An Evaluation of Public Service Facility Distribution in Changsha’s Historic District Based on Multi-Source Data

Changsha’s historic district, a key part of China’s Historic and Cultural Cities, faces the challenge of balancing spatial constraints and historical preservation while optimizing its existing infrastructure. The public service facilities in Changsha’s historic district are the subject of this study. The study goes beyond traditional facility classification techniques and divides these facilities into four categories: medical and welfare, cultural and historical, education and sports, and environmental sanitation. It is based on field research and multi-source geospatial data and considers a variety of factors, including the distribution of cultural resources, traditional living zones, historic street networks, and cultural and tourism functions of the historic district. Based on this foundation, we propose a configuration evaluation framework that encompasses three dimensions—“spatiality, accessibility, and relatedness”—to systematically analyze the spatial distribution of facilities, walkability, and the community network structure by integrating kernel density, accessibility, and modularity algorithms. The results offer methodological guidance and practical support for facility planning research in the context of historic and cultural city preservation, as well as a scientific foundation for the focused optimization and renovation of public service facilities in historic districts.