Coupling of Pawnshop Building Distribution and Urban Spatial Structure in Macau via GIS and Space Syntax Analysis

Pawnshop buildings are places where pawn transactions are conducted. They are usually composed of a front shop and a back building, and their shape resembles a fortress. As a typical gambling city, pawnshops in Macau appeared as early as the Qing Dynasty. By the late Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) and early Republic of China (1912–1949), they had become a common market. They reached their peak during the Anti-Japanese War and were an important financial institution for the people to solve their urgent needs. Today, many pawnshop buildings have become architectural heritage sites and are distributed around the buffer zone of the World Heritage Site. Their location is consistent with the evolution of urban space and the development of gambling and tourism industries. However, existing research lacks systematic research based on spatial quantification technology and it has yet to be determined whether there is a spatial alignment relationship between pawnshop location and urban spatial structure. This paper takes the whole of Macau as the research area and combines DepthmapX space syntax, GIS analysis, and historical data comparison of pawnshop buildings to explore the path dependence characteristics of pawnshop building location and the service radius law in urban space. The study found that the location of pawnshop buildings in Macau has evolved through three stages: initially relying on traditional market spaces, then gathering around casino areas during a stable phase, and finally becoming closely tied to the core areas of gambling venues in the prosperous stage. It shows a path dependence that is continuously strengthened on nodes with low traffic resistance. The service radius of pawnshop buildings exhibits an unbalanced characteristic, with a dense core area and a blank peripheral area, forming a multi-level system of a 200 m core service circle, a 400 m extended service circle, and an 800 m radiation service circle. This study proposes pathways for the adaptive reuse and activation of traditional pawnbroking architectural heritage. For instance, by drawing on the operational model of the Tak Seng On Pawnshop, the integration of cultural exhibition and livelihood services can be realized, thereby providing practical references for the adaptive reuse and conservation of heritage assets. This study offers dual theoretical and practical support for the conservation of pawnbroking architectural heritage in Macau, the site selection and planning of modern pawnbroking establishments, and the optimization of the city’s urban spatial structure. Meanwhile, it enriches the research system on the spatial alignment between the peripheral financial industry and urban space.