ACCESSIBILITY AND CONNECTIVITY AS THE KEY FACTORS OF THE MACRO-SPACE IN BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

This article continues a series of publications on Cognitive Urbanism. The research is aimed at studying and classification of the built environment as an object of design. We must go beyond space-making to the making of places. The cognitive approach naturally leads us to the idea of the cultural landscape and the study of the traditions and rituals of everyday life. The essence of the study is related to the so-called “environmental behaviour” that is all types of social activity and interactions with the built environment. We suggest that the spatial structure of macro-space can be analyzed through the two key factors: the accessibility and connectivity of place. Accessibility can be measured by the time one needs to reach the Macro-space and the Connectivity - by the number of people that could be part of social life in the core area. Thus, Accessibility is an indicator of linear dimensions, physical boundaries and direction of links, and Connectivity is a derivative of the number of people, the density and the layout of settlement. The Types of macro-spaces that are compared are the Enclave, the Region, and the District. The article provides a conceptual framework for the recommendations on urban planning and design based on Accessibility as an indicator of linear dimensions, physical boundaries, and direction of links, and Connectivity as a derivative of the number of people, the density and the layout of settlement.