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.

Movement is the lifeblood of cities – the spatial model provides a powerful tool to understand and, as I will show you, manage the movement of the city.   We have also discovered that the pattern of land value in London corresponds with the pattern of spatial accessibility, as well as the pattern of certain crimes such as house burglary and street attacks. These correlations are written up in the extensive academic literature that underpins these models and gives our urban planning practice an essential research foundation.

Looking at this simple grid system we can see that there a large number of possible routes between A and B. Understanding the likelihood of any of these routes being taken is of particular interest in spatial analysis for if we can understand the rules by which individuals choose routes we can begin to make predictions as to the likely distribution of all movement between all possible start and end points within a city.

This image shows the route between A and B with the shortest metric distance.

This image shows the route between A and B with the fewest and least significant changes in direction– i.e the smoothest route.

Through twenty years of academic and commercial research, Space Syntax has shown that individuals choose the most continuous routes between origins and destinations rather than the route with the shortest metric distance. (See: Hillier, B and S Iida. 2005. Network and psychological effects in urban movement. London: Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London).

The importance of strategic spatial accessibility can be seen here by the visually obvious relationship between London’s strategic road network and the distribution of economic activity within the metropolitan region. All the major metropolitan centres and the majority of district centres lie on the intersection of major through routes.

This pattern can be seen in London, here the West End is shown according to a hierarchy of pedestrian access from red as the most accessible through to blue for least accessible.

…you can see that the spatial structure of the West End has a strong influence on the distribution of retail land uses shown in red.

The spatial layout of the city is the largest object of human creation – it should therefore be planned as an object in its own right.

Here is the spatial accessibility pattern of Beijing which, unlike London or Newcastle, has strong orbital connections.

Here is Tokyo, with strong radial connections and strong orbitals. Tokyo is famous for its polycentric structure with several major subcentres. Its spatial accessibility pattern makes Tokyo’s economic and cultural identity possible.

The general approach of applying spatial design is firstly to understand the spatial structure of an existing urban environment and its influence on pedestrian movement, crime propensity, land and rental value, social interaction and urban buzz - in this case the Kings Cross regeneration area…

…and then to apply our knowledge of spatial structure to provide suitable development options. For example this first grid like option…

…produces a weak pedestrian movement structure.

However, a more integrated route structure that links development into the right strategic connections surrounding the site…

…is shown to produce a powerful and coherent movement structure. The remainder of this section reveals in more detail how this approach has been applied on a number of diverse case studies.

An objective spatial model of the area was produced that accurately reflected the isolated nature of the old Sqaure design with the key pedestrian routes identified at the edges of the Square rather than passing through its landscaped heart. The image on the left describes the spatial structure of Trafalgar Square before the redesign, showing how isolated the core of the Square was by passing pedestrians workers and tourists. The image on the right shows how the pedestrianisation of the northern side of the Square and the provision of a central staircase would open up the whole of the area up to ‘through movement’, enlivening the public space and shortening pedestrian journeys.

The dramatic results of design change can be seen in the pedestrian movement observations undertaken after the redesign was completed. The pattern of behaviour has changed in line with the forecast of the spatial model with a much stronger flow of pedestrian movement into and through the heart of the Square.

The scale of urban fragmentation that has since ensued can be seen by the comparison of development figure grounds from 1916 and 2005. The close grained nature of the built fabric of 1916 has been undermined through successive wholesale redevelopment and replaced with fragmented, incoherent urban form. Mirroring this evolution has been the increasing prevalence given to facilitating global through movement at the expense of local inter-accessiblity. Movement modes have been physically and functionally separated to the degree that the major public and private transport through routes are extremely difficult to traverse for pedestrians.

Our high resolution spatial accessibility model of the area showed how the design of the pedestrian realm restricted the value of commercial areas such as Woolworth Road and the Northern roundabout from spreading out into adjacent streets. By defining different areas of the centre as zones of differing activity, either in terms of movement (pedestrian and vehicular) or land use (commercial and residential) pedestrians are effectively being corralled into corridors of movement, unable to navigate between major through routes and easily circulate around the centre. This unnatural zoning is demonstrated by the introverted design of the Heygate estate (outlined in blue). The estate’s labyrinthine internal walkways prevent pedestrians from circulating between New Kent Road and Woolworth Road.

Looking at the distribution of frontage and land use in this context, it is clear that the design of the public realm has not been developed in line with the natural behavior of local pedestrians. As such the majority of the street system that pedestrians actually use is not lined by live commercial uses and is largely left as blank frontage. In order to generate a design that is functionally affective as well as aesthetically pleasing, it was crucial to know where pedestrians would circulate in a different street system and line these streets with active land uses.

The design solution that followed from this assessment focused on remedying the structural problems identified in the areas physical from, the redevelopment of the Heygate estate in particular provided an opportunity to link residential communities with each other and the centre. The damaging segregation of vehicular and pedestrian infrastructure also had to be redressed by creating a better balance between movement through the area and movement within.

Testing the future spatial structure showed that reconnecting Woolworth Road to the Northern Roundabout would reinforce the value of Elephant and Castle as a local centre of trade and that connecting Woolworth Road to New Kent Road would open up new areas of relatively high pedestrian movement away from the busy roads, providing a greater diversity of urban space for non residential use and an opportunity to create exciting new urban spaces.

This growth has occurred without proper water supply, sewage and public transport; likewise, without protection of many important historic buildings. As a result the city suffers from sprawl, decay and pollution.

Much movement in the city is only possible by private vehicle.

Our spatial analysis revealed how the city had developed an imbalanced spatial accessibility pattern that only worked because of the motorways.

The authorities in the city had a strategic choice to either build more motorways or to stop building such fast streets and start building a local infrastructure based on shorter journeys, mixed land uses and public transport.

Using the spatial model we showed how the city would suffer if more motorways were built. As a result of our contribution, the authorities have decided to follow the alternative strategy.

…and on urban design features, such as tree shading, that will ensure that the strategic spatial planning principles are translated into fine-scale design.

The Space Syntax spatial model has been used to plan the new land use pattern with retail streets formed along new boulevards, in the historic tradition of street-based trade.

We have helped to create a new public transport network in which routes and stations have been aligned with key accessibility corridors and nodes.

We have identified the location for a major new street, the “Jeddah Boulevard”, which will serve as a new focus for commercial business in Jeddah.

As in Sao Paulo, the spatial accessibility model has been used to create guidance on building heights…

We have created area action plans for several parts of the city, including the Jeddah Waterfront…

…illustrating these for potential developers and investors.

If we look at some real world examples we can see that there is great variation in street grid design. In this case London (left) and Denver display very different block size patterns. Block sizes decrease significantly toward the centre of London where as Denver’s grid system is astonishingly uniform throughout the whole city.

If we look at some real world examples we can see that there is great variation in street grid design. In this case London (left) and Denver display very different block size patterns. Block sizes decrease significantly toward the centre of London where as Denver’s grid system is astonishingly uniform throughout the whole city.

The colour describes the average depth from each route segment to all others

We constructed a spatial model of the city to understand its accessibility patterns and to test strategic design ideas.

So, with these “urban” assets as a foundation, this is the “vision” of the future Cleveland set forth in the Connecting Cleveland 2020 Plan:

So, with these “urban” assets as a foundation, this is the “vision” of the future Cleveland set forth in the Connecting Cleveland 2020 Plan:

So, with these “urban” assets as a foundation, this is the “vision” of the future Cleveland set forth in the Connecting Cleveland 2020 Plan:

From highways to handshakes Spatial design for human behaviour Bright Lights, Portland 24th January 2011 Tim Stonor

Thinking spatially The Earth as a spatial network Much of the earth’s landmass is continuously connected.

A networked geography Spatial networks are the largest objects of human creation.

Urban centres as intense parts of the spatial network

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.

Sustainable urbanism begins with sustainable urban movement. Sustainable urban movement is a balance between movement at different scales: local as well as global movement. It is about multi-scale activity transacting within a common set of spaces. This is the process of economic & social trade that gives cities their purpose. Many modern cities have lost the balance between global and local and, being low-density and disconnected, have become too oriented towards large-scale, vehicle dependent movement. Sustainable urbanism

Movement is the lifeblood of the city.

Which is the easiest route between A and B? B A

A B Shortest path/least metric distance?

A B Simplest path/least angle change?

Investigate by observing & recording

Create a movement database

Urban functioning Pedestrian flow scan Tower Hamlets People per hour 450 to 900 250 to 450 150 to 250 100 to 150 50 to 100 0 to 50

Urban functioning Vehicle flow scan Bloomsbury

In brief same input B Observation studies show that most people prefer simple, more direct paths over complex, indirect paths – even if the complex path is shorter. A B A Most people prefer simplest paths

Introduction The syntactic description of space Seeing space

Seeing space

A network whose connections are driven by the geometry of buildings (and other ‘obstructions’) Spatial network analysis

Spatial hierarchy in the axial network

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 Key discovery #1 Spatial layout shapes urban movement

Spatial accessibility

Centrality Clusters of non residential activity in metropolitan London © CASA, UCL Global ‘To’ movement for metropolitan London

In brief same input ‘Through’ movement

In brief same input Courtesy of The TLRN Central London Pedestrian Study by Atkins ‘Through’ movement

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, cities organise themselves, mixing land uses in a natural way that people understand intuitively.

Centre vitality £ % Street quality Property value Residential security Personal safety Urban layout Key discovery #3 Space shapes urban performance Space Syntax shows that spatial layouts have powerful, social, economic & environmental properties that can be measured objectively.

A singular expertise The common language of space Architecture Town planning Urban economics Criminology Masterplanning Transport planning Property agency Cultural identity Space Space/form Function Design

Each place has a unique spatial signature.

Beijing

Tokyo

Understanding movement Structuring movement

Understanding movement Structuring movement

Understanding movement Structuring movement

Understanding movement Structuring movement

Understanding movement Structuring movement

Old town Ashford Mixed use Integrated movement Accessible centre Zoned land uses Separated movement Inaccessible centre A simple analysis revealing profound differences New town Skelmersdale

. Urban space-form Land use scan Comparatives . Old town Ashford New town Skelmersdale

Suppressed movement economy. Enhanced movement economy. Main street, mixing global & local movement. Fast highways, separating global & local movement. The cost of access Fast highways not “Main Streets”

The separation of local communities, land uses & individual buildings has created the commuting society. The loss of local movement economies has social, economic and environmental costs including time, health, energy consumption, property crime, personal attack & social isolation. The costs of imbalanced accessibility

Area 5 Area 6 Area 3 Area 2 Perth, Gosnells Property crime analysis Structure/function correlations Space/crime diagnosis

Urban space-form Frontage character scan Tower Hamlets Blank wall High opaque fence High see through fence Low fence Semi-transparent wall Transparent wall Very low fence Frontages

Urban functioning Pedestrian crossing scan Tower Hamlets People per hour 1,400 700 140 Traffic light red phase (pph) Traffic light green phase (pph)

Urban functioning Informal crossing scan Tower Hamlets Straight crossing Staggered crossing Traces

Urban space-form Frontage character scan Bloomsbury Old town Barnsbury New town Caledonian Road Active 80% Inactive 20% Active 13% Inactive 87%

Urban functioning Pedestrian database London central Oxford Street Covent Garden Baker Street Soho Mayfair Street comparison 8–10 10-12 12- 2 2-4 4-6 6-8 Oxford Street Soho London subarea comparison Baker Street Pedestrian movement Pedestrian movement

Diagnostic analysis Burglary valuation A B –£1,590,000 +£691,000

Urban valuation tool Value of property security Indicators Dwelling type Plot exposure Dwellings per street segment Building centred density Risk factors Cost ±% ±£ ! Risk intangible ? tangible This project is supported by the UCL-led UrbanBuzz Programme, within which UEL is a prime partner

Trafalgar Square, London

Trafalgar Square, London

Trafalgar Square, London In 1996, most of the space was empty for most of the time.

Trafalgar Square In 1996, there were pockets of activity on the south-east side of the square.

Trafalgar Square Tourists cross dangerous roads

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

Trafalgar Square Views from the heart of the space are limited.

Elephant & Castle Southern Crossing Views from the south side are extensive, providing valuable information.

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

© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Licence number: LA100032379 To Leicester Square & Covent Garden To the South Bank To Buckingham Palace & St James Park To Leicester Square, Piccadilly & St James Design issue Movement was pushed around the edges of the Square by the physical design of the space such as indirect staircase links. Design strategy The design strategy, developed with Foster + Partners, was to bring movement through the heart of the Square via a new, central staircase. Designing for movement Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square before redesign Trafalgar Square after redesign Designing for movement Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square The new central staircase

Trafalgar Square First day of opening

Trafalgar Square The new Central Staircase

Shoreditch The new approach to street design Spot the guardrail!

Designing for movement Trafalgar Square Day 1 2003

Urban care process Analytic design Trafalgar Square Observe Explain Forecast Deliver

Trafalgar Square Aldwych Shoreditch The new approach to street design X crossings

Nottingham, England Old Market Square

Millennium Bridge, London

200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 Pedestrian flow 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 Spatial accessibility R^2 = .89 p = 0.0047 Blackfriars Bridge Hungerford Bridge London Bridge Southwark Bridge Waterloo Bridge Westminster Bridge Urban care process Space/movement forecast

The London Promenade

Axial Integration R3 Green at 8 © Crown Copyright 2006. No. XXXXXXXXX Skelmersdale Inaccessible town centre

Skelmersdale Redevelopment proposal Integrate Vehicular and pedestrian Movement Incorporate existing movement generators Improve connections to residential estates

© Crown Copyright 2006. No. XXXXXXXXX Axial Integration R3 Green at 8 Skelmersdale Proposed pedestrian accessibility

Axial Integration R3 Green at 8 © Crown Copyright 2006. No. XXXXXXXXX Skelmersdale Inaccessible town centre

1916 Coherent urban layout “The Piccadilly of the south” 2005 Fragmented urban layout - isolated, divided communities - disposable income exodus. Designing for movement Elephant and Castle

Elephant and Castle Pedestrian movement observation

Brook Drive Newington Butts Borough Road Heygate Estate Designing for movement Elephant and Castle

Frontage interface map Ground floor land use map INTERFACE ACTIVE/ LIVE FRONTAGE + PEDESTRIANISED ACTIVE/ LIVE FRONTAGE ACTIVE/ NON LIVE FRONTAGE INACTIVE FRONTAGE LAND USE CATERING COMMERCIAL OFFICE COMMUNITY FACILITIES HOTEL LAW / EMERGENCY SERVICES LEISURE / ENTERTAINMENT NOT ACCESSIBLE PILOTIS PRIVATE GARDEN PUBLIC SPACE RESIDENTIAL RETAIL TRANSPORT UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNKNOWN / OTHER VACANT / DERELICT Designing for movement Elephant and Castle

Designing for movement Elephant and Castle

Elephant & Castle Area layout framework

Designing for movement Elephant and Castle

Elephant & Castle New urban quarter Image courtesy Foster and Partners 2004

Elephant & Castle A new ‘High Street’ centre Image courtesy Foster and Partners 2004

Elephant & Castle World-class public realm Civic Square Image courtesy Foster and Partners 2004

Elephant & Castle Pedestrian flow forecasting

80% Say Yes

Elephant & Castle Southern Crossing

Elephant & Castle Southern Crossing

Elephant & Castle Southern Crossing

Tate Britian Layout influences wayfinding

Tate Britian Layout influences wayfinding

الرؤية تراث تاريخي عريق Jeddah Global location

Growth 60 years ago the centre was a kilometre across

51 km Rapid urban expansion Since then, rapid urban expansion means the city is now 51 kilometres from north to south. Madinah Road Makkah Road

التحديات معاناة المشاة Jeddah Weaknesses sprawl decay pollution

New plan Historic Core Spatial accessibility analysis Motorway city Urban motorway

New plan A car-based plan is socially & economically unsustainable Existing Former plan

Align new streets with the Red Sea breeze & shade them

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

استخدامات المباني Development Specifications Development guidelines Density and building height generation مؤشرات العمران – الواجهة البحرية موجهات التطوير توليد الكثافة وارتفاعات المباني

Urban care process Parametric design Jeddah Central

Recirculate the city with “healthy” movement

Create a public transport system that follows main streets Shared space (pedestrians / buses) Pedestrian Priority area Secondary public transport network Primary public transport network Multi-modal transport interchange Old Airport Waterfront Al Balad Khozam

The outcome Enhanced accessibility, movement & trade Existing The Jeddah Plan Jeddah Boulevard

Line key boulevards with major, street-facing buildings

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 Re-creating local, street-based movement

مشروع المركز المدني لجدة تحليل الموقع مكونات الخطة الرئيسية Jeddah Waterfront 500Ha masterplan

Urban care process Analytic design Jeddah Central

Jeddah Waterfront Corridors for transaction

Urban care process Analytic design Jeddah City Plan Existing Former plan New plan by Space Syntax

Manipulating spatial networks B

Understanding movement: Structuring movement

Understanding movement: Structuring movement

Understanding movement: Structuring movement

. Spatially isolated Spatially integrated Cities are relational systems Each space within a spatial network is affected by its relations to all other spaces in the system.

Sao Paulo Space Syntax Making sense of space at every scale

High Low Area scale 10km Spatial accessibility High Low Citywide scale 50km Spatial accessibility Mumbai Local & global spatial network hierarchies

Cleveland: 86% manufacturing job losses Problematic urbanism Industrial decline & fragmentation

Cleveland 26,570 foreclosures (2006-2009)

…..a city with densely built, mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods connected by greenways and complemented by urban gardens and open space amenities

Space Syntax Limited © 2010 Tim Stonor Fragmented landscapes Issues in North American urbanism

Space Syntax Limited © 2010 Tim Stonor Fragmented landscapes Issues in North American urbanism

Tim Stonor architect & town planner Managing Director, Space Syntax Limited Lincoln Loeb Fellow, Harvard University Twitter @Tim_Stonor Blog www.timstonor.com LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/timstonor t.stonor@spacesyntax.com www.spacesyntax.com Contact details

Sustainable urbanism begins with sustainable urban movement. Sustainable urban movement is a balance between movement at different scales: local as well as global movement. It is about multi-scale activity transacting within a common set of spaces. This is the process of economic & social trade that gives cities their purpose. Many modern cities have lost the balance between global and local and, being low-density and disconnected, have become too oriented towards large-scale, vehicle dependent movement. Sustainable urbanism