The Influence of Social Information: A Study of Architectural Attribute from an Event Structure Analysis Perspective

Abstract

Scientific and technological developments have led to gradual abstraction in architectural research and design. People no longer interpret spatial meaning simply through external forms, rather, the emphasis is put on the essence of design thinking. This change has given rise to analysis and expression methods at the level of the architectural attribute, which scientifically summarize the attributes shared by different architectural types through investigating the literature data and professional phenomena. They improve the architects’ level of awareness and provide a guiding framework for subsequent design work. However, rapid social progress and regional cultural differences make it difficult for previous methods to reflect the real-time and in-site expression of the attributes. This paper proposes a new attribute study approach based on Event Structure Analysis (ESA) in combination with social science theory. This approach provides architects with a reference for more comprehensive attribute expression by coordinating the social information at the pre-design stage. Meanwhile, with openness and operability as its technological advantages, it forms a cross-disciplinary research and exchange platform, thereby allowing public participation. The study verifies its feasibility through the structured analysis of specific social events in Beijing, discusses this interdisciplinary approach’s practical significance and positive impact at the professional and societal levels, and points out the direction for future research.

1. Introduction

1.1. Research Background: The Limitation of Architectural Attributes Analysis

Contemporary architects are following the footsteps of artists, liberating themselves from the burden of history [1,2], which is manifested in the gradual undermining of the visual importance of design. People began to create and interpret freely instead of simply generalizing the meaning through external forms, and their grasp of the phenomena has also moved from the experience of the senses to the essence of thinking [1,3]. To deal with this change, we have presented the “Analysis of Architectural Attributes” in our previous work. The analysis exhibits a set of cartography methods based on the Actor-Network Theory. (The Actor-Network Theory is an approach to observing and describing the issues developed by Bruno Latour et al. Its most representative feature lies in the comprehensiveness of the objects under investigation. The ANT insists on giving non-human groups the same important (actor) status as that of human groups in the research process to avoid the “narrative of loss” [4,5]. The cartography (modeling) methods used in this paper are collectively called “Cartography of Controversies” (also known as “Controversy Analysis” or “Controversy Mapping”), which are a practical version of the ANT. Broadly speaking, it is “a set of techniques to explore and visualize issues”. It does not require any specific theory or methodology, and it encourages the mixed usage of any appropriate observation and expression tools [6]). ANT provides architects with a research perspective that is more abstract and essential. In a specific case, we have reinterpreted the architectural phenomenon of “Eclecticism” as an expression of a design concept that includes Pluralism, Historicity, Decoration, Innovation, Elitism, and Symbolism as its main attributes; meanwhile, we illustrate the conclusion with the “Concept Model of Architectural Attributes” using bibliometric mapping combined with a phenomenological intuition study [7]. The attribute analysis method updates the subjective and conventionally ambiguous concepts into scientific descriptions that are supported by the literature data. While it is improving the architects’ level of awareness, it also helps to clarify the essence of expression in further design work [7].

However, there are temporal and spatial limitations to attribute analysis. On the one hand, the publication of literature (as the basic data for the quantification of concepts) and the formation of architectural phenomena (as the intuition objects for verifying the interpretation) are both relatively long processes, meaning that the subsequent results cannot properly reflect the latest changes and trends in the society (epidemic outbreaks, social movements, policy changes, etc). On the other hand, a single data source (English-based academic literature) cannot reflect the specificity of the same architectural attributes expressed in different cultural and geographical contexts [7]. In other words, this kind of specialized attribute study needs to be supplemented with a promotion strategy that can coordinate the social information. Such a strategy is to the attribute study what script editing is to a play: an essential link between the “original novel” and the “stage performance” (Figure 1).

1.2. Research Objective and Research Problem

The overarching goal of this paper is to establish a new approach to script (attribute) editing. It will provide an interdisciplinary research platform that allows the architects, the public, and the experts from various fields to participate directly in the discussion of social information, and this supports the architects with a reference for the expression of attributes that is present and future oriented. With this goal in mind, the issue of transforming the attribute study from specialization to socialization (staying close to life), from conceptualization to visualization, becomes central to the establishment of the platform.

Today, information technology and mass media have become ubiquitous [8]. Architects can easily obtain information via multimedia channels such as news, interviews, and reviews, allowing them to ponder on the event narratives that may influence the expression of architectural attributes. (“Narrative” is the recording and description of the events. According to Stone, a narrative is a coherent story composed of sub-plots [9,10]. The narrative carriers involved in this paper are mainly news reports of social events). However, not only are there limitations to an architect’s professional mindset, but the narrative they comes upon in daily life is unable to present the full range of information of the event that is under discussion. As Larry Griffin points out, “raw narratives are poor explanations for social process”. This is because the information contained in them is often fuzzy and redundant, and the causal relationship between the conditions and the actions is usually hidden in the materials [9,11,12]. Therefore, finding an open, systematic, and intuitive grasp of the narrative analysis becomes a crucial breakthrough in solving the issues of an attribute study.

1.3. Inspiration from Social Science: Structured Analysis of Narratives

Social scientists generally believe that only a structured (modeled) narrative can provide an effective reference. In an increasingly complex society, a complete event is neither a “point” that appears out of nowhere, nor a “line” that simply follows chronological order, but it is a relationship “network” formed by multiple actors which are interconnected with each other [13,14]. The structured analysis of events could help to understand newly established or changing relationships [15,16,17]. The reasoning for the causal relationship of this “unobservable” narrative information based on such an analysis is then more likely to lead to a successful prediction [18,19]. The same is true for the architects. Compared to a grand independent event, it is easier for the architects to identify the trend of social development and its impact on the architectural attribute expression from a series of sub-event networks based on causal logic.

In order to efficiently facilitate the structural analysis of the event narratives, Heise et al. developed a method called “Event Structure Analysis” (ESA) and its supporting ETHNO program. It is a computer-assisted qualitative research method used to analyze the complex logical relationships between events [9,12,13,14,20,21,22,23,24]. The theoretical basis of the method is “Counterfactual Reasoning/Inferences” (also known as “If-then Rules”). In short, it builds an “Event Structure Network Model” by answering a series of “what would have happened otherwise” questions in the program [13,18,25]. It is generally believed that counterfactual reasoning can not only be used to predict the impact of the changes on different factors, but it also help the researchers define the “mediating mechanisms” between the actors, demonstrate the developmental trend of the events, and display the competitive advantages of comparing the parties [18,26]. On this basis, the application of the ETHNO program enables the process of questionnaire reasoning and model generation to be completed automatically using a computer, which helps the researchers to consider the hidden information in social events efficiently and judge the logical relationships in context in a more systematic and comprehensive way [20,24,27,28]. In terms of its working process and generated contents, ESA is also a form of Controversy Mapping. Its principle of “operability” and subsequent “operable” methods imply its possible application in architectural attribute studies [14,29].

1.4. The Research Basis and Interdisciplinary Application Potential of ESA

In order to further investigate the feasibility of combining ESA with an architectural study, we reviewed the practice of this method in different disciplines. The examples include studies in project management [13], document search system [14], dynamics of illness and medical decision-making [12], criminal judgments reasoning [9,22], social movement analysis [21], organizational change analysis [30], and speech activity analysis [28]. However, a few application cases of ESA are found in the field of architecture. In particular, despite the wide usage of counterfactual reasoning in historical events analysis, it has received little attention in future-oriented development strategy discussions [18,31,32].

This paper holds that ESA has shown great application potential in multiple interdisciplinary studies, and its technical characteristics of easy understanding and easy operation are especially suitable for architects who may use it as a study tool. First, the value of ESA is largely shown in the inspiration for it [21]. Unlike some tedious social science methods, the establishment of the Event Structure Network Model does not rely on mathematics and statistics at all, allowing architects and the public to participate directly in the modeling process [9,21]. The psychological research shows that involving “do-it-yourselfers” in routine work will effectively increase the sense of psychological ownership and value in one’s products (architectural design), improve the enthusiasm for and sensitivity towards projects, and ultimately stimulate creativity [33,34,35,36]. Moreover, like any other digital technology based on ANT, ESA and its supporting ETHNO program also feature openness, flexibility, and repeatability. (The Actor-Network Theory suggests that researchers should stay open to different ideas as much as possible and use a mix of retrieval, observation, and cartography tools without restriction to truly restore the “highest complexity” [6]). It is convenient for scholars from other disciplines to discuss their views with architects on the “possible worlds” [18,23]. On this basis, the method will have the opportunity to be combined with other network analysis technologies in order to explore the “quantitative patterns” in the event structure, making the attribute study more scientific and comprehensive [13].

1.5. Research Structure

To sum up, our research aims to develop a new ESA-based attribute study approach. The following section first introduces the research materials for this approach and its specific operation process. In the Section 3, we analyze a series of recent social events in Beijing and predict the local expression of the relevant eclectic attributes. In the Section 4, we discuss the results of the case study, as well as the positive significance and implications of the new approach. At the end of the article, we summarize the approach’s limitations and the direction of its further development.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. The Guideline for the Selection of Event Narratives

The materials involved in the study mainly include the architectural attributes themselves and the narratives of the social events that affect their expression. The former has been obtained from the attribute analysis process, and it was used as the known conditions in the subsequent case studies [7]. This paper focuses on the narrative analysis and its organic combination with the attribute study, before which, we first propose three suggestions for the selection of events.

The first suggestion is to select relevant events. As mentioned above, the original intention of combining the ESA for prejudging the expression of architectural attributes has been to break through the temporal and spatial limitations of a general bibliometric analysis. Therefore, the events used for the analysis should have a high correlation with the content of the attribute study. Although in the era of globalization, the culture, events, or decisions of any place in the world will have an impact on the architecture of other places [37], from a practical point of view, the architects must devote their limited energy to the trend of the events that have the most significant impact on in-site design. For example, at the pre-design stage of a stadium project, analyzing the narrative of a sports event is bound to result in more effective information for reference than that of an aerospace event.

The second suggestion is to choose professional information sources. The popularity of information technology allows everyone to describe events and publicly express their views [38,39]. However, the professional information is usually required to be described in framed language according to specific background knowledge [23,25]. Therefore, choosing narratives from a more professional and authoritative source will ensure the efficiency and reference value of the analysis.

The last suggestion is to choose narratives from local events reported by local media, rather than blindly believing in the grand narratives of non-local narrators. The reason lies for this in the inevitable political leanings and cultural barriers: the events that are locally favorable (such as the implementation of a specific economic policy) are often seen as a threat by other countries and regions. Griffin points out that “narratives are made up of the raw materials of sequences of social action but are, from beginning to end, defined and orchestrated by the narrator to include a particular series of actions in a particular temporal order for a particular purpose” [9]. In addition, even for a relatively objective and professional media, it is difficult to accurately grasp and understand the events that are linguistically, culturally, and geographically diverse. This is because in contemporary society, people are busy dealing with their own problems, and their time for caring about others’ arguments is limited [40].

2.2. The Process of ESA-Based Attribute Study

The ESA-based attribute study consists of four stages: deconstruction and coding, reasoning and modeling, analysis and judgment, and expression and discussion. The primary technical support is the ETHNO program based on the ESA concepts (Figure 2).

2.2.1. Deconstruction and Coding

The first step of the approach is to deconstruct the raw narrative of the social events into as many “sub-events” (or “sub-plots”) as possible, classify, and code them, and then enter them into the table in chronological order. Normally, the raw narrative might not have been described in strict chronological order, but it is an “unfolding, open-ended story”, and it is “fraught with contingencies”, which makes it easy to confuse the order in which each actor appears [9,12]. Therefore, ESA requires the researchers to deconstruct and abstract the original description of events and rearrange them according to the time sequence of occurrence. This process is called “Unpacking” [9,13,14]. Meanwhile, classification and coding are conducive to the subsequent modeling and analysis process [13,41,42]. (Our classification and coding methods refer to the “Event Frame” (EF) proposed by Heise and Durig. The theory is a concept table built from eight elements, which are used for the formal representation of the events. The EF is considered to be a unique “systematic semantics” system that could be used as a group of basic meaning categories to describe the social events as a whole that and are not limited by language type [13,41,42]). Finally, the contents above should be recorded in a table for inspection and discussion at any time.

2.2.2. Reasoning and Modeling

The second step of the approach is to generate the Event Structure Network Model by counterfactual reasoning. The researcher needs to first input the table’s contents into the ETHNO program in chronological order; since a later event cannot trigger a previous sub-event, sequential entry can reduce the workload of counterfactual reasoning by half [9,13,21,43]. After this, the computer will arrange and combine all of the sub-events into a series of “Yes or No” questions (such as “whether action B requires action A or other equivalent actions?”) or “counterfactual” questions (such as “what might have happened but did not happen?”), and this will guide the researchers to make assumptions and give answers. Hager points out that the basis of the integrity and efficiency of ETHNO is that it can put forward every necessary problem in a complex event system, while avoiding the unnecessary discussions. For example, when it has been determined that A is the reason for B and B is the reason for C, the program does not need to ask whether A is a prerequisite for C. Therefore, one of the main advantages of digitalizing ESA is that it can “minimize the mandatory questions” [22,44]. After having completed all of the questions, the program automatically generates the Event Structure Network Model (also known as the “Causal Diagram”). The establishment of this model means that the “logical structure of action” has replaced the “mere chronological order” [12], and the narrative has now obtained a “systematic sociological interpretation” [9]. As the core of this approach, the counterfactual reasoning process can be completed by the architects, but the accuracy of its judgment can also be improved through interdisciplinary cooperation via digital questionnaires. The spirit of skepticism in face of what has happened is considered to be the primary motivation for conducting an ESA-inspired study [9,12,13].

2.2.3. Analysis and Judgment

The third step of the approach is to conduct a social science analysis of the Event Structure Network Model and predict the attribute expression with architectural expertise. The program-generated network model will clearly reflect the causal relationship between each sub-event [9]. The researchers need to evaluate the association between each node from five main aspects, including key elements, associations, connections, specific happenings, and antecedents [13]. Having done so, they will find that the root cause of an event is not always the action that is temporally closest to it, but it is some minute thing that has been ignored or forgotten long ago or that has even stayed invisible for the whole time. These findings will be critical turning points in the event analysis process, and it will help scholars to grasp how things diverge and converge [14]. For architects, it is necessary to take one step further. ETHNO transforms the independent event “dots” into a chain-structure “network”, which visualizes the “trend” implied in the raw narrative. The architects need to think about these trends and judge whether the sub-events have enhanced or weakened the expression of various attributes one by one with their professional knowledge.

2.2.4. Expression and Discussion

The last step of the approach is to express the results of previous analysis and judgment in an intuitive way to facilitate further participation from the experts and even the public. As it is an interdisciplinary controversy mapping method, one of the essential purposes of introducing ESA is to discuss the “possible results of actions and events combination” with more participants from more disciplinaries [20]. These exchanges can not only improve the people’s understanding of the social and architectural phenomena, but it can also help them to reflect on and constantly revise the model and find the key to solving conflicts. If the previous architectural attribute analysis is a cartography method that demonstrates concrete architectural phenomena and abstract architectural attribute relations, then the ESA-based attribute study is a platform to discuss professional attribute expression and complex social relations.

3. Case Study

In order to test the feasibility of new approach, we have conducted an ESA study on two recent foreign trade events in Beijing (July 2022–August 2022) based on the above guidelines for selection. As these cases are closely related to issues of international exchange, they could be used as a test to effectively influence the expression of eclectic attributes.

3.1. Event 1: An International Consumption Center Newly Built in Beijing

The first narrative is given by the Executive Committee Office of China International Fair for Trade in Services (13 July 2022) [45]. In order to commemorate the first anniversary of the construction of International Consumption Center in Beijing and the first time the sales of commercial complexes exceeding CNY 100 billion, the Press Office reviewed the actions taken to build and operate the consumption center via a press conference. The raw narrative contains mentions of various policies and their background introduction, economic indicators, speeches by the participating experts, and plans for future development. However, like most reports, under the author’s logic, each sub-plot works independently, and they are not organized into a sequence that follows a chronological order. As there is no clear “trend” that drives the events to change, it is challenging to directly judge the impact of the overall event on the architectural attribute expression under such conditions.

Our study first deconstructs the raw narrative into 25 sub-events. Having classified, abstracted, and coded each sub-event, the results were recorded strictly in chronological order (

Table A1. The deconstruction and coding table of narrative 1.

Event Deconstruction and Coding 1 “Sales of commercial complexes exceed 100 billion yuan for the first time, one year after Beijing moves to turn it into international consumption center”
Stage of Event	Timeline	Code	Action Description	Source Test	Type of Action
Foundation	Before 2010	Cap	As the platform for opening-up, Beijing enjoys strong innovation capabilities and offers a livable environment	“Beijing, as the…livable environment”.	Acts
	2010	Ret	Beijing has become one of the top ten retail cities in the world	“…but also…retail cities worldwide…”	Acts
	2015	Goo	The goods consumption rate of Beijing first reached 10,000 yuan in all Chinese cities	“It’s not only…consumption rate…”	Products
		Fou	Beijing built a solid foundation to become an international consumption city	“…with the solid foundation…city”.	Acts
	2020	Dua	The central government proposed to establish a “Dual Circulation” development pattern	“Cultivating…and supplement…”	Acts
		Enh	Beijing will constantly enhance the ability to attract and mobilize global consumption, and lead innovation	“…and to constantly…at the forum”.	Beneficiaries
Core-action	2021	App	The government approved the International Consumption Center project	“Since it was first…on July 19, 2021”.	Acts
		Lan	Beijing has built ten consumption landmarks to strengthen the role of consumption further	“…Beijing has…economic growth”.	Acts
		For	Beijing holds the International Consumption Center Urban Forum in CIFTIS 2021 to enlighten wisdom	“During CIFTIS 2021…characteristics”.	Acts
		Imp	The party committee announced the implementation plan to build Beijing as an International Consumption Center	“At this forum…Consumption Center”.	Objects
		Key	Beijing has defined key development goals for the next five years	“According to Yan…and reputation”.	Objects
		10a	The Implementation Plan aims to upgrade the modern circulation system via ten special actions	“The Implementation…mechanism”.	Acts
		Ave	The retail sales of Beijing far higher than the national average	“The retail sales…national average”.	Products
		Buo	Beijing’s business districts have turned more buoyant than last year	“The number of…one year before”.	Products
		Exc	The total sales of Beijing exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time	“Their total sales…year on year”.	Acts
	2022	Dig	Beijing’s supply of digital content for consumers is increasingly abundant	“The supply of digital…in Beijing”.	Acts
		5gs	The 5G base stations in Beijing rank first among Chinese cities	“By the end of April…scenic spots”.	Acts
		Eco	Beijing’s digital economy has increased rapidly, and its proportion has increased	“In the first quarter…quarterly GDP”.	Acts
		Fir	The first-store economy in Beijing staying at the forefront of China	“Since 2021…first-store economy”.	Products
		Tax	The tax refund stores in Beijing are also the most of any city in China	“In addition…any city in China”.	Products
		Glo	The headquarters of fortune global 500 companies in Beijing are ranking top in China	“At present…ranking top in China”.	Products
		Gro	The consumer market has returned to growth in pandemic prevention and control	“In the context of regular COVID…”	Products
		Ann	The information office of the Beijing municipality held a press conference to mark the first anniversary	“The Information Office…center”.	Acts
Conclusion (expected)	2022–2024	Coo	Beijing will coordinate development of both domestic and international consumption	“The next step…quality and scale”.	Objects
	2025	Cen	Beijing will transform into an international consumption center city with global influence and reputation	“By 2025…longing for a better life”.	Products
Report Sources: CIFTIS News [45]

). Then, we inputted the codes of all of the sub-events into the ETHNO program, and we filled in a brief action description for each code in order to provide a content prompt in the subsequent reasoning process. Before starting the computer-aided reasoning process, the “repeats without depletion” option should be selected to allow for the possibility that one sub-event may cause multiple subsequent events. After completing the above settings, the program generates and asks cause-and-effect questions, one by one. The number of questions depends mainly on the number of sub-events deconstructed from the raw narrative, and it fluctuates up and down according to the counterfactual reasoning trend. In this round, we answered a total of 97 “yes-or-no” questions. After the questionnaire is completed, ETHNO automatically generates the Event Structure Network Model based on narrative 1 (Figure 3). The intuitive model helps us reflect on the social context and the impact of event development on attribute expression.

The model first clearly shows the logical relationship between each node, the time of their occurrence, and the development stage each of them belong to. In addition, according to the temporal and spatial characteristics and goal orientation of the actors, we can sort out four causal paths that support the establishment of the narrative from the overall raw narrative: policy events, core events, assistance events, and expected events. On this basis, the architects can judge the impact of the six types of eclectic attributes studied from their professional knowledge. Some judgments are made based on information or data that are directly found in the raw narrative and others on the trend indicated in the reorganization of the sub-events. Sometimes we cannot make judgments on their impact as there is a lack of sufficient information. Through the analysis of the model, we believe that the 12 positive sub-events give an impetus to the expression of the pluralism attribute, which thus will/should receive a significant enhancement (P = 12). The expression of the three attributes of innovation (P = seven), elitism (P = two), and symbolism (P = one) should also be relatively emphasized. We did make an expression impact judgment for the attributes of historicity and decoration since the information support is insufficient.

The event structure model allows the attribute study to become more specified by introducing the factor of the social events to it. However, the raw narrative of event 1 has not provided enough details to make a judgement, and most of its sub-events focused on the macro policies and data. In this case, we needed to follow the clues to further search for more specific narrative materials that were more comparable to the architectural practice in order to carry out an extended and comparative study, adding a reference value to the conclusion, while analyzing the development of the event. This deconstruction, based on the principle of systematic hierarchy, can be subdivided as much as the conditions allow it be.

3.2. Event 2: Beijing International Exhibition Center Expansion Project

In order to obtain a more detailed reference for attribute expression, we further retrieved a specific, relevant event for the ESA analysis based on the clues of sub-events in narrative 1. The narrative of event 2 comes from a news report in China Daily on 25 August 2022 [46]. As one of the chain reactions to the construction of an International Consumption Center, this narrative focuses on the event that the Beijing government expanded the International Exhibition Center in Shunyi District and established an Airport Economic Zone. In addition to covering more actors/actions, the report contains a lot of information about the architectural design strategy of the region, which makes the reasoning process exhibit a clear disciplinary relevance.

The study first deconstructed the raw narrative into 32 sub-events, coded them, and recorded them in Table (

Table A2. The deconstruction and coding table of narrative 2.

Event Deconstruction and Coding 2 “Beijing International Exhibition Center expands to further boost capital’s development, opening-up”
Stage of Event	Timeline	Code	Action Description	Source Test	Type of Action
Foundation	2008	Ope	The first phase of the exhibition center began to operate	“The first phase…operation in 2008”.	Acts
	2009	Imp	The transportation system of the exhibition center area is constantly improving	“The transportation…improving”.	Acts
		M15	The construction of the Beijing line M15 subway has been completedCode: M15	“Subway services…near the center”.	Products
	2013	B&R	China has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R)	“The design…Road Initiative…”	Acts
	2021–2022	Con	The State Council approved Beijing to take the lead in building International Consumption Center	“In July 2021…consumption centers”.	Acts
		Sup	Beijing established a clear international superiority	“So far…ranking first in the country”.	Beneficiaries
		Shu	Shunyi District has geographical advantages and industrial benefits	“Global cities…and industrial benefits”.	Beneficiaries
Controversy		Ser	The first phase of the exhibition center is equipped with comprehensive supporting services	“Besides the…many catering choices”.	Products
		Tra	The first phase of the exhibition center is equipped with convenient transportation system	“The most important…the subway”.	Products
		Pop	The first phase of the exhibition center has become a popular entertainment destination	“My family likes to…near my home”.	Beneficiaries
		Hea	The first phase of the Exhibition Center undertook heavy exhibition tasks	“The venue has…high-level meetings”	Acts
		Pot	The exhibition center area still has great development potential	“Besides…consumption center”.	Objects
		Lac	With only the first-phase venue, there is a lack of service capacity	“With only…the region annually”.	Objects
Core-action		Des	The design of the second phase exhibition center	“The design…symbolize the B&R…”	Acts
		Sec	The construction of the second phase of the exhibition center	“With construction…nearly 500 rooms”.	Acts
		App	The approval of further building an airport economic zone	“With approval for…in February”.	Acts
		Int	The Shunyi airport economic zone became the most internationalized one in China	“The airport economic…of the area”.	Beneficiaries
		Thi	The attracting investments of the third phase	“The third…attracting investments”.	Acts
		Ele	The construction plan of new elevated highway and exit	“In addition…relieve traffic pressure”.	Acts
		Acc	The fast access between downtown and new exhibition area	“The highway…new exhibition center”.	Products
Conclusion (expected)	2023	Rap	The new airport rapid transit line will be built	“A new airport…from September 2023”.	Acts
		Air	The connection between the exhibition center and the international airport will be complete	“The airport line…in 15 minutes”.	Products
		Xia	The connection between the exhibition center and the Xiangyun Township (commercial complex) will be complete	“…and it will…complex in the region”.	Products
	2024 and beyond	New	The operation of second phase of the new exhibition center	“By 2024…will be put into operation”.	Acts
		Lar	The completion of the largest single comprehensive exhibition venue	“Once completed…complete functions”.	Products
		Abi	The new ability to hold a variety of activities	“Besides holding large…conferences”.	Products
		Res	To benefit more Shunyi residents	“The region…residents in Shunyi…”	Beneficiaries
		Hig	There will be more targeted high-end services	“…especially high-end…the center”.	Beneficiaries
		Ran	The new exhibition center will realize a larger service range	“The region can…committee said”.	Products
		Vis	The new exhibition center will attract more visitors every year	“After…6.1 million visitors annually”.	Acts
		Lea	The economic zone will consolidate its leading position in the nation	“…consolidate its leading position in…”	Products
		Opu	The economic zone will build itself into a new highland of opening-up	“The economic zone…of opening-up”.	Products
Report Sources: China Daily [46]

). Unlike narrative 1, certain sub-events and actions that lack temporal information were found in this round, such as “the construction of Beijing Metro Line 15” and “the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative”. Therefore, the researchers needed to identify when these actions took place and supplement the relevant background knowledge in order to arrange them into correct time sequence in the tabulation process. After inputting the sub-event codes into the ETHNO program and completing 118 causal questions, the Event Structure Network Model based on narrative 2 was obtained (Figure 4). It can be seen that, under the influence of this event, the pluralism attribute was affected the most (positive sub-event = twenty-one, negative sub-event = two), and this was emphasized by many expected sub-events (expected sub-event = seven), which was followed by innovation (P = eight, E = three) and symbolism (P = eight, E = two). The trend shown in the network of the sub-events suggests that the architects focus on the expression of these attributes in future design work. On the other hand, there are relatively few sub-events that affect the decoration (P = four, E = one) and elitism (P = three, E = one) attributes, and even fewer for historicity (P = two, E = zero); it was not easy to find much relevant reasoning evidence in the information provided by the narrative, so we may argue that the event has little impact on its expression.

Admittedly, the application of ESA does not mean that the impact of the social events on each architectural attribute can be directly quantified, yet these models do clearly express the development of the social events, the invisible impetus hidden under the surface (such as the “Dual Circulation Economy” in narrative 1 and the “Belt and Road Initiative” in narrative 2), the emphasis laid on each attribute by the society, the time span of the impact, and the demand for future development. As the result of reasoning, we intuitively present the above judgments with the “Event-Attribute Expression Impact Model” to facilitate the subsequent interdisciplinary discussion (Figure 5). So far, the study has proved the feasibility of providing an all-encompassing reference for attribute expression based on the ESA method.

4. Discussion

After looking at the entire process of the case study, it can be seen that the ESA-based attribute study approach is essentially a research strategy that systematically subdivides the macro things. According to the principle of systematic hierarchy, any social event or architectural phenomenon is a sub-system of a grand narrative at a higher level. The same is true when it is the other way round: by using appropriate deconstruction and observation methods, any event or phenomenon can be infinitely subdivided into sub-systems at a lower level [40,47]. In a complex social life, only a comprehensive analysis of the sub-events can help us to understand the formation mode and the changing trend of the event itself, which is the basis on which the approach is established. In addition, the new approach also implements the principle of systematic integrity, encourages information exchange from multiple perspectives, and it emphasizes that “the sum of the parts turns out to be greater than the whole” [40,47]. Hence, throughout the structured analysis and discussion of the narrative, participants from all walks of life can always find the neglected influencing factors and connect them to the new networks. Having taken its practical application into consideration, we believe that the new ESA-based attribute study approach will bring about positive impact at both the professional and societal levels.

The application of the new approach will give the architects an entry point to comprehensively analyze the social information. It will improve the rational understanding of the architects, while stimulating their sense of value and creativity in design practice. Contemporary architectural design is a social activity, and the investigation of the society, places, and architectural phenomena is also a necessary process at the pre-design stage [48]. However, due to the complexity of the task itself and the barriers in the architects’ professional thinking mode, previous social studies have encountered problematic formalism, and the architects have often been reduced to coordinators who passively accept the established social contradictions (information). The new approach brings the professional architects back to social life, and it successfully transforms them into creators of event models and the predictors of attribute expression. By achieving a series of modeling tasks, the researchers will have a real sense of their control over the process and goals, achieving a virtuous circle through a series of positive feedback [33,49,50]. (Similar positive feedback strategies have achieved many successful cases in social and economic fields. In recent years, multinational enterprises such as IKEA have transformed customers from mere “recipients of value” into “co-creators of value”. Such a phenomenon of improving the emphasis by actively increasing users’ participation in production links is called the “IKEA Effect” [33]). Moreover, changing an architectural study from concrete phenomena into abstract attributes was originally an important way to achieve artistic innovation for contemporary architects, yet the long-established “learning mindset” has made it difficult for young architects to understand the essence of abstraction methods [51]. We believe that the new approach will also play an active role in architectural education with its easy-to-understand theoretical basis and clear operational logic.

The application of the new approach will build a platform for exchanging direct experience among the disciplines. It will promote interdisciplinarity, while generating the power of democratic participation. Computer programs represented by ETHNO have optimized the analysis process of social information, and counterfactual reasoning has become easy to check, adjust, and repeat [18,23]. In addition, the visualization of the results also reduces the cost of reading and disseminating the professional information. These technical features will make the communication among the disciplines occur more frequently and conveniently. Moreover, the openness of ESA and the development of Internet crawler technology have created huge potential for integrating multimedia channels and public opinion quantification in a professional qualitative analysis framework [40]. Due to thus, the ESA-based attribute study will become not only a platform for interdisciplinary exchange, but it will also be an effective way for the public to reflect social changes. Unlike professional scholars over the globe, the local public will always have more direct, fresh, and sensitive life experiences. As social scientists point out, the value of ESA lies in the possible results caused by the joint determination of event combinations in a broader disciplinary context, and the introduction of more information channels will undoubtedly have a more far-reaching positive impact at the societal level [20].

5. Conclusions

Based on the existing problems in previous attribute analysis, this paper points out the importance of the comprehensive investigation combined with real-time and in-site social information. A new ESA-based attribute study approach is then introduced, and its theoretical background and operation method are explained. The establishment of this approach leads the overly professional research on architectural attributes back into social life. It provides the architects with references for more comprehensive expression, and it forms a cross-disciplinary and democratic communication research platform. Through a specific case study, this research predicts the local expression trend of the eclectic attribute through the structured analysis of a series of recent social events in Beijing, while verifying the new approach’s feasibility. Finally, we present the Event Structure Network Model and Event-Attribute Expression Impact Model, and we discuss the practical significance and positive effect of the new approach based on the results.

The study has also noted some limitations to and the potential development direction of the new approach in its application and promotion. First, there is an inherent contradiction. No doubt, subdividing complex social events can eliminate the risk of error in making an overall judgment. Moreover, its non-numeric and non-statistical technical features reduce the learning cost as an exchange platform. Yet, this is precisely why some scholars criticize that counterfactual reasoning is sometimes too “subjective”, with it having “strong self-awareness” [9,21]. To deal with this dilemma, when we are undertaking a major project (such as urban planning or large-scale public projects), we can take full advantage of the digital tools for information searches and dissemination to expand the collection of relevant social events and reasoning questionnaires in order to improve its objectivity. More importantly, the experts in social, economic, architectural, and other fields should be organized to participate in setting the quantitative standards for the impact of various events on attribute expression in a planned way in future development; this will provide a more scientific design reference, while maintaining the democracy of the approach itself.

Secondly, there is the optimization and improvement of the technical equipment. The use of Internet and computer technology has dramatically improved the efficiency of ESA in analyzing and expressing the social information. However, it is still a relatively time-consuming process from text (raw narrative) input to image (structure network model) output. From the perspective of the cooperation between the technical links, the software required for narrative searching, ESA analysis, and graphic expression can be integrated into a complete program in the future. While avoiding the risk of “narrative loss” in information transmission, such an integration will simplify the operation and make the program a “user-friendly” attribute study tool. In terms of the core technology, the addition of Artificial Intelligence to the ETHNO program is recommended in order to further improve the work efficiency. With the development of Natural Language Processing (NLP), today’s semantic recognition technology can completely identify the time when each sub-event occurred in the raw narrative and the sequence between them [52,53,54,55]. This means that work with unique outcomes, such as narrative deconstruction and sub-event coding and sequencing, can be fully automated by AI. In this way, the researchers can focus more on logical reasoning, attribute expression judgment, and interdisciplinary communication.

In general, the development, reflection, and prospect of the ESA-based attribute study approach are all derived from the thoughts on the complexity of contemporary social information. Nevertheless, it is certain that if the process of thinking and research is complex, it is because “collective life itself is complex” [6]. No matter what changes we are faced with, new approaches that tend to be interdisciplinary, cross-technological, and democratic will always bring on tangible benefits.