A series of recent papers (Hillier et al 1993, Hillier 1996b, Hillier 2000) have outlined a generic
process by which spatial configurations, through their effect on movement, first shape, and
then are shaped by, land use patterns and densities. The aim of this paper is to make the
spatial dimension of this process more precise. The paper begins by examining a large
number of axial maps, and finds that although there are strong cultural variations in different
regions of the world, there are also powerful invariants. The problem is to understand how
both cultural variations and invariants can arise from the spatial processes that generate cities.
The answer proposed is that socio-cultural factors generate the differences by imposing a
certain local geometry on the local construction of settlement space, while micro-economic
factors, coming more and more into play as the settlement expands, generate the invariants
