The Relation Between Urban Morphology and Physical Environmental Qualities: Comparing Walkability in Neighborhoods via Analyses of Spatial Statistics and Indices of Graph Theory and Space Syntax

Abstract

This study aims to compare morphological structure and physical environmental qualities in different neighbourhoods of a small town and investigate whether physical environmental qualities vary by urban morphology. Four neighborhoods were selected in small town Foca, Izmir, Turkey : (A) residential area next to the city center / new development area, (B) residential area at the periophery / new development area, (C) a mixed use area / historical city center, (D) residential area next to the seashore / new development area. First, the spatial statistical analyses were run and indices of Graph Theory and Space Syntax were calculated for each zone to define the morphological characteristics, (the street network characteristics and the dominant urban landuse). Then, the physical environmental qualities that relate to walkability: (1) Proportion of buildings that pedestrians escape, (2) Proportion of parcels that pedestrians escape, (3) Proportion of pop of cafes on the street, and (4) proportion of green areas were measured by spatial statistical analyses. Finally, the relation between morphological characteristics and physical qualities was investigated. The results provide partial support to the main hypothesis (physical environmental quality differs by environmental morphological characteristics). More research are on call to expand the findings for different size of cities.