Category Archives: Editorial

The Outlaw Urbanist editorials.

Editorial, Essay, FUBAR Absurdities, Mark David Major, Satire, Urban Planning

The New Paleolithicism for Society | A Satire

The New Paleolithicism for Society: A Satire
by Dr. Mark David Major, AICP, CNU-A, The Outlaw Urbanist contributor

Our long history of urban experiences has climaxed in an unbearable state of being for humanity. Today, one out of every two people in the world live in a city; by 2030, six out of every ten people will do so; and, by 2050, seven out of every ten (Source: World Health Organization). Why do we relentlessly pursue the destruction of our own species with this rapid urbanization? The time has come for widespread changes about the way – and where – we live. We must be quick to take measures now to deurbanize the world before we fall into an irrevocable vortex of endless crime, casual murder, and widespread drug use. Why has the urban experience failed? Television, news, and the Internet provide the answer. After all, everything we see and read on television, news and Internet is the verified truth. Simply out, the city is unsafe. Being safe – the state of not ever being exposed to the threat of physical, mental or emotional loss, injury or distress – is, as we all know, the ultimate goal of human existence. Safety is more valuable than faith, love or hope, except for faith in one’s safety, love of one’s safety, and hope for one’s safety. Theft, drugs, and murder are unfortunate facts of everyday life in the city. And the litter of our Victorian attitudes falters in the face of our particular urbane prostitutions. We must suppress these carnal desires, willingly fed by the city.

There is a story told in every city about a murder occurring in a public space as dozens of witnesses watched, willfully ignoring the horrible act and all failing to assist the victim. What is the solution to this problem? Avoiding large crowds might provide a temporary salve. Crowds are only found in the city. Some suggest a personal bodyguard for every man, woman and child, which would not only reduce the crime rate but also bring the benefit of returning restless populations to full employment after the horror of the Great Recession. But who would guard the guards? You see the logistical dilemma. Others argue the solution – intimately tied to the proliferation of personal protection services – is the right to bear arms. Indeed, the use of firearms from the cradle to the tomb would greatly contribute to decreasing incidences of crime in our urban centers.

But a plethora of bodyguards and firearms can only produce new problems for our urban centers, increasing demand over available supply for people and guns, and crippling our substandard pubic transportation systems (you see, two now travel where before there was only one). The problematic nature of public transportation first became fully realized with the appearance of mass-produced automobiles during the early 20th century. Highways are always too small, cars are never big enough, public rail is grossly unsanitary, and buses are forever late. A new approach to transportation is needed. A formidable suggestion lies in eliminating all forms of mechanical transport from the planet. In its place, a new human species would emerge, walking its way to physical fitness, excellent health and, no doubt, unquestioned beauty. The elimination of the automobile will also contribute to a dramatic decrease in teenage pregnancy (think about it). With the passing of the automobile, its supporting apparatus – the factory – would also disappear into the mists of the distant past. Since the Industrial Revolution first darkened our blue skies into a shadowy black, pollution has been of paramount importance for survival of the species. With the demise of all mechanical transports, the formidable pro-pollution lobby will, at last, fall to ruin. Unused factories shall collapse as humanity fully embraces a new multi-nomadic modal transportation. At last, we will have achieved a real solution to the dark veil of global warming/climate change descending over us since the medieval days of 1988. However, these are only partial solutions.

A more permanent solution is needed. In fact, so intransigent are the problems we face that it can only be concluded the solution lies in the construct of the city itself, or more accurately its destruction. A radical alternative is needed. We must begin with completely dismantling the major urban centers of the world. Suburban sprawl can only exist in the presence of an urban center. If we eliminate urban centers, then sprawl becomes effective dispersal in realizing a new innovative land management policy, which can be described as the New Paleolithicism.

What is the vision for New Paleolithicism, you ask? Our slogan shall be: 160 Acres, four guns, and three Domestic Partners for Every Household! Of course, we shall have to revise the definition of household since the word ‘tribe’ might cause some people to ignore the beauty of this solution. In this sense, a household means approximately 15 people occupying their own 160 acres on the planet. This ratio of 160 acres for every 15 people is based on the current density of human population to land mass. Every heterosexual male would be provided with two heterosexual females in order to perpetuate reproduction of the species. However, heterosexual male-to-female ratio in gross terms will not support such a system. This is where our LGBT brethren become a vitally important component in the equation. Some households must be headed and composed of domestic LGBT partnerships in order to make the ratio of heterosexual males and females work for this new society. Some households might even be LBGT/heterosexual hybrids (“Polysexual Households”). Naturally, since these commusexual and polysexual households will not need to support as many offspring as their heterosexual brethren, they shall be allotted the least desirable locations on the planet. Our LGBT brethren must climb this ‘mountain’ and cross this ‘desert’ on behalf of humanity. They will understand the necessity. The dismantling of the urban centers and the elimination of all mechanical transports shall facilitate clear air and healthy bodies, perhaps even leading to the end of Death itself. There can be no greater goal than being safe from the cold embrace of Death.

In the grand scale of human history, it is in the cumulative effect of these measures where true success may be discovered. The New Paleolithicism is the final solution. We must accept deurbanization of the world has to take place. Eventually, we must retreat to the trees. Trees should be easy to re-adapt for human habitation. Instead of scarring the land with dwellings, we will once again become part of Nature, return to the trees, and only eat healthy foods; namely, nuts.

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Architecture, Editorial, Mark David Major, Science, Urban Planning

VIEWPOINT | Theory Makes Perfect

“Good theory leads to good planning. Normative theory – without quantitative observation and validation using scientific method – is nothing more than subjective opinion masquerading as theoretical conjecture.”

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City (1934-35) (Image: Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation).

Viewpoint | Theory Makes Perfect
By Mark David Major, The Outlaw Urbanist contributor

Regularly brandishing the bogeyman of Modernism, the architects of CIAM, and their industrial age vernacular to deride scientific method and endorse normative theory is a late-20th century practice du jour of the planning profession and education. It is a lot like suggesting a rape victim needs to marry her attacker to get over the experience. A shocking metaphor? Perhaps, but it is not a casual choice.

Early 20th century Modernist planning was a normative theory that aspired to science in its assertions. However, Modernism fails even the most basic tenets of being science. It was long on observation and way short on testing theoretical conjectures arising from those observations. Without scientific method to test its conjectures, Modernism in its infancy never made the crucial leap from normative to analytical theory. Instead, the subjective opinions of the CIAM architects and planners were embraced – sometimes blindly – by several generations of professionals in architecture and planning, and put into practice in hundreds of towns and cities. Today, for the most part, Modernism has finally been tested to destruction by our real world experience of its detrimental effects, though we continue to suffer from its remnants in the institutionalized dogma of planning education and the profession. Nonetheless, it has – at long last – made the transformation from normative to analytical theory and validated as a near-complete failure; at least in terms of town planning.

Le Corbusier’s La Ville Radieuse (1930).

Modernism is a failure of normative theory, not scientific method. Ever since Robert Venturi published his twin polemics Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture/Learning from Las Vegas, it has been chic to assert that Modernism  – and by implication, science – was responsible for the rape of our cities during the 20th century. A direct line can be drawn from the proliferation of late-20th/early-21st century suburban sprawl to Frank Lloyd’s Wright Broadacre City, and even further back to its infancy in Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City. However, like a DNA test freeing a falsely accused rapist, scientific method reveals the true culprit is, in fact, normative theory. The 20th century is a wasteland littered with normative theories: modernism, futurism, post-modernism, deconstructivism, traditionalism, neo-suburbanism and many more ‘-isms’ than we can enumerate.  After the experience of the 20th century, it seems absurd to suggest we require more theoretical conjecture without scientific validation, more opinion and subjective observation – that is, less science – if we want to better understand the “organized complexity of our cities” (Jacobs, 1961). Sometimes it seems as if the planning profession and education has an adverse, knee-jerk reaction to anything it does not understand as “too theoretical”. Of course, the key to this sentence is not that it is “too theoretical” but rather that so many do “not understand” the proper role of science and theory in architecture and planning, in particular, and society, in general.

Science aspires to fact, not truth. The confusion about science is endemic to our society. You can witness it every time an atheist claims the non-existence of God on the basis of science. However, science does not aspire to truth. Not only is ‘Does God exist?’ unanswerable, it is a question any good scientist would never seek to answer in scientific terms. It is a question of faith. The value judgment we place on scientific fact does not derive from the science itself. It derives from the social, religious or cultural prism through which we view it. Right or wrong is the purview of politicians, philosophers and theologians. There are plenty – perhaps too many – planners and architects analogous to politicians, philosophers and theologians and not enough of the scientific variety. And too often, those that aspire to science remain mired in the trap of normative theory and institutionalized dogma. The Modernist hangover lingers in our approach to theory. But we require less subjective faith in our conjectures and more objective facts to test them. We persist with models that are colossal failures. When we are stuck in traffic, we feel like rats trapped in a maze. We apply normative theory to how we plan our transportation networks and fail to test the underlining conjecture. The robust power of GIS to store and organize vast amounts of information into graphical databases is touted as transforming the planning profession. But those that don’t understand science, mistake a tool of scientific method for theory. We project population years and decades into the future, yet fail to return to these projections to test and expose their (in)validity, refine the statistical method and increase the accuracy of future projections. And we hide the scientific failings of our profession behind the mantra, “it’s the standard.”

Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1898).

We require analytical theory and objective knowledge. If the facts do not support our conjectures, then they need to be discarded. In normative theory, ideas are precious. In analytical theory, they are disposable in favor of a better conjecture on the way to a scientific proof. Scientific method is the means to test and validate or dispose of theory. Our profession and communities have paid a terrible price for the deployment of normative theory. However, quantitative observation and analysis of its failings has offered enlightenment about how to proceed confidently into the future.  The work of notable researchers in Europe and the United States are leading the profession towards an analytical theory of the city. Even now, we will be able to deploy scientific method to derive better theory about the physical, social, economic and cultural attributes of the city. This leap forward will eventually propel planning out of the voodoo orbit of the social sciences and into the objective knowledge of true science. Until then, we need to focus a bit more on getting there and less time raising the SPECTRE of dead bogeymen to endorse the creation of entirely new ones.

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Architecture, Editorial, Mark David Major, Poor Richard, Urban Planning

More Poor Richard | Part 10

More Poor Richard, Part 10
by Mark David Major, The Outlaw Urbanist contributor

Courteous Reader,

I attempted to win your favor when I wrote my first Almanac for Architects and Planners, in the name of the public good and professional betterment, by way of earning some profit and a wife. I am gratified by your expression of encouragement for my tireless efforts dedicated to these aims. Alas, my circumstances still find me exceedingly poor and, unluckily, exceedingly wifeless. I am required to earn some profit to address both problems whilst now addressing a third, namely testing the proposition that insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” To satisfy my own particular brand of insanity, I have written more proverbs and whimsical sayings for your benefit and, hopefully, my own.

As before on The Outlaw Urbanist, I write this new Almanac in increments of ten, according to the dictates of Moses and the Almighty. However, once published as an Almanac for Architects and Planners, the proverbs and witticisms were gathered into a number equal to the days of the week, after being reliably informed that both seven and ten are sacred numbers. My desired requirement for a wife is sufficient motive to write this new Almanac in the hope it will find your favor and retweets as a means of demonstrating the usefulness of my continued efforts but also your charity to this sane Friend and poor Servant,

Richard

On Architecture and Cities

91.       Excessive use of beige represents an irrational fear of white.

92.       A skyscraper isn’t any more a penis than a basement is a vagina.

93.       The horizontal brevity of a skyscaper is inversely proportional to its vertical repetitiveness.

94.       Skyscraper (skí·skrãp·ər) To wear down the heavens without regard by forceful strokes of an edged or rough building.

95.       Too often, skyscapers are not about playing well with others but about playing excessively with yourself.

96.       Urban circle jerk: a tradition in which architects, usually men, design unrelated skyscapers in close proximity to one another

97.       Suburban circle jerk: the same as an “urban circle jerk” but with only smaller… er, buildings.

98.       Design is in the details, meaning in the whole.

99.       Urban planning suffers from a deficiency of heroes and an excess of sidekicks.

100.     Planning a great city is heroic. Dare to be a hero.

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Architecture, Editorial, Mark David Major, On Space, Space Syntax, Urban Patterns, Urban Planning

Space Syntax for Dummies | Part 3 | Results

Space Syntax for Dummies, Part 3
RESULTS
by Dr. Mark David Major, AICP, CNU-A, The Outlaw Urbanist contributor

The final part of this three-part introduction to the basics of space syntax reviews some of the earliest – and most crucial – research results about pedestrian and vehicular movement using the axial map (see above) of urban street networks. Again, Part 3 is somewhat tailored to an American audience since it is based on excerpts from Chapter 3 of my forthcoming Relentless Magnificence: The American Urban Grid.

Early space syntax studies demonstrated the potential of the axial map to reveal important functional characteristics about the urban spatial network. This is because urban space tends to be linear with streets, boulevards, avenues, and alleys but with only occasional (in relative terms) convex elements such as squares and public open space (Hillier, 2005). This can been seen most clearly in axial map of Greater London within the M25 (see below). The axial map represents the most optimal line of sight passing through every accessible space in the London street network until accounting for all accessible spaces and, then, measuring and graphically representing the spatial configuration of that network in terms of topological depth (see Space Syntax for Dummies, Part 2). Penn et al (1997) define the axial map as “the minimal set of axial lines such that the set taken together fully surveys the system, and that every axial line that may connect two otherwise-unconnected lines is included” (Turner et al, 2004: 428).

Space syntax model of Greater London within the M25 (Source: Space Syntax Limited and University College London).

Topological depth (refer back to the explanation in Space Syntax for Dummies, Part 2) can be measured based on global integration (or in topological terms, betweenness) because it measures the configurational relationship of all spaces to all others across the entire spatial network. It can also be measured to provide a more localized picture of spatial configuration by measuring local integration (or in topological terms, choice). The latter can be most easily understood if you imagine yourself standing at the intersection of two streets. Simultaneously, you are in and can see along the length of these two streets but also see all other streets – as well as other urban functions, i.e. level of use by people and cars, land uses, building heights. etc. – intersecting with them from your position. Or, topological depth can be measured in terms of radii between these two extremes. The space syntax model of Greater London within the M25 (see above) does so by limiting the radius based on the mean depth from the most globally integrated street; in this case, Oxford Street. The space syntax software automatically colors the degree of integration for each axial line. The color range is from red (most integrated) through orange, yellow, and blue, light blue, blue to purple (most segregated). At this point, the space syntax model is still a purely mathematical representation of configurational pattern. The analysis did not yet take in account other urban functions such as land use, building heights or population density though, of course, this information can be inputted into the model using GIS. Despite this, the axial map appears to provide a very realistic picture of how London operates as an urban spatial network.

An early key finding of space syntax research was establishing there is a relationship between the spatial configuration of the urban grid and patterns of pedestrian and vehicular movement (Hillier et al, 1993; Penn and Hillier, 1998). Penn and Hillier (1998) found that integrated spaces carry larger movement flows than more segregated ones, and the effects were strong and consistent. The key discovery was the correlation between movement flows and a purely configurational measure of the urban spatial network before ever taking into account the location of attractors or generators of movement. This led to the formulation of the theory of natural movement. The theory of natural movement states that movement patterns in the urban environment arise naturally from the way the urban grid organizes the simplest routes to and from all locations involving the fewest changes of changes in that grid. This means it is the design of the urban pattern in the shape of its grid that most matters. In this sense, natural movement is akin to a background effect of the urban grid since most movement in space will tend to be through-movement that is passing through a space on its way to somewhere else in the urban grid. The distribution of activities and land uses then has the potential to further intensify, or detract from, the background effects of natural movement (Hillier, 1996; Hillier and Vaughan, 2007).

A fundamental concept to arise from the theory of natural movement is the city as a movement economy. Namely, it is the pattern of the spatial network as generated by the urban grid, rather than the traditional planning emphasis on origin and destination matrices, which is the fundamental thing about the functioning of cities (Hillier, 1996). The urban grid generates a probabilistic but predictable pattern to the way people move through and occupy spaces in cities. Some spaces receive more movement and use because they are shallower within the spatial network whereas others are deeper and receive less. The spatial configuration of the urban grid generates a pattern of “attraction inequalities” whereby land uses tend to locate to exploit these potentials based on the pattern of natural movement (Hillier, 2002; 154). Retail will occupy more strategic locations to capitalize on the potential for passing trade. According to Hillier (2005), “this is not… to deny attraction… it is common sense (that) people make trips because the shops are there… but (attraction) is not fundamental” (11).

This early finding has led to a considerable body of research on how people move and occupy space, and the relationship to spatial configuration (see below and compare to the space syntax model of the Tate Gallery, Millbank in Space Syntax for Dummies, Part 1).

Routes of 100 people during the first 10 minutes of their visit to the Tate Gallery, Millbank (Hillier, et. al., 1996).

This simple introduction on The Outlaw Urbanist only begins to scratch the surface of the volume of research available from the use of space syntax over the previous 30 years. However, it should provide you with a solid foundation to jump into this vast collection of research, most of which is freely available online. For example, more than 500 research papers composing the proceedings of every Space Syntax Symposia for nearly twenty years is freely available for download via the Space Syntax Network here. Also, Chapter 3 of my forthcoming Relentless Magnificence: The American Urban Grid will delve more deeply into space syntax research and issues of methodology/terminology over the last 20 years.

Additional Reading and References
For your convenience, the easiest reading below is indicated with an *asterisk.

Hillier, Bill and L. Vaughan. 2007. “The city as one thing”, Progress in Planning, 67(3): 205-230. Article available online for download from University College London here.

Hillier Bill. 2005. “The art of place and the science of space”, World Architecture, Special Issue on Space Syntax. Beijing: 11(185): 24-34 (in Chinese); 96-102 (in English). Article is currently available online for download via the Scribd here. Registration required.

*Hillier Bill. 2002. “A theory of the city as object: or, how spatial laws mediate the social construction of urban space”, Urban Design International, 7: 153–179. Article available online for download from the Nordic Urban Design Association here.

*Hillier, Bill. 1996. Space is the Machine: A Configurational Theory of Architecture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Digital eBook is available for free download from University College London here.

*Hillier, Bill, M.D. Major, J. Desyllas, K. Karimi, B. Campos, T. Stonor. 1996. Tate Gallery, Millbank: A Study of the Existing Layout and New Masterplan Proposal. Technical Report, Unit For Architectural Studies, Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London. Report is available for free download from University College London here.

*Hillier, Bill, A. Penn, J. Hanson, T. Grajewski, J. Xu. 1993. “Natural Movement: or, configuration and attraction in urban pedestrian movement”, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 20: 29-66. Article available online for download from University College London here.

*Major, M.D. 2014. Relentless Magnificence: The American Urban Grid. Jacksonville, Florida: Forum Books, forthcoming.

Penn, Alan, B. Hillier, D. Banister, Xu, J. 1998. “Configurational modeling of urban movement networks”, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 25: 59-84. Article available online for download from University College London here.

Turner, Alasdair. 2004. Depthmap 4: A Researcher’s Handbook. Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, UCL, London. Handbook available online for download from University College London here.

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Architecture, Editorial, Mark David Major, Space Syntax, Urban Patterns, Urban Planning

Space Syntax for Dummies | Part 2 | Basics

Space Syntax for Dummies | Part 2
BASICS
by Dr. Mark David Major, AICP, CNU-A, The Outlaw Urbanist contributor

Continuing our three-part series on the basics of space syntax, Part 2 is based on excerpts from Chapter 3 of my forthcoming Relentless Magnificence: The American Urban Grid. As such, it is somewhat tailored to an American audience. The key principles discussed here are representation and configuration. What is configuration? In the simplest terms, using the most convenient definitions, configuration is not how one thing relates to another thing but how that one thing relates to all other things and also how all those other things relate to each other.

Basic representations of space syntax: (a) axial line; (b) convex space; (c) visual field or an “isovist” (after Benedikt, 1979); or used in tandem (d) axial lines passing through convex spaces; and (e) isovist from a convex space.

According to space syntax theory, a key to understanding urban space is a description not just of the individual elements in the city (this street or that square) but a description of the entire spatial system considered as a configurational network. Over the last three decades, spaces syntax research programs around the world have developed a series of representational and analytical techniques based on simple descriptions of space (Hillier and Hanson, 1984; Hillier, 1996; Hanson, 1998). By simple description, we mean representations that obey real physical constraints the built environment places on visibility and movement since you cannot see and move through solid objects but only through open and accessible space. First, the movement of a person or persons through the built environment tends to be linear so one representation used is the axial line or axis (see ‘a’ above). The matrix of the longest and fewest lines of sight and access that completely encompasses all the spaces of a built environment is the axial map. Second, previous research has found the occupation of space by people in the built environment will tend towards convexity, the mathematical definition of all points being visible to all others, such as a group of people gathered in a circle (Hillier et al, 1996; Campos, 1997). This simple description is a convex space (see ‘b’ above). The collection of the fattest two-dimensional lumps of space, or convex spaces, in a built environment is the convex map. Finally, the potential for seeing and moving in the built environment can also form the basis for a simple description of space, which Benedikt (1990) called the isovist or, more simply, the visual field at eye level (see ‘c’ above) (Hillier et al, 1987; Conroy Dalton et al, 2003). An isovist describes all visible and accessible space to which a person or persons might move as defined from a particular point or set of points. Later methodological developments in space syntax allow for the measurement of the configurational relationship of all visual fields from a gridded set of points (or point isovists) to all others in a built environment. These form a matrix of visual fields where some are more strategic than others for understanding the spatial network as a whole (see the space syntax model of visual fields in the Tate Gallery, Millbank in Space Syntax for Dummies, Part 1). This is a visibility graph (Turner and Penn, 1999). Finally, any combination of these representations can be used to create a more complex picture of the built environment, depending on the problem researched (see ‘d-e’ above). Hillier (2005) describes these simple descriptions as “a natural and necessary spatial geometry (which) describes some aspect of how buildings and cities are organized… as a vital aspect of how we create them, use them and understand them” (5). This is how to represent space.

However, some additional clarification is required about what is meant by configuration. Configuration is a relational system based on topological graph theory whereby any local changes in that system can have global effects across that system (Hillier, 1993; Hillier, 1996).

Configuration: (top) Relation between two objects so ‘a’ is to ‘b’ as ‘b’ is to ‘a’; (bottom left) A configurational relationship is created in relation to a third object, such as the surface of the Earth; (bottom center) Connection or permeability changes the configurational relationship between the three objects so all are equally shallow from the other; or, (bottom right) an asymmetrical relationship between the three objects whereby ‘b’ or ‘c’ can only be reached via ‘a.’

For example, two objects are in a mathematical relationship to each other so it can be said that ‘a’ is to ‘b’ as ‘b’ is to ‘a’ (see above, top). Once this relationship is established with reference to a third object, in this case the surface of the earth, there is a configurational relationship (see above, bottom). If the objects are distinct, then it can be said ‘a’ is to ‘c’ as ‘b’ is to ‘c’ but, in order to reach ‘a’ from ‘b’ or vice versa, one has to pass through ‘c’. This can be seen more clearly in the corresponding topological graph where ‘c’ is shallower to ‘a’ and ‘b’ than they are to each other. The depth of ‘a’ or ‘b’ to any other object in the system is three whereas the depth from ‘c’ to ‘a’ or ‘b’ is two and total depth in the system of objects is eight. Next, ‘a’ and ‘b’ can be placed next to each other to introduce the idea of permeability or connection into the system of objects. The objects are in a symmetrical relationship where all spaces are maximally shallow from each other, so that ‘a’ is to ‘b’ as ‘b’ is to ‘c.’ In this case, the depth from any object to any other is two and total depth in the system is six. Finally, if ‘b’ is placed on top of ‘a’, this forms an asymmetrical relationship with reference to ‘c.’ You have to pass through ‘a’ in order to reach ‘b’ from ‘c’ or vice versa but you are not required to pass through ‘b’ to go from ‘c’ to ‘a.’ In this case, the depth of ‘b’ and ‘c’ is three and depth from ‘a’ is only two. Total depth in this asymmetrical relationship is eight (Major, 2000). According to Hillier (2005), “space syntax seeks to formulate mathematically the configurational properties of space that we intuit, as manifested in the way… we construct real spatial patterns through building and cities” using topological graph theory to objectively measure these spatial patterns (6).

These are the basic principles underlying space syntax.

Additional Reading and References
For your convenience, the easiest reading below is indicated with an *asterisk.

Benedikt, Michael L. 1979. “To take hold of space: Isovists and Isovists Fields”, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 6: 47-66. Article is currently available online for download from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology here.

Campos, Maria Beatriz de Arruda. 1997. “Strategic Space: Patterns of Use in Public Square of the City of London”, First International Space Syntax Symposium Proceedings (Eds. M.D. Major, L. Amorim, F. Dufaux), 2: 26.1-26.11. Article is currently available online for download via the Space Syntax Network here.

Conroy Dalton, Ruth and S. Bafna. 2003. “The syntactical image of the city: A reciprocal definition of spatial elements and spatial syntaxes”, Fourth International Space Syntax Symposium Proceedings, London, 2003: 59.1-59.22. Article is currently available online for download via the Space Syntax Network here.

Hanson, Julienne. 1998. Decoding Homes and Houses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available for purchase from Amazon here.

Hillier Bill. 2005. “The art of place and the science of space”, World Architecture, Special Issue on Space Syntax. Beijing: 11(185): 24-34 (in Chinese); 96-102 (in English). Article is currently available online for download from Scribd here. Registration required.

*Hillier, Bill. 1996. Space is the Machine: A Configurational Theory of Architecture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Digital eBook is available for free download from University College London here.

*Hillier, Bill, M.D. Major, J. Desyllas, K. Karimi, B. Campos, T. Stonor. 1996. Tate Gallery, Millbank: A Study of the Existing Layout and New Masterplan Proposal. Technical Report, Unit For Architectural Studies, Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London. Report is available for free download from University College London here.

*Hiller, Bill, J. Hanson, H. Graham. 1987. “Ideas are in things: an application of space syntax method to discovering housing genotypes”, Environment and Planning D: Planning and Design, 14: 363-385. Article is available for free download from University College London here.

Hillier, Bill and J. Hanson. 1984. The Social Logic of Space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available for purchase from Amazon here.

*Major, M.D. 2014. Relentless Magnificence: The American Urban Grid. Jacksonville, Florida: Forum Books, forthcoming.

Turner, Alasdair and A. Penn. 1999. “Making Isovists Syntactic: isovist integration analysis”, Second International Space Syntax Symposium Proceedings (Eds. F. de Holanda, L. Amorim, F. Dufaux), 1:11.01-11.14. Article is currently available online for download via the Space Syntax Network here.

Stay tuned for Space Syntax for Dummies, Part 3: Results.

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