The impact of the urban structure on the public squares uses: a syntactic analysis

Abstract

This work is part of an ongoing research on the impact of urban structure on public squares in Bejaia city (Algeria). This paper will investigate the relationship between the configuration of the urban structure and the use and attractiveness of public squares in Bejaia city. Assuming, from space syntax theory, that urban space configuration extremely effects people’s movement patterns (through-movement space or to-movement space), this study is then carried out to find the correlation between the spatial use of squares and the syntactic properties of the urban structure in which they are embedded. To achieve this goal, the document relies on two approaches: qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative approach is based on the in-situ observation of two public squares by establishing behavioural maps, and on semi-structured interviews. While for the quantitative one, it is based on the method of space syntax concerning the syntactic and isovist properties. The study uses calculations using Depthmap. This paper will present the investigation process and the results of the case study, which show that the use of public squares in Bejaia city depends strongly on the syntactic properties of the urban structure in which each square is embedded, besides its functional properties.