Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System -Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System

-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

Dr. Simon C.F. Shu & Tsung Yen Lung

Department of Architecture, Feng Chia University, Taiwan

Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City


Issues and Questions

In most cities in Taiwan, contemporary design and planning has been

criticized for its inhumanity and for its insufficient amenities to meet

the needs of pedestrians.



It seems that to satisfy the need of vehicular flows has become the

dominant idea adopted by our planners and designers. Hence, the

main strategic routes turn out to be like wide rivers, so called

"Boulevards", that make ground pedestrian movement either

impossible or the pedestrian environment unfriendly.

Pedestrian needs have become the main focus for today’s urban

redeveloping strategies in Taiwan.



Very often one finds that newly developed areas and the re-generated

city center are fitted with a disintegrated pedestrian system. As a result,

the newly created isolated urban public spaces, such as urban squares,

pedestrian shopping districts, etc. cannot provide local people with a

real pedestrian-friendly system, due to the lack of an integrated

network for pedestrians’ use.



This research proposes to employ the "Space Syntax" method to s

tudy the correlation between syntactic properties of urban struct

ures and relative space use patterns. It is hoped that through this

research a rigorous simulating computer model for prediction of

space use patterns, which includes both dynamic pedestrian move

ment and static behavior occurring in open spaces, can be teased

out.

It seems that a simulating computer model for prediction of space

use patterns of pedestrians would be very useful for designers in

their planning process to reach an integrated pedestrian network

system.

This powerful research methodology has been developed

by Professor Bill Hillier and his team at the Space Syntax

Laboratory for over more than twenty years.

http://www.spacesyntax.com


Information on the theoretical foundation and applications

of this analysis can be consulted in Hillier’s first book

“ The Social Logic of Space ” as well as in his second book

“ Space Is The Machine ”.

Space Syntax Analysis

The degree of axial accessibility or visual accessibility (i.e. isovist)

of each space within the whole spatial system can be represented

by number and colour, which is assigned by the Space Syntax

Software.Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

Space Syntax Analysis


Forms of Analysis

Pedestrian Movement Patterns : Axial Analysis by Axman 3.0

First of all, the pedestrian movement patterns observed will be correlated to the degree of axial integration value Rn or Rr or R3 (i.e. the degrees of global accessibility or global- local mid accessibility or local accessibility) of each street segment represented by an axial line within the whole area to see whether the street axial integration value can effectively predict the pedestrian flow in the studied area. Moreover, other variants, such as floor area ratio and degree of completion of each urban block, will also be added to be combined with the axial integration analysis to examine how these factors together influence the dispersion patterns of the pedestrian movement.


Forms of Analysis

Static Space Use Patterns :

Isovist Analysis by Depthmap

The static space use patterns observed in the area will firstly

be correlated to the degree of isovist integration value (i.e.

the degree of visual accessibility) of each urban open

space represented by a small grid space unit within the whole

area.

Several variants, such as the degree of shadowiness and the

capacity of sitting facilities provided, etc. will be

combined with the isovist integration value to detect their

influence on the static space use patterns.


The Study Area

The selected study area is the Taipei City Shin Yi District, which has been put forward as the first district since 1977 based on the fundamental ideology of the pedestrian priority concept. In spite of its cutting edge concept, there are studies that reveal the need to further study the relationships between the urban public space system and its pedestrian space use patterns [Wu, Show-Ling, 2001, He, Chien Ming, 2003].


The Study Area

The studied area is located at th

e east end of Taipei City and has a

grid pattern street layout. Two arte

rial Boulevards cross

intersect at the center part of the ar

ea. There are also two

boundary routes, which are in fact

the major access routes to

the studied area, located at the nort

h and the west of the Shin

Yi District.


The Study Area

There are three metro s

tations in this area, namel

y the existing Taipei Muni

cipal metro station situate

d in the north-west corner,

and the proposed yet unfin

ished World Trade Center

metro station and Chung

Chian metro station locate

d at the south-west and the

south-east corners respecti

vely.


Analysis of Pedestrian Movement Patterns In the Analysis of the street network system, the whole studied area was fi

rstly decoded and represented through three types of axial maps. The Type-A

axial map exhibits street network patterns without considering the topologica

l changes and the split of sidewalks, whereas the Type-B axial map demonstr

ates the separating axial lines of splitting sidewalks but bearing no attention t

o the topological changes. Finally, the Type-C axial map represents the most

detailed spatial configuration of the pedestrian movement network in terms o

f geographic precision.

Rn Axial Map-Type A Rn Axial Map-Type B Rn Axial Map-Type C


Analysis of Pedestrian Movement Patterns

The integration values of Rn, Rr and R3 are classified into eight groups of

range from range group 8, representing the highest accessible axial lines, to r

ange group 1, indicating the least accessible lines within the whole system. M

oreover, the pedestrian flow data collected (80 street segments in total) from t

he studied area are also converted into eight groups of range, as was the case

for axial integration.

Pedestrian flow observationRn Axial Map-Type A Map of pedestrian flow



From the cross examination of the axial integration and the pe

destrian flow, it turns out that there is a relatively weak correlati

on between them. Though a tendency to positive correlation bet

ween the degree of axial integration and the portion of pedestria

n flow can be noticed, only less than 54% of the pedestrian flow

observed in the study area can be precisely predicted through th

e axial integration indicators. This result is true for all three typ

es of axial maps. Clearly, there are other factors that need to be

added to the integration measure for a multivariate analysis.



When looking at two other variants of the density of land use, such

as floor area ratio and degree of completion of each urban block, one f

inds that nearly 66.3 ％ (53/80) of the pedestrian flow observed in the

study area can be precisely predicted.

Map of floor area ratio Degree of completion of each urban block



When two other variants of the density of land use, such as floor area ratio and degree of completion of each urban block, were combined with the axial integration analysis to examine how these factors together influence the dispersion patterns of the pedestrian movement, it was intriguing to see that through the multivariate analysis of the above elements, the Type-C R9 becomes the best prediction model for the pedestrian movement patterns.

When taking the Type-C R9 measure, the axial integration possesses nearly two thirds of the influencing weighting, whereas the other two variants of the density of land use occupy around one third of the influencing weighting for the pedestrian flow. Using this new developed model, nearly 76% (61/80) of the line segments within the studied area can effectively predict the relative pedestrian flow observed.


Analysis of Static Space Use Patterns

Seven urban public spaces clustering around the north-west area of the Shin Yi District are selected for detailed study. Three of the selected urban public spaces are urban squares (urban square A, B & C) and the other four are in fact open spaces (open space D, E, F & G) surrounding public buildings.

A

B

C

E

D

F

G



A

B

C

F

E

D

G



E

D

F

GA

B

C

From on site observation of these urban public spaces, the majority of space use is in fact passing through, and then the second group of static space use pattern turns out to be resting. Other activities include strolling, doing exercise, taking pictures, strolling with a dog, waiting, playing, and watching performances, etc. In the isovist analysis of those urban public spaces, the degree of visual accessibility of each sub open space in these urban public spaces is relativized to the average mean value of visual accessibility detected from the urban square A, in order to reflect the differences of their location within the studied area.

E

D

F

GA

B

C



Scattergram : isovist vs resting

Looking at the correlation between the degree of visual accessibility of each sub open space and the related space use pattern of resting, it is noticed that the result demonstrates a positive correlation (R2=0.49) between these two elements. That is to say that the resting activity is in fact corresponding to the degree of visibility of the venue. Places which exhibit strong visibility links with the surrounding area are the most preferred spaces for resting. There is also a positive correlation between the degree of visibility and the space use of taking pictures (R2=0.39) as well as the space use of waiting (R2=0.37) respectively. However this is not true for activities of doing exercise, playing and strolling with a dog.



GEA

D

FB

C

When further combining the visibility element with the degree of shadow availability and the capacity of sitting facilities provided, etc. to study the multi-variant effects for the distribution of static space use patterns occurring in those urban public spaces, it is noticed that for resting activity in those open spaces with enclosure features (such as urban square A and open space E) the degree of shadow provision and the capacity of sitting facilities turn out to be more important than the visibility factor. However, for those open spaces with disclosure features (such as urban squares B & C, open spaces D & F), the most important factors contributing to the resting activity are firstly the degree of visual accessibility followed by the degree of axial accessibility adjacent to sub open spaces, whereas the degree of shadow provision and the capacity of sitting facilities turn out to be less important.


Discussion

From the axial-space-use analysis, a scientific predictio

n model of pedestrian movement patterns can be establish

ed, of which the Type-C R9 measure takes up nearly two t

hirds (65%) of the weighting, whereas the two other varia

nts of density and land use occupy the other one third (35

%) of the weighting with regards to influence on the pedes

trian flow. However, other factors such as the metro statio

ns or bus stops, etc. might have important contributions t

o the dispersion of the pedestrian flow and need to be incl

uded in future analysis.


Discussion

For the static space use patterns, it is interesting to detect

that the visual accessibility and the axial accessibility are tw

o important attributes influencing the resting activities occu

rring in those disclosure open spaces. Places which demonstr

ate good visibility and higher accessibility in the disclosure o

pen spaces tend to attract more people for resting activities.

However, when open spaces are designed with enclosure feat

ures, then the degree of shadow provision and the capacity o

f sitting facilities will take over from the previous two eleme

nts and will become the most important factors attracting pe

ople for resting activity.

The End

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Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System -Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

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