Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System -Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

1. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System -Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City Dr. Simon C.F. Shu & Tsung Yen Lung Department of Architecture, Feng Chia University, Taiwan Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

2. Issues and Questions In most cities in Taiwan, contemporary design and planning has been criticized for its inhumanity and for its insufficient amenities to meet the needs of pedestrians. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

3. Issues and Questions It seems that to satisfy the need of vehicular flows has become the dominant idea adopted by our planners and designers. Hence, the main strategic routes turn out to be like wide rivers, so called "Boulevards", that make ground pedestrian movement either impossible or the pedestrian environment unfriendly. Pedestrian needs have become the main focus for today’s urban redeveloping strategies in Taiwan. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

4. Issues and Questions Very often one finds that newly developed areas and the re-generated city center are fitted with a disintegrated pedestrian system. As a result, the newly created isolated urban public spaces, such as urban squares, pedestrian shopping districts, etc. cannot provide local people with a real pedestrian-friendly system, due to the lack of an integrated network for pedestrians’ use. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

5. Issues and Questions It seems that a simulating computer model for prediction of space use patterns of pedestrians would be very useful for designers in their planning process to reach an integrated pedestrian network system. This research proposes to employ the "Space Syntax" method to study the correlation between syntactic properties of urban structures and relative space use patterns. It is hoped that through this research a rigorous simulating computer model for prediction of space use patterns, which includes both dynamic pedestrian movement and static behavior occurring in open spaces, can be teased out. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

6. Space Syntax Analysis • This powerful research methodology has been developed by Professor Bill Hillier and his team at the Space Syntax Laboratory for over more than twenty years. http://www.spacesyntax.com • Information on the theoretical foundation and applications of this analysis can be consulted in Hillier’s first book “The Social Logic of Space” as well as in his second book “Space Is The Machine ”. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

7. Space Syntax Analysis • The degree of axialaccessibility or visualaccessibility (i.e. isovist) of each space within the whole spatial system can be represented by number and colour, which is assigned by the Space Syntax Software. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

8. Forms of Analysis Pedestrian Movement Patterns : Axial Analysis by Axman 3.0 • First of all, the pedestrian movement patterns observed will be correlated to the degree of axial integration value Rn or Rr or R3 (i.e. the degrees of global accessibility or global- local mid accessibility or local accessibility) of each street segment represented by an axial line within the whole area to see whether the street axial integration value can effectively predict the pedestrian flow in the studied area. • Moreover, other variants, such as floor area ratio and degree of completion of each urban block, will also be added to be combined with the axial integration analysis to examine how these factors together influence the dispersion patterns of the pedestrian movement. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

9. Forms of Analysis Static Space Use Patterns : Isovist Analysis by Depthmap • The static space use patterns observed in the area will firstly be correlated to the degree of isovist integration value (i.e. the degree of visual accessibility) of each urban open space represented by a small grid space unit within the whole area. • Several variants, such as the degree of shadowiness and the capacity of sitting facilities provided, etc. will be combined with the isovist integration value to detect their influence on the static space use patterns. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

10. The Study Area • The selected study area is the Taipei City Shin Yi District, which has been put forward as the first district since 1977 based on the fundamental ideology of the pedestrian priority concept. In spite of its cutting edge concept, there are studies that reveal the need to further study the relationships between the urban public space system and its pedestrian space use patterns [Wu, Show-Ling, 2001, He, Chien Ming, 2003]. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

11. The Study Area • The studied area is located at the east end of Taipei City and has a grid pattern street layout. Two arterial Boulevards cross intersect at the center part of the area. There are also two boundary routes, which are in fact the major access routes to the studied area, located at the north and the west of the Shin Yi District. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

12. The Study Area • There are three metro stations in this area, namely the existing Taipei Municipal metro station situated in the north-west corner, and the proposed yet unfinished World Trade Center metro station and Chung Chian metro station located at the south-west and the south-east corners respectively. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

13. Rn Axial Map-Type A Rn Axial Map-Type B Rn Axial Map-Type C Analysis of Pedestrian Movement Patterns • In the Analysis of the street network system, the whole studied area was firstly decoded and represented through three types of axial maps. The Type-A axial map exhibits street network patterns without considering the topological changes and the split of sidewalks, whereas the Type-B axial map demonstrates the separating axial lines of splitting sidewalks but bearing no attention to the topological changes. Finally, the Type-C axial map represents the most detailed spatial configuration of the pedestrian movement network in terms of geographic precision. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

14. Rn Axial Map-Type A Pedestrian flow observation Map of pedestrian flow Analysis of Pedestrian Movement Patterns • The integration values of Rn, Rr and R3 are classified into eight groups of range from range group 8, representing the highest accessible axial lines, to range group 1, indicating the least accessible lines within the whole system. Moreover, the pedestrian flow data collected (80 street segments in total) from the studied area are also converted into eight groups of range, as was the case for axial integration. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

15. Analysis of Pedestrian Movement Patterns • From the cross examination of the axial integration and the pedestrian flow, it turns out that there is a relatively weak correlation between them. Though a tendency to positive correlation between the degree of axial integration and the portion of pedestrian flow can be noticed, only less than 54% of the pedestrian flow observed in the study area can be precisely predicted through the axial integration indicators. This result is true for all three types of axial maps. Clearly, there are other factors that need to be added to the integration measure for a multivariate analysis. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

16. Map of floor area ratio Degree of completion of each urban block Analysis of Pedestrian Movement Patterns • When looking at two other variants of the density of land use, such as floor area ratio and degree of completion of each urban block, one finds that nearly 66.3％ (53/80) of the pedestrian flow observed in the study area can be precisely predicted. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

17. Analysis of Pedestrian Movement Patterns • When two other variants of the density of land use, such as floor area ratio and degree of completion of each urban block, were combined with the axial integration analysis to examine how these factors together influence the dispersion patterns of the pedestrian movement, it was intriguing to see that through the multivariate analysis of the above elements, the Type-C R9 becomes the best prediction model for the pedestrian movement patterns. • When taking the Type-C R9 measure, the axial integration possesses nearly two thirds of the influencing weighting, whereas the other two variants of the density of land use occupy around one third of the influencing weighting for the pedestrian flow. Using this new developed model, nearly 76% (61/80) of the line segments within the studied area can effectively predict the relative pedestrian flow observed. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

18. F B G E A D C Analysis of Static Space Use Patterns • Seven urban public spaces clustering around the north-west area of the Shin Yi District are selected for detailed study. Three of the selected urban public spaces are urban squares (urban square A, B & C) and the other four are in fact open spaces (open space D, E, F & G) surrounding public buildings. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

19. B F E G A D C Analysis of Static Space Use Patterns Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

20. F B G A E D C Analysis of Static Space Use Patterns • From on site observation of these urban public spaces, the majority of space use is in fact passing through, and then the second group of static space use pattern turns out to be resting. Other activities include strolling, doing exercise, taking pictures, strolling with a dog, waiting, playing, and watching performances, etc. In the isovist analysis of those urban public spaces, the degree of visual accessibility of each sub open space in these urban public spaces is relativized to the average mean value of visual accessibility detected from the urban square A, in order to reflect the differences of their location within the studied area. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

21. Scattergram : isovist vs resting F B G A E D C Analysis of Static Space Use Patterns • Looking at the correlation between the degree of visual accessibility of each sub open space and the related space use pattern of resting, it is noticed that the result demonstrates a positive correlation (R2=0.49) between these two elements. That is to say that the resting activity is in fact corresponding to the degree of visibility of the venue. Places which exhibit strong visibility links with the surrounding area are the most preferred spaces for resting. There is also a positive correlation between the degree of visibility and the space use of taking pictures (R2=0.39) as well as the space use of waiting (R2=0.37) respectively. However this is not true for activities of doing exercise, playing and strolling with a dog. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

22. F B G E A D C Analysis of Static Space Use Patterns • When further combining the visibility element with the degree of shadow availability and the capacity of sitting facilities provided, etc. to study the multi-variant effects for the distribution of static space use patterns occurring in those urban public spaces, it is noticed that for resting activity in those open spaces with enclosure features (such as urban square A and open space E) the degree of shadow provision and the capacity of sitting facilities turn out to be more important than the visibility factor. However, for those open spaces with disclosure features (such as urban squares B & C, open spaces D & F), the most important factors contributing to the resting activity are firstly the degree of visual accessibility followed by the degree of axial accessibility adjacent to sub open spaces, whereas the degree of shadow provision and the capacity of sitting facilities turn out to be less important. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

23. Discussion • From the axial-space-use analysis, a scientific prediction model of pedestrian movement patterns can be established, of which the Type-CR9 measure takes up nearly two thirds (65%) of the weighting, whereas the two other variants of density and land use occupy the other one third (35%) of the weighting with regards to influence on the pedestrian flow. However, other factors such as the metro stations or bus stops, etc. might have important contributions to the dispersion of the pedestrian flow and need to be included in future analysis. Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City

24. Discussion • For the static space use patterns, it is interesting to detect that the visual accessibility and the axial accessibility are two important attributes influencing the resting activities occurring in those disclosure open spaces. Places which demonstrate good visibility and higher accessibility in the disclosure open spaces tend to attract more people for resting activities. However, when open spaces are designed with enclosure features, then the degree of shadow provision and the capacity of sitting facilities will take over from the previous two elements and will become the most important factors attracting people for resting activity. The End Toward A Humanist Urban Open Space System-Study on the Shin Yi District in Taipei City