SPACE SYNTAX

SPACE SYNTAX

Space syntax is a set of techniques for the analysis of spatial configurations of all kinds, especially where spatial configuration seems to be a significant aspect of human affairs, as it is in buildings and cities. Originally conceived by Professor Bill Hillier and his colleagues at The Bartlett, UCL in the 1980s as a tool to help architects simulate the likely effects of their designs, it has since grown to become a tool used around the world in a variety of research and areas and design applications. It has been extensively applied in the fields of architecture, urban design, planning, transportation and interior design. Over the past decade, space syntax techniques have also been used for research in fields as diverse as archaeology, information technology, urban and human geography, and anthropology.

Space syntax is best known through The Social Logic of Space (Cambridge University Press, 1984) by Professor Bill Hillier and Dr Julienne Hanson and Space is the Machine (Cambridge University Press, 1996) by Professor Bill Hillier.

For a summary of space syntax research see: "The city as one thing" by Professor Bill Hillier and Laura Vaughan.

(to be updated - contributions welcome)