contemporary developments can significantly promote the establishment of emotional attachment between people and the environment. In some cases, these traits are even more important than the built environments themselves; on the one hand, they may reinforce the emotional experience that originally came from the material characteristics and, on the other hand, they may also weaken or even reverse the original emotional attachment. Therefore, the cultural, historical, aesthetic, and social values that make a building or site significant need to be taken into account in conjunction with material characteristics in the renovation process. Otherwise, the already established emotional attachment may be disrupted or even reversed.

(3)

Third, in the digital age, especially for these avant garde renovated Beijing quadrangle, it is possible to create a unique spatial character and enhance their attraction to people for a longer period by positioning the space in terms of functional organization, user categories, business operation mode, etc. In fact, similar to the value of the above-mentioned immaterial characteristics, the changes in people’s needs brought about by contemporary developments are also a new social and cultural background, which needs to be considered. At the same time, with the help of various digital media platforms and big data technology, emotional attachment not only appears during the on-site interaction with the built environment, but also extends to the time before coming to the quadrangle and after leaving the quadrangle. In this way, the emotional attachment between people and the built environments will develop a multimodal value in both time and space.

(4)

Last but not least, the results further support the validity and rationality of the series of scales constructed based on multidisciplinary emotional attachment theory in this study in quantitatively measuring the attachment characteristics between people and the built environment. Through the introduction of interdisciplinary theoretical methods, this study also attempts to establish a meaningful relationship between the emotional experience of users and the design methods of historic building renewal. This also complements the lack of quantitative methods in exploring the emotional experience of people in classical architectural research.

The above results show that the classic materials, structures, colors and the space prototypes composing the built environment of Beijing traditional quadrangle houses still have important value for the triggering of people’s emotional attachment. This kind of attachment comes not only from the sense of preconscious security and stability brought by people’s bodies to the enveloping introverted space at the perceptual level, but also from the sense of identity at the cognitive level with the traditional Chinese culture. The traditional Chinese construction wisdom of “harmony between man and nature” is embodied in the multi-dimensional interaction between the built environment and people’s perception and cognition. In addition, it is important that the physical characteristics of the built environment used in renovation, both old and new, are consistent with the environment in which the historic building is located. On this basis, the intervention of new spatial functions that care for the changes in people’s needs at present, the creation of spatial personality with variability, diversity, playability, and uniqueness in response to the demands of society, and the spatial publicity that organically combines new technologies in the digital age can further strengthen the emotional attachment brought by the ontology of the built environment of the quadrangles. Therefore, this study quantitatively explores ways to promote the emotional attachment between people and the built environment of the renovated Beijing traditional quadrangles, and the mechanism of the specific characteristics of the environment in the attachment process. On the one hand, the emotional utility and value of material characteristics of space, such as material, color, form and structure, and natural-related features and non-material characteristics, such as privacy, diversity, sociability, territoriality, playability, uniqueness, changeability, are discussed more scientifically and objectively, which provides a reference for design methods for the future renovation of similar spaces. On the other hand, the construction and measurement of the emotional attachment scale and the analysis of multi-dimensional data also provide a quantitative logic, perspective and method reference for evaluating whether the old city renovation results in the stock renewal era are conducive to the emotional experience of people, which also adds a new approach to the post-occupancy evaluation method for old city renewal from an emotional perspective.

However, there are still parts of this research that need to be further improved and deepened. First, as for the research objects, the number and types of selected renovated quadrangle houses need to be expanded. At the same time, the number and category of the people measured by the scale also need to be increased, and further classification and comparison can be made according to their age, gender, background and other specific characteristics. Among them, more attention should be paid to local residents; especially, in-depth anthropological research, such as observation and interviews, should engage more with the essential understanding and respect paradigm for cultural, historical, aesthetic, and social values that make a building or site significant. Second, as for the built environment characteristics to be measured, the categories of material and non-material characteristics should be further expanded based on the existing research results, and the scale items can be refined according to the specific types of the built environment to be studied. Third, whether there are invasive methods during the renovation or damage to traditional culture in the renovation of historical buildings needs to be assessed more before evaluation, in order to improve the effectiveness of subsequent evaluation of the transformation of the built environment.