Search Results (4)

The traditional Arab-Islamic urban fabric of Riyadh, with its emphasis on privacy, social cohesion, and environmental adaptation, was radically disrupted when the 1970s Doxiadis master plan was implemented, transforming the city into a car-dependent gridiron design. The shift led to ever-spreading sprawl, reduced pedestrian-friendliness, and eroded local identity. Using Hegelian dialectics methodology, this paper proposes integration of fused grid theory and urban Islamic fractals geometry in the urban fabric of the city. Specifically for Riyadh, the proposed changes encourage urban quadrant nesting, change of block scale and layout, fractal landscape integration, and multi-modal permeability. These adaptations are intended to increase connectivity, reduce crash rates, minimize impacts on the environment, enhance walkability, and elevate overall quality of life. Full article

The study investigates the disconnect between formal urban planning standards and experiential walkability outcomes in Viranşehir, a planned neighborhood in Mersin, Türkiye. Although the area complies with national regulations on the provision of public services, it exhibits systemic limitations, including car-oriented street layouts, fragmented pedestrian networks, and underutilized public spaces. Employing a mixed-methods case study, the research integrates archival sources (aerial imagery, zoning plans, satellite data) with field observations to assess pedestrian environments. A light coding of sidewalk continuity, crossings, and edge conditions indicates that many streets are bounded by extensive inactive walls, protected crossings are absent along critical routes such as the school–park axis, and sidewalks are frequently narrow, obstructed, or discontinuous. These built-form features undermine safety, comfort, and social interaction despite formal regulatory compliance. The findings demonstrate how grid-pattern street systems prioritize vehicular mobility, while gated developments restrict permeability and diminish everyday encounters. In response, the study proposes a hierarchy of interventions: immediate measures such as school streets, protected crossings, and traffic calming, followed by medium- to long-term strategies including shaded seating, sidewalk widening, and participatory design guidelines. By linking statutory standards with lived experience, the paper conceptualizes walkability not only as a technical planning requirement but also as a socio-cultural right, offering transferable insights for the creation of more inclusive urban environments. Full article

This study integrates space syntax and big data from the catering industry to explore the impact of grid and organic street patterns on the spatial distribution of restaurants from the perspective of urban morphology. Space syntax is a set of theories and techniques for the analysis of spatial configurations. Focusing on five areas of the Macau Peninsula, this study models urban forms using space syntax. Syntactic parameters and Dianping data are analyzed through geographic visualization, correlation analysis, and descriptive statistics. The results reveal that grid-patterned streets provide a relatively equitable commercial environment through a structured hierarchy, whereas organic-patterned streets foster commercial diversity via more complex accessibility patterns. Additionally, at the local network level, a “cultural layer network” mechanism is revealed in organically shaped streets, supporting the stable distribution of different types of restaurants within specific accessibility ranges. For the first time, this study employs high precision (street-level accuracy), multidimensional analysis (number of restaurants and number of reviews), and a systematic methodology (“form-function” research framework) within the same space syntax model to uncover the effects of different urban morphologies on restaurant distribution. Collectively, these findings highlight street morphology’s key role in shaping vibrant commercial street networks in rapidly urbanizing contexts, reveal the morphological–socioeconomic synergy underpinning local catering ecosystems, and offer robust empirical guidance for integrated urban renewal, planning, and design strategies. Full article

Urban street networks derive their complexity not only from their hierarchical structure, but also from their tendency to simultaneously exhibit properties of both grid-like and tree-like networks. Using topological indicators based on planning parameters, we develop a method of network division that makes classification of such intermediate networks possible. To quantitatively describe the differences between street network patterns, we first carefully define a tree-like network structure according to topological principles. Based on the requirements of road planning, we broaden this definition and also consider three other types of street networks with different microstructures. We systematically compare the structure variables (connectivity, hierarchy, and accessibility) of selected street networks around the world and find several explanatory parameters (including the relative incidence of through streets, cul-de-sacs, and T-type intersections), which relate network function and features to network type. We find that by measuring a network’s degree of similarity to a tree-like network, we can refine the classification system to more than four classes, as well as easily distinguish between the extreme cases of pure grid-like and tree-like networks. Each indicator has different distinguishing capabilities and is adapted to a different range, thereby permitting networks to be grouped into corresponding types when the indicators are evaluated in a certain order. This research can further improve the theory of interaction between transportation and land use. Full article