Abstract: Objective Public spaces serve as a vital carrier for user activities within rail transit station areas. To enhance spatial performance and quality vitality of these areas, it is necessary to analyze the distribution characteristics of public spaces and their influencing relationships.Method Focusing on public spaces within rail transit station areas in Shanghai core urban districts, 10 representative station areas are selected. Field surveys and variance analysis methods are employed to examine the typical spatial distribution characteristics of public spaces. Furthermore, from the perspective of user demands and through correlation analysis, the influencing relationships are preliminarily revealed, forming the basis for planning recommendations concerning public spaces in station areas. Result ＆ Conclusion Square-type public spaces and privately-owned public spaces exhibit a pronounced concentric diminishing distribution pattern within station areas, while park-type public spaces show no clear concentric patterns. A relationship chain—′user demand-functional space distribution-public space distribution′—is proposed, in which user demands are the internal driving force behind the differentiation of public space in the station areas. For the future development and renewal of such public spaces, it is recommended to determine public space provision based on user demands, coordinate the distribution of public spaces with functional spaces, and promote systematization of public spaces through pedestrian linkages, thereby improving the spatial performance and quality vitality of station areas.