Study on spatial structure of large scale retail stores based on space syntax : case study in Wuhan

This research analyzes the spatial pattern of large-scale stores based on space syntax theory and explores the correlation between the variations in syntax accessibility and the spatial pattern of large-scale stores. This research develops a framework of spatial topology analysis based on the space syntax theory, which includes the following modifications: the trail to break the traditional long axial line network of space syntax and apply this partitioned network in the topological analysis; the trail to analyze the bus route network; By taking both the syntax accessibility of road and bus network into consideration, we produce the scopes of urban syntax centers of city level, local level and sub local level respectively. In the analysis of the retail distribution pattern, the city level, local level and sub local level urban retail centers are suggested respectively according to the spatial distributions of the quantity and scale of the retail stores. The spatial distribution pattern of each retail format is studied as spatial correlations between the retail locations and the urban space syntax centers based on a case study in Wuhan, China. The Space Syntax can be a useful tool to explain the allocation logic of urban retail space in large cities. We suggest to apply the partitioned transportation network instead of the traditional long axial line network.