We study the problem of computing the homology of the configuration spaces of
a finite cell complex X. We proceed by viewing X, together with its
subdivisions, as a subdivisional space--a kind of diagram object in a category
of cell complexes. After developing a version of Morse theory for subdivisional
spaces, we decompose X and show that the homology of the configuration spaces
of X is computed by the derived tensor product of the Morse complexes of the
pieces of the decomposition, an analogue of the monoidal excision property of
factorization homology.
Applying this theory to the configuration spaces of a graph, we recover a
cellular chain model due to \'{S}wi\k{a}tkowski. Our method of deriving this
model enhances it with various convenient functorialities, exact sequences, and
module structures, which we exploit in numerous computations, old and new.Comment: 71 pages, 15 figures. Typo fixed. May differ slightly from version
published in Documenta Mathematic
