Optimizing Public Transportation Networks Using Space Syntax as an Evidence-Based Approach: The Case Study of Mansoura City.

Document Type : case studies

Authors

Architecture Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, Egypt

Abstract

Transport network planning in Egypt suffers from insufficient planning that should be done prior to execution. This research presses on the fact that personal experience and cognition alone cannot be the main factors of design that it should go hand in hand with scientific measurable analysis and evidence. Hence, it focuses on having a deeper understanding of the influence of spatial network configuration on urban activity and centrality. It proposes that Space Syntax, as a syntactic model, has potential to be utilized in optimizing transportation networks, based on Space Syntax ability to model and predict streets with most urban activity and areas that act as central gathering points, and therefore, giving a scientific basis to evident decisions to choose optimum routes and stations for transit networks. The study hypothesizes that adding Space Syntax spatial configuration analysis as a layer to the whole process can give a better understanding of the network. This research applies Space Syntax configurational analysis with the aim to present an evidence approach to optimize its transportation network. The proposed approach is applied on Mansoura City, an intermediate city in Dakahlia governorate in Egypt. The methodology includes field observations using gate counting technique to identify movement flows in different parts of the city, running a segment map analysis of the city’s street network and validating the results of the analysis through comparing computed values with observations. Results identify streets with major urban movement which represent potential transit routes and areas that are considered urban centers which represent potential transit stations. These results verify the important role of accessibility analysis in transportation planning, and therefore presents an applicable approach to identify optimum transit routes and stations that have higher potential to act as active movement corridors at a city scale.

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