Master's Thesis: Integrated Urban Design | A space syntax approach

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M A S T E R T H E S I S INTEGRATED URBAN DESIGN A SPACE SYNTAX APPROACH

Ali Elafifi 871233


Integrated Urban Design A Space Syntax Approach

A.A. 2018/2019 POLITECNICO DI MILANO MASTER DEGREE THESIS: SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE DESIGN

Student: Ali Akram Mohamed Mohamed Hassan Elafifi. 871233 Supervisor: Professor. Stabilini Stefano


Abstract This paper is a discussion of the stages of using the application of space syntax techniques for the reason of finding Integration and how will it help in the assessment of the Urban design. In this project, spatial integration studies on urban area, space syntax can be used as a data presentation and analysis techniques in a Visual graphic way based on quantifying spatial data, space syntax can be used alongside other data programs like (GIS) Geographical Information Systems to show the conditions of the spatial integration of urban space in three dimensions. Urban space area needs to consider the network, specifically in the development of the movement path that connects the activity in each space between the spaces and activities which affect each other, either in directly related space or in a context of the urban structure. One of the ways that we can use space syntax techniques is when we determine how to work with both social and spatial process in an urban place that happens all the time. Space syntax is a method offering a way method to understand the city as a whole. It provides an understanding naturally evolve of the cities. Establishing a framework to understand the analysis of the relationship between social and spatial of the material aspect so we do not put forward a physical space without considering the social aspect and how it is going to be affected. Instead of discussion the aspects of social relationships often neglect its relation with the spatial.

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Another way to help in calculating the results will be through different tools of Computational design like the decoding spaces tool that allows us to check the integration values we get from space syntax and work on them. Computational design is the application of computational techniques to the design process. While most of us when solving a design problem we usually relay on intuition and of course the previous experiences that's when computational design comes in handy to improve this experiences and to make sure that the design decisions is accurate by encoding them using the computer language. The goal is not necessarily to document the final result , but rather the steps required to create that result we will be trying to get the right decision moreover the 2

accurate one.


Introduction In this project we will discuses the main problem of Counter Urbanization in a settlement of a city and how can we predict if a system has a proper integration that will help in future studies wither the prediction was helpful and if so it will make much more easier the design process of a fully integrated system. The main focus with space syntax technique is to see the relative accessibility between different sites, we will include graph theory in the measurement of the distance between the nodes and connecting it with the intensity of interaction of human activities that occur in different open spaces and along the path connecting them. Axial maps will be produced to see with ourselves how the space syntax is applied, two axial lines intersects is all what we need to get an adjacent space and to get the studying started. Some questions would be answered if we had this technique with us while we design and to evaluate out idea with numbers and with accuracy and how we would create a space that can be tested before built, it is not a complicated process to achieve while trying to design but knowing it will give us more confidence in the idea we are proposing. Here we will show different analysis of how depth map can give us a visual value of a street in a network which will give us more opportunity to figure out how to analyse where could be the problem starting and how to create a solution that can work with numbers and translate it into a real life design.

Keywords

Space Syntax Parametric Urbanism Network connection

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the city more accurate even more WHERE to analyse and determine or predict

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Index Abstract

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Introduction

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Chapter 1: The Problem of Counter Urbanization

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Chapter 2: Unfinished Settlements

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2.1 History of new Cairo city

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2.2 New Cairo Index

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2.3 What is happening to new Cairo city

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2.4 The master scheme for building the new capital

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2.5 History repeated

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2.6 Current situation

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Chapter 3: New Cairo analysis

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3.1 Census and estimation

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3.2 Zooming in

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3.3 Analysis maps

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3.4 Initial analysis results

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Chapter 4: Space syntax approach strategy

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4.1 How space syntax method works

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4.2 Street network syntactic measures

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4.3 Understanding the measures of integration and Depth

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4.4 Equation used to produce segment analysis

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4.5 Glossary of some definitions used

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4.6 application of space syntax case studies

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Chapter 5: Methodology of using space syntax in the proposed city

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Depth map application and analysis

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5.1 Integration maps

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5.2 Parametric solution

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Chapter 6: The project proposal

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References

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The Problem of Counter Urbanization

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1 Counter Urbanization Counter urbanization, or de-urbanization, is a demographic and social process whereby people move from urban areas to rural areas. It is, like suburbanization, inversely related to urbanization. It first occurred as a reaction to inner-city deprivation. More recent research has documented the social and political drivers of counter urbanization and its impacts in developing countries such as China, which are currently undergoing the

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process of mass urbanization. It is one of the causes that can lead to shrinking cities.

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Counter urbanization is the process by which people migrate from urban to rural communities, the opposite of urbanization. People have moved from urban to rural communities for various reasons, including job opportunities and simpler lifestyles.

In recent years, due to technology, this process has been occurring in reverse. With new communications

technology,

people

from

rural

communities

can

work

from

home because they can connect with each other via rural Internet, which means some employment opportunities no longer require moving to an urban community. The problem is that when this problem happens it leaves behind a series of unfinished settlements and in the case of the mentioned city of this thesis we will see an indication of that problem arising and the fact that the country is still proposing new cities to solve a problem they create another problem subliminally without knowing. The reasons that people are leaving cities for smaller cities is not the same across the globe. For Russia, jobs have not always moved to rural areas to accommodate those who want to leave the city. Rather, people find themselves having two homes, one in the city during work days and one in rural areas for days off. There is a weak infrastructure outside of cities to accommodate people who wish to completely relocate. In 2010, it was found that two-thirds of small towns are depressed, meaning that it has a large

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working-age population that is unemployed, and businesses are not profitable

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Causes Mainly the causes was always seen as some specific factors that when achieved the counter urbanization begins, but mostly what people reacted during the past years was relatively the same as in every city that is suffering from this problem but to not generalize the causes, here we only pointed out the causes that we will face during the analysis to the proposed city:

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• • • • • •

Accessibility-railways , motorways etc….easier to get to work Mobility- means more people with cars congestion happens Increased wealth- meaning houses and travel is more affordable Agriculture-less labor and land needed, lands becomes available Lack of agricultural workers due to open vast unplanned spaces Green belts mean people need to go father out to get the place they are looking for

Push factors for people to think of moving out of unfinished suburban areas • Noise pollution • Higher crimes rates • Overcrowding in well serviced areas • Poor connections of main streets • Traffic congestion • Lack of open spaces and parks • Lack of gardens • Poor quality schools

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Unfinished Settlements History of New Cairo City

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2 2 Unfinished Settlements History of New Cairo City The governate of Cairo (Al QÄ hirah) is the largest of these jurisdictions. Parts of the Cairo governate and the Giza government would be considered in the urban core, but the political jurisdictions in Cairo do not lend themselves well to conventional core versus suburban designations. The Cairo governate is located on the east bank of the Nile River, and spreads many kilometers, especially to the East and South. This area includes the Cairo international airport and Heliopolis, one of the most affluent areas in the Cairo metropolitan area. The governate of Cairo also includes "New Cairo," an attractive new town located in the southeastern quadrant. This area includes a number of university campuses, multi-story condominium buildings and detached housing. Eventually, New Cairo is expected to have 4,000,000 residents, though the new town is little more than a decade old and still has a modest population of approximately 135000. New Cairo is a city covering an area of about 30,000 hectares (70,000 acres) on the southeastern edge of Cairo Governorate, 25 kilometers (15 mi) from Maadi. New Cairo is one of the new cities which have been built in and around Cairo to alleviate the congestion in downtown Cairo. It was established in the year 2000 by presidential decree number 191. Located in what was formerly Helwan governorate, and located to the east of Maadi and Heliopolis, New Cairo ranges in elevation between 250 and 307 meters (820 and 1,007 ft.) above sea level. The city could eventually host a population of 5 million. When compared to 6th of October, also built with the hopes of alleviating the strain on Cairo, more homes are being rented out in New Cairo than in 6th of October.

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2.1 New Cairo City Index 1-Location It was established by presidential decree (191/2000). It is 15 Km far from Almaadi and 10 Km from Nasr City. 2-General plan The total area of the city is 86 thousand acres which are built up area (Residential areas services - industrial -tourism and recreation. (....

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3-Housing sector Number of land plots 46346 ( villas- buildings – Families ) including beit el watan The total number of housing units is 69764 of which 34034 implemented by New Urban Communities Authority and 35730 implemented by private sector. Offering 3912 units in Madinety by prices between 6000 & 7000 Offering 1488 units in El Rehab city average prices between 7000 & 8000

4-Population Current :1500 thousand inhabitants Target : 4 million inhabitants

4-Services sector The number of service buildings implemented by New Urban Communities Authority is 138: 28 educational buildings 7 sports centers

12 hospitals and health units 7 bakeries 12 business buildings

4 Mosques 4 public services

10 social buildings 8communication centers

In addition to 728 service building & 4290 tombs by NUCA. Roads and communications: -There are 5 communication centers with total capacity of 600 lines in the city. -Length of finished road networks: 1150 km.

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-Length of finished Communication networks: 1000 km

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2.2 What is happening to New Cairo City So what is exactly happening in New Cairo City? And what is so wrong so far in the planning of a new city that would serve the need of holding a capacity that the capital can not do now since the population is rising up now to be over 9 millions, and all the job opportunities are being placed away from the capital towards the new cities that surrounds the capital in order to ease the conjunction and the over population. So why

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isn’t a city like New Cairo serving the only purpose that it exists for?

Because The New Capital affected the way this city was suppose to grow. In the begging when New cairo city was made like another cities that was made during the past decade it was meant to serve the needs of the capital but what happened is it was used to serve the new capital for the direct connecting it had between the OLD and the NEW due to it’s logistic location that helped a lot to build the New capital (which is going to have a soft opening June 2019).

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'Cairo has started to become ugly': why Egypt is building a new capital city- The Gaurdians

What Happens to Cairo After Egypt Builds Its New Capital? A city of some 20 million people combining charm and squalor, Cairo may soon witness an exodus by wellheeled residents, state employees and foreign embassies to the New Administrative Capital

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As Egypt Builds New Capital, What Becomes of Cairo and the surrounding cities?

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2.3 The master scheme for building the new capital On a flat stretch of desert between the Nile River and the Suez Canal, a new city is being built that will one day replace ancient Cairo as Egypt's capital. The new metropolis is currently a giant construction zone, but work is progressing at breakneck speed. It is slated to be larger than Singapore and will eventually be home to 20 million people. The government is set to move 34 government ministries — including the presidential complex — to the new capital in next June, just four years after the project was announced by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Officials describe the new administrative capital, which has not yet been named, with a string of superlatives. It will be the country’s most high-tech city, home to Africa’s tallest tower, and Egypt’s

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largest minaret and tallest church steeple.

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Former Brig. Gen. Khaled el-Husseiny Soliman, the international coordination manager with the Administrative Capital for Urban Development, which is overseeing a partnership between the housing ministry and the military, said the project would create "the first smart city in Egypt. The problem was not to plan a new capital that will serve for a greater good of the main one, solving problems along the sides of other clusters that came (purposely) to serve the New capital developing leaving behind a series of damaged, deformed and unfinished planned cities such as New Cairo city. Proclaiming it is one of the largest inhabitable cities that will have the capacity of 20

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million capita by the end of 2018

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2.4 History Repeated The attractive character of the developments in the new capital will make housing developments near the new city increasingly unaffordable. The government has a policy in force to control the price of land every six months. So far, the price of land has only increased. This approach is not an effective way of ensuring that housing in the new capital remains affordable for Egypt’s lower income citizens. There’s a real risk that the new city will replicate the historical trend of spatial segregation, which can still be observed in Cairo today. As a result, low and middle-income families will search for housing on the peripheries of the new capital, leading to the development of poorly planned, poorly connected

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settlements, which will only reinforce urban inequality.

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2.5 Current Situation Already stressed with patchy development the situation got even worse after the revolution in 2011. Even though the American University recently relocated to New Cairo and the construction of some gated communities still continues, the considerable reduction in building activity due to uncertain conditions for private investments . Nowadays only three to five percent of Cairo’s population (depending on the estimate, as exact figures do not exist) live in these new towns. Together, with extremely high vacancy rates of between 64 and 79 percent and a geographical disconnection resulting from the lack of high-level public transport services, it seems like desert cities are doomed to courtesy of Daniel Zwangsleitner.

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remain a dream of a better life yet to come

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New Cairo Analysis

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3 New Cairo Analysis Like the previous discussion about the unfinished plans and settlements, we will have to get data to see where is exactly the problem and of course keep in mind how the city is potentially in a logistic place that can be used in the future for the transition process of the new capital. What was brought to attention by my Thesis Professor, was if we are addressing the fact that this city is potentially a growing city and if it was planned to hold over 4 million at the end of 2018 how are we sure that the problem of counter urbanization is there, and the effects of unfinished settlements is happening because of that phenomenon. In fact we did not take that much time to find out that the phenomenon was happening even before the city was planned and the fact that a lot of investors were scared to put any efforts in that lands and left it all to be jungle of residential blocks and gated communities not serving any needs whatsoever in between, people were not convinced of moving out to a crowded city and go to a dead city where you will have to go back to the one you left to get a proper service, Literally, any service you need in this city you will have to have a car before you move there, it is a car dependent city without any services in it and here were the numbers that we got for the website of new settlements in Egypt

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and the government of Urban planning

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3.1 Census and Estimation As shown here in the graphs taken from the ministry of urban development of the growth rate and the developing of the city. The number that we can find is not as the ones were planned for 5 million at the end of 2018 which is dropping to be only 138000 as the low movement occurring to the city

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because of the lacking services provided.

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Another chart from the government that shows the change from 2006-2018 was 14% of the population, of course it is still a good indication of a change but not necessarily

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means the city is working on a full capacity

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3.2 Zooming in Here is a masterplan provided from the ministry to the investors of the city The interesting colors in this map the one that we are going to study the analysis for is the city center (red) and the investors residence (Paige ) To see why these places are still not planned since the starting of the dwellings and all

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the urban and green areas not established yet since 2000

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3.3 Analysis maps

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3.4 Initial Analysis results From these initial analysis it was clear that the city has a difficult pattern in the land usage, of course It was built to inhabit more people but the services and the retails are obviously illogical towards how many residential building that it has to serve. There is a lack of land use identity, and there is a lot of gated communities that created the segregation in the first place not only this imagine the cognitions of the traffic if that city achieved its final target and imagine how these low percentage of facilities will be able to supply all of the resident, moreover, that we are speaking about only the people who is living in the city not the out comers or the passers that will be going toward the new capital city in the future. The city infrastructure and network will be discussed and analyzed further in the next chapters to be enhanced. Does not take one to see the problem of this city being car dependent, imagine in any block you decide to go for a supermarket or a restaurant or even you work or school‌.every place looks really far away regardless the city center not having the maximum capacity to serve it’s surroundings. The city needs a lot of re planning and rethinking on where should we place the services and the retails but firstly we will have to deal with each segregated area one by one and then maybe in the future we propose a well enhanced connection with the integration core of the city All the maps that will be produced in the upcoming chapters will be discussing how a simple line that has a high value of integration could pick up a whole area to be well integrated, not just that the numbers that this line will fall on under all the tests will be Inegrated Urban design space syntax Approach

the most logical solution with the existing situation

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Space syntax Approach

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4 Space syntax approach strategy The term space syntax encompasses a set of theories and techniques for the analysis of spatial configurations. It was conceived by Bill Hillier, Julienne Hanson and colleagues at The Bartlett, University College London in the late 1970s to early 1980s as a tool to help urban planners simulate the likely social effects of their designs.

Cities of Data Assessing the New Urban Science 2015 Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London

4.1 How Space syntax method works The general idea is that spaces can be broken down into components, analyzed as networks of choices, then represented as maps and graphs that describe the relative connectivity and integration of those spaces. It rests on three basic conceptions of space:

*Isovist (popularized by Michael Benedikt at University of Texas), or view shed or

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visibility polygon, the field of view from any particular point.

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*axial space (idea popularized by Bill Hillier at UCL), a straight sight-line and possible path

*convex space (popularized by John Peponis, and his collaborators at Georgia Tech), an occupiable void where, if imagined as a wireframe diagram, no line between two of its points goes outside its perimeter: all points within the polygon are visible to all other

All of these maps are produced to analyze further segment maps where measutes of different attributes is needed to show the results of integrations

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points within the polygon.

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A simplified dirgram showing Process of generating a street segment network in space syntax: A the continuous open space of the relevant area is delineated and broken down into convex spaces; B an axial map is created by identifying the smallest connected network of straight lines passing through such convex spaces; C axial lines are split at intersections to create a street segment map; and D each street segment becomes a vertex with edges representing its direct links to other vertices

4.2 Street network Syntactic measures The three most popular ways of analyzing a street network are Integration, Connectivity and Depth Distance. 1) Integration(Closeness). The global measure shows how deep or shallow a space is in relation to all other spaces. Itis a variable that refers to how a space is connected with other spaces in its surroundings. Inegrated Urban design space syntax Approach

Integration is usually indicative to how many people are likely to be in a space, and is thought to correspond to rates of social encounter and retail activities (Hillier, 1996). Proximity measure component

2) Connectivity (degree) measures the number of immediate neighbours that are directly connected to a space. 3) Depth is a global property: it tells you how “faraway� an element is from all the other elements. 30


A global property can only be experienced from moving through space. (inverted) Depth = Integration (low depth values mean high integration and vice versa)

Figure illustrating the Depth value and how it is calculated through a complicated system

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Figure illustrating the difference between connectivity, integration in a simple network

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4.3 Understanding the measures of Integration and Depth Integration measures how many turns have to be made from a street segment to reach all other street segments in the network, using shortest paths. If the number of turns required for reaching all segments in the graph is analyzed, the analysis is said to measure integration at radius 'n'. The first intersecting segment requires only one turn, the second two turns and so on. The street segments that require the fewest turns to reach all other streets are called 'most integrated' and are usually represented with hotter colors, such as red or yellow. Integration can also be analyzed in local scale instead of the scale of the whole network. In the case of radius 4, for instance, only four turns are

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counted departing from each street segment.

Integration is a measure that describes relativized asymmetry in the graph network. It is a measure of mean depth that is specifically adapted for architectural layouts. The global measure shows how deep or shallow a space is in relation to all other spaces. Using integration, spaces are ranked from the most integrated to the most segregated. Integration is usually indicative to how many people are likely to be in a space, and is thought to correspond to rates of social encounter and retail activities (Hillier, 1996a). It is sometimes helpful to illuminate higher values in a system (i.e. the highest 10% values) in 32

order to illuminate the integration core in a city.


The integration core might take different shapes (a spine, a deformed wheel, diffused, and concentrated). Theoretically, the integration measure shows the cognitive complexity of reaching a street, and is often argued to 'predict' the pedestrian use of a street: the easier it is to reach a street, the more popular it should be. While there is some evidence of this being true, the method is biased towards long, straight streets that intersect with lots of other streets. Such streets, as Oxford Street in London, come out as especially strongly integrated. However, a slightly curvy street of the same length would typically be segmented into individual straight segments, not counted as a single line, which makes

So that said what is the relation between the integration the the depth and how the system calculate all of there numbers in different radii?!

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curvy streets appear less integrated in the analysis.

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Depth Distance is the most intuitive of the analysis methods. It explains the linear distance from the center point of each street segment to the center points of all the other segments. If every segment is successively chosen as a starting point, a graph of cumulative final values is achieved. The streets with lowest Depth Distance values are said to be nearest to all the other streets. Again, the search radius can be limited to any distance. To calculate the depth distance in the system it’s quite complicated when the system is big but the same way on a smaller simpler system is used and Depth d an element in a configuration is calculated by totaling the shortest distances from one element to all other elements. The smaller the depth of an element, the simpler (shorter) it is to navigate from it to all other elements. Depth is the basis to calculate the Integration of an element. The higher the depth the smaller the level of Integration and vice versa.

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Total Depth(td) of a configuration is the sum of the depth of all nodes.

4.4 Equation used to produce Segment analysis Space syntax as a theory allows to calculate an integration value of a system by combing different parameters such as MEAN DEPTH, NODE COUNT, CHOICE and TOTAL DEPTH. Moreover some of the programs used to generate this kind of analysis (DepthmapX used in the thesis) are allowing the user to get specific radius for a proposed location in other words, the selection of “other nodes” in the system can be governed by radius, which we might think of as a “cookie cut” of a set of nodes. 34


The radius might be “all nodes within 100m from the current node”, or “all nodes within 5 turns of the current location”. Note that the radius, like the analysis type, can be angular, segmental, topological or metric. Angular = the shortest path is the one that minimizes the angle between you and your destination Segment = the shortest path is the one that uses the least number of streets (actually the least number of “interjection” stretches of street) to get to your destination Topological = the shortest path is the one that uses the fewest number of turns (note that topological is the analysis as axial, but with a finer resolution) Metric = the shortest path is the one that is physically shortest For example, we might want to look at the shortest path to all nodes within 100m of the node being analysed. Metric Radius is quite different, and corresponds to an approximately circular cookie cut

But the problem in the metric radius is that we need to find an origin node or set of nodes that will allow this analysis to run meaning that if we didn’t pick the segments that needs to be read for the integration values then the metric analysis is useless in that case. In our thesis the node count that would be considered for the analysis is based on the radius that we pick, meaning, that when we put a radius let’s say 500 meters the system will count how many nodes are able to do a shortest metric value within the radius proposed and connect them to each other so we would have a proper map showing which parts works under this definition

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around the node under consideration

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Hillier's integration measure gives a solution that works both at low radius and radius n, mainly the integration value would be calculated by the number of nodes in the system divided by the mean depth of each segment which works only in case the radius is global (n) in that case the node counts becomes a constant and the whole system will divide this on the sum of the mean depth and gets us an integration value. However, as we mentioned previously, what if we want to pick a specific radius to work on when the system reads the node counts of a given radius lets say 500M which will mean that the mean depth of one node can not exceed this radius given the system will simply override the definition given to him and simply gives a value that shows only the picked nodes on a R 500m on the sum of the mean depth which will not make sense because it will look like a centrality reading rather than an integration reading and that’s where the other formula that Hillier suggested would be helpful. Let us remember (Integration=Node counts / Mean depth) which doesn’t work on different radii,

Integration = (NC * NC) / TD where TD takes place instead of MD

because when the system calculates it will calculate the NC of the Radius and the sum of all the mean depth again so we can not use the other formula so when we change and tell the system count me the total depth on a definition of no more the 500m mean depth will work as : Total depth (TD) R500 = MD R500* NC and from that MD=TD/NC So it is basically the same formula of we changed the MD in the first given Integration = NC / MD or NC/ (TD/NC) which is equal to the one Hillier gave NC*NC/TD .At radius n, NC is constant, so Integration for each node could as well be written 1 / TD At low radius, NC / TD is (roughly) constant, so the second NC takes effect: Integration Inegrated Urban design space syntax Approach

could as well be written NC It must be understood that integration always means integration towards something. Axial maps with a low mean TD value are integrated towards themselves. Lines with a low D are integrated towards the other lines of the axial map. The integration of a line towards all the other lines of the axial map is called global integration and can be expressed in the D value of the line

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. The integration of an axial map towards itself is called the mean global integration of the map and can be expressed as the mean of D values of the lines of the map. The values of TD and D depend on the number

4.5 Glossary of some definitions used To-movement To-movement refers to the movement to a space as a destination from all others. The measure of Integration is said to predict to-movement. Total depth Total depth is defined as the sum of the topological depth from any a node to all the others. Topological total depth Topological total depth is the cumulative total of the fewest topological depth paths between all pairs of nodes. Metric total depth Metric total depth is the cumulative total of the shortest metric distance paths between all pairs of nodes. Integrated vs segregated Integrated vs. segregated means two contrasting types of spatial layouts, the former indicating all spaces are close to all others, and the latter meaning all spaces are far away from all others. Metric integration Metric integration measures how close each segment is to all others under the definition of metric distance, that is, the metric distance along the lines between the mid-points of two adjacent segments.

Metric radius Metric radius is defined as a set of spaces within a fixed metric distance away from a root space. For example, it is used to select all the spaces within 100m from a root space to be analyzed Metric mean depth Metric mean depth is the average metric distance from each space to all others. Mean depth Mean depth is calculated by assigning a depth value to each space according to how many spaces it is away from the original space, summing these values and dividing by the number of spaces in the system less one (the original space) Node count Node count, also called k in Confeego, measures the number of segments) encountered on the route from the selected segment to all others

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Integration core Integration core is a pattern made of the 10%, 25% or 50% most integrating spaces, or of a given number of spaces if the system is large and complex

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4.6 Application of space syntax Case studies Case 1: Design practice in urban scale: Trafalgar square

Axial analysis before and after

Figure 1 During the project, Space Syntax Laboratory counted pedestrian movement in over 300 Movement traces before and after

locations at different times of the day, on different days of the week, and in different seasons of the year. The result of the survey has shown the key features of space use in and around Trafalgar Square: Trafalgar Square appears to be cut off from its surrounding by dense traffic. Inegrated Urban design space syntax Approach

Londoners avoid the centre of Trafalgar Square and leave this space to visitors. There is virtually no movement across the heart of the square especially because of existing design of corner stairs. Londoners prefer to move around the outside pavements and visitors chose to meander slowly within the square. There is much informal road crossing by visitors, especially from the south side of Trafalgar Square in order to get to the best views of the area (Hillier, 1998). Figure 1 shows the detailed observation related to pedestrian movement and activity pattern in the area. In Figure 1, the most striking point is that the observed pedestrian activity in the area has totally been corresponded the computer model of the square 38

which has been carried out by the space syntax software. In these simulations more accessible spaces are indicated by thin red lines.


The findings of these analyses have generated a number of key design ideas for Trafalgar Square. These included a new staircase into Trafalgar Square, selective pedestrianisation of the public realm and the re-connection of Parliament Square to the wider area (Space Syntax, 2004). The designer of the project described the key resources for generating their design proposals as follows: “I would just mention that the sources of our proposals have an interactive relationship to each other. Many have emerged from these experiences; but they have also come out of the brief. They have resulted from our observations, but at the same time here is constant crosschecking between those findings and public consultation. It is this symbiosis which demonstrates to me what a very creative tool the space syntax theory is� (Foster, 1997). In the World Square project space syntax has both shown designers the nature and problems of the area by analysing the existing spatial layout. When the characteristics of the area were underlined it then helped designers to generate design proposals as well as evaluate them by providing new generation computer software.

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Figure 2 Shows the difference between the situation before the staircase was built and after

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4.6 Application of space syntax Case studies Case 2: Design practice in building scale: Tate Britain

Movement traces and VGA analysis in existing museum

Administration department of Tate Britain has decided to improve museum layout by providing new exhibition spaces. The idea was to design a new wing with a sculpture courtyard as extension to existing gallery. Space Syntax has been commissioned by Tate Britain to assist Tate Britain and its architects Allies and Morrison. Space Syntax Laboratory has contributed to the design process both by illuminating the social culture in the museum which was conveyed through the spatial configuration itself and helping architects, Allies and Morrison, to evaluate their three proposals) .

Inegrated Urban design space syntax Approach

During the project, Space Syntax Laboratory counted pedestrian movement in over 300 locations at different times of the day, on different days of the week, and in different seasons of the year. During the project, the routes of 100 people for the first ten minutes of their visits were recorded. The result of the survey has showed that some spaces in the museum are much more visited than others (Hillier, 2004, Hillier and Tzortzi, 2006) . Visitors tend to move along the central axis from the main entrance and intensify especially on the left side of the building. Visibility graph analysis confirmed this characteristic by simulating the observed visitor movement. After being defined how the existing spatial layout works spatially, comparative analyses 40

of proposals in term of their possible effects on the museum have been carried out.


Among the proposals first one intended to create a new gallery wing for the permanent collection having a passage entrance through the Clore Gallery. An external sculpture court was planned at the back of this wing. In the second proposal, some of the new gallery spaces were added on the north side of the building linearly and the others were designed at the back of this as a separate wing shaping an open court at the centre. Third one introduced a new north wing that will be used as temporary exhibition space and the area which is currently used for temporary exhibition was designed to host the permanent collection. In this option, external sculpture court was formed between the new gallery wing and the Clore Gallery having a link to new cafĂŠ and bookshop space. Based on the visibility graph analyses of proposals it has been shown that among the three proposals, third proposal provides the most intelligible layout by making the new temporary exhibition space well integrated and well connected to the core of the building (Space Syntax, 2002). By introducing a new link between the left side of the Gallery, the Clore Gallery and the new spaces, and by creating a new route to Clore Gallery, this proposal also impacts positively on the existing building by giving the plan a strong global structure.

Inegrated Urban design space syntax Approach

Testing three design proposals E existing P proposal

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Depthmap application and Analysis

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5 Methodology of using space syntax in the proposed city In this Chapter we will apply the strategy explained previously to know where the problem of the segregated unfinished plan is laying in the city, in our case we will go with the analysis to the point that we will check the dimensions of different places that needs access either walking or by means of mobility. We will try to prove that a smallest length can affect a planning of a whole city to connect it or not that will need further analysis to take care of in the future because we would not risk proposing something that we find it integrated but causes us another problem like a more crowded space or another failure in the system of planning the city. With the program that am going to use I will produce some prediction maps based only on the street network of the city that will provide us where can a problem like the segregation could appear and to help us prevent it from happening from the future, the proposal will not be perfectly fitting for every city maybe each city has it’s own pattern to work with the street network and without mentioning the restriction that the city planners have done previously maybe they had another analysis with other vision that would say if this place had one more line it would cause them another problem, and here is where the hypothesis reveals as an option of solving one problem but needs more base to be applied properly in reality. Moreover, this methodology that we are going to demonstrate had a lot of case studies that worked perfectly fine after applying it in real live and it was better demonstrated as a method of prediction and finding a pattern of movement with the help of lots of information, data collection and observation map to be able to design a proposal that architect before designing a place or a city could be backboned with this strategy in case he is working on a project that needs prediction data. And in this project we will be only scratching the surface of the capability of how to use the programs included and it can go for further analysis just with the proper understanding of how it can work with us. In the project we will demonstrate first the Axial map which will help us find the connectivity for the whole city and can be combined with the real live axial lines later to see if it works properly or not. In the other steps, we will be focusing on segment maps where we can get information of how deep or shallow a street is from another and with collecting all the streets we will get a look on each streets and the relation between it and the whole system.

Inegrated Urban design space syntax Approach

they are hundred percent sure will work. What am trying to say, is that the intuition of an

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5.1 Integration Maps

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we found that the residential blocks built there was well integrated towards it self more that an integration with a core so we got a scatter core for each node that the blocks were built around we will call them later the collectors.

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From a Zoomed in map and further studies of the values that this map produced for us

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5.2 Parametric Solution

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References 1. Karimi , K. and Parham, E., 2012. ‘An evidence informed approach to developing an adaptable regeneration programmed for declining informal settlements’. Proceedings: Eighth International Space Syntax Symposium. (Book) 2. Hillier, B., Hanson, J. and Peponis, J., 1987. ‘Syntactic Analysis of Settlements’. Architecture et Comportment Architecture and Behaviour (Book) 3. Hillier, B., Penn, A., Hanson, J., Grajewsky, T. and Xu, J., 1993. ‘Natural Movement – Or, Configuration and Attraction in Urban Pedestrian Movement’. Environment and Planning B Planning and Design (Book) 4. SPACE SYNTAX METHODOLOGY by Kinda Al_Sayed (Book) 5. International Space Syntax Symposium, Istanbul, 2007, conference made by space syntax team for the approach suggested for the Istanbul masterplan of renovation 6. GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM AN APPROACH FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SLUMS AND DETERIORATING AREAS IN CAIRO, EGYPT (Paper work) 7. Barriers to Integration: Institutionalized Boundaries and the Spatial Structure of Residential Segregation (Book) 8. Getting Serious with Depthmap, a book explaining the application of the integration values in the tool Depthmapx and the way of reading and applying different solution (Book) 9. Segment Analysis and Scripting 10. UCL Depthmap 7: Basic Usage Alasdair Turner, explaining the way of using the tool DEPTHMAPX in reading integration Values (Book) 11. Commercial Land Use difference between retails Region and Urban Scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_building_types

Inegrated Urban design space syntax Approach

12. A lecture held by Tim Stonor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncff2SfcQAs&t=1403s 13. Combining between Land Use and Space Syntax https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-composite-model-that-combines-spacesyntax-analysis-with-land-use-and-population_fig12_263324768 14. Three Case Studies of Space Syntax application in Urban development https://www.slideshare.net/ShomouAljizawi/case-study-space-syntax 15. List of Building type according to the land use and plot assisgments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_building_types 16. Space Syntax Tim Stonor - Christchurch 4 July 2013 PRESENTATION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncff2SfcQAs&t=1403s 96

17. HISTORIC CITY CENTERS UNDER THREAT: THE CASE OF SHARJAH, UAE SPACE SYNTAX https://www.slideshare.net/ShomouAljizawi/case-study-space-syntax


18. Cairo has started to become ugly': why Egypt is building a new capital city https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/may/08/cairo-why-egypt-build-new-capitalcity-desert 19. SPACE SYNTAX Prepared by: maram foad obaidat shomoo aljizawi . Supervised by: Dr. Imad Al-Hashimi.https://www.slideshare.net/ShomouAljizawi/space-syntax56311756?next_slideshow=1 20. A configurational approach to analytical urban design: ‘Space syntax’ methodology https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-composite-model-that-combines-space-syntaxanalysis-with-land-use-and-population_fig12_263324768 21. The transformation of Trafalgar Square https://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/trafalgar-square/ 22. As Egypt Builds New Capital, What Becomes of Cairo? https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/as-egypt-builds-new-capital-what-becomes-ofcairo-/4665409.html 23. Egypt Demographic Trends and Socio-Economic Implications 24. https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/egypt-demographic-trends-andsocioeconomic-implications-2375-4389.1000117.php?aid=27988 25. Districts The population of the districts of Greater Cairo according to census results and latest official estimates. https://www.citypopulation.de/php/egyptgreatercairo.php 26. UCL Space Syntax Definitions http://otp.spacesyntax.net/glossary/ 27. Egypt Demographics Profile 2018 https://www.indexmundi.com/egypt/demographics_profile.html 28. Car-Dependent A location in New Cairo City https://www.walkscore.com/score/newcairo-city

30. Revealing unseen opportunities and creating better ideas https://spacesyntax.com/urban-places/ 31. Cairo New Towns – From Desert Cities to Deserted Cities https://failedarchitecture.com/cairo-new-towns-from-desert-cities-to-deserted-cities/ 32. The power of the network Tim Stonor | Architect & Urban Planner | Managing Director, Space Syntax | Visiting Professor, the Bartlett UCL https://timstonor.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/permeability-connectivity-a-tale-of-twocities/ 33. City Structure Urbanismus 4 30.10.2012 Ing. arch. Jana Zdráhalová, PhD. Ústav urbanismu Fakulta architektury ČVUT. https://slideplayer.com/slide/8061446/

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29. Official New Urban communities Authority in Egypt http://www.newcities.gov.eg/know_cities/New_Cairo/default.aspx

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“Architecture and urban design, both in their formal and spatial aspects, are seen as fundamentally configurational in that the way the parts are put together to form the whole is more important than any of the parts taken in isolation.� Bill Hillier, Space Is the Machine: A Configurational Theory of Architecture

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Inegrated Urban design space syntax Approach

I would like to thank my thesis professor Stabilini Stefan o for his extraordinary support and guidance to learn new ideas and putting me one more step forward in my career and to all who had helped me to be where i am now, Thank you.

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P O L I T E C N I C O D I M I L A N O MASTER THESIS IN SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECURE AND LANDSCAPE DESIGN , APRIL 2019


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