Network Centralities in Polycentric Urban Regions: Methods for the Measurement of Spatial Metrics

The primary aim of this thesis is to explain the complex spatial organisations of polycentric urban regions (PURs). PURs are a form of regional morphology that often evolves from post-industrial structures and describe a subnational area featuring a plurality of urban centres. As of today, the analysis of the spatial organisation of PURs constitutes a hitherto uncharted territory. This is due to PURs’ inherent complexity that poses challenges for their conceptualisation. In this context, this thesis reviews theories on the spatial organisation of regions and cities and seeks to make a foundational methodological contribution by joining space syntax and central place theory in the conceptualisation of polycentric urban regions. It takes into account human agency embedded in the physical space, as well as the reciprocal effect of the spatial organisation for the emergence of centralities and demonstrates how these concepts can give insights into the fundamental regional functioning. The thesis scrutinises the role that the spatial organisation plays in such regions, in terms of organising flows of goods and people, ordering locational occupation and fostering centres of commercial activity. It proposes a series of novel measurements and techniques to analyse large and messy datasets. This includes a method for the application of large-scale volunteered geographic information in street network analysis. This is done, in the context of two post-industrial regions: the German Ruhr Valley and the British Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire region. The thesis’ contribution to the understanding of regional spatial organisation and the study of regional morphology lies in the identification of spatial structural features of socio-economic potentials of regions and particular areas within them. It constitutes the first comparative study of comprehensive large-scale regional spatial networks and presents a framework for the analysis of regions and the evaluation of the predictive potential of spatial networks for socio-economic patterns and the location of centres in regional contexts

Developments in Space Syntax: Past, Present and Future

This paper provides insights into development directions in space syntax, from its inception in the late 1970s to potential future trajectories. Past developments are synthesized from key publications, conference proceedings, as well as seminar contributions in the field of space syntax. A review of critical trends in science production is used to conclude with a series of recommendations to progress the field in the future

The Morphogenesis of the Dutch Landscape: The Narrative of Dutch Cities’ Medieval Core

Although the initial inception, or genesis, of a city’s urban grid, is an important marker of its evolution over time, the process of urban transformation, or morphogenesis, can substantially alter its original townscape. This study sheds light on the morphogenetic impacts of the pre-industrialisation period on shaping the spatial configuration of the historical cores of three Dutch cities, Amsterdam, the Hague, and Delft. While some cities have undergone processes of expansion as physical growth of different grid types, others followed the historical patterns of genesis. This study aims to analyse the spatial mechanisms and morphological logic that lay out the medieval core of Dutch cities to create an adaptive approach for evolving in tandem with waterways. The study: i) reviews the literature and ongoing research initiatives on the Dutch urban planning paradigms and strategies through various time periods; ii) proposes a new spatio-temporal description of the medieval core of cities and their infrastructure, including streets and water networks; and iii) analyses the patterns of their historical core using a space syntax-based approach. Space syntax method and tools are applied to critically understand urban morphologies, as it provides quantitative analysis on multiple scales. The study shows how the relationship with water can constitute a path dependency for urban growth, highlighting the role of water in shaping movement patterns. Those different types of grid structures, such as organic, compact, accumulative, discontinuous, cellular etc., produce different spatial growth mechanisms as a powerful instrument in controlling and defining the functions of cities dominated by water

The Role of Subjective Perceptions and Objective Measurements of the Urban Environment in Explaining House Prices in Greater London: A Multi-Scale Urban Morphology Analysis

House prices have long been closely related to the built environment of cities, yet whether the subjective perception (SP) of these environments has a differing effect on prices at multiple urban scales is unclear. This study sheds light on the impact of people’s SP of the urban environment on house prices in a multi-scale urban morphology analysis. We trained a machine learning (ML) model to predict people’s SP of the urban environment around properties across Greater London with survey response data from an online survey evaluating people’s SP of street view image (SVI) and linked this to house price data. This information was used to construct a hedonic price model (HPM) and to evaluate the association between SP and house price data in a series of linear regression models controlling location information and urban morphological characteristics such as street network centralities at multiple urban scales, quantified using space syntax (SS) methods. The findings show that SP influences house prices, but this influence differs depending on the urban scale of analysis. Particularly, a sense of ‘enclosure’ and ‘comfort’ are important factors influencing house price variation. This study contributes by introducing SP of the urban environment as a new dimension into the traditional HPM and by exploring the economic impact of SP on the house price market at multiple urban scales

Research on the identification degree of urban form in China from the perspective of public cognition

Since the reform and opening up, China has experienced a period of rapid urbanization. Many cities lost their traditional urban form characters. This paper aims to find and study the various elements of urban form, which affect the identification degree of urban form in public cognition, so as to provide ideas for city decision-makers and designers to create distinctive urban form. This paper investigates the public identification degree of various urban form elements of Xi'an, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong in small, medium, large scale

Exploring relationships between exposure to fast food outlets and childhood obesity at differing spatial resolutions: results from the Born in Bradford cohort study

Background: Exposure to fast-food outlets (FFOs) is thought to relate to childhood obesity, but evidence is mixed and might be explained by imprecision in exposure measurement. We explored the effect of these differences by using novel geospatial analysis methods to study obesity rates of children living in a multi-ethnic, deprived location in the north of England. / Methods: We included 6260 children enrolled in the Born in Bradford cohort study who had participated in the most recent follow-up (2017–20), aged 6–12 years, and had BMI measurements (n=6260), body fat percentage (BFP; n=5004), and geolocation data for their home address. Informed consent was obtained from parents, and assent from children. Secondary points of interest data were used to classify and geolocate FFOs. We calculated proximity to FFOs using four contrasting methods including street network distance incorporating distance decay. We used linear regressions controlling for socioeconomic characteristics, including sex, age, ethnicity, mother's physical health, and perceived financial difficulties, with area-level deprivation; and built environment characteristics as controls. Complete data were available for 2883 children with BMI measurements and 2013 with BFP. / Findings: We introduced improved spatial precision in the quantification of exposure to FFOs, but this improvement did not lead to substantial differences in associations with BMI, or BFP, when comparing unadjusted associations of BFP and postcode buffers (correlation coefficient 0·08 [95% CI 0·05–0·11]) to BFP and address-based street network distance measurements (0·11 [90% CI 0·07–0·15]). After adjusting for confounders, exposure to FFOs close to home was not associated with an increase in BMI or BFP. Higher BMI was associated with increased maternal BMI (correlation coefficient 0·19 [95% CI 0·17–0·21]) and female sex (0·46 [0·22–0·70]); and comparable associations were observed for higher BFP, with an increased maternal BMI (correlation coefficient 0·40 [95% CI 0·34–0·46]), Pakistani ethnicity (2·89 [1·98–3·80]; reference white British), and female sex (2·90 [2·24–3·57]). / Interpretation: We found no association between proximity to FFOs and obesity in children. Maternal predisposition and behavioural and sociocultural factors have a more important role in the development of childhood obesity. More research is required into the effectiveness of policies that ban FFOs

Linking the Urban Environment and Health: An Innovative Methodology for Measuring Individual-Level Environmental Exposures

Environmental exposures (EE) are increasingly recognised as important determinants of health and well-being. Understanding the influences of EE on health is critical for effective policymaking, but better-quality spatial data is needed. This article outlines the theoretical and technical foundations used for the construction of individual-level environmental exposure measurements for the population of a northern English city, Bradford. The work supports ‘Connected Bradford’, an entire population database linking health, education, social care, environmental and other local government data over a period of forty years. We argue that our current understanding of environmental effects on health outcomes is limited both by methodological shortcomings in the quantification of the environment and by a lack of consistency in the measurement of built environment features. To address these shortcomings, we measure the environmental exposure for a series of different domains including air quality, greenspace and greenness, public transport, walkability, traffic, buildings and the built form, street centrality, land-use intensity, and food environments as well as indoor dwelling qualities. We utilise general practitioners’ historical patient information to identify the precise geolocation and duration of a person’s residence. We model a person’s local neighbourhood, and the probable routes to key urban functions aggregated across the city. We outline the specific geospatial procedure used to quantify the environmental exposure for each domain and use the example of exposure to fast-food outlets to illustrate the methodological challenges in the creation of city and nationwide environmental exposure databases. The proposed EE measures will enable critical research into the relationship and causal links between the built environment and health, informing planning and policy-making

Migrant access to public urban infrastructures

This report is based on expert knowledge, and existing municipal policy documents from Berlin, London, and Stockholm and their respective national contexts. Academic literature is added when necessary and a spatial analysis of what were deemed as important urban resources were mapped across three selected arrival neighbour-hoods, one from each city (see maps section). Expert knowledge is based on inter-views with local practitioners, municipal planners and policy makers, selected for their engagement with questions of migration and integration at the urban scale as part of their daily practice

The Role of Subjective Perceptions and Objective Measurements of the Urban Environment in Explaining House Prices in Greater London: A Multi-Scale Urban Morphology Analysis

House prices have long been closely related to the built environment of cities, yet whether the subjective perception (SP) of these environments has a differing effect on prices at multiple urban scales is unclear. This study sheds light on the impact of people’s SP of the urban environment on house prices in a multi-scale urban morphology analysis. We trained a machine learning (ML) model to predict people’s SP of the urban environment around properties across Greater London with survey response data from an online survey evaluating people’s SP of street view image (SVI) and linked this to house price data. This information was used to construct a hedonic price model (HPM) and to evaluate the association between SP and house price data in a series of linear regression models controlling location information and urban morphological characteristics such as street network centralities at multiple urban scales, quantified using space syntax (SS) methods. The findings show that SP influences house prices, but this influence differs depending on the urban scale of analysis. Particularly, a sense of ‘enclosure’ and ‘comfort’ are important factors influencing house price variation. This study contributes by introducing SP of the urban environment as a new dimension into the traditional HPM and by exploring the economic impact of SP on the house price market at multiple urban scales