The one- and two-dimensional isovists analyses in Space Syntax

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  • Akkelies van Nes TU Delft, Architecture and the Built Environment

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7480/rius.2.211

Abstract

This article aims to show the spatial properties for indicating degrees of street life, safety and economical attractiveness in urban areas through analysing the one- and two-dimensional visibility analyses of the space syntax method. The space syntax method is able to calculate the spatial configuration of built environments and can be applied on a wide scale level in research on built environments - from the organisation of furniture in a room up to the metropolis, making possible, in the first instance comparison of built environments with one another from a spatial point of view. Similarly, the method is a useful tool for comparison of the spatial changes in a before and after situation of structural urban changes in an area.

However, while the method is a tool for explaining the physical spatial set up of buildings and cities, the interpretation of the results from the spatial analyses must be done in correlation with understanding of the societal processes and human behaviour. The most known method is to calculate how spatially integrated a street is in relation to all others in terms of direction change and degree of angular deviation. It is able to identify the streets’ spatial features for vital shopping areas, crime distribution, various social classes’ spatial preferences when choosing a dwelling area, and the spatial features of the location of various institutional buildings. The space syntax method’s elements are based on visual sight lines. Examples from Delft and Alkmaar will be used for showing the correlations between the spatial analyses and socio-economic data.

How to Cite

van Nes, A. (2011). The one- and two-dimensional isovists analyses in Space Syntax. Research in Urbanism Series, 2, 163–183. https://doi.org/10.7480/rius.2.211

Published

2011-09-01

Issue

Vol. 2 (2011): Exploring the Visual Landscape: Advances in physiognomic landscape research in the Netherlands

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2011 Akkelies van Nes

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Akkelies van Nes, TU Delft, Architecture and the Built Environment

Assistant professor of Urban Design at the Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands). She received her PhD at the Department of Land Use and Landscape Architecture at the Agricultural University of Norway entitled: Road building and urban change. The effect of ring roads on the dispersal of shop and retail in Western European towns and cities. The core of her research activities is developing and applying various spatial analyses tools on urban centralities on various scale levels, space and crime in neighbourhoods, archaeology, strategic planning in cities, and railway stations.

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