A Configurational Approach to Analytical Urban Design

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Original Article

A configurational approach to analytical urban design:Space syntax methodology

Kayvan Karimia,b

aThe Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, Central House, 14 Upper Woburn Place,London WC1H 0NN, UK.E-mail: [email protected] Syntax, 21 Brownlow Mews, London, WC1N 2LG, UK.

Abstract Urban design has always been a challenging task and will remain one because of its inherentcomplexities and the diversity of the issues that are associated with it. A competent, experienced urbandesigner can use intuitive methods to deal with these complexities and still achieve a good design, but whenprojects become more complicated and multifaceted the intuition of the designer is not always adequate toensure a successful design. This article argues that urban design process can be enhanced effectively byanalytical methods that are applied at the specific stages of a design process. These methods can impact theinception of the design ideas, evaluate objectively the design outputs at different stages, assist the furtherdevelopment of the design solutions and reduce the risk of failure during the design process or projectimplementation. The article argues that for these methods to engage with the design process they have to bespatial in nature, as urban design is eventually manifested in a spatial entity. It is further argued that theanalysis of space could bridge between space and the ultimate users of the design or the people if space isunderstood through an analysis of its configurational properties. Finally, a configurational approach toanalytical urban design is introduced, which is based on the theoretical foundations, analytical methods andmodelling techniques of space syntax. The application of the methods, their role in urban design process andtheir contribution to urban design projects are all discussed through the review of a selected number of real-life

projects.URBAN DESIGN International(2012)17, 297318. doi:10.1057/udi.2012.19; published online 26 September 2012

Keywords:urban design process; analytical methods; spatial configuration; space syntax

Introduction

Urban design is normally perceived as a twentieth-century discipline, but it is evidently mucholder, perhaps as old as the earliest form ofarchitectural design. Full-scale, designed citieswere created more than five millennia ago inIndus Valley and Mesopotamia (Golany, 1995).Even in the simplest forms of settlements, somedegrees of urban design can be identified in thespaces that are shaped consciously or uncon-sciously to serve the needs of people. The natureof urban design as an independent discipline,however, is not easily understood despite such aprecedence and embeddedness in human socie-ties. The close affinity of urban design with archi-tecture and other disciplines that are predominantly

led bydesign, on the one hand, and the relevanceof urban design to other disciplines, such asengineering, transport and infrastructure, whichare science or technology led by nature, create anambiguity about the true characteristics of urbandesign. Is it a purely intuitive undertaking, asseen in some innovative design activities, or is ita predominantly knowledge-based, logical pro-cess, as observed in other disciplines? A centralaim of this article is to determine whetherurban design could in principle take an analy-tical approach; and if it could, what kindsof analytical methods are required for such anundertaking.

The key step in this debate is the understandingof design itself. Design is a concept that is useddiversely in many different contexts and its

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interpretation is subject to vast variations (Johnson,2009). These definitions are helpful in unveilingdifferent facets of design, but finding an all-inclusive definition that could be accepted byeveryone is almost an impossible task. To avoid thedifficulty of dealing with design on a generallevel, this article will try to focus primarily on thespecific case of urban design, which involvesshaping and transforming the urban environmentas a large composition of buildings, public spaces,roads and other natural or artificial elements. It isalso worth emphasising that, unlike some othertypes of design activities, what is commonly meant

by the term design in the field of urban design isnot necessarily an object, or a physical product; it israther what is involved in creating, or the actof generating the programmes or plans for such anartefact through a complex procedure (Moughtin

et al, 1999).Even within the more confined area of urban

design, still a myriad of different definitions forurban design can be found (Sitte, 1945; Arnheim,1969; Jones, 1984; Krier, 1993; Barnett, 2009;Krieger and Saunders, 2009; Kasprisin, 2011,pp. 1019). Generating yet another definition, oreven adopting one that would suit our argumentmost closely, is not the objective of this work.Instead, it will try to construct an understandingof urban design by identifying the tangible andcommonly accepted aspects of it. In this construct,the article will rely on the theoretical studies that

exist in the field, but at the same time it will adopta heuristic discourse guided by common senseand collective understandings of the theoreticiansand practitioners alike.

Challenges of Using Analytical Methods inUrban Design

The challenge of using analytical methods inurban design begins with questions such as whattype of analysis should be used, or how theyshould be applied. The use of analytical methodsin urban design is relatively new and beginspredominantly in the second half of the twentiethcentury, but even in the beginning of the pastcentury there were theoreticians and thinkers,such as Camilo Sitte (Sitte, 1945; Collins et al,2006) and Patrick Geddes (Welter and Whyte,2003; Geddes, 2008), who proposed methods ofstudy that could be considered analytical.

The use of analytical methods becomes moreevident in the second half of the twentieth

century, when new urban ideas emerge andurbanists try to use quantitative methods andurban models. There is a wide range of theseapproaches. Conzen as an analytical urban geo-grapher tries to push the extent of urban

geography towards developing tangible methodsof analysing urban form based on the planshape of its components: streets, plots, buildings(Conzen and Conzen, 2004). Kevin Lynch attemptsto analyse the city based on the perception ofmain urban components paths, edges, districts,nodes and landmarks (Lynch, 1960). ChristopherAlexanders analysis of urban grid, whichinvolves graph representation and graph analysis(Alexander, 1968), gives rise to more systematicthinking about design. In the 1960s, the scientificmethods or design methods became a predomi-nant feature of the design discussions, imme-

diately followed by major criticism of thesemethods in 1970s for not recognising the complex-ities of design as wicked problems (Rittel, 1972).More recently, Mike Batty uses the mathematicsof fractal geometry to demonstrate that citiescould be analysed and explained by principles ofself-similarity, hierarchy and randomness (Battyand Longley, 1994).

Apart from the attempts to create an analyticalunderstanding of the city based on mathematicalmodels and quantitative methods, there have beenvarious analytical tools and models, such astransport models (Lee and Boyce, 2004), economic

models (Fujita et al, 2001) and planning models(Hall and Tewdwr-Jones, 2010; Weber and Landis,2012), which have not been developed specificallyfor urban design, but have been used in thedisciplines that are associated with urban design.More recently, with the advancement of computerprogrammes, new techniques of rendering and 3Dmodelling have emerged that are mainly used inrepresentation of design, but sometimes are alsoused to analyse specific aspect of the design(Morello et al, 2010). The most recent appearanceof these approaches is Parametric Design, whichenables designers to change the design parametersand visualise the results dynamically (Motta,1999).1 Finally, among the most technical deve-lopments in this field, perhaps the invention ofGeographical Information Systems (GIS) has hadthe most direct influence on analytical approachesin urban planning and transportation (Birkin, 1996;Nyerges, 2004). The capability of overlaying layersupon layers of geo-referenced data and the abilityto analyse these layers quantitatively has turnedGIS into a powerful tool in urban planning.

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ornament or fashion design, it becomes a morepersuasive argument if an unlikely parallel isused: science. Science is by any definition morelogical and more deterministic than design, so if itis argued that even scientific processes are notentirely logical it would not be unreasonableto conclude that design process would followthe suit.

The contemporary reflections on the theory ofscience and scientific methods, such as the workof Karl Popper and others (Popper, 1959, 1963;Hacking, 1983, 1991; Stengers, 2000), tend todefine a scientific process as more of a con-

jecture-refutation cycle rather than a pure deduc-tive or inductive process. In this interpretationof science, an element of ingenuity, intuition andeven incidence can always be found in mostscientific approaches. Sometimes a simple thing,

such as the fall of an apple, which had not beencontemplated before, could ignite a scientificconjecture, which suddenly brings together yearsof logical work: a Eureka moment. Now, if somestages of a scientific exploration are led byinspiration or intuition, it would be unreasonableto rule out that a bigger, or at least an equal shareof them, takes place in the design process.

The conjecture-refutation model in sciencegives rise to the concept of a conjecture-testmodel in design, which is predominantly basedon a cycle of creating design conjectures ordesign ideas, concepts, generators and testing

them against certain criteria (Darke, 1984; Hillieret al, 1984). In this model, design is a non-discursive process that is assisted by analyticalknowledge at some stages. This opposes thepure analysissynthesis model, which definesdesign as appraised cycles of logical analysisand synthesis that lead to design decisions(Markus, 1969; Moughtin et al, 1999).Whereasthe former recognises the non-discursive natureof design and tries to explain the design processas an interaction of intuition with logical thinking,the latter removes the element of intuitionaltogether and turns the design process into adeterministic process.

Accepting that design is not an entirely logicalprocess gives rise to another equally importantquestion: is (urban) design an entirely intuitiveprocess? Intuition is normally considered as aform of knowledge created by instinctive feelingas opposed to deductive knowledge, which is

based on conscious reasoning (Fitz, 2001). Explor-ing the operation of human intuition in design istruly beyond the confines of this article, but

perhaps the question could be turned intosomething for which we could find an answer:can any parts or stages of the design process beinformed by non-intuitive actions, such as reason-ing, induction or analysis? In reality, it is verydifficult to imagine that logical thinking cannotplay a role in any part of the design process.Accepting design as a purposeful process ofproblem solving and solution making inevitablyleads to conceding that some degree of rationalthinking and reasoning has to be applied through-out the process. A design process needs to reflecton itself and assess whether the outputs at eachstage respond adequately to the objectives ofdesign, even if this reflection appears as animplicit form of reasoning (Lawson, 2004).

The Urban Design Process

The design process in general terms is seen aswhat happens between a problem or a brief, aneed, a demands - and a solution or a result, anoutputs, a product (Lawson, 2005, p. 49). Whathappens between these two ends comprises someform of an idea generation and some form of anidea development (Moughtinet al, 1999; Lawson,2004, 2005). From the design of a tiny object suchas a piece of jewellery to the design of a largeentity such as a city, these stages, at least in their

simplest form, are evident. Urban designers withthe task of designing an urban project need toidentify a number of questions that are eithergiven to them directly, or arise from the brief andtheir own understanding of the tasks (Moughtinet al, 1999; Lloyed-Jones, 2001; Roberts, 2001a).Then they need to develop design ideas thatwould in their parts, or entirety, respond to thosequestions (Moughtinet al, 1999; Lang, 2005).

The important issue in this process is that theideas and solutions have to be somehow eval-uated against a series of criteria that are intro-duced externally or internally. A part of thisevaluation takes place during the idea-generationstage, which normally is a conjecture-test cycle(Figure 1). In a normal design process, conjecturesare normally tested intuitively and the designerscome up with their own judgement of whetheror not a design conjecture would work. How-ever, when the design ideas are shaped, a morerigorous evaluation is needed to determinewhether or not the design idea could potentially

become the right design solution for the project.

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Figure 2 is an attempt to explain the urbandesign process through a very simple, genericmodel that could encompass most types of urbandesign. The main structure of this model is basedon two fundamental stages of the design process:design generation and design development. Thisstructure in principle is not in any disagreementwith a large number of other (urban) designmodels that have been introduced previously(Jones, 1992; Lawson, 2005). An important char-acteristic of this model is that it does not treatdesign as a linear process and presents it insteadas a cycle of design generation and designdevelopment, which has a floating set of inputs

and outputs. The main two stages of the cycle aredistinct but feed into each other re-iteratively.Another important point in the model presentedin Figure 2 is that it links the end of the processto its starting point, creating a cycle that can berepeated infinitely to enhance the design output,as well as the design brief itself.

Somewhere in this cycle, normally in the begin-ning, a project brief is introduced. The full devel-opment of the design brief could shift to later stagesof the process, but the cycle of idea generation andidea development normally starts from what thedesign process is meant to achieve (Punter, 1999;DTLR, 2000). In some cases, there is only a loose

brief, and thus the full design brief and its objectiveshave to be defined through the process (Alan Penn,2008), but even in those cases the design cyclenormally starts with an acknowledgement of what

is intended to be achieved eventually.This cycle is influenced by wider issues such as

political agenda, general social trends, economicconditions and technological restrictions, as wellas the constraints or potentials specific to theproject. These wider issues differ from project toproject, but they influence the design decisions ina conscious or unconscious manner. The processis also influenced by some kind of a stakeholderinput, which in its simplest form could be thedesigners own interpretation of the stakeholders

Figure 1: The conjecture-test cycle in creation of design ideas.A conjecture formed by non-discursive methods is tested bysome means of logical thinking to shape a design idea. The testpart of this process can still be led by intuition, but it isfundamentally distinct from the conjecture part.

BRIEF / CLIENTS

CONSULTATION / STAKEHOLDERS

WIDER

ISSUES

DESIGN

OUTPUT

DESIGN IDEASDESIGN SOLUTIONS

DESIGN

GENERATION

DESIGN

DEVELOPMENT

Figure 2: A generic urban design process. Two main stages of design generation and design development create a cycle that isinduced by a design brief, wider urban design issues and stakeholder consultations. The urban design output comes normally afterthe design development phase, but the entire process could be reiterated until a satisfactory output is obtained.

A configurational approach to analytical urban design

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views, but normally in an urban design projectthe views of the stakeholders are brought in theprocess at certain times (Carmona, 2001; Roberts,2001b). Finally, at the end of the design develop-ment phase, a design output appears. This outputdoes not have to be a full product, but it needs tofulfil, at least partially, the requirements of the

brief. After the production of the design output, itis either adopted or goes back to redefine the

brief and start a new cycle of idea generation anddesign development.

The two main stages of the process also involvea set of sub-processes. An important sub-processin the idea-generation phase is the conjecture-testcycle that leads to an initial option generationand option testing. In its simplest form, thissub-process is about generation of just one con-

juncture (design idea) and one test (intuitive

acceptance or rejection). In its more sophisticatedform, different options are generated and intuitiveor objective methods are used to choose the bestoption (Cowan, 2002; American Planning Asso-ciation, 2006).

The design development phase involves genera-tions of more solutions to address specific aspectsof the design, but the main focus of this phase is toturn the initial design idea to an implementablesolution (Cowan, 2002). In some cases, this phaseturns into a very pragmatic process of taking theinitial design and modifying all its parts to pro-duce a whole that could fulfil the design objectives

in the best possible way. Similar to the conjecture-test cycle in the idea generation phase, the designdevelopment stage also involves some degree ofassessment to determine, either by the designersintuition or by other means, whether or not thedeveloped design output is ready (Roberts, 2001b).If the design outcome is not satisfactory, it has togo back to the design cycle again and be fed intothe generation of new solutions, or a revision of theolder solutions, to reshape the final design output.

The important question to be answered nowis whether any form of analytical investigationcould be applied to any part of the design process;and if so where it should be applied to make ameaningful contribution.

Analytical Urban Design: Can theDesign be Informed by an AnalyticalInvestigation?

Analysis is commonly understood as the processor method of dividing any complex entity to its

constituent components, study each component indetail and bring them back together to form, orsynthesise, a better understanding of it (Blakey,1850). Design is an inherently complex issuecomprised of different components and facets.

The subjects and outcome of the design process areoften very complex too and include many partsand wholes. In principle, the design process can bedivided into components to be investigated sepa-rately and then be synthesised within the generalframework of the design (Lang, 1994; Moughtinet al, 1999; Carmona, 2001). In that sense, analysisis not only relevant to the process, but is anadvantageous method when there is a need to

build more rigour in the study of design compo-nents and evaluating them against certain criteria.

An analysis of the brief, the wider socio-economic context, the site and many other issues

in the beginning of the design process provides abetter understanding of the problems, constraintsand needed solutions (Roberts and Greed, 2001).Therefore, even before generating any ideas, theanalysis can provide the designers with theinformation that they might not be able to obtainintuitively. Furthermore, during the conjecture-test process, the test part of the process could beenhanced by an analysis of the conjecture. It isconceivable that only intuition, or unconsciousprocessing, could be applied at this stage, buthuman intuition is limited in many ways and apure intuitive test could be inaccurate and biased

(DePaul and Ramsey, 1998, p. 51). Whether anyform of analysis could also influence the designconjecture is a very interesting debate and a fieldof study in its own right (Goldschmidt, 1992;Kalay, 1992), but to maintain the clarity ofargument this article will focus on the parts thatare more transparently linked with logical think-ing and analytical methods.

After the formation of design ideas through aconjecture-test cycle, the design ideas could betested more systematically using the same analy-tical techniques that are applied at the begin-ning of the process. The analysis of the designideas would determine whether they respondadequately to the objectives of the design andwhether they work as intended by designers. Byapplying analytical methods, a more reliableevaluation of the design ideas is expected, as itis not the mind of one individual (or a group ofindividuals) that determines whether or not thedesign ideas would work, but there is a methodthat could be repeated and applied by others toget the same results.

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On the basis of the most generic form of anurban design process presented previously,Figure 3 shows how the process could be system-atically informed by analysis. In this diagram, twoextra stages are identified before and after theidea-generation, or design development phases.In this model, in the beginning of the designprocess a set of analytical investigations, or abaseline analysis, is produced before the gen-eration of any ideas or solutions. The baselineanalysis aims to clarify the brief, the context,limitations, particularities and other issues thatare relevant to design. The design solutionsare generated after the digestion of the analy-tical study, as well as the wider issues (social,economic, political) that exist and are relevant tothe design.

Once design ideas or design options are

shaped, analytical tools are used to evaluatethem. More than being just a rejection-approvalfilter, this phase could critically determine whataspects of the design ideas or design optionsmight not work. If the design idea is rejected fully,the entire phase has to be repeated again, until thedesign evaluation allows it to move to the designdevelopment phase. This stage is one of the mostpractical periods in the design process, whichcould benefit from stakeholder consultation;however, as argued before, it could take place in

the previous or next phases as well. The benefitsof consultations are twofold: first, they addanother layer of assessment from the viewpointof outsiders; second, they provide further insightsinto the development phase of the design. If theresults of stakeholder consultation reject thedesign ideas, the design process has to go backto the starting point again and respond until it isaccepted by both internal analytical test andexternal consultations.

During the design development phase, wherethe design ideas are taken forward, analyticalmethods could still be used to assess specificaspects of the design. This could be achievedeither by the analytical methods that have beendeveloped at the earlier stages or methods thatare developed specifically to deal with certainaspects of the design, in which case a series of

conjecture-test cycles is likely to happen.

Space Syntax Methodology: AConfigurational, Analytical Framework forUrban Design

It is inherently a difficult task to define thespecifications for the methods that could be useddirectly in design process, but based on what has

been discussed four important characteristics

BRIEF / CLIENTS


WIDERISSUES

DESIGNOUTPUT

BASELINE ANALYSIS

ANALYTICAL EVALUATION

DESIGN IDEAS DESIGN SOLUTIONS

D

ESIGN

GENERATION

DESIGN

DEVELOPMENT

BASELINE STUDY

DESIGN EVALUATION

Figure 3:Analytical urban design process. An analytical phase, or a baseline analysis, takes place before the design generation phase.The analytical tools are applied again after the formation of design ideas, or design options, to evaluate them and feed back into theprocess.




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seem to be apparent. First, any analyticalapproach that could be used in design has to bea spatial one. Urban design is about creating andshaping spaces, and if analytical approachescannot deal directly with this important aspectof the design they cannot be used in design.Second, a spatial analytical approach should beable to link directly space with people and users.Urban design, by definition, is about shapingspaces for the people and society. By analysingspace or any attributes of it in isolation from howthe space would be used in reality, or how itsshape would influence the life of people, we justproduce an abstract representation of the space.Third, such analytical approaches have to becapable of dealing with different scales. An urbansystem manifests itself in many scales: an urbanroom, a public space, a neighbourhood, a district,

an entire city or even a region. Each of these scaleshas its specific characteristics and has to be dealtwith accordingly, but these different scales are incontinuous interaction with each other and arerequired to be seen in one single framework.Finally, a spatial analytical model should be ableto investigate a system as a whole or in its parts.The parts are explored, used and perceiveddifferently from each other and the entire urbansystem. The whole is made of its parts, but it alsoinfluences its parts when the system grows ortransforms. It is quite apparent why the use ofanalytical methods in urban design has been

fairly restricted: it is not very easy to find amethodology that could fulfil all these criteria.

In the pursuit of an analytical methodology thatcould be applied to urban design process, it isargued that space syntax, a set of theories linkingspace and society and a set of techniques foranalysing spatial configuration (Hillieret al, 1983;Hillier and Hanson, 1998), can provide sucha means.

Space syntax describes the logic of societythrough its manifestation in spatial systems:how spaces are put together or the configurationof space relates directly with how peopleperceive, move through and use spatial systemsof all kind, ranging from small domestic spacesto large-scale urban settlements (Hillier, 1996;Hillier and Hanson, 1984; Hanson and Hillier,1987). Generally speaking, space syntax is anoverarching concept or a paradigm and a setof specific theories, such as the theory of orderand structure (Hanson, 1989a, b),natural movement(Hillier et al, 1993), centrality as a process (Hillier,2001), movement economy (Hillier, 1996) and

movement generated land-use agglomeration (AlanPenn and Alasdair Turner, 2004). Furthermore,there are analytical models and tools, such as axialanalysis (Hillier and Hanson, 1984), visual graphanalysis (Turner, 2003) and segment-angular analysis(Hillier and Iida, 2005), which are direct productsof the main theoretical paradigm and its theoreticalpropositions.

The core concepts of space syntax can beexplained through two fundamental propositions.The first proposition is that space is intrinsic tohuman activity, not a background to it. Space isshaped in ways that reflects the direct interaction

between space and people, and through this thespace we create, or the built environment,

becomes humanised (Hillier and Hanson, 1984;Hanson and Hillier, 1987; Hillier, 2008). It isnot intended here to discuss in depth why space

and society are intrinsically linked, as it is fullydocumented in space syntax-related literature,

but imagining the opposite would be a muchharder proposition to compel. Human societies,from the least to most complex, create spaces thatreflect closely what they do and how they live.A society without a built environment, or a builtform without people, is beyond our normalexperience of urbanism.

An important implication of considering spaceand society as inherently corresponding entities isthat by analysing one we create a deep under-standing of the other. Analysis of the society,

or social patterns, is admittedly a much moredifficult task, as it involves dealing with the intri-cacies of humans and lack of tangible, measurablecomponents or features (Bernard, 2000). On thecontrary, analysis of space is a much more achiev-able task.

The second core proposition of space syntaxis that space is fundamentally a configurationalentity (Hillier and Hanson, 1984; Hillier and Penn,1991; Hillier, 1996; Hillier, 2008). Configuration,simply defined as simultaneously existing rela-tions, is about the composition of the built formfrom the parts that are in a unique relationshipwith each other. Again, it is not intended here toprove the validity of this core proposition, as it iswell documented elsewhere, but advocating forthe opposite would not be an easy task. From themost primitive spatial forms to most advancedtypes, the built space is always divided intocomponents, or sub-spaces, which play differentroles or are used in different ways. Even within asimple convex space, such as a Bedouin tent, theoccupiers differentiate various parts that are

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between each segment and all other segments iscalculated by an analytical computer software,2

using various methods, such as metric distances(how far to travel), topological distances (howmany changes of direction) and angular distances(what degree of angular shift). The second typeof analysis is called an axial analysis and thethird, which has been developed more recently, iscalled segmental angular analysis (Hillier andIida, 2005).

By translating the network of lines into a graphthat represents the topological relationships be-tween lines, a quantitative analysis of the systemis performed by calculating how each space isconnected with the other spaces in the system. Theanalysis can be based on the relative depth (orshallowness) of spaces from each other, which is ameasure of proximity or to-movement, or basedon the possibility of being used in journeysthroughout the system, which is a measure ofbetween-ness or through movement. The formermeasure of analysis in space syntax terminology iscalled integration and the latter is called Choice(Hillier and Iida, 2005). Each of these measuresexplains certain aspects of the urban structure and

is used in connection with specific questions thathave to be answered in an urban study.

The analysis can also be performed for theentire system (the global network), or parts of it(the local network). In the global scale of analysis(Figure 7a), we take into account every possiblerelationship in the system (from anywhere toanywhere), whereas in the local scale of analysis(Figure 7b) the analysis is restricted to a certainlocal catchment, which could be topological (up toa certain number of changes of direction fromeach line), or angular (up to a certain degree ofangular change from each segment), or metric (upto a defined metric distance from each segment).The local and global analyses are very usefulmethods of looking at different scales of a spatialsystem, but they could also be used to define howan entire system is understood by the percep-tion of its parts. The congruence between localand global spatial configuration determines howintelligible the system is to the people whonavigate through it (Hanson, 1989a, b; Hillierand Penn, 1996). The intelligibility of the networkis another set of analytical metrics that could beused in the process of urban design.

Figure 6:Two methods of spatial modelling: a line-based model of the City of London (a) and a visual field-based model of an officeenvironment (b). Spatial structures of urban and architectural systems are represented by a colour scheme, using a colour schemethat ranges from the most connected (dark red) to least connected (dark blue).

People move in lines Perceive the built environmentthrough 'visual fields'

Gather in 'convex' spaces

Figure 5: The most fundamental, yet simple, attributes of the space is used to create space syntax models.

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Analysis of different urban systems shows aremarkable degree of consistency in results. Inmost cities, the spatial structure is normally aforeground network of linked centres at allscales, set into a network of largely residentialspace (Hillier and Vaughan, 2000). These centresrange from very local centres, where you findvery local functions, to major centres of largecities, where a specialised system of high perme-ability routes and smaller urban blocks facilitate amore complex urban system. The research alsoshows that the structure of the grid correlatesconsistently with the pattern of pedestrian andvehicular movement (Penn et al, 1998) and otherissues such as the distribution of land uses (Pennand Turner, 2004) and social behaviours (Hillierand Shu, 2000).

Configurational analysis of the spatial network

can be linked to other layers of data in the city tobuild more complex models. These layers includemovements of all kind (pedestrian, vehicular,cyclist), human behaviour, land use, populationor building densities, land values, social interac-tions, crime, fear of crime and many other layers ofinformation. As long as the available data have theright earth coordination (geo-reference), they can

be linked to configurational analysis of the spatialnetwork on a GIS platform. By linking these layersto spatial configuration, through various methodof correlational and regression analyses or weight-ing of the spatial model by different factors, more

complex models can be created, which are used forforecasting the implications of the changes that wemake to the spatial system or to other features(Figure 8). For instance, Pedestrian MovementModels are created by taking into account notonly the layout of the space, but other issues suchas land use, proximity to transport hubs and evenvisual attractions (Ferguson et al, 2012). In theabsence of sufficient or accurate data, the spatialconfiguration layer could be used by itself in mostcases as a proxy for the other layers, but if the dataare available the composite models could enhancethe accuracy of the model and its sensitivity toparticular factors in urban design.

HowSpace SyntaxAnalysis Engages withthe Design Process

The Space syntax approach of applying analyticalmethods to urban design process is based on thesame principles that were discussed before, withthe main difference that the very foundation ofthe analysis in the baseline and evaluation phasesis spatial configuration analysis (Figure 9). In thespace syntax approach, a series of primary analyses or a baseline analysis informs the design processfrom the outset by detecting the problems andpotentials that are identified by the analysis ofspatial configuration. These strengths and weak-nesses directly reflect the performance of the urban

Figure 7:A segmental angular analysis of the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Analysis of the urban grid at the local level (a) picks uplocally distinct areas, such as the historic centre and unplanned settlement, but in the city-wide analysis ( b) a totally different patternemerges. The historic core and unplanned settlements are excessively isolated urban areas within a super grid structure that isdominated by the modern traffic routes.




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The design evaluation phase informs the designdevelopment stage, in which further analyticalmodels could be used to assess different aspectsof the design. Similar to the previous phases,these models are developed on the platform of aspatial configuration model, but they will be

linked with other issues as well to respond tospecific aspect of the design development phase.Some examples of these models could be found inthe following section.

Applications of the Methodology

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when spacesyntax research was under development inUniversity College London (UCL), an increasingdemand emerged for using this approach in real-life urban design projects. The very early proj-ects undertaken by Space Syntax Laboratory, aresearch centre at the Bartlett, UCL, demonstrateda great potential for using the methodology in theurban design process (Hillier et al, 1992). Thedesire to use this approach was shared by variousgroups. Designers were interested, as they could

build their designs on firm grounds and defendtheir work objectively. Developers and investorswere enthused by it as they found it very helpfulin improving their planning, creating more value

and demonstrating it more efficiently to others, inparticular to local authorities. The public sectorwas also interested as they could assess objec-tively their projects and provide better feedbacksto stakeholders and decision makers.3

Space syntax methodology has been used

extensively in a wide array of urban design andplanning projects, ranging from the scale of smallpublic spaces to the scale of entire cities.4 Thecapability to communicate with a wide range ofdisciplines and the advantage of using a singlemethodology to deal with different scales ofdesign have proved particularly valuable in urbandesign projects, where a multi-scale, multi-dis-ciplinary approach was needed.

There is no room in this article to discuss allthese projects in detail, but a selective sample ofthem is introduced below in three categories ofpublic spaces, urban masterplans and city-wideor regional strategic planning. These cases areused as evidential examples of how the analyticalurban design process becomes possible by usingspace syntax methods.

Public space projects

Space syntax methodology has been utilised inthe design of several prominent public space

BRIEF / CLIENTS


WIDERISSUES

DESIGNOUTPUT

DESIGN IDEAS

DESIGN OPTIONS

DESIGNCOMPLETION

DESIGNSOLUTIONS

COMPOSITEANALYTICAL

MODELS

SPATIAL

ANALYSIS

SPATIALEVALUATION

FURTHERANALYTICAL

EVALUATIONS

DESIGN

GENERATION

DESIGN

DEVELOPMENT

BASELINE STUDY

DESIGN EVALUATION

Figure 9: Configurational approach to analytical urban design: space syntax methodology. In this approach, the foundation of theanalytical baseline study and analytical design evaluation is spatial configuration analysis. Further composite models of evaluationcould be built on the spatial layer to enhance the responsiveness of the methodology.




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projects in the United Kingdom, such as TrafalgarSquare in 1998-2000 (House of Lords, Science andTechnology Committee, 2006, p. 37) and Millen-nium Bridge in 19972000 (Jenkins and Foster, 2008,p. 584) in London, to create an enhanced publicrealm. In a multi-award-winning scheme for thedesign of Nottingham Market Square, one of themost outstanding public spaces in medievalEnglish cities, space syntax methods were usedto establish the spatial and functional links

between the inside of the square and its widerurban context, revealing a major deficiency of thedesign implemented in the 1950s (Figure 10a).Insensitive spatial segregation of the centre of the

square and the consequent functional sub-divi-sion of the public space were identified as major

barriers to the success of the square (Space SyntaxLimited, 2004).

Further observational study of peoples move-ment and behaviour confirmed that there wasan imbalance in how people moved and useddifferent parts of the square (Figure 10b). Peoplegenerally hesitated to cross the square diago-nally and certain type of age groups, such asteenagers tended to occupy specific parts of thesquare. Clearly, the spatial layout of the squareand how the square performed functionally orsocially were interlinked. The findings from

Figure 10:Nottingham Market square. Spatial configuration analysis (a) and the analysis of peoples behaviour (b) were utilised togenerate and develop the urban design. The analysis of intervisibility, using the Visual Graph Analysis method, inspired the mainconcept of the design and was used to assess design options. The project has been regarded a successful urban project and has wonmultiple awards in the United Kingdom (see Note 5).

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phasing of the project. Each phase of implementa-tion was modelled separately, or in the context ofthe previous phases, to see how the systemchanges when it grows in different phases. Thedesign team made their final decisions about

permanent and temporary features of the projectbased on the analysis of different phases.

Finally, in the design development phase, moredetailed analytical models were produced to lookat the performance of the specific phases, publicspaces and neighbourhoods. The model used inthis phase of analysis was a combination of twomethods: The visual graph analysis (VGA), whichtakes into account the possible visibility of any-where in the system to anywhere else and showsthe intensity of intervisibility in different locations(Figure 6b); and an agent-based model, in whichthe agents chose their path randomly by mimick-ing humans field of vision and navigationalcharacteristics through space (Figure 12). Thismodel simulates the aggregate patterns of beha-viour, based on the individual paths (AlasdairTurner et al, 2002). To enhance the output of themodel, it was weighted by the ratio of likelyvolumes of flows at origins and destination(Fergusonet al, 2012). The use of this model tookthe analysis to a micro-scale, where the impact ofissues such as landscape features, urban furniture

and even shading could be accurately measured.The model was then used to fine-tune the finalstages of the design development.

Masdar City is an ongoing project and therewill be more re-iterations of the design since the

economic and social parameters keep changing inits context. The methodology introduced above,however, provides a stable basis that can assist thedesign and decision-making teams to modify thedesign without compromising the efficiency ofthe urban layout.

City-wide and regional scale projects

Space syntax methodology has been used inten-sively in a large number of projects to contributeto city-scale urban design and planning projects,such as the city of Riga in Latvia, the city ofChung Chun in China, and the city of Derry inNorthern Ireland. Prominent among these studiesis a Spatial Planning Framework prepared for theCity of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia (Space SyntaxLimited, 2006). The work was undertaken indirect collaboration with the then Mayor of

Jeddah, his deputy and head of planning, andthe department of planning, to develop spatialstrategies for the city. The Strategic Planning

Figure 11:The City of Masdar, Abu Dhabi. A spatial configuration model was used to help optimise the spatial structure of the city.Furthermore, the spatial model was linked with land use distribution (a), residential densities (b), employment centres (c) andtransport nodes (d) to create a composite model of urban evaluation, which is sensitive to all these factors. The model is also anaccurate Pedestrian Movement Model, which could be used to forecast pedestrian flows.

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these urban transformations were measured bythe spatial model on local and global scales. Theanalysis showed major city-wide improvementscompared with the existing city as well as withthe proposed local plan, adopted previously bythe Municipality (Figure 13c).

The project then continued further to developmore specific urban design solution options, orassess the impact of the other masterplansdeveloped for different parts of the city, includinga masterplan for the vacant Old Airport Site, amasterplan for the Historic core and waterfront,and a series of regeneration and area action plansfor the unplanned areas of the city (Karimi et al,2007; Karimi and Parham, 2012). In all theseprojects space syntax methodology was used inthe baseline study phase, as well as analyticalevaluation phases. In the most recent study of thiskind in 2011, a composite model, which takes intoaccount spatial structure, land use, density androad capacity, was used to assess the impact of allmasterplans developed for the City Centre of

Jeddah on the definition, boundary, movementflows and vehicular traffic of the City Centre(Figure 14). This is a highly advanced tool thatcould feedback into the design process for each ofthese projects, as well as to the main strategic planof the city.

Conclusions

Contemporary urban design confronts multiplechallenges, which are only going to be morecomplex in future. These challenges and thenecessity to reduce the risks of failure demandnew methods of urban design, capable of inform-ing the design process by evidence, analysis andrigorous investigation. Without contradicting thetraditional, intuition-based approaches to urbandesign, which are still applicable, this article hasargued that urban design as a process can beinformed by analytical methods

Figure 13: Space syntax models of the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. These models have been used as the base layers to inform theStrategic Planning Framework. The spatial structure of the city as exists now (a), is compared with what it would be like if the oldLocal Plan is implemented (b), and what it would become if all strategic transformations proposed by the Strategic PlanningFramework are implemented (c).

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To establish this approach, the article arguedthat there are certain stages in the urban designprocess that could be assisted more directly bylogical thinking and analytical methods. Whereasgeneration of ideas and design conjectures arepredominantly led by intuition, the evaluation ofthe ideas and assessment of the design solutionscan be effectively led by analytical methods. Itwas also argued that the application of analytical

methods in urban design is most effective if theyare based on a theoretical framework that couldlink directly the spatial aspects of the builtenvironment with people and society.

The article further argued that an analyticalapproach to urban design based on spatialconfiguration can provide a powerful vehicle toachieve a more enhanced urban design outcome.The proposed methodology is based on spacesyntax theory, which treats space as an intrinsicentity to society, shaped through a series ofrelations and patterns, or spatial configuration.The analysis of spatial configuration provides anefficient method of analysis to explore thefunctionality and efficiency of urban systems,which becomes an integral part of an analyticalurban design process. This process begins with a

baseline study that comprises spatial configura-tion models, but it could also be linked to otherimportant issues to create composite models ofurban assessment. The analytical model willthen be applied to evaluate design options andhelp transform design ideas further to become

applicable design solutions. This entire processhas similar intuitive or non-intuitive inputs andoutputs, which are involved in a normal urbandesign process, but it uses analytical methods atcertain stages to effectively inform and enhancethe design.

Finally, through a series of real-life examples,the experience of applying these methods andoutcome of the process was discussed for differ-

ent scales of urban projects, from public space toan entire city. These projects, such as any otherreal projects, have their limitations and con-straints, but the benefits of the methodology areevident in the initiation, progression and finaloutput of each case.

Notes

1 Albeit considered as an analytical approach sometimes,Parametric Design is more about a tool for manipulation andrepresentation of certain parameters.

2 One of the main software for this kind of analysis is opensource software called Depthmap, which has been devel-oped by the Space Group at Bartlett, UCL (Turner, 2001).

3 In response to the increasing requests of the professionalsector, a consultancy firm, Space Syntax Limited, was set up

by UCL to utilise space syntax methods and modellingtechniques in urban design projects (Hillier 2007).

4 The records of Space Syntax Limited show that more than1500 projects have been undertaken between 1995 and 2012.

5 Among these awards are: First ever RIBA CABE PublicSpace Award, 2008; The Civic Trust Awards in threecategories of Outstanding Contribution to the Public Realm,

Figure 14:A composite model that combines space syntax analysis with land use and population density to measure the extent of the

existing City Centre as it is now (a) and in future (b). The model also measures the impact of each urban development (spatial layout,land use, density) on the shape of the city centre and issues such as movement and traffic.




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Hard Landscaping, and a Special Regeneration Award, 2008;Commendation for Regeneration, RICS East MidlandAwards, 2008; Best Public Realm & Open Space Awardand Overall Winner, Lord Mayors Awards, 2007; DesignExcellence Award, East Midlands Property Awards, 2007.

6 The St Botolphs Quarter Master plan Planning guidancewas adopted as Council policy by the LDF Panel on

30 June 2005 (http://www.colchester.gov.uk/article/4100/St-Botolphs-Quarter-Master-plan).

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A Configurational Approach to Analytical Urban Design