From Space to Place-The Role of Space and Experience in the Construction of Place

8/3/2019 From Space to Place-The Role of Space and Experience in the Construction of Place

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International Space Syntax Symposium, stanbul, 2007

FROM SPACE TO PLACE:the role of space andexperience in the construction of place

052Irini PerdikogianniThe Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, UCL

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of spatial structure and urban narrative in individualsexperience of a place. The spatial structure describes the actual space that individualnavigates and occupies through its everyday activities. Whereas the term urbannarrative describes the factors in urban history and social culture that create animagined space that evolves through historical time and is navigated through cityscultural mythology. A main challenge that urban designers and planners are facing is ofcreating recognisable and valued places that people would like to live and work in.This paper deals with the nature of neighbourhood as spatial, social and economicphenomenon and brings to the fore the sense of place as its intrinsic characteristic. Itis acknowledged that the latter has a long history of investigation. However, to date theresearch has focused either on individuals perceptions or attitudes towardsgeographical spaces or the local design features of urban areas with a lack of methodsto deal with the physical and attitudinal together. This currently forms the major scientificchallenge: to develop methods to bring together the analysis of urban structure, designand morphology with the broadly qualitative investigation of individual and communityperceptions, attitudes and aspirations. This paper does not report new research results

but it suggests a finer grain of analysis of neighbourhoods by differentiating the conceptof configured space from the notion of place.

Setting the Scene

The last decades that residential mobility has increased with a greatnumber of people relocating themselves to new neighbourhoods,cities or countries, the challenge for recognisable and valued placesbecame imperative need for distinctive urban environments thatreinforce and sustain social and economic networks. Decision-makersand urban designers are in quest either for creating new sustainableurban neighbourhoods that will reinforce economic and demographicgrowth or for re-designing the old ones and creating a new positivedynamic for the existing social and economic forces within them.

Haughton and Hunter (1994) describe a sustainable city as one inwhich its people and businesses continuously endeavour to improvetheir natural, built and cultural environments at neighbourhood and

Keywords:

NeighbourhoodPlaceConfigured spacePlace identitySense of placePhenomenology

Irini PerdikogianniThe Bartlett School of GraduateStudies, 1-19 Torrington Place,University College London (UCL)Gower St. London [email protected]


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regional levels, whilst working in two ways which always support thegoal of global sustainable development (p. 27). The issue ofexternal/internal sustainability, implied in the quote above, has beenalso highlighted by Campagni et al (1998) who stress the need foraction to prevent the imbalances in sustainability policy in all regionsconsidering an interconnected spatial system.

The model of a global polynucleated urban system emerges as thebasis upon this paper is formedi. However, as Kloosterman andMusterd (2001)

iiargue the concrete operationalisations of a

polycentric urban system is different for spatial planners, human oreconomic geographers. This diversity in the interpretation ofpolycentricism, they continue, is a reflection of its inherent complexity,since cities are rich historical contextualised spatial phenomena thatencompass every aspect of social life. According to Hall (1997), allpost-industrial cities are polycentric systems with multiple centres ofemployment, residential locations and other social activities. For Hillier(1996), the property of polycentrism emerges as one intrinsiccharacteristic of cities which makes them worth living in. Althougharguably the polycentric development by its definition does not

support a spatial demarcation of social activity and culture, it appearsthat the majority of social activity does take place in a spatially localcontext due to several constraints that people experience in spaceand time (Musterd and van Zelm, 2001). City-dwellers often refer totheir neighbourhood as one way of defining their urban identity as well.They even express psychological bonds, especially affective bonds,with these geographical spaces or places

iiiHowever, it has been

argued that there is very little evidence to support a relation ofcorrespondence between spatial demarcation and community identity(Hanson and Hillier,1987).

Drawing on the complexity of polycentric cities and the richness ofthese spatial phenomena, this paper reviews the local context of aneighbourhood and its physical, social and economic dimensions. Itfurther investigates what the urban factors that construct a place in apolycentric city are. Then, it deals with the philosophical divisionbetween space and place. The role of configured space as themain object of analysis in space syntax, particularly in defining what iscalled place identity, is put under scrutiny. Thus, space syntax is setin its phenomenological-experiential perspective. This paper also setsto the fore of discussion the sense of place as having beensuggested synonymous with place identity (Lynch 1981). The senseof place is defined as the ease that its elements can be linked toother places or events as a mental representation of time and spaceconsidering non-spatial elements and values, as well (Lynch, 1981,p.131). Or else, the sense constitutes the degree that the place can

be easily perceived and identified. The perception of a place hasbeen the object of discourse since 60s when the notion of legibilitywas introduced. The latter was defined as the ease with which itsparts can be recognised and can be organised into a coherentpattern (Lynch 1960, p.2). This paper juxtaposes the concept oflegibility with the concept of intelligibility as introduced by Hillier(1996,1993). The last concept is defined as the degree that we(moving or standing observers) can be informed about our positionwithin the urban system as a whole from every location that wepotentially occupy as we are situated within space, The intelligibilitydescribes properties inherited in the interconnected spatial system ofa city (Hillier, 1996; Hillier et al, 1993).These concepts are embeddedin the theoretical framework within which they were developed.

The conjecture that underpins this reasoning is that lived experiencein cities emerges through a constant interaction between the actualspaces that people navigate and occupy through their body movement


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and the imagined space bound up with cities (cultural) mythology.The imagined space is a product of a long historical process ofevolution and change nourished by personal narratives, inherited tofuture generations as collective memory of places and events.Hence, it is suggested to revisit the foundation of space syntaxanalytical theory eliciting its experiential elements for the study of thecity. It is further suggested broadening space syntax methodology at

the neighbourhood level to capture dwellers perceptions, attitudesand aspirations for their urban environment considering it as onepromising line for a more holistic approach to the spatial and socio-cultural mechanisms of cities.

The Nature of Neighbourhood

The Neighbourhood as Urban Entity

Urban designers, planners, sociologists and economists refer to theneighbourhood as a discrete urban phenomenon. The neighbourhoodas urban entity, if something like this exists, was revitalized with theadvent of neo-traditional ideas on town planning, known as NewUrbanism. This strand of urban design practice suggested that build

environment could create a sense of knit-community currently lost inmodern city provided that urban designers and planners adopted newdesign principles (Katz, 1994, Audirac and Shermeyen, 1994). Thedesign principles mainly focused on the use of public space and themixing of uses (Duany and Platter-Zyberk, 1991, Calthorpe, 1993,Langdon, 1994). The basic argument upon which New Urbanism wasformulated and developed as planning movement has been highlycriticized as lacking first and foremost empirical evidence (Talen,1999).

On the other hand, Webster (1993) argues about the existence of theneighbourhood justified from lived experience that we find localauthorities introducing special policies protecting them and property

market investors considering their attributes, as well. Hence, theneighbourhood as such exists at least as one economic andinstitutional entity. Despite the fact that, pre-existing economic modelsdefined neighbourhood on the basis of consumption-sharing premise(Christaller, 1966, Losch, 1939/1954, Alonso, 1964), Webster (1993)argues that in urban economics it remains partly conceptualised. Thus,he defines the entity in relation to transaction costs that comprise thespine upon which cities are operating, since individuals seek toreduce the cost of cooperating with each other (Webster, 1993,p.2596). This entitys spatial, social and economic aspects arecorrelated. His thesis manifests that there is a close relationshipbetween the idea of people being knitted together and the physicalexistence of a neighbourhood. However, the sense of community is

formed and sustained over shared resources.In the body of space syntax literature the focus is on the differentcentres of activity that are formed through the movement economyprocess

ivThis is how the theory, supported by empirical evidence,

describes the way cities are put together as a system of differentcentres and sub-centres of activities of different densities within aglobal spatial network (Hillier, 1996: 168). Functionally, this centre ischaracterized by a concentration and mix of activities in a certainposition within the urban network. However, this description refersmore to a dynamic process that would enact a series of spatial andfunctional transformations rather than a static entity (Hillier, 2000).The dual nature of the city which operates both at the neighbourhood(local) and the global scale is an argument that underpins all thetheoretical developments in this field. Hillier (2005) argues thatalthough we experience a bit of a city each time the city does not existin fragments. So cities cannot be seen as patchwork of enclosures.


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But our perception of cities consists of different parts or sub-areas andmechanisms of transition from the part to the whole. If this relationshipbetween global and local scale is broken then it appears that citiesmalfunction, urban areas become enclosures where social life isstagnant or institutionalised result in social malaise (i.e anti-socialbehaviour) (Hillier, 1996). In the case of London, recent researchresults suggest that people are aware of this duality by which city

operates. Previous research conducted as part of EPSRC fundedconsortium VivaCity 2020 under the Sustainable Urban Environment(SUE) Programmev hallenged this idea by using a combinedmethodology that investigated the spatial properties of the networkitself related with observed activity patterns (i.e land use andpedestrian movement patterns) and first person experience of theseareas captured with the aid of questionnaires. The findings showedthat dwellers in Clerkenwell, a diverse neighbourhood located on thefringe of Central Business District of London, being asked what theyvalue the most in their local area, prioritised the fact that they caneasily get out of it and have easy access to central activities locatedoutside the area, over other amenities and qualities located inside itsboundaries (Aeisha and Perdikogianni, 2005,). The question thatarises from previous arguments that explore the nature of theneighbourhood and the complexity of the city within which each one isembedded is where people feel that they belong. This could bereformed into how people do define their neighbourhood.

Neighbourhood as Place

In place attachment literature the neighbourhood emerges as thespace which is characterised by high levels of interactions amongresidents, that share interests while their identify draws on theirattachment to this particular place (Willmott, 1984). Altman and Low(1992) define place attachment as the affective bonds observed tohave been developed between people and places. The consistent

study of this psychological connection that people develop experienceand express with a particular location started in 70s when humangeographers like Tuan (1974) and Relph (1976) expressed thenegative effects of rootlessness or placelessness. For the body ofrelevant literature, the longevity of residency within a location wasconsidered to be one essential component of the place attachmentphenomenon (Manzo and Perkins,2006). Human geographerscontributed to this debate by arguing further that affective bonds witha geographical space are inherited in the notion of place (Guilianiand Feldman, 1993). The expression of this attachment to aneighbourhood or residence is the local knowledge that is graduallyformed or the negative psychological effects that city-dwellers wouldexperience if they were forced to move somewhere else. Whereas the

naming of a neighbourhood is thought to be another expression of thisas well (Taylor et al,1984).

The notion of a community defined by a strong spatial boundary ischallenged by Hanson and Hillier (1987). In their reasoning the notionof community and its relation with the physical space are embedded inthe theoretical paradigm within which these ideas were formed. Hence,Hanson and Hillier (1987) distinguish between these approacheswhich theorize that the relationship between space and society isexpressed as a correspondence model (Alexander 1977, Lynch, 1981,Newman 1980) and those ones that manifest that urban environmentis heterogeneous and simply space plays a positive role of controllingand generating this heterogeneity (Jacobs, 1961, Appleyard, 1981).(Fig.1)

Hanson and Hillier (1987) agree with the latter by arguing further thatempirical evidence does not support self-contained neighbourhoods.


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On a par their boundaries thought to vary according to the urbanactivities or the age group that their dwellers belong (Glass, 1966). Byreviewing different approaches on the relation sense of communityand space, they mention Botts (1957) argument that the socialrelations that a family could have exceed the physical boundaries of adefined area. However, Young and Willmots (1962) famous study onfamily and kinship in East London suggested that space played a vital

role in social life in Bethnal Green case. Hanson and Hilliers (1987)thesis should be seen within the framework of space syntax theoryand its approach to the nature of the relationship between space andsociety. Another thing that clearly emerges so far is that there is needto trace the difference between space and place and how this isconceived in both experiential and analytical theories like spacesyntax. For example the place as conceived by environmentalpsychologists is (more than) a (-) spatial entity (Tuan, 1977).

Figure 1:

Some results of an attitudinalsurvey conducted in the cityof San Francisco byAppleyard (1981)investigating theenvironmental values held bydifferent populations in thecity


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The Configured Space and Place

The Phenomenology of Place

For Casey (1992), the first explicit distinction between space (chora)and place (topos) in Western philosophy is to be found in PlatoTimaeus. Plato names first the existence of an unchanging Form andsecond a sensible entity, constantly in motion, apprehended byperception being. For Plato space (chora) is apprehended without thesenses

vihe experience of place (topos) is based on belief involving

perception and thus, Plato observes the link between place (topos)and the body. Place is a particular locus for a sensible thing thatcomes to be in a certain place. Casey (1992) argues that both Platoand Aristotle recognise the special role of body in regard to place.For Artistotle a place is a way of being in the world at unique anglelike water in a vessel

vii. So Aristotles conception of place is

corporeal and vesicular so that it bounds and supports (Casey 1992,p.55). Furthermore Aristotelian place is part of the definition of thebeing of a physical thing. Aristotle reduces chora to magnitude(megethos) and names place (topos) as the immobile content of

space (chora)

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. On the other hand, Plato stresses on theextensiveness of space, conceived as providing a situation for allthings that come into being. For Aristotle, the place and the being orthe sensible thing are separable and are bound to their identity. Sothey both keep their identity even if the being moves to anotherplace (topos). But space (chora) exceeds the principle of identity(Berque, 2004). For Berque (2004) space (chora) is unidentifiable,undetermined and undefined in itself, and relational. Casey (1992)argues that this clear distinction found in ancient greek philosophydissolves itself in Descartes Principles of Philosophy (1644) whereplace is defined as that of being the extendedness of the occupyingsubject (i.e. body)

ix. According to Casey (1992), Descartes legacy

blurs the definitions by introducing the lived body for connecting mind

and physical body and distinguishing place and space. However, thecritical shift in conceptualising space and place is the fact that fromnow on the lived body precedes space. Later, Newton and More willclaim that place is only a portion of space but both of them willmaintain a theory of absolute space.

With the advent of phenomenology, in the 20th century and Husserlsdiscourse there is a shift of focus from the world out there or what itexists in reality, to the way human beings understand and experienceit. So the point of departure of this discourse is no more the physicalworld but the individual and his/her sensual and psychological realm.For Tuan (1977), experience covers the various modes throughwhich a person understands or even constructs the reality. Thesemodes span the whole experiential field from the senses of touch,

smell, and touch to the visualisation and the indirect mode ofimagination and symbolisation. (Fig. 2) Relphs (1976) claim that aplace has a meaning as long as one feels that is inside it is indicative.Seamon (1984) argues that a place is only a phenomenologicalvantage point from which we (observers and participants) are about toclarify the person-world relationship. However, this dependency uponthis duality does not minimize places importance as far as thephenomenological approach to the physical world is concerned. Theindividual is among other things a physical body that it shouldestablish and identify itself spatially and environmentally (Seamon1984). His idea of place reinforces his claim (2000) that there is anoverarching theme across all variations of the phenomenologicalapproach to the world: the person-world indiscrete. This is inaccordance with the Heidegerrian existential phenomenology andthe term being-in- the- world or else dasein. However, Merleau-Ponty (1962) develops this indiscrete further by obliterating mind-body


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distinction. In the same framework, space is an abstract set of termswhich despite its vagueness and cultural interpretations should beseen in relation with the human body as the measure of all things(Tuan 1977). Interestingly, Hillier (2005) is indecisive whether thephenomenological mindbody indiscrete is different from theembodied mind developed in cognitive studies which describes themind as embedded in the body that informs us about how we act in

the world.

The Configured Space and the Lived SpaceIn space syntax reasoning, space is substituted by the concept ofconfigured space. The latter sets the ground rules for transformingthe continuous space or the space as unbounded perceptual scene asCasey (1992) expresses it, to a structured system of discrete units.The configured space and how this is formed is the main object ofanalysis (Hillier, 1989). However, what underpins the whole body ofthis theory is that space is considered as an existing entity providedthat it is relational (Hiller 2005). (Fig. 3).The main argument of spacesyntax theory is that human societies use space as their primeresource for organising themselves and the result is that inhabitedspace is configured. So it becomes obvious that the relationshipbetween social culture, human behaviour and urban form is

embedded in the concept of configured space. However, as Bafna(2003) observes space syntax theory (Hillier and Hanson, 1984) doesnot describe just a relation that allows mapping each system upon the

Figure 2:

The notion of place asconceptualised inphenomenological-experiential terms. Themarketing area or regionovercomes the boundariesand thus is (more than) a (-)spatial entitySource: Tuan (1977)


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other but rather a dynamic process of restructuring and modification ofconfigured space and society. For example in an urban setting theaction of creating a boundary between spatial components forms aparticular relationship of accessibility and visibility among differentcategories of dwellers resulting first and foremost in a certain socialdynamic (Bafna 2003). This dynamic process emerges from aninherited spatiality into society and vice versa.

Despite its main object of analysis, the configured space as said justabove, space syntax analytical theory seeks for appropriatedescriptions of the discrete units of inhabited space that will articulateits social logic for penetrating the dipole moment: space-society.Each of these discrete units is identified according to its topologicalproperties. Empirical (observation-based) studies that form the basisupon new theoretical developments emerges suggest that the abstract(topological) descriptions of these units capture peoples behaviour inspace that is peoples movement patterns within configured spaceand the kind of activities that each unit accommodates andconsequently the kind of social groups that occupy different spatialcomponents. Recently a strand of research used these descriptions

as indices for the accessibility to different uses in the city (Stahle et al,2005). Thus, the experienced or the inhabited space is also a keyelement in space syntaxs analytical approach but not only in relationwith a bounded local setting but with its global dimensions.

The configured space is a valued space which informs us about thekind of uses and users that potentially will occupy it. Its values are

inherited in its relational nature. In the case of urban space, its valuesare the product of its expression as (street) network. Thephenomenological space however is undifferentiated but this becomesa place as individuals familiarise themselves with locations and thusattributes and values (Tuan,1977).The point of departure of theseapproaches differ. Space Syntax stems from the physical environmentseen as an object, incorporating though in its approach theexperiential aspect (Seamon, 1994). On the other hand,phenomenology starts with the individual and his/her experience ofbeing in space without minimising the role of space as such. Theproblematic of this paper shifts to whether one could see a possibilityof bringing these approaches closer. My interest would lie inincorporating the experience and perception of the individual in the

syntactical model of the city within the local context of aneighbourhood.

Legibility and Intelligibility

Drawing on the quest for an integrated urban analytical approach the juxtaposition of Lynchs approach to perceptual space and spacesyntaxs affinity to cognition of the city could be indicative for theoutcome of this rhetoric at the moment- experiment.

Lynch (1960) uses legibility to describe a city of which all districts,landmarks, or pathways are easily identifiable and grouped into anoverall pattern. City-dwellers understanding of cities as depicted insketch maps, is reduced into five elements of form: paths, edges,districts, nodes and landmarks

x.(Fig.4) This understanding is thought

to be enabled by other, often symbolic, meanings that, the history ofplaces or the naming of areas may carry. Imageability is theconcept that Lynch (1960) uses to define the ability of some urban

Figure 3:

In space syntax theoreticalframework space is to beshown as a spatial entityonly if seen as relational(Hillier, 2005). The basicurban element is a cell withcertain permeabilitysproperties. These elements-a, b in relation with anoutside space c, can be usedto construct patterns with theproperties symmetry,

asymmetry, distributed-nessand non-distributed-ness.Source: Hillier and Hanson,(1984)


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areas to evoke a strong image in any given observer (p.9). In his latework, Lynch (1981) defines legibility as one component of the senseof a place along with congruence, transparency which makes thenotion to lie as the joint between the structure and thephenomenological identity. The sense of a place is a subjectivevariable quality that Lynch (1981) invents to describe explicitlypossible connections of the urban form to non-spatial concepts and

values and its symbolic significance to its users. This quality featuresas one of the five indices (vitality, fit, access and control and sense),that he uses to access a good city. For Lynch (1981) a good city is asustainable city which will support its complex ecology withoutobjecting to new developments within it.

For Hillier (1996), the visual image of the city evokes propertiesinherited in the configured space. In this framework, the property thatan urban environment bears that guide pedestrians to grasp it so thatthey potentially find their way around is thought to be its key quality.The visual information that is offered to moving or situated within aparticular location individual is a good guide to what they cannot see.This is also expressed as the degree which each unit of configured

space is integrated into the (urban) system as a whole (Hillier 1996).Hence, the intelligibility of an environment as defined above is abouthow predictable the global structure of an environment is derived fromits local properties (Hillier, 1996; Hillier et al., 1993). Drawing on theabstract descriptions of urban space represented as axial map

xi

whose discrete units (axial lines) are differentiated or weighted onlyin relation with their position in the global network, it is suggested asyntactic definition of intelligibility that describes it analytically andquantitatively. The quantified property is measured as the degree ofcorrelation between local and global measures of spatial configuration,depicted on a scattergram

xii.The shape of scattergram (tight or

diffused shape of points around the regression line) also describes thedegree of intelligibility for a given (urban) environment (Fig.5).

The immediate questions that arise from a comparative study of thesedefinitions are the followings:

What is the relation between Lynchs, experiential and syntacticalapproach aided by space syntax research to cities?

At what extent can the researcher envisage a combinedmethodology that would acquire both approaches based on theirexperiential aspect?

How much do these phenotypic different frameworks complementeach other for a more accurate understanding of citys complexity?

Figure 4:

Lynch (1960) reduced theurban form to five elementsof form: paths, edges,districts, nodes andlandmarks. His concepts oflegibility and imageabiltiywere tested by interviewing a

small sample of citizens withregard to their image of theirenvironment. a: The Bostonimage from verbal interviewsb: The Boston image fromsketch maps c: Thedistinctive elements ofBoston d. The visual form ofBoston in the field e. TheBoston image from streetinterviews f. A conceptualmap of ChappaquiddickIsland by one of its resident.Source: (a,b,c,d,e) Lynch (1960),

(f) Lynch (1981)


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This juxtaposition of ideas could be seen in Platos framework of theindiscreet form-figure: how forms are conceived versus how figuresare perceived. Hillier (1985) advocates the Platonic supremacy of theworld of intelligibilia over the world of visibilia. So if Lyncheanlegibility is about the ability that individuals have to read just what isout there in the real world then intelligibility is about understandingthe intangible relations between the different units of the tangibleworld. So, space syntax theory quantifies and makes concreteknowledge the intangible possibilities of the abstract world ascaptured by configurational properties of the inhabited space.However, the term intangible does not lead us to think that they dontexist. In Popperian reasoning (Popper, 1972) the intangible relations

exist as far as they have objective logical contentsxiii

.

Conroy-Dalton and Bafna (2003) argue that in space syntax analyticalapproach the representation of (urban) space as axial map reveals ahierarchical differentiation between spatial and visual elements ofphysical environment considering the cognitive process that islikewise implicit in Lynchs approach. This representation seems toagree with cognitive mental maps constructed on the basis of a sets ofpaths against of which areas and locations are identified (Kuipers1996, Kuipers et al. 2003; Penn 2003)

xiv. There are also empirical

findings based on sketch mapping techniques that suggests a positiverelation between spatial configuration in the real world and its image inhuman cognition depicted in sketch maps (Kim and Penn 2003). In

this framework intelligibility is about relational differences in spacethrough which city-dwellers can gain their spatial autonomy (Penn etal. 1998, Stegen 1999). These differences are the determinant partsof citys underlying structure which research has shown it bears acause-effect relationship with observable human behaviour.Furthermore,, although Lynch (1960) claims about the synergy of allelements for the urban environment to evoke a strong image to people,described by imageabiltiy he fails to aggregate all the elements intoa global network to deal with their configurational properties (Kim2001).

Discussion: From the Configured Space to a Place

Urban designers, planners and city-dwellers are talking about

desirable places. Property investors prioritise the location as oneguiding factor for their decision to buy premises. NIMBYist behaviourxv

defined as the propensity for people to oppose development orchange in what they consider to be their immediate locality, despitethe possible benefits of such change to the community at large or tofuture generations, is critical to sustainability discussion. This socialpractice takes for granted the existence of a vague entity of a placethat people are attached or just attracted to it. For this paper, thearisen question as to whether there are such urban entities as placeor space, seem to be part of a philosophical debate that goes back toancient Greece with Plato and Aristotle as the first philosophers inWestern tradition that theorized it. Furthermore, it is suggested that itis timely to develop an understanding of the kind of elements in urban

structure, urban history and social culture which contribute to thedefinition of what people consider to be their locality or their backyard. Now, more than ever that residential mobility has increased and

Figure 5:

Soho, Bloomsbury andMayfair, different areas ofLondon form an independentlinear cluster crossing theregression line of InnerLondon as a whole inscattergrams between localand global integration. Thischaracteristic pattern showthe property of some parts ofconfigured space to act asidentified sub-areas of the

spatial network (Hillier, 1996)


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sustainability discussion is spread among the communities mainly dueto the threat of shortage of available resources, is really important tounderstand the relationship between the physical environment thatsurrounds us and our psychological realm as human beings. In thesame framework place definition should be embedded withinreasoning for the relationship between space and society or peopleand world.

To date Space Syntax as manifested in the Social Logic of Space(Hillier and Hanson, 1984) has partly answered this question bysearching for underlying structures in the built environment thatsurrounds us. In this framework it has been claimed that city-dwellerscan extract structures and identity from the material that they have athand that is street and usage patterns. As well, this paper suggesteddiversity in theoretical approaches to the relational unit space - societymirrored in the multiplicity of place definitions. However, within thenotion of place the experience of this physical environment is itsintrinsic characteristic, at least in its phenomenological definition,considering citys major actor, the individual. The main object ofanalysis of both phenomenology and environmental psychology is the

individual and the qualities underlying the human experience. ForHillier (2005) the urban phenomenology sees the complexity of citiesas a mirror of the complexities of experience and vice versa. Hisapproach though to cities complexity derives from the analysis ofobserved structures. On the other hand, it has been claimed thatspace syntax descriptions of the configured space (axial lines,convex spaces and isovists) are by their nature experiential entities(Seamon,1994). Furthermore, it is exactly this experiential aspect ofSpace Syntax analytical tools along with the correlated observedpatterns of usage with configuration of space considering the globalproperties of the urban system that establishes the affinity of thisapproach with cognitive studies.

Drawing on these shared aspects between these different approaches,this paper suggests defining place as the lived space or theinhabited space as it is often cited in the space syntax literature. Thisdescription slightly diverges from the configured space which hasbeen so far the main object of syntactical analysis. Thus, it furthersuggests to establish a problematic upon which empirical data abouthow people understand and define their neighbourhood could beincorporated as other (concrete) values in the syntactical model of thecity. Although it is accepted the decisive role of configured space ininforming individuals and communities actions in space the studyclaims that there are other implicit interactions between the individualand space which are related with his/her awareness of theenvironment that surrounds him/her. As well, research developments

in cognitive psychology suggest that in order for the individual to act inthe space there is need for a mental representation of space. It isargued that the knowledge underlying this representation comes frommany sources, like imagination and language. (Twersky, 2003). Thissuggestion has as prerequisite to combine quantitative and qualitativemethodologies. However, it is acknowledged the difficulty of a task likethis.

Finally, I would argue that this reasoning is not only a philosophicaldebate over the credibility of a theory or the complementarities ofdifferent theoretical approaches. This stream of ideas aims at creatingmore successful and desirable environments through which urbandesign and policy could be tailored to approach local communitiesencouraging behavioural change and local acceptance of sustainable

development.


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Acknowledgments; The author would like to thank EPSRC for itsfinancial support under the Research Assistant Industrial SecondmentScheme (RAIS) and her PhD supervisor Prof Alan Penn at the BartlettSchool of Graduate Studies (University College London).Aiesha, R. and Perdikogianni I. (2005). Decoding urban diversity in"mixed-use" neighbourhoods,. EPSRC Conference: SustainableUrban Environments: Vision into Action, Birmingham, UK.

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i. EU regional policy has recently shifted from encouraging a core-periphery development pattern, mainly driven by distancecosts concepts, towards a balanced polynucleated regional development model that will use the potential of all regions(Copus 2001).Kloosterman and Musterd (2001) write in the introduction of Urban Studies Volume 38 Issue 4 Special Issue dedicated to

the conference contributions held in Amsterdam in February1999 on polycentric urban regions.

ii. This notion was introduced since the 60s when there was an emerging interest in people-environment research

iii. The theory of movement economy suggests movement patterns generated by the urban grid itself, known as naturalmovement, shape land use patterns at the same time that the latter have a feedback effect on movement (Hillier, 1996: 168,Hillier et all 1993).

iv. This research explored the urban mechanisms that create and sustain a diverse urban environment having as its casestudies the cities of London, Sheffield and Manchester. The questionnaires were conducted by Prof Graeme Evans, Dr JoFoord and Rosita Aiesha from Cities Institute at London Metropolitan University.

v. Timaeus 51e-52b

vi. Physics IV 210a 24

vii. aggeion ametakineton Physics, IV, 212a 15

viii.Descartes in Principles of Philosophy distinguishes between internal and external place. The first is equivalent of a givenbody size (magnitude) and shape (figure) and the latter is determined by the relationship between a given and otherbodies (p.46).

ix. For a detailed account of the methodology that Lynch followed to test his theoretical arguments see: Lynch, K. (1960). TheImage of the City. Cambridge Mass, MIT Press: 140-181

x. The axial map represents the urban grid (street system) as a matrix of the longest and fewest lines of direct access thatpass through all the spaces and make all the connections (Hillier and Hanson, 1984).

xi. Hillier (1996) defines the metric of intelligibility as the correlation between connectivity and global integration value of the(axial) line in a configuration. Connectivity measures the number of lines that each (axial) line is connected to. Globalintegration (or radius n integration) measures the mean depth (distance) of all axial lines in a plan from the line in questionand then normalises this for the number of lines that are present in the plan.

xii. For Hillier (1985) Poppers third world of abstract but real objects emerges as the generalisation of Platonic Idea.

xiii.The set of paths within a complex environment are described by Kuipers et al (2003) as skeleton of paths defined as the

subset used with greater frequency than the rest of paths creating the mental framework of environment cognition.xiv.NIMBY stands for Not In My Back Yard

From Space to Place-The Role of Space and Experience in the Construction of Place

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