Developing a Framework for Assessing Visitors' Responses to Chinese Cities

Using five dominant themes from the literature on evaluating places, this study builds a framework to assess and present visitors' responses to Chinese cities. The component parts of the framework include views of visitors as wayfinders, image assessors, spenders, users, and performers. Methods to assess and present visitor responses involve survey research, sketch mapping methodology, and the collection of stories and critical incidents. The approach builds a comprehensive view of cities using methods-based triangulation. The procedures and the presentation techniques are illustrated with ongoing work in the city of Xi'an, and the initial evaluation of the framework is described. The wider use of comparative assessments of visitors' responses to Chinese cities is suggested.