Public Space Utilization in a Multi-Ethnic Co-Residential Village: An Empirical Study of Cizhong Village, China

In multi-ethnic villages, public space serves as more than just a venue for social interaction; it is the vital ground where cultural integration and community identity take root. This study examines Cizhong Village in the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan, employing a mixed-methods approach that combines questionnaire surveys (N = 120), semi-structured interviews (N = 32), and Social Network Analysis (SNA) to compare the village’s planned spatial network with residents’ actual movement patterns. Findings reveal a significant structural mismatch: while the planned network exhibits higher density (0.32) and clustering (0.70), the behavioral network demonstrates a stronger small-world index (2.14 vs. 1.94), indicating that villagers organically form compact activity clusters around key social hubs such as the church and supermarket. QAP correlation analysis further shows that Tibetan and Naxi behavioral networks are highly similar (r = 0.833, p < 0.001), whereas Han networks exhibit weaker correlations (r = 0.527–0.607, p < 0.05), revealing a spatial pattern of “broad integration with localized ethnic preferences”. Grounded theory coding of interview data (55 initial concepts, 14 categories, 4 core categories) validates these structural findings and identifies the core theme of “superposed space of multi-ethnic dynamic sharing”. Based on these results, three optimization strategies are proposed: improving connectivity between public spaces, revitalizing key social hubs, and respecting established ethnic spatial traditions. These insights provide an evidence-based framework for managing public spaces in multi-ethnic rural communities.