This is how we design cities that are good to live in

Perhaps you’ve felt it yourself: You’re stuck in traffic on your way to a large shopping center one afternoon. The car inches forward slowly until the destination gradually materializes in front of you:

The shopping center desert. There it is, in all its glory. Box after box with flat, impenetrable facades. You finally snag a parking spot and take a deep breath before thinking: I just need to get this over with and get out of here.

Maybe you’ve felt a similar sensation when walking home from the city late at night. You’re on an open street with many other people around, feeling quite safe. But then you make a turn into a dark, empty street. Suddenly, the thought hits you: If something happens to me here, no one will see it. Your pulse quickens, and you can feel it inside of you: This is not a place I want to be.

Professor and architect Akkelies van Nes is one of Norway’s leading experts on space syntax—a method that calculates how each street and road relate to other streets and roads in urban and suburban areas.

Results from such analyses can then be compared to a wide range of other data, such as pedestrian flow, property prices, or crime statistics.

There is a need for this type of analysis, because it turns out that good intentions alone do not always lead to a good result.

International space syntax research has shown a correlation between how streets and buildings are designed and interconnected, and the degree of antisocial behavior and crime.

“Fundamentally, it’s about various opportunities to observe each other,” explains van Nes.

Perceptions of personal safety in urban areas are greatly influenced by the presence and attention from others. Streets with few people create an atmosphere of silent or abandoned neighborhoods.

Therefore, the design of the ground  floor of buildings that line the streets is significant. When the ground level turns away from the street, the opportunity for criminal behavior increases.

"We have found that areas where front doors and windows on the first floor face away from street view have a higher likelihood of assaults on women," says van Nes.

The likelihood of someone inside the building observing people outside, is reduced, and the building becomes more detached from the street level.

When an entire street takes on this character, it can lead to a negative spiral: As more people feel the street is unsafe, fewer will travel there, increasing the potential for vandalism and criminal behavior.

Facilitate Various Functions on the Ground Floor

Thus, safety in public spaces largely relies on creating lively and safe streets and urban environments. But how do we go about this?

The HVL professor has several tips:

“First and foremost: Pay attention to the ground floor. Ensure that there are windows and doors that face the street, preferably on both sides.”

If all buildings have garages and storage spaces on the ground floor, and entrances that face away from the street, they will feel less socially inviting, creating a sense of insecurity, she adds.

Instead, the ground floor should be full of activity. It could, for example, host shops or a mix of functions:

“It’s good to have a mix of functions inside the buildings. Then you have people milling around in the streets at different times of the day,” she elaborates.

Secondly, avoid creating large blocks. The street network should also be fine-meshed, with a good balance between sidewalks and roadways.

“Think of the pedestrian!” she urges.

From City Center to Car-Based Shopping Centers

As a newly graduated architect, van Nes worked with aesthetics along the ring road in Akershus for the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.

 

Since then, she has worked extensively with the space syntax method and is currently the second most cited researcher in the field worldwide. She has mapped poorly functioning neighborhoods and city centers and identified what they have in common.

The design of the road network has a significant impact on how people move through and use their surroundings.

"Stores will always gravitate towards locations with the highest foot traffic. The road network must be designed in such a way that there is a natural flow of people. Otherwise, the shops will die out," she explains.

We see examples of this in several Norwegian cities. The development of ring roads has facilitated the establishment of car-based shopping centers on the outskirts of cities, which in turn has led to many stores disappearing from the historical city centers.

The Need for Research-Based Planning

The space syntax method was originally developed by Professor Bill Hillier at University College London in the 1970s. It has since been further developed.

The method can be applied at both micro and macro levels, from large urban areas to the relationship between rooms within buildings. Internationally, the method has been used to revitalize neighborhoods and urban spaces that were not working well, such as Kings Cross in London.

Many urban and residential development projects around the world have proven to be unsatisfactory in hindsight. The professor emphasizes that urban planning must be based on updated research.

“The relationship between road network and architecture is unfortunately an area that is often caught between two stools,” she explains.

She believes that the manuals for site analysis used by planners in Norway are ripe for updating. The current manuals are over 30 years old, and thus unfit for planning new projects, according to van Nes.

 

References: van Nes, Akkelies (2024), Analyser og informasjon for romlig planlegging: om utvikling av anvendbare og operasjonelle metoder for stedsanalyser. I August E. Røsnes (red.) Romlig planlegging (s. 305 -328), Universitetsforlaget.

Text: Ingrid Hope Leirvåg
Photographies: Ingvild Festervoll Melien, Shutterstock and private images.