Dear Anthony - Not really - it very much came out of problems in trying to
understand architecture. But there are of course parallels, and there is a
good deal of interaction now. People like Alasdair Turner in the research
group here came from artificial intelligence, and Rui Carvalho is a
mathematical physicist. So convergence, yes, very much so, but less so in
origins. The origins are really set out in the Introduction to 'The Social
Logic of Space'. And by the way, you might look at the second chapter there
where we first tried look at generative processes which led to the kinds of
spatial patterning you find in settlement -  what I call in the Atlanta
paper  the 'basic generative process': it produces the topology but not the
geometry of the city. It was the kinds of restrictions on otherwise random
generative processes that seemed to be needed to describe the range of
spatial variation found in real settlements that were the sources of the
ideas that became space synyax as an analytic tool. - Bill


>Dear Bill - Was the development of space syntax theory done in parallel to
>the development of theories of self organisation and emergence in biology,
>physics, mathematics and artificial intelligence? If it was, then an
>interesting convergence of ideas could be taking place.
>
>Anthony
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Professor Bill Hillier [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 5:25 AM
>> To:   [log in to unmask]
>> Subject:      Re: self organisation & morphogenesis and the structure of
>> human sett lements
>>
>> Dear Anthony - There are quite a few papers in the Space Syntax Symposia
>> Proceeedings which address thes issues, though not always under the title
>> of 'self-organising systems'. But in a sense, a good deal of the space
>> syntax stuff about cities is about self-organisation, though it doesn't
>> call itself that. It's about how multi-agent distributed processes spread
>> over decades or centuries create well-formed emergent patterns with both
>> invariants and differences. So in a sense, it's a theory of the 'organic'
>> city. You should browse the web-sites for the last two symposia
>>
>> As far as the things I have written myslf are concerned, a key recent text
>> is my first paper to the Third Symposium called 'A theory of the city as
>> object' http://undertow.arch.gatech.edu/homepages/3sss/ which tries to
>> give
>> some account of how the spatial patterns formed by the aggregation of
>> buildings acquire certain kind of emergent structure. This  builds on
>> earlier papers which describe between them how emergent space structure in
>> cities shapes the processes of movement, land use patterns and centre and
>> sub-centre formation in cities. The sequence of papers is:
>>
>> Hillier B et al (1993) Natural movement: or configuration and attraction
>> in
>> urban pedestrian movement - Environment & Planning B: Planning & Design
>> 20,
>> 29-66
>>
>> Hillier B (1996) - Cities as movement economies in Urban Design
>> International Vol 1 No 1 pp49-60 E & F.N.Spon. Also Chapter 4 of Space is
>> the Machine.
>>
>> Hillier B (2000) Centrality as a process: accounting for attraction
>> inequalities in deformed grids Urban Design International, 3/4, 107-127
>>
>> Hillier B (2002) A theory of the city as object: how the social
>> construction of urban space is mediated by spatial laws Urban Design
>> International  7, 153-159)
>>
>> Also relevant are
>>
>> Hillier B et al (2000) Self-generated neighbourhood consolidation in
>> informal settlements (with Margarita Greene and Jake Desyllas) Urban
>> Design
>> International ISSN 1357 5317 vol 5 no 2 61-96
>>
>> Hillier B (1999) The hidden geometry of deformed grids: or, why space
>> syntax works, when it looks as though it shouldn't Environment and
>> Planning
>> B: Planning & Design, 26, 169-191
>>
>> Self-orgnaisation issues are also dealt with in in different way in my two
>> paper to the Fourth Symposium:
>>
>> Hillier B (2003a) The architectures of seeing and going Paper to the
>> Fourth
>> Space Synyax Symposium, London, June 2003.
>>
>> Hillier B (2003b) The knowledge that shapes the city Paper to the Fourth
>> Space Syntax Symposium, London, June 2003
>>
>> both of which can be downloaded from www.spacesyntax.net or
>> www.spacesyntax.org/
>>
>>  - Bill
>>
>>
>>
>> >I am studying how the theories of self organisation & morphogenesis could
>> >help our understanding of the structure of human settlements. Obviously,
>> >space syntax theories would be useful in this regard. Has any research
>> been
>> >done in this area.
>> >
>> >Anthony
>> >
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>
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