News
20.12.2005
Channel 4 TV: Demolition - The Dirty Dozen
Early in 2005, Channel 4 asked the public to nominate the buildings they want to see demolished. The top 12 nominations formed the basis of Demolition, a four-part series, which investigates how Britian came to be littered with eyesores and considers what we can do about it.
In programme four, Cumbernauld Town Centre was the feature and the Demolition team gathered a group of architects and urban planners - including Space Syntax Managing Director, Tim Stonor - to devise a new plan for the Town Centre. Would it be accepted by the local authority? And would this town, which many see as an icon of its time, be demolished or simply given a facelift?
Full story
01.12.2005
Book Launch – The Dynamics of Urban Renewal
In the wake of the recent riots in Paris, a new book about urban regeneration in France — with contributions from Space Syntax Director, Alain Chiaradia — brings a unique and refreshing look at European community renewal.
The book — which is supported by the French National Agency for Urban Regeneration (ANRU) and the Ministry for Infrastructure, Housing, and Equipment — gives a new voice to urban researchers and residents of social housing alike. It is based on an experiment conducted in Evry, a new town approximately 40 km south of Paris. By combining actual project management experiences with original spatial planning research on both sides of the Channel, it re-examines the links between policy and reality in modern social developments.
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01.06.2005
Victoria Embankment Visioning study submitted to the Mayor of London
Proposals for a major redevelopment in London have been submitted to Mayor Ken Livingstone. Space Syntax has been working with project leaders MacCormac Jamieson Pritchard Architects along with Alan Baxter Associates and Speers and Major Associates to create a new sustainable public space for this key location at the heart of London. Although centrally located in one of the most beautiful parts of the Thames, the Embankment is poorly used and under valued. Space Syntax worked with the team to diagnose key problems with the pedestrian environment and suggested novel solutions including physical and productivity changes. The final plan presented to the Mayor included an overall vision and theme for the area, accentuation of key public nods, increased pedestrian connectivity, traffic reduction measures and improved detailing, lighting, and public realm treatment.
10.05.2005
Elephant & Castle, Property Giants Bid for £1.5billion Elephant & Castle Redevelopment
Southwark Council created the framework for development, a masterplan for the area's development, and adopted it as supplementary planning guidance in February 2004. A highly regarded professional team, including Foster and Partners, Tibbald's Urban Design, Jan Gehl, Space Syntax, and more recently, Make architects and Martha Schwartz, have worked on the plans.
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14.03.2005
Bized, The Psychology of Shopping
A company at the forefront of this work [shopping psychology] is Space Syntax Limited whose techniques were developed at University College London and commercially 'spun out' as an urban environment consultancy. The company's methods can be used to breath new life into areas and can be applied to towns and cities and their retail or historic centres.
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21.02.2005
BBC2 TV: Newsnight - These streets were made for walking ...
"Colchester has a problem. The town centre is busy but only a few hundred yards to the east of the busiest shopping street there's a bleak little corner of boarded up shops and windswept empty streets. "
Space Syntax's spatial masterplan for Colchester features in this film about a new, people-focused approach to urban regeneration.
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17.02.2005
Guardian Unlimited, Crush That Was Waiting To Happen
Last week's riot proves Ikea stores are designed for selling, not for crowd control, writes Philip Ball. A crowd simulation scheme using the rules of "space syntax", developed by Bill Hillier at UCL, [was used] to model the movement of people through the Brent Park Ikea store. The model, in which people navigate using their forward-looking lines of sight, reproduces the winding path followed by real shoppers with uncanny accuracy.
Penn explains, if you get "people looking for bargains and squishing their way off the usual route, you get crush points".
Full story
02.02.2005
The Birmingham Post, Designing Good Behaviour
Terry Grimley reports on a debate on which approach to urban design is most effective at discouraging bad behaviour.
Tim Stonor of London-based Space Syntax presented some research: "The people who tend to understand space best are criminals. Burglars really understand space and they know what streets they like to break into, places where the chances of them being disturbed are low."
He added that until recently urban planners have been taught to design tangles of short, disconnected streets in the belief that they create more interesting environments... "The 20th century shortened lines of sight".
28.01.2005
Building Design, Study Reveals How M&S Split Colchester In Two
Preparation of a new masterplan for one of Britain’s oldest towns has revealed that a 1960s shopping block split the town in two, creating a thriving shopping scene in the west but relatively deserted streets to the east.
Pedestrian-flow specialist Space Syntax, was commissioned to develop a masterplan that would look at how the struggling east side of Colchester in Essex could be regenerated...
01.01.2005
More London Development featured in British Airways Business Life Magazine
Space Syntax's contribution to the design of the highly successful More London Development in central London was featured in the December/January issue of Business Life, the British Airways Magazine.