Abstract: Waterfront spaces, as one of the most valuable stock resources in urban areas, will play a pivotal role during the critical transition from urban expansion to deep stock space renewal. The old town of Nanjing is rich in waterfront space resources, but with poor accessibility, and thus the public service functions of these spaces remain underutilized. Improving accessibility to activate waterfront spaces has therefore become a pressing issue. Current research often takes a narrow perspective, lacks a comprehensive analysis of the impact of factors such as service coverage, target populations, and road network characteristics, resulting in limited practical applicability in the context of urban renewal. We used a multi-method coupling analysis combined with GIS network analysis to identify the service areas of waterfront spaces in the old town of Nanjing. Then, we used the Gaussian two-step floating catchment area method to evaluate residents’ actual utilization of these spaces, and employed space syntax to examine the relationship between road network integration and the distribution of waterfront spaces. The results showed that there was a mismatch between the diversity and public accessibility of waterfront spaces. Only 46.3% of the service area was within a 15-minute walking distance of public waterfront spaces. Additionally, there was a spatial mismatch between population distribution and waterfront space distribution, with an average accessibility score of 8.5 and a standard deviation of 15.7, indicating significant regional disparities. Road network integration also showed clear spatial variation, with an imbalance between transportation convenience and the supply of waterfront spaces. Based on these findings of multi method analysis, we proposed several optimization strategies such as optimizing the waterfront spatial road network, improving openness, and relocating functional areas, which would provide theoretical basis for improving the accessibility of waterfront spaces and enhancing stock space renewal in urban settings.

Key words: waterfront space, accessibility, optimization strategy, stock renewal, old town of Nanjing