Analysis of Development Coordination Levels between Skywalk Systems and Urban Spatial Environments

Skywalk systems serve as a three-dimensional transportation solutions to address insufficient ground capacity and spatial fragmentation in high-density cities, thereby enhancing the pedestrian experience and representing an urban design strategy aimed at creating diversified and composite spaces. Previous studies have not included a quantitative analysis of the coordination levels between skywalk systems and the urban spatial environment, thus leading to a lack of understanding of the current state of built systems. In this study, we employ coupled modeling and cluster analysis methods to reveal the differences between North American and Asian skywalk systems by analyzing the level of coordination in their development and summarizing the existing typologies based on the analysis results. The results show that the skywalk systems in Minneapolis, Shanghai Hongqiao, and Osaka Umeda Hub are well-coordinated with their urban spatial environment. In contrast, the systems in Toledo, Seattle, and Oklahoma City exhibit significant dissonance. A cluster analysis has identified four distinct types of skywalk models: the attached and nodal closed skywalk network system, the traversing and attached covered and windowless skywalk node system, the traversing and nodal closed skywalk node system, and the attached closed skywalk linear system. These models provide an evaluation framework for their construction.