Bill Hillier’s space syntax method and theory enables us to describe the spatial properties of a sustainable city. Empirical testing of the space syntax method over time has confirmed the capacity and innovativeness of analyzing spatial relationships with the purpose of understanding and explaining the socio-spatial organization of built environments. However, the conceptual framework of space syntax elements is scattered around in various academic writings. This article, therefore, gives a holistic and compact overview of the various concepts that are used in space syntax, from its basic elements to various analytical techniques and theories. To achieve this compact overview, we reviewed all space syntax literature accessible since the 1970s for finding core references to various concepts used in space syntax. Following a short description of its foundation and evolution through the work of Bill Hillier, we explain its basic concepts and measures in the form of an extended glossary. Explanations are enriched with various space syntax analyses and scenario testing on various scales that were applied to the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. We conclude with a discussion about the advantages and limitations of space syntax and about how this method adds value to the creation of sustainable cities.@en

In this chapter, we first explain the concept of an axial line and how the axial map is applied in space syntax. We then discuss the static measure of ‘connectivity’ with its ‘one-step’ to ‘n-step’ logic, including its meaning for axial integration analysis. We further present the segment integration analysis. Using the street segment as the basis for analysis allows one to apply three types of distances and three types of radii in space syntax. We then present the most-often used space syntax measures in more depth, namely angular choice and angular integration with metric radius, and introduce the mathematical formulae on how to normalise both measures. Real-life applications illustrate and underpin the usefulness of these measures and their meaning for urban analysis, such as why and how they allow us to identify urban societal processes and their added value at both a citywide scale and a neighbourhood scale. Finally, we critically reflect on the measures, including their potentials and misfits. Exercises are provided at the end of the chapter.@en

The planning and building of sustainable cities and communities yields operational theories on urban space. The novelty of this paper is that it discusses and explores the challenges for space syntax theory building within two key research traditions: positivism and hermeneutics. Applying a theory of science perspective, we first discuss the explanatory power of space syntax and its applications. Next, we distinguish between theories that attempt to explain a phenomenon and theories that seek to understand it, based on Von Wright’s modal logics and Bhaskar’s critical realism models. We demonstrate that space syntax research that focuses on spatial configurative changes in built environments, movement and economic activities can explain changes in a built environment in terms of cause and effect (positivism), whereas historical research or research focusing on social rationality, space and crime or cognition seeks to develop an understanding of the inherent cultural meaning of the space under investigation (hermeneutics). Evidently, the effect of human intentions and behaviour on spatial structures depends on the type of rationality underlying these intentions, which is the focus of this study. Positivist explanatory models are appropriate for examining market rationality in cases that entail unambiguous intentionality and that are associated with a high degree of predictability. By contrast, other kinds of reasoning require a hermeneutic understanding.@en

In this chapter, we discuss and demonstrate how to analyse the urban micro-spatial relationships between private and public spaces. These methods allow one to analyse intervisibility between buildings andstreets, entrance density from buildings towards streets, street constitutedness, and the topological depth between private and public spaces. These urban micro-scale analyses are a quantification of Jane Jacob’s (1960) and Jan Gehl’s (1996) presumptions about the interrelation between streets and building entrances and windows. Exercises are provided at the end of this chapter.@en

In this chapter, we explain how the analytical logic of space syntax is applied for visibility analysis. In the previous chapter, the focus was on presenting all public spaces as axial sightlines. The individual axial line is a one-dimensional (1D) representation of public space and is useful for analysing the interrelationship of public spaces on a citywide scale. At the neighbourhood scale, a two-dimensional (2D) representation of spatial elements can be useful. In particular, the public realm, such as public squares, parks, and wide streets, benefits from a 2D spatial analysis with a visual field using a raster-based as well as an all-line modelling approach. In order to explain visibility analysis in space syntax, we start with the well-known 2D geographical visibility analysis ‘isovist’ as a field of vision. We build upon and explain visibility point-depth analysis and visual graph analysis. Further, we demonstrate how the simple point-depth calculations contribute to a theory on space and urban centrality. In addition, we discuss 3D isovists. Furthermore, we also demonstrate and discuss the use of the all-line analysis. Finally, we expound upon agent-based modelling. Exercises are provided at the end of this chapter.@en

This paper examines how a cognitive boundary with no physical presence has affected life in the cities of Jaffa and Tel Aviv, not only during its time of existence (1921-1950) but many decades after it was erased from all official documents. In 1921, the national aspirations of Jews in Jaffa, embraced by the local British Mandate government, triggered a segregation process that resulted in an official administrative split of Jaffa’s urban area and the creation of the “Hebrew” city of Tel Aviv on Jaffa’s northern parts. This administrative division had a clear ethnic character, dividing the entire urban fabric into a clearly defined “Jewish” and “Arab” geographical entities and influencing the development of the two municipalities as well as the daily life of their populations. After the 1948 War in Palestine, which led to the flight of almost all of Jaffa’s Arab population and the annexation its area to Tel Aviv, the united city continued to resemble a split city, with the former areas of Jaffa remaining relatively underdeveloped and neglected for decades. By combining spatial analysis and historical research, this study reveals how the “paper boundary” that was drawn between Jaffa and Tel Aviv in 1921 transformed the life of Arabs and Jews in the two cities in a way that undermined the physical unity of the urban fabric and the spatial potential of its street network. The creation of the municipal border led to the cognitive marginalization of the spatially central Manshiya neighbourhood, and later to its deterioration and eventual destruction. Ironically, the destruction of Manshiya gave a belated physical expression to the historic cognitive separation between the centres of Jaffa and Tel Aviv, working against the wish to unite the two cities into a single urban entity after 1948.@en

The application of space syntax to the study of urban history-in this case, that of Tel Aviv and Jaffa (present-day Tel Aviv-Yafo)-can add a valuable, quantifiable component to the understanding of urban processes. However, it also demonstrates that historical spatio-syntactical analysis can prove misleading when interpreted separately from other types of historical evidence-for example, the ethnic conflicts that led to the formation of a strong divide between Tel Aviv and Jaffa despite their contiguous geography and interlaced street networks. A rigorous use of spatio-syntactic analysis in combination with "conventional" historical research methods can reveal the tensions and interplays between the spatio-physical and social forces that shape the life of cities, and it can invigorate our understanding of urban growth and transformationpatterns throughout history.@en

In the past two decades the space syntax method, developed by Bill Hillier and his colleagues at the University College London, have been applied to urban studies. This method consists of calculating configurative spatial relationships in built environments. In urban analyses, according to Hillier, space syntax is four things. Firstly, space syntax is operating with a concise definition of urban space. Secondly, it is a family of techniques for analysing cities as the networks of space formed by the placing, grouping and orientation of buildings. Thirdly, it is a set of techniques for observing how these networks of space relate to functional patterns such as movement, land use, area differentiation, migration patterns and even social wellbeing and malaise. Fourthly, based on the empirical results from the two first things, space syntax has made it possible to make a set of theories about how urban space networks relate in general to the social, economic and cognitive factors which shape them and are affected by them (Hillier et al, 2007). Recently the Space Syntax toolkit has been integrated into the open source geographic information system QuantumGIS. @en

The United Nations Paris agreement of 2015 highlighted the need for urban planning to prevent and contain urban sprawl so as to reduce trip lengths through an efficient distribution of agglomerations and a well-balanced urban pattern distribution, all while considering travel behavior and accessibility to green areas, services, and facilities on different temporal scales. For the Vienna-Bratislava metropolitan region, our integrated modeling approach uses a combination of multifractal spatial modeling along with a space syntax perspective. Multifractal strategies are intrinsically multiscalar and adhere to five planning principles: hierarchical (polycentric) urban development to manage urban sprawl; sustainable transit-oriented development; locally well-balanced urban pattern and functions distribution to enhance vital urban systems, local centers, and neighborhoods; penetration of green areas into built-up areas; and the preservation of large interconnected networks of green areas to conserve biodiversity. Adding space syntax modeling to a multifractal strategy integrates how space relates to functional patterns based on centrality, thus applying a socio-spatial perspective. In this paper, we used the following workflow for an integrated modeling approach: (1) Space syntax to identify the urban systems’ hierarchy and so determine a spatial strategy regionally; (2) Fractalopolis to create a multifractal development plan for potential urbanization; and (3) Space syntax to design a strategic urban master plan for locating new housing and facilities vis-à-vis socioeconomic factors.@en

In this chapter, we show what and how space syntax has contributed to theories and general knowledge of the built environment. First, we provide an introduction to two established research traditions, positivism and hermeneutics. The aim is to demonstrate through modal logic what the possibilities and limitations are for gaining general understandings and making theoretical explanations from space syntax research. Modal logic uses expressions to test the explanatory power of statements. Second, we show what space syntax adds to the debate about spatial integration and spatial segregation as seen in relation to market and social rationality. We will focus on the spatial aspects and discuss these in relation to declining versus vital neighbourhoods, crime, anti-social behaviour, cultures, political ideologies, gender, and the use of space. Third, we give some reflections on what space syntax has contributed in regards to a comprehensive architecture theory. Finally, at the end, we add as an epilogue a thought experiment on how space syntax theories can be applied within the compact city debate. Exercises are provided at the end of this chapter.@en

This open access textbook is a comprehensive introduction to space syntax method and theory for graduate students and researchers. It provides a step-by-step approach for its application in urban planning and design. This textbook aims to increase the accessibility of the space syntax method for the first time to all graduate students and researchers who are dealing with the built environment, such as those in the field of architecture, urban design and planning, urban sociology, urban geography, archaeology, road engineering, and environmental psychology. Taking a didactical approach, the authors have structured each chapter to explain key concepts and show practical examples followed by underlying theory and provided exercises to facilitate learning in each chapter. The textbook gradually eases the reader into the fundamental concepts and leads them towards complex theories and applications. @en

This open access textbook is a comprehensive introduction to space syntax method and theory for graduate students and researchers. It provides a step-by-step approach for its application in urban planning and design. This textbook aims to increase the accessibility of the space syntax method for the first time to all graduate students and researchers who are dealing with the built environment, such as those in the field of architecture, urban design and planning, urban sociology, urban geography, archaeology, road engineering, and environmental psychology. Taking a didactical approach, the authors have structured each chapter to explain key concepts and show practical examples followed by underlying theory and provided exercises to facilitate learning in each chapter. The textbook gradually eases the reader into the fundamental concepts and leads them towards complex theories and applications. @en

In previous chapters, we demonstrated various analytic techniques focusing on the spatial aspects of the built environment. In this chapter, we discuss various methods and techniques for collecting qualitative and quantitative data dealing with human behaviour and how to connect such data to the results from various space syntax analyses. This chapter provides a brief introduction to these methods to stimulate ideas for connecting an array of spatial and socio-economic data to space syntax. At the end of this chapter, we provide an exercise, references, and further readings.@en

In this chapter, we discuss the application of space syntax in consultancy for urban planning design and practice. First, we present the scientific challenges to tying general understandings and theories to urban planning and design practice. Some elementary principles for communicating results from research and theories to practitioners are demonstrated. We further explain the principles for successful master planning and the principles for designing vital and safe public realms related to the use of space syntax. This is followed by a discussion on how to avoid common errors when planning for vital neighbourhoods and cities. We present examples from practice where space syntax has played a major role. These include regenerating Trafalgar Square in London, evaluating various proposals for a new road link in the Dutch city of Leiden, developing strategies for the whole province of North Holland, and densification strategies in the Norwegian town of Bergen. In the conclusion, we discuss major pitfalls when applying space syntax to urban design and planning projects in practice. Exercises are provided at the end of the chapter.@en

This chapter provides an overview of established research traditions in the analysis of physical elements of the built environment. Herein, we address the morphological, place phenomenological, and urban network traditions. Following this, a synopsis about spatial elements applied to these traditions, including space syntax, is given. Furthermore, in this chapter, we explain the differences between extrinsic and intrinsic properties of space and clarify the typology concepts of the built form. Finally, we introduce the basic spatial elements used in space syntax and the simplest spatial structures that cities can have. Exercises are provided at the end of this chapter.@en