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Hi all,
I have been reading the correspondence between Tom and Alan for a few
days now. Can't say I understand all that much, as i have never had a
proper introduction to space syntax. But responding also to Jake's
comment "how space may or may not influence people's lives," I imagine
that there is equally an issue about how people shape their immediate
"space" and this can also be a reflection of the nature and/or status of
their society.

To take an example. I moved to a country, let's call it Bojobojoland, to
work on a land use planning project. To house the four expatriates
working on the project four houses were to be built. A site was chosen,
on a hill slope with a beautiful view across of wide valley. The site
lay between two parallel roads that were built "on the contour." The
four houses were built two and two, the lower two facing the lower road,
the upper two facing the upper road.

Right away a number of factors can be highlighted. First, in traditional
Bojobojoland "the view" is seldom if ever a significant factor in the
selection of a housing site. Other factors in the local socio-economy
have traditionally been far mor important, such as avoidance of building
on scarce arable land, optimum balance in ease of access to water,
building material and firewood, as well as a measure of defence. In
fact, it is only in reference to defence that "the view" would have
anything to do with siting a community, and that factor might equally
seek to hide the village as give it a prominent location that commands a
view over all directions enabling the early perception of approaching
enemies.

Secondly, in traditional Bojobojoland, there was no mechanical
transport. Movement was by foot or horse. Neither of these were
particularly hindered by relatively steep slopes. However, the new
so-called modern society with it's dependence on vehicles, immediately
designs its living space around the requirements or better, the
constraints, of its transport technology. This in turn affects how
various land uses can be distributed over space. The shop that used to
sell basic goods that were brought in by horse back used to be straight
up the hill, and one could easily walk to it from any point in the
village. The reason it was located where it was, was simply that the
owner already lived there when he decided to start a business. This shop
became a social as well as economic focal point in the community,
especially when new goods came in with itinerant traders (and news) from
elsewhere. Now the business is no more, because another shop, bigger and
with more goods, has opened on the side of the new road. The focal point
in the community has changed.

Of course, the roads "on the contour" also affect the view of the
traveller using them. They see a chaning land scape as they move around
the hillside. But there is also the impact on the dwellers in the
houses, for whom the curiving road means that they cannot see who is
coming along the road until a couple of minutes before arrival time.
Unless of course, it was the Prime Minister in his motorcade travelling
at exccessive speed and therefore using sirens to alert people around
the curve that a dangerous road user was approaching.

On with the story. The project houses were very nice. The scenery from
the front verandah was magnificent, and sitting there it was easy for me
(in one of the lower houses) to gret people as they passed on the road
fronting the house. I began to get to know some of the regular passers
by. However, my neighbours in the upper two houses watched the view
while they drank their gin and tonics, from the down-ward side of their
houses - i.e. the sides that did not face their road. Not only did they
not see or greet passers-by, the fact that they knew such passers-by
existed outside their vision made them very nervous. One couple,
unfortunately the team leader and his wife, were nervous to the point of
paranoia, and decided that all four houses should be enclosed in
two-meter high diamond mesh fences with barbed wire on top in order to
make the property more secure.

Note here some new results: First, except for the irritation factor of
having a wired fence in the way, the view remained the same. I could see
just as much as before. However, I could not enter or leave my property
as freely as I could before, since I now had to pass through a gate in
the fence.

Secondly, and more interesting I think, is that a subtle attitudinal
change occurred in which we found ourselves viewing all passers-by as
potential criminals, just longing to break in and steal all our
possessions. Meanwhile, in the passers-by a greater resentment grew
built on the understanding that the people living in these houses
considered them as possible theives; a resentment that in fact led to a
feeling of wanting to know what these people had that was so valuable,
and perhaps, it wasn't such a bad idea at all to try to break in a
steal. Or if not actually steal, at least show these people that a fence
wasn't going to stop them.

With the first clipping in the wire, the response of course was to
retreat into defence mode, build solid walls with glass splinters on top
- which very definitely DID change the view.

With that long story, I'd like to know what space syntax can tell me,
especially what it can tell me that I don't know without needing a
computer programme to find axial lines, etc etc. in terms of (to quote
Jake) "what matters - how space may or may not influence people's
lives." Is space syntax really about trying to quantify how people
(individuals or societies) attempt to influence (shape) their living
space in response to the way natural space has already, and is
continuing, to influence them. It must be a dynamic process, since as
the story above shows, our adopted technologies have imposed conditions
on how we respond to space and natural surfaces. Can space syntac
EXPLAIN the patterns developing in the story? and more importantly, can
it explain them better than any other approach? Or is it simply a tool
for quantifying the results of processes in which many actors and
factors are involved?

I assume none of what I have written is new to space syntax experts, but
reading the letters send back and forth, perhaps a look at concrete
examples can focus some of the theoretical discussion. (Incidentally,
the story is true, though Bojobojoland is a pseudonymn.)

For what it's worth...
Tim