Correlation Study between Spatial Distribution of POI and Road Network Morphology in Historic Urban Area of Kaifeng Based on sDNA Model

While previous studies have examined road network morphology and POI distribution separately or at single scales, this study introduces a multi-scale analytical framework to investigate their intrinsic correlation in historic urban contexts. Employing the sDNA model and kernel density estimation within ArcGIS, this paper quantitatively analyzes the road network morphology and spatial distribution characteristics of Points of Interest (POI) in the historic urban area of Kaifeng City, and examines their correlation across multiple spatial scales (400 m to 3000 m radii). The results show that: (1) At different spatial scales, the arterial road system in the historic urban area of Kaifeng demonstrates high topological integrity and centrality; (2) The correlation between the road network morphology and POI spatial distribution in the historic urban area weakens with increasing radius. At the same scale, road proximity is more likely to influence the distribution of POI; (3) At the slow-moving scale, the correlation between road network morphology and POI spatial distribution is stronger than at the vehicular scale, and it gradually weakens with increasing radius. These findings reveal a scale-dependent relationship between road morphology and functional agglomeration, suggesting that the vitality core of historic urban areas remains anchored in pedestrian-oriented networks — a theoretical insight with implications beyond the Kaifeng case. The research results can provide a basis for traffic improvement and facility planning in the historic urban area of Kaifeng, and serve as a reference for other historic urban areas. The multi-scale analytical framework demonstrated in this study offers a transferable methodology for diagnosing similar scale-dependent dynamics in diverse historic urban contexts.