Landscape Syntax, Landscape Assessment Using Landscape Approach Indices

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

1 Ph.D in Landscape Architecture, Department of Architecture, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz ,Iran.

Abstract

Space syntax theory proposes a quantitative and tangible method to recognize and analyze the space configuration and structure. Although it is not a new technique, it is still applied and evolved. In this regard, the current study sought to solve some of the structural and conceptual limitations and deficiencies of the space syntax by providing a novel method through recognizing the landscape aspects. Then, the novel term definition, “Landscape Syntax”, can be obtained using the achievements of this method. This research seeks to answer the question that How different will the indicators and assessment method be if we use landscape syntax instead of space syntax? This study aims to reconcile the definition of landscape with space and syntactic patterns of space, seeks to enable a specific syntactic pattern of landscape to understand the syntax of the landscape. The current basic research is qualitative in nature and applied in terms of purpose. The research process is a mixture of content analysis (descriptive, analytical, and deductive explanation). The space syntax concepts are classified using the content analysis method and are corresponded to the landscape concepts. According to the results of this study, the landscape has neglected aspects in space syntax concepts. (Some of the landscape aspects has been neglected in space syntax.)The main part of the new concepts of the landscape approach that are not in the syntactic system is the semantic factors, especially interpretive-subjective factors. These factors have value indices that must be inserted into the syntactic simple graph calculations. To this end, a network of the new landscape approach indices is put on the syntactic network to determine the valuable points. The newly developed method is the landscape syntax network. The graph obtained from the landscape syntax is a weighted graph, which is weighted through the value of the landscape approach indices. Landscape syntax is developed by adding the new aspects of the landscape approach, which is an upgraded and developed version of the previous versions.

Keywords


Alehashemi, A. & Mansouri, S.A. (2017). Landscape; A Shifting Concept; the Evolution of the Concept of the Landscape from Renaissance. Bagh-e Nazar, 14 (57), 33-44. 
Choi, A.S., Kim, Y.O., Oha, E.S. & Kim, Y.S. (2005). Application of the space syntax theory to quantitative street lighting design. Building and Environment, 41, 355–366.
Ferguson, P., Fridrisch, E. & Karimi, K. (2012). Origin-Destination Weighting in Agent Modelling for Pedestrian Movement Forecasting. Symposium Proceedings: Eighth International Space Syntax Symposium, January 2012, Santiago, Chile.
Gil, J., Varoudis, T., Karimi, K. & Penn, A. (2015). The Space Syntax Toolkit: Integrating DepthmapX and Exploratory Spatial Analysis Workflows in QGIS. In K. Karimi, L. Vaughan, K. Sailer, G. Palaiologou, & T. Bolton (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium (pp. 148.1–148.12). London, UK: Space Syntax Laboratory, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. 
Hillier, B. (1988). Against enclosure. In: N. Teymus, T. Markus & T. Woaley, T. (Eds.), Rehumanising Housing. Butterworths, London: Butterworths. pp. 63–85.
Hillier, B. (1998). A note on the intuiting of form: Three issues in the theory of design. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design Anniversary Issue, 25(7), 37–40.
Hillier, B. (2001). Centrality as a Process: Accounting for Attraction Inequalities in Deformed Grids. Urban Design International, 4(3), 107–127.
Hillier, B., (2007). Space Is the Machine: A Configurational Theory of Architecture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Hillier, B. & Hanson, J. (1984). The Social Logic of Space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hillier, B. & Iida, S. (2005). Network and Psychological Effects in Urban Movement. In: D. Hutchison & T. Kanade (eds.), Spatial Information Theory. Berlin / Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 475–490.
Hillier, B. & Penn, A. (1996). Cities as Movement Economies. Urban Design International, 1(1), 49–60. 
Hillier, B., Penn, A., Hanson, J., Grajewski, T. & Xu, J. (1993). Natural Movement: Or, Configuration and Attraction in Urban Pedestrian Movement. Environment and Planning B, 20, 29–66.
Hillier, B., Turner, A., Yang, T. & Park, H.T. (2007). Metric and topo-geometric properties of urban street networks. Proceedings of the 6th International Space Syntax Symposium, Istanbul, Turkey, 12–15.
Kim, Y., Shin, W. & Kim, A.H. (2007). Astudy on the Correlation between Pedestrian Network and Pedestrian Volume According to Lanel Use Pattern. 6th International Space Syntax, Symposium, Istanbul.
Li Yuan, Xiao, L., Ye, Y., Xu, W. & Law, A. (2016). Understanding tourist space at a historic site through space syntax analysis: The case of Gulangyu, China, Tourism Management. Tourism Management, 52, 30-43.
Mahan, A. & Mansouri, S.A. (2016). The Study of Landscape Concept with an Emphasis on the Views of Authorities of Various Disciplines, Bagh-e Nazar, 14(47), 17-28. 
Mahmoud, A.H., Omar, R.H. (2014). Planting design for urban parks: Space syntax as a landscape design assessment tool. Frontiers of Architectural Research, Frontiers of Architectural Research, 4(1), 35–45.
Mansouri, S.A. (2004). An Introduction to Landscape Architecture Identification. Bagh-e Nazar, (2), 69-77. 
Paul, A. (2011). Axial analysis: a syntactic approach to movement network modeling. Institute of Town Planners, India Journal, 8(1), 29-40.
Penn, A. (2003). Space syntax and spatial cognition or why the axial line? Environment and Behavior, 35, 30–65.
Stahle, A., Marcus, L. & Karlstrom, A. (2008). Geographic Accessibility with Axial Lines in GIS. Proceedings 5th Space Syntax Symposium, Delft.
Turner, A. & Penn, A. (2002). Encoding Natural Movement as an Agent-Based System: An Investigation into Human Pedestrian Behaviour in the Built Environment. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 29(4), 473–490. 
Turner, A. (2003). Analysing the visual dynamics of spatial morphology. Environment Planning B: Planning and Design, 30, 657–676.
Turner, A. (2007). From axial to road-centre lines: a new representation for space syntax and a new model of route choice for transport network analysis. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 34(3), 539e555.
Turner, A. Doxa, M., O’Sullivan, D. & Penn, A. (2001). From isovists to visibility graphs: a methodology for the analysis of architectural space. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 28(1), 103-121.
Turner, A., M. Doxa, D., O’Sullivan & Penn, A. (2001). From Isovists to Visibility Graphs: A Methodology for the Analysis of Architectural Space. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 28, 103–121. 
Turner, A., Penn, A. & Hillier, B. (2005). An algorithmic definition of the axial map. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 32(3), 425e444.
van der Hoeven F. & van Nes, A. (2014). Using the space syntax methodology. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 40, 64–74.
Van Nes, A. & Yamu, C. (2017). Space Syntax: A method to measure urban space related to social, economic and cognitive factors. In C. Yamu,  A. Poplin, O. Devisch, G. De Roo (eds.), The Virtual and the Real in Urban Planning and Design: Perspectives, Practices and Application. New York, NY, USA: Routledge. pp. 136–150.