Spatio-visual experience of movement through the Yuyuan Garden: a computational analysis based on isovists and visibility graphs

A traditional Chinese private garden (TCPG) is a historically important spatial type of garden that is well-known for its rich experiential properties. Although several theories have been used to explain the creation of these experiential properties, little evidence exists for any of the current explanations because TCPGs are complex environments and their visual properties change as a person moves through them. This study uses computational analysis—isovists, isovist fields, and visibility graphs—to measure the spatio-visual character of movement along a path through a well-known TCPG, namely, the 16th century Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai. The measures derived from this process are used to evaluate four theories on the spatial experience of the TCPG.