Objective Urban rail transit architecture serves as a medium for passengers to explore a city. The spatial experience of station architecture, along-line development, and station-city integration practices all serve as pathways for passengers to perceive Genius Loci across different levels of urban rail transit. To elevate the sensory and spiritual needs of passengers, it is necessary to explore Genius Loci creation strategies in urban rail transit.

Method Taking Christian Norberg-Schulz's Genius Loci as an entry point, the research scope of Genius Loci in urban rail transit is analyzed: at the micro level, focusing on the design of standard stations, special-type stations, and the architectural ambient atmosphere; at the meso level, emphasis is placed on constructing urban rail transit micro-centers; and at the macro level, exploring the inheritance of urban cultural heritage, thereby proposing Genius Loci creation strategies across each level.

Result & Conclusion  Genius Loci creation strategies in urban rail transit architecture focus differently across levels. At the micro level, standard stations consider spatial scale differentiation, humanized equipment and facilities, and refined passenger needs; special-type stations adopt differentiated design methods such as architectural space sharing, efficient transfer flow lines, and large passenger flow diversion; and the creation of station architectural atmosphere implements measures of prominent style and features, localized elements, and imagable style. At the meso level, policy-based quantitative constraints are imposed on the proportion of urban public service lands, development intensity, road network density, and 3D pedestrian networks to standardize the construction of lands adjacent to urban rail transit. At the macro level, strategies such as distinctive planning and design as well as city-specific differentiation should be adopted.