Integrating Street View Images, Deep Learning, and sDNA for Evaluating University Campus Outdoor Public Spaces: A Focus on Restorative Benefits and Accessibility

The mental health of university students has received much attention due to the various pressures of studies, life, and employment. Several studies have confirmed that campus public spaces contain multiple restorative potentials. Yet, the campus public space is still not ready to meet students’ new need for restorative percetions. Renewal practices for campus public spaces that integrate multi-issues are becoming more important, and further clarification of the measurement methods and optimization pathways is also needed. This study applied the semantic segmentation technique of the deep learning model to extract the feature indicators of outdoor public space based on street view image (SVI) data. The subjective evaluation of small-scale SVIs was obtained using the perceived restorative scale-11 (PRS-11) questionnaire. On this basis, restorative benefit evaluation models were established, including the explanatory and predictive models. The explanatory model used Pearson’s correlation and multiple linear regression analysis to identify the key indicators affecting restorative benefits, and the predictive model used the XGBoost 1.7.3 algorithm to predict the restorative benefit scores on the campus scale. The accessibility results from sDNA were then overlayed to form a comprehensive assessment matrix of restoration benefits and accessibility dimensions to identify further “areas with optimization potential”. In this way, three types of spatial dimensions (LRB-HA, HRB-LA, and LRB-LA) and sequential orders of temporal dimensions (short-term, medium-term, and long-term) were combined to propose optimization pathways for campus public space with the dual control of restorative benefits and accessibility. This study provides methodological guidelines and empirical data for campus regeneration and promotes outdoor public space efficiency. In addition, it can offer positive references for neighborhood-scale urban design and sustainable development.