Spatial Morphology Lab 01. International laboratory for comparative research in urban form. Street networks, Sweden - Motorised network of Västra Götaland
GIS-datasets for the Street networks of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Eskilstuna produced as part of the Spatial Morphology Lab (SMoL). The goal of the SMoL project is to develop a strong theory and methodology for urban planning & design research with an analytical approach. Three frequently recurring variables of spatial urban form are studied that together quite well capture and describe the central characteristics and qualities of the built environment: density, diversity and proximity. The first measure describes how intensive a place can be used depending on how much built up area is found there. The second measure captures how differentiated the use of a place can be depending on the division in smaller units such as plots. The third measure describes how accessible a place is depending on how it relates with other places. Empirical studies have shown strong links between these metrics and people's use of cities such as pedestrian movement patterns. To support this goal, a central objective of the project is the establishment of an international platform of GIS data models for comparative studies in spatial urban form comprising three European capitals: London in the UK, Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Stockholm in Sweden, as well as two additional Swedish cities of smaller size than Stockholm: Gothenburg and Eskilstuna. The result of the project is a GIS database for the five cities covering the three basic layers of urban form: street network (motorised and non-motorised), buildings and plots systems. The data is shared via SND to create a research infrastructure that is open to new study initiatives. The datasets for Amsterdam will also be uploaded to SND. The datasets of London cannot be uploaded because of licensing restrictions. The street network GIS-maps include motorised and non-motorised networks. The motorised networks exclude all streets that are pedestrian-only and were cars are excluded. The network layers are based on the Swedish national road database, NVDB (Nationell Vägdatabas), downloaded from Trafikverket (https://lastkajen.trafikverket.se, date of download 15-5-2016, last update 8-11-2015). The original road-centre-line maps of all cities were edited based on the same basic representational principles and were converted into line-segment maps, using the following software: FME, Mapinfo professional and PST (Place Syntax Tool). The coordinate system is SWEREF99TM. The map covers all Västra Götaland region (Västra Götalands län). In the final line-segment maps (GIS-layers) all roads are represented with one line irrespectively of the number of lanes, except from Motorways and Highways which are represented with two lines, one for each direction, again irrespectively of the number of lanes. We followed the same editing and generalizing procedure for all maps aiming to remove errors and to increase comparability between networks. This process included removing duplicate and isolated lines, snapping and generalizing. The snapping threshold used was 2m (end points closer than 2m were snapped together). The generalizing threshold used was 1m (successive line segments with angular deviation less than 1m were merged into one). In the final editing step, all road polylines were segmented to their constituting line-segments. The aim was to create appropriate line-segment maps to be analysed using Angular Segment Analysis, a network centrality analysis method introduced in Space Syntax. All network layers are complemented with an “Unlink points” layer; a GIS point layer with the locations of all non-level intersections, such as overpasses and underpasses, bridges, tunnels, flyovers and the like. The Unlink point layer is necessary to conduct network analysis that takes into account the non-planarity of the street network, using such software as PST (Place Syntax Tool).
Berghauser Pont Meta, Stavroulaki Gianna, Bobkova Evgeniya, Gil Jorge, Marcus Lars, Olsson Jesper, Sun Kailun, Serra Miguel, Hausleitner Birgit, Dhanani Ashley, Legeby Ann, (2019), ‘The spatial distribution and frequency of street, plot and building types across five European cities’, in: Environment and Planning B, Urban analytics and City science, Vol. 46(7) 1226–1242, doi:10.1177/2399808319857450
Bobkova, J., L. Marcus, M. Berghauser Pont, (2017). Spatial Capacity: Introducing multivariable measures of urban form that influences urban diversity, The 11th Space Syntax Symposium (SSS11), in: Proceedigns,11th International Space Syntax Symposium, (ed. Heitor T, Serra M, Silva M, Becharel M, da Silva L), Instituto Superior Técnico, Departamento de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Georrecursos, Portugal, University of Lisbon
Bobkova, E., 2019. Towards a theory of natural occupation: developing theoretical, methodological and empirical support for the relation between plot systems and urban processes. Doctoral Thesis. Chalmers University of technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Stavroulaki Gianna, Bolin David, Berghauser Pont Meta, Marcus Lars, Håkansson Erik, (2019), "Statistical modelling and analysis of big data on pedestrian movement", in: Proceedings,12th International Space Syntax Symposium, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing , 79.1-79.18
Berghauser Pont Meta, Stavroulaki Gianna, Marcus Lars, (2019), ‘Development of urban types based on network centrality, built density and their impact on pedestrian movement’, in: Environment and Planning B, Urban analytics and City science, Vol. 46(8) 1549-1564, doi:10.1177/2399808319852632
Bobkova, E., Berghauser Pont, M., & Marcus, L. (2019). Towards analytical typologies of plot systems: Quantitative profile of five European cities. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399808319880902
Marcus Lars, Berghauser Pont Meta, Stavroulaki Gianna, Bobkova Engeniya (2017), ‘Location-based density and differentiation – adding attraction variables to space syntax’, in: ISUF 2017 XXIV international conference: City and territory in the globalization age, Valencia, 27-29/9/2017
Berghauser Pont Meta, Stavroulaki Gianna, Gil Jorge, Hausleitner Birgit, Marcus Lars, Abshirini Ehsan, Olsson Jesper, Dhanani Ashley (2017), ‘Quantitative Comparison of Cities: Distribution of Street and Building Types Based on Density and Centrality Measures’, in: Proceedigns,11th International Space Syntax Symposium, (ed. Heitor T, Serra M, Silva M, Becharel M, da Silva L), Instituto Superior Técnico, Departamento de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Georrecursos, Portugal, University of Lisbon, 44.1-44.18
Bobkova E, Marcus L, Berghauser Pont M, Stavroulaki G, Bolin D (2019) Structure of Plot Systems and Economic Activity in Cities: Linking Plot Types to Retail and Food Services in London, Amsterdam and Stockholm. Urban Science, 3 (3), 66, https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci3030066
Marcus L, Heyman A, Hellervik A, Stavroulaki G (2019) Empirical support for a theory of spatial capital. Housing prices in Oslo and land values in Gothenburg, In: Proceedings of 12th International Space Syntax symposium, pp. 79.1-79-24.
Berghauser Pont Meta, Stavroulaki Gianna, Sun Kailun, Abshirini Ehsan, Olsson Jesper, Marcus Lars (2017), ‘Quantitative comparison of the distribution of densities in three Swedish cities’, in: ISUF 2017 XXIV international conference: City and territory in the globalization age, Valencia, 27-29/9/2017
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Economic activities, conditions and employment.
Information pertaining to earth sciences.
Environmental resources, protection and conservation.
Characteristics of society and cultures.
Energy, water and waste systems and communications infrastructure and services.
Means and aids for conveying persons and/or goods.
Investigative techniques which measure the topological, geometric, and or geographic properties of the entities studied.
Units of administration, dividing areas where Member States have and/or exercise jurisdictional rights, for local, regional and national governance, separated by administrative boundaries.
Areas of relatively homogeneous ecological conditions with common characteristics.
Systems for uniquely referencing spatial information in space as a set of coordinates (x, y, z) and/or latitude and longitude and height, based on a geodetic horizontal and vertical datum.
Road, rail, air and water transport networks and related infrastructure. Includes links between different networks. Also includes the trans-European transport network as defined in Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community Guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (1) and future revisions of that Decision.
documentation/SMoL_Street networks_SWE_General documentation.pdf