Regional morphology: The Emergence of Spatial Scales in Urban Regions

In space syntax, cities are thought of as emerging from a dual process of a global network shaped by micro-economic factors and a local network of residential space shaped by culture. This theory is based on an understanding of cities as independent entities. Cities, however, cannot be understood in isolation and often stay in complex relation to their surrounding and other cities. Departing from the notion of spatial configuration, this paper challenges the paradigm of what is considered as 'the city'. It goes beyond the fuzzy boundaries of cities and sets the economic functioning of urban form into regional context. It will be argued that space syntax concepts of 'global' and 'local' scales are in regional configurations not applicable anymore and a better understanding of spatial scales in the context of space syntax as well as their emergence is needed. Revisiting Christaller's (1933) central place theory of the economic distribution of urban space, this study makes an attempt of theorising the relationship between geographic economy and spatial configuration of regions. This is done by investigating a large set of different centrality structures in two polycentric urban regions, taking a method proposed by Serra and Pinho (2013) as a point of departure this study employs an exploratory factor analysis to investigate hidden centralities. The term latent centrality structure (LCS) is introduced to describe the phenomenon of emergent spatial scales that can be seen as influencing centrality patterns within polycentric urban regions. The findings suggest a need for a revision of the theorisation of the concept of 'global' and 'local' scales in light of space syntax analysis towards multi layered LCS'. This study shows that space syntax can be applied in regional contexts and gives further guidance on a methodology to explore regions through space. However, additional research is needed to confirm whether the found LCS' have implication to empirical flow data as well as if they have relevance in a socio-economic context and hence be of use to inform regional policymaking.