Empirical Evaluation of the Impact of Informal Communication Space Quality on Innovation in Innovation Districts

Abstract

Innovation and creativity have become the driving force of a new round of urban development. Innovation districts have increasingly attracted the attention of domestic and foreign governments and scholars. An informal communication space is the main place for knowledge spillover, innovation communication, and transmission in innovation districts, and its spatial quality plays a vital role in the cultivation and development of innovation districts. The existing quality evaluation of informal communication spaces is less innovative. Based on the perspective of innovation, this paper selects the spatial characteristics of parks, squares, and pedestrian streets from three dimensions of morphology, function, and image, and establishes a preliminary evaluation index system. On the other hand, this paper combs the influence theory of knowledge spillover on innovation and summarizes the communication atmosphere, communication frequency, communication object and communication quality as the dependent variables of innovation. Through correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis, innovative informal communication space features are screened out, and the spatial quality evaluation index systems of parks, squares, and pedestrian streets are constructed, respectively. In the empirical study, 24 samples of Gaoxin South District (GXSD) are selected for spatial quality evaluation. Subjective evaluation and objective evaluation are used to obtain the advantages and disadvantages of different spaces to stimulate innovation. This study is helpful for urban designers and planners to better carry out space design to promote innovation through evaluating space status.