A comprehensive assessment of the sustainable status of historic streets: the Time-Space-People framework applied to nine cases in Beijing

Historical streets are the core carriers of urban cultural identity, and their long-term existence not only depends on the protection of material heritage, but also on whether they can achieve a dynamic balance between inheriting historical culture, adapting to contemporary functional needs, and promoting social and economic vitality. The current evaluation practice often falls into two misconceptions: equating “street vitality” (i.e. human activity intensity) with overall health, or using fragmented indicators, is difficult to systematically diagnose the comprehensive sustainability of the street. This study proposes a comprehensive evaluation system based on the “Time-Space-People” theoretical framework, aimed at scientifically measuring the comprehensive sustainable status of historical streets. Taking nine representative historical streets in Beijing as case studies, it integrates Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Entropy Weight Method (EWN) for combined weighting, and uses Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) model to complete comprehensive evaluation. The results showed that Qianmen Street had the best overall condition, while Liulichang Cultural Street had the weakest. The overall performance of commercial streets is better. This study provides urban managers with operational and multidimensional diagnostic tools to assist in developing refined renewal strategies that balance protection and revitalization.