Human city and physical city: connecting the two by generating syntax-based urban configurations

Abstract

Cities are complex entities, and their studies are interdisciplinary. Some hunt for finding urban variables; others say a few variables can little capture the essence of urbanization. The reason is urbanization is not only a global phenomenon of physical and cultural restructuring; it has itself become a spatial effect of the distributed networks of communication, resources, finance, and migration that characterize contemporary city life. In this fight, the key question of urbanization has remained unanswered: Are there scientific reasons behind the development of a human city that well exists within its physical form? This paper develops a discussion explaining how a human city interacts with its physical form by revisiting the meaning of city configurations with the help of a newly developed syntax-based accessibility analysis model known as unit-segment model. The discussion also points out that, with current increases in computational power, the unit-segment model can contribute to the field further by answering a fascinating question that syntax configurational studies have helped to frame: What makes a city complex entity while dealing with its behavior and, therefore, the reasoning of its formation?