Two roundabout Dominated by traffic Subways Brutal architecture Previous scheme Because people didn’t trust sources of info-had to recapture a position where we are the primary source of information-the authority we wanted we managed to regain

The space of the city is the theatre of everyday activity. The purpose of this activity is trade - social & economic. Any urban place is therefore a trading engine – a hugely valuable asset for both social harmony and economic prosperity.

Designing for transaction The importance of spatial layout emergence & multi-scale movement Elements of Urban Design Core Studio H-GSD 1221 UPD Cambridge, 7th October 2010 Tim Stonor Architect & Town Planner Lincoln Loeb Fellow 10-11

Focus The network of space between buildings Space Syntax starts with the spatial architecture of the city. Cities are large collections of buildings held together by a network of space: the street network. The network of space is the largest thing in the city. It is what holds it all together. Space has: - an architecture, that is a certain geometry and - a topology, that is, a certain pattern of connections.

Space Syntax A mathematical description of space Space syntax models provide a complete representation of the space network, defining the basic element as the segment of a street between junctions. Space Syntax analyses the spatial relations between each spatial segment and all the others in the network.

Key discovery #1 Space layout shapes urban movement By isolating and analysing the street network we bring to light a fundamental fact of cities. The spatial structure of the street network is a, perhaps the, primary determinant of movement. Movement is the lifeblood of the city and creates the dense patterns of human contact that are its raison d’etre.

Movement potentials are measured in two ways, reflecting the fact that every trip involves two things. First, selecting a destination from an origin. Deciding where to go. Call it the “to-movement” element of the trip. Mathematicians call it closeness. Two key properties of space To-movement

Second, selecting the spaces to pass through on the way to the destination: selecting the route to get there. Call it the “through-movement” element of the trip. Mathematicians call it between-ness. Two key properties of space Through-movement

The evidence base Research shows that 60-80% of movement flows are due to the structure of the network, measured by spatial accessibility. More accessible places get more movement This does not mean that space determines individual movement. It means that human movement follows predictable patterns.

Each city has a unique spatial identity Tokyo

Key discovery #2 Spatial accessibility shapes land use As cities evolve, land uses exploit spatial accessibility. Movement-sensitive land uses locate on movement-rich streets. Less movement-sensitive uses locate around the corner. In this way, historic cities organise themselves, mixing land uses in a natural way that people understand intuitively.

St John’s Wood High Street West Hampstead Hampstead Pond Street South End Green Englands Lane Regents Park Road Swiss Cottage Belsize Village Belsize Park Fortune Green West Hampstead tube Kilburn High Street Tim Stonor The role of space in the creation of place Space Syntax © 2008 Key discovery #3 Space layout shapes “centrality” Since the network shapes movement and land use patterns, it also shapes patterns of centrality. This is the fundamental city creating process by which cities evolve from collections of buildings to living cities.

Cell count 305 Mean all to all distance 2.79 Cell count 305 Mean all to all distance 3.02 Cell count 305 Mean all to all distance 2.69 The geometry of centrality Centres, with their need for inter-accessibility & commercial transaction, have smaller block structures than the residential areas that surround them. A grid with smaller central blocks and larger peripheral blocks has a lower mean metric distance from all points to all others than a regular grid. In a grid with larger blocks in the centre, the mean distance becomes larger than a regular grid. This simple formal fact is reflected everywhere in cities.

This presentation is about the process of self organisation by which cities acquire their distinctive forms, movement patterns, land use patterns and density distributions forms. Cities are a foreground network of linked centres at all scales set into a background network of primarily residential space. Cities everywhere benefit from pervasive centrality. The spatial expression of density Pervasive centrality CASA, UCL

Variables Subcentres have unique “spatial profiles” Spatial profiles for the different centres build a picture of the differing characteristics of each. Four groupings emerge, which appear to makes sense against the differing economic profiles of the sample.

Building centred density Plot exposure Dwelling type Dwellings per street segment Key discovery #4 Space layout shapes value This project is supported by the UCL-led UrbanBuzz Programme, within which UEL is a prime partner Dwellings per segment Crime risk 1 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Crime risk Building Centred Density 1 10 5 15 20

Space Syntax An urban planning & design tool

Space Syntax An urban planning & design tool

Space Syntax An urban planning & design tool

Space Syntax An urban planning & design tool

Space Syntax An urban planning & design tool

Modern planning Zoned land uses, creating longer journeys Historic planning Mixed land uses, minimising journey lengths Key problem #1 We have separated land uses into zones

Suppressed movement economy. Enhanced movement economy. Main street, mixing global & local movement. Fast highways, separating global & local movement. Key problem #2 We have stopped building main streets

Suppressed movement economy. Enhanced movement economy. Urban building, active frontage, street dependent. Anti-urban building, blank frontage, car dependent. Key problem #3 We have stopped building urban buildings

Main street with urban buildings, active frontages, mixing global & local movement. Enhanced movement economy. Fast highway with anti-urban buildings, blank frontages, separating global & local movement.. Suppressed movement economy. Summary We have replaced urbanism with transport

I want to argue three things: that spatial layout is a critical aspect of design that influences human behaviour that urban planning has created environmentally damaging spatial layouts that there are social and economic, as well as environmental benefits to be derived from careful spatial layout design. The importance of spatial layout 6th IGECB, Beijing Image CAUPD © 2009

We have developed techniques to objectively assess the risk of vulnerability to burglary and personal attack. We have worked with city authorities and police forces to reduce crime levels in urban areas. A “total” sustainability solution Crime & safety

Trafalgar Square The new Central Staircase

We followed people and found that most walked around the edges. Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square We constructed a Pedestrian Movement Model, based on spatial accessibility.

Millennium Bridge, London

Nottingham, England Old Market Square

Elephant & Castle Underused potential

Elephant & Castle Capitalising on strategic value High Low Spatial Accessibility

Elephant & Castle Area layout framework

Elephant & Castle Proof of concept – linkage modelling

Elephant & Castle Civic Square

Elephant & Castle Southern Crossing

Elephant & Castle Southern Crossing

Multi-scale centrality

الرؤية تراث تاريخي عريق Jeddah Global location

الرؤية تراث تاريخي عريق Jeddah Historic centre

51 km Jeddah Rapid urban expansion

التحديات معاناة المشاة Jeddah Weaknesses

Old local plan The Jeddah Plan Creation of a local movement economy Space Syntax has produced a new plan, based on re-creating Jeddah’s main streets and building new public spaces. The result is a network of urban boulevards, with all movement at-grade, allowing transaction between global and local activity.

The Jeddah Plan Creation of a local movement economy

Party walls Privacy/shading screens Continuous facades Shading structures/ privacy screen Shared surface/ Pedestrian priority Building height ranges Vertical land use distribution Accessible roof space Plot coverage ranges On street parking Infrastructure routed below parking areas Active frontages Ground floor setback for shade Overlooking uses Floor to floor heights Plot widths Jeddah Detailed design guidelines

Jeddah Planning Code Primary boulevards

Jeddah Central Urban Area Development of vibrant, mixed-use sustainable communities الأفكار الرئيسية وسط مدينة متنوع الاستخدامات يلائم جميع فئات المجتمع بشكل مستمر City Area Local Neighbourhood District Area 200m 2,000m 600m Primary Care Friday Mosque Eid Mosque College Police Station High School Local Clinic Shops School 1,000m Mosque Femalework Female club

Development Specifications Development guidelines Density and building height generation مواصفات التنمية ارشادات التنمية توليد الكثافة وأطوال المباني

Route hierarchy according to accessibility Development guidelines Density and building height generation هيئة الطرق حسب وصوليتها ارشادات التنمية توليد الكثافة وأطوال المباني

Building height guideline model Development guidelines Density and building height generation ارشادات التنمية توليد الكثافة وأطوال المباني نموذج ارشادي لطول المبنى

Density and building height generation Density, building height and land use model توليد الكثافة وأطوال المباني نموذج ارشادي لكثافة وأطوال المباني واستغلال الأراضي

The space of the city is the theatre of everyday activity. The purpose of this activity is trade social & economic. Any urban place is a trading engine – a hugely valuable asset.

tstonor@gsd.harvard.edu www.timstonor.com @Tim_Stonor Slideboom “Space Syntax”