A configurational reading of the urban villages and - SSS10

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SSS10 Proceedings of the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium
A configurational reading of the urban villages and
critical implication for their social nature
Wafa, AL-Ghatam
University of Bahrain
ucftwal@ucl.ac.uk
Abstract
This paper sets out to investigate what the key spatial characteristics are in the way the villages’
spaces are embedded in the urban context, which is of interest not only for themselves but also for
their critical implication for creating different patterns of space use and movement. It is an attempt
to explore the morphology of the villages’ spaces and looks at the key spatial properties of the layout
and their suggestions as a space in which to encounter movement on a multi scale, and whether
people from different distances use the village space as part of their journey or not. It examines first
the morphology of village space, with the aim of identifying the villages’ configuration within a
spatial arrangement of the urban system and their way embedded in the surrounding context, then
uses the hypothesis derived from this analysis to explore the relation between the villages’ spaces
and their social nature. The aim is to clarify how absorbed villages layout of space related to the city
and does this patterning have social implication? In this paper, we explore villages’ spatial layout as
an independent variables, and look for its consequences in terms of observable movement pattern of
spatial living. In the next, will set the study report a set of field studies, in which observed pattern of
cultural movement as an implication for social nature are examined alongside space syntax analyses
to try and establish how far systematic relations between the two can be found. By using the
outcomes of the first section as guiding hypotheses for the second. It is argued that if certain
properties are shown to be critical in urban spatial patterning as dependent variables, then they may
also be related to the way in which spatial layout acts as an independent variable. In this respect, the
analysis progresses on three levels to illuminate the key spatial characteristics of the way village
layouts are implanted in the urban context: First level: an attempt is made to identify the generic
properties of the absorbed villages within the urban system by discerning the local system of the
villages and the global morphological regularities of the village space at different scales through
using the main syntactic measure of normalised integration and choice segments. Second, level is
about how these generic property that maintains with high movement at different scale in relation to
space use and of people movement. Third, level is about village-global relatedness; each village space
constituting an urban system has certain relations to its surrounding area. The analysis identifies a
mighty difference between the village configurations at a different scale. The view put forward here
of those studies shows that the villages vary in the patterns and the strength of their local and global
movement, along with a different generic property. When spaces are routes of this dynamic high
choice of movement at multi scale, this implies a space with potential high co-presence of relative
inhabitant movement from the village and the surrounding areas; the longer the route graph, the
higher the potential of movement from different scales.
Keywords
Urban villages, geometrical continuity of choice measure, embeddness measure, natural co-presence,
cultural movement.
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A configurational reading of the urban villages and critical implication for their social nature
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1. Introduction
During the growth of cities, villages are frequently absorbed into the fabric of such conurbations. But
what are the consequences of this? What is the effect on the village and what is the effect on the
wider city? This research takes a spatial approach to answering these questions and asks if the space
of the village interacts with the space of the surrounding city, and does this have consequences for
the village, or not? These questions are addressed through the case of two closely related Bahraini
cities, Manama and Muharraq. Founded in the late eighteenth century, the regions in which these
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two cities came into existence originally contained up to eighty villages (ALESCO , 1975) . The two
cities experienced rapid urban expansion. The fabric of these cities gradually engulfed villages in
their vicinity, but the process of absorption does not seem to have been uniform (ALESCO, 1975;
Mandeel, 1992; Fuccaro, 1999; 2000; Ben Hamouche, 2004). At one extreme, the villages seemed to
become part of the structure of the city, and at the other extreme they appeared to stand apart
from the city and remain more or less separate entities.
These apparent spatial differences seem also to be reflected in social differences, in that most
villages seemed to retain their traditional communities and values while others became more like
their urban surroundings (Al-Najar, 1998). This leads to the question of the relation between village
space and its urban context on one hand, and, on the other hand, their social development. This
paper aims is to investigate how far the spatial processes of the way villages embedded in the urban
context can throw light on the different pathways of the social condition of these villages. What
elements of the urban village space show the way it is, or is not, embedded as a part of the
surrounding context? Does the way it is embedded force the individuals to use the village differently,
or is the embedding widely accepted? And if it is, could it be said that such embedded villages have a
different social character? Could this lead to the assumption that there may be a relationship
between the way a village is integrated into the surrounding context and its social conditions? Is this
a relation of imposing conditions on the village space, or the surrounding, context or both?
1.1 Hypothesis
The tested hypothesis in this paper is that the social nature of the absorbed villages depends on the
spatial pattern of the village and the way the village interlinks with the global system. In this respect
the space of the village will seek to restrain and structure the co-presence between inhabitants and
strangers or men and women. Thus we will find that the absorbed village space will operate in at
least at two distinct modes: one conservative and the other generative. The conservative mode will
reduce the encounters or co-presence between local and non-local movement in order to reproduce
cultural patterns, therefore the configuration here is relatively localised and restrictive space. While
the generative mode will maximise the co-presence in order to optimise the material conditions of
everyday life. Thus the arrangement of the village space is integrated locally and globally (Hillier,
1996).
1.2 The main objective
The syntactic studies seek to develop a theoretical understanding based on empirical knowledge and
comparative, intensive study of the ten villages absorbed by Manama and Muharraq cities in
Bahrain. The aim is to clarify how absorbed villages’ layout of space is related to the city and
whether this patterning has a social implication. In first section, we will explore villages’ spatial
layout as independent variables, and look for its consequences in terms of observable movement
patterns of spatial living. The second section will report a set of field studies, in which observed
patterns of cultural movement as an implication for social nature are examined alongside space
syntax analyses to try to establish how far systematic relations between the two can be found. By
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ALESCO which stands for the Arab League Education, Cultural and Scientific organization,
Early maps that go back to 1860 and 1872, (Jarman 1996), show the domination of types of land use
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using the outcomes of the first section as guiding hypothesis for the second. It is argued that if
certain properties are shown to be critical in urban spatial patterning as dependent variables, then
they may also be related to the way in which spatial layout acts as an independent variable.
1.2 Methodology
This research sets out to allow the villages to reveal the hidden dimensions of their spaces and to
speak out about their structure by examining a range of syntactic variables and their correlations in
how the absorbed village’s embedded pattern is formed into the urban context. The main key is to
begin by exploring the local and global properties of the absorbed village systems; and to investigate
the emergent patterns of village configuration properties within the urban system. Do we find
distinctive types of space form in the villages through different radii, and if so could this imply the
way the village is rooted in the urban context? Also, the balance between the local and global
configuration will have a tendency to define the nature of the absorbed villages. This proposition will
be examined by asking what degree of the villages’ layout corresponds to the universal global form
of the urban structure. The relation between local and global properties of the villages is the second
dimension of the model measurement.
In this respect, the analysis progresses on three levels to illuminate the key spatial characteristics of
the way village layouts are implanted in the urban context:
At the first level, an attempt is made to identify the generic properties of the absorbed villages
within the urban system by discerning the local system of the villages and the global morphological
regularities of the village space at different scales through using the main syntactic measure of
normalised integration and choice segments. It examines to what extent those properties of the high
potential movement spaces remain prominent as we move away from the village, and if this makes a
difference in the degree to which the village is embedded in the urban system. An equally suggestive
explanation: what are the key spatial characteristics of the space that allows greater movement
across the scales? What role does the spatial factor play in the location of high potential movement
in the village space?
The second level is about village-global relatedness; each village space constituting an urban system
has certain relations to its surrounding area. However, it also has a definite position in the global
urban layout. What degree of this peculiar local form of the absorbed village relates to global
structure? Is the village part of the global destination or global routes or is it potentially both? What
is the village space potential for choice and integration in the same space? In addition, how does this
pertain to the way the village ties into the surrounding context?
The third level is about how these generic properties maintain high movement at different scales in
relation to people movement. It analyses the morphology of people movement, seeking to arrive at
a better understanding of how and why the village space is currently occupied the way it is. This level
sets out precisely the data of the total movement observation to reveal the encounter or copresence between local and non-local people, and also between male and female movement in the
same spaces of the village, and refines people movement by focusing attention on the scale of the
individual village observed, providing a profile of the highest level of people co-presence data and
where they are located in the village. This proposes a distinction between social and natural
movement behaviour patterns in the absorbed villages. The study proposed a new way to measure
for the co-presence among different gender and ethnicity of Bahrain urban-villages, by calculating
the ration among the highest of pedestrian minorities in the villages space of women and nonBahrain [Tables 1], divide by the total movement found in the space of: Men and Bahraini [Tables 2].
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Movement Types
Bus
Bike
Teen
Women
Children
Bahraini Adult
Non-Bahraini Adult
Men
Non-Bahraini
Bahraini
Car
Vehicles
Pedestrian
All Movement
Total
Movement
2724
5518
5760
8472
11517
15936
16713
21309
21482
30052
42572
50238
51810
96372
Movement %
2.83
5.73
5.98
8.79
11.95
16.54
17.34
22.11
22.29
31.18
44.17
52.13
53.76
100
Movement % Movement %
(per Ped )
(per Veh)
5.42
10.98
11.12
16.35
22.23
30.76
32.26
41.13
41.46
58.00
84.74
100.00
100.00
Table 1: The empirical data of the observation movement flows collectively of the absorbed villages by Manama
and Muharraq
Village
Semaheej
Dair
Juffair
Arad
Mahuz
Naim
Galali
Busaiteen
RasRuman
Hoorah
Highest Men
Highest
H Men/
Highest Men
Highest (
Highest Bhr
Highest
H Bhr/NBhr
movement
Women
Women
movement
Men /
movement
NBhr
H Bhr/NBhr (encounter in
no.
movement
(encounter in
no.
Women )
no.
movement
movement
the same
(encounter in
no.
the same
(encounter in
movement
(encounter in no.(encounter (encounter in space) range
the same
(encounter in
space )
the same
(encounter in
the same
in the same
the same
(1-5) Y =
space with
the same
Range (1-5)
space with
the same
space with
space with
space)
Ethnic
women)
space with
X= Gender
women)
space )
NBhr)
Bhr)
movement)
Range (1-5)
men)
movement
72
2
96
0.8
2
400
120
3.3
2
108
3
132
0.8
2
372
72
5.2
1
36
1
84
0.4
1
168
24
7
1
48
1
168
0.3
1
204
72
2.8
2
72
2
60
1.2
3
156
84
1.9
3
136
4
24
5.7
5
204
84
2.4
3
192
5
36
5.3
5
168
144
1.2
4
144
4
36
4
5
84
144
0.6
5
168
4
96
1.8
4
108
108
1
4
228
5
132
1.7
4
48
372
0.1
5
Gender+
Ethnic
movement
Sum (X+Y)
4
3
2
3
6
8
9
10
8
9
Mean
Minimum
Maximum
120.4
36
228
3.1
1
5
86.4
24
168
2.2
0.3
5.7
3.2
1
5
191.2
48
400
122.4
24
372
2.55
0.1
7
3
1
5
6.2
2
10
Std. Dev.
Std. Error
Count
64.096
20.269
10
1.524
0.482
10
47.933
15.158
10
2.035
0.644
10
1.619
0.512
10
114.431
36.186
10
94.961
30.029
10
2.158
0.683
10
1.491
0.471
10
2.974
0.94
10
Table 2: The observation movement of the ethnic and gender encounter in the same space of the absorbed
villages
1.3 Procedure of analysis
The research used normalised integration and choice measurement at different scales, and their
mean and maximum values. The significance is in the normalisation of the fundamental measures of
integration and choice for angular systems, which enables the comparison of absorbed villages of
different sizes and their different parts, even comparing streets in one village with streets in others
at a multi scale.
Furthermore, choice measure can also be interpreted as the space of potential high co-presence
movement; another approximation measure is geometric continuity and connectivity (Chiaradia,
2009:82, Hillier, 2013). A recent study by Hillier found that normalised choice correlates significantly
with segment connectivity and demonstrates as independent the normalised choice of the size of
the system (Hillier, 2013). Therefore, the study here proposes a new measure deduced by choice
characteristic called ‘geometric continuity and connectivity measure’ (GC, at R500, R2000).
Considering a measure of choice within walkable distance, giving a range of chances of continuity to
follow a route of choice at the vicinity scale, might enable this local movement to continue further
towards neighbouring areas. However, this all depends on how the space is attached or linked to the
surrounding area in order for the local village movement to spread further.
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The analysis in this study deals with the configuration of the villages’ layout within the urban
context. The approach to how the village space is currently functioning is examined here based on
three parameters: the study of the villages’ configuration, people movement, and land use. The
procedure adopted was as follows. Each of these stages of analysis can be expected to generate
broad statements about the villages as a whole (collectively) and individually in this paper. The
following part will attempt to explore the morphology of two different urban villages’ spaces:
Hoorah village in Manama and Semaheej village in Muharraq and look at the key spatial properties
of the layout and their suggestions as a space in which to encounter movement on a multi scale, and
whether people from different distances use these spaces as part of their journey or not.
2. Part One: Village by village analysis
2.1 First Hoorah village in Manama
2.1.1 Hoorah village vignette
Hoorah is a village directly overlooking the sea from the north and east side; the village serves the
fishing activities of the inhabitants. It is the only village inhabited by Bahraini people with different
backgrounds, such as Sunni, Shia, Arab and Persian descent, dominated by low income and
considered to have non-conservative inhabitants. Today, Hoorah has an incredibly different social
structure to all the other villages; 81% of the population is non-Bahraini with low income. There
were 79 local shops observed from the site visit; a number of shops are located at the edge of the
village, more than are in the internal space. Hoorah has totally lost the sense of being a village, and
has turned into more of a neighbourhood of the city. Some claim it became a red-light district but
we are not sure if this is true or just an urban legend in people’s memory from the verbal history.
From the empirical study and site visit, Hoorah appeared a very easy space to navigate in, nobody
could distinguish between visitors and inhabitants, a number of children were playing in the core of
the village. There are many advertisements in the area in Asian languages (Hindi and Urdu), which
gave an indication that the village is home to a number of non-Bahraini inhabitants.
2.2 The key properties of the villages’ space within the urban context
2.2.1 Hoorah generic properties
Let us first look into the syntactic analysis of Hoorah, of the abnormal movement of integration and
choice at a multi scale [Figure 1]. The emergent pattern from the local radius for high integration
shows a strong deformed wheel integration core which covers the system, in that it links the heart of
the village with the peripheries by several vertical linear spaces (from east to west) and horizontally
(from north to south). In addition, most of the edges are picked out with high integration,
intersecting with the deformed wheel pattern from the inner space to form a variety of beady ring
movement in the whole village. This emergent pattern of R500 corresponds strongly with most
commercial activity at the edges and in the inner space. By raising the radius to district level of
R2000 the deformed wheel from the inner space fades away as high integration movement leaves a
pattern for the village peripheries that almost looked like a clear boundary wall with a strong
geometrical rectangular shape, for most commercial streets on the north, south and west sides of
Hoorah. In R 2000, the integration (max) reaches the highest value among all the radii, while the
mean values reach their uppermost at local radius 500. In the global scale of R7000, the three edges
(north, south, and east) out of the four at R2000 remain with high integration movement. In
addition, in Rn only the far south edge of the village continues at this level and the rest of the village
fades away as high integration space. This shows that the commercial street in the north and east
sides of the village holds a durable integration from local (R500) to global (R7000) radius.
On the other hand, the high movement of choice routes at local radius picked out a similar deformed
wheel in the inner space of the village, and by raising the radius to 1000 the high routes of choice all
shifted onto the periphery as a boundary; however, the deformed wheel still has the second highest
choice of routes. At this radius, the choice values (max) reach their peak among all the radii. By
raising the radius to R2000, the pattern of the edges starts to fade, part of them from the red range
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to orange (the second range of global movement). In global radius R 7000, the superior choice routes
remain on the south and east side peripheries of the village. The generic property of Hoorah village
reveals at local level a solid deformed wheel as well as the edges of the village. Several of these
edges continue as a high potential movement at the global scale while the deformed wheel fades
[Figure 1].
Geometrical continuity (R500 & R2000) = 3.0%
NAIN R500
Mean (1.305) , Max 1.80
NAIN R2000
Mean (1.215), Max 1.888
NACH Rn
Mean (0.907), Max 1.419.
[internal NACH mean 0.852 , Max 1.245]
NAIN R7000
Mean (1.214) , Max 1.672 [internal NAIN mean 1.023 , Max
1.203]
Figure 1: Hoorah Normalised Integration and Choice at multi scale from local, intermediate, and global radius.
Space remain with high movement from local to global radius of high-normalised choice and normalised
integration (pink dash line)
What stops this village from being better-embedded into the city is the foreground of choice, due to
the surrounding blocks’ size and shape [Figure 2], which prevents the longest linear space of the
local structure of the village. This is represented by the max of choice at the local radius to show the
degree of the foreground grid structure, broken up by this linearity of the space to reach more global
choice routes. Also, this could be represented clearly by the angular step depth where [Figure 3], by
selecting the segment in the commercial street on the east edge of the village, the pattern reflects a
strong linear space reaching the global structure of the city by the main highway that passes
RasRuman. On the other hand, by selecting the segment in the innermost space the network of the
system did not go beyond the adjacent neighbourhood streets, with very limited networks at the
west side.
NAIN R500
Mean (1.305) , Max 1.80
Block size
Figure 2: Visual investigation of the block size in relation to Integration and location of commercial activity of
Hoorah village
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Manama villages Angular segment Step depth
(from the edge)
Manama villages Angular segment Step depth
(from the inner space)
Hoorah Angular Step depth , Mean 1.984, Max 4.754
(from the west commercial edge )
Hoorah Angular Step depth Mean 1.896, Max 3.887
(from the centre )
Figure 3: Hoorah Angular segment step depth (ASD)
The empirical study of the observation of movement [Figure 4] shows a long line on the inner space,
with part of the three edges in the north, south and west sides of the village holding a high
movement. The west side of the commercial streets holds a soaring movement of both pedestrians
and vehicles. The inner linear space at the core of the village holds a high pedestrian movement,
mainly non-Bahraini, dominated by men, while the Bahraini are concentrated on the south edge of
the village, near the residential area that is one step away from the commercial streets [Figure 5]. In
this village, Bahraini and non-Bahraini movement is in totally different spaces. Moreover, this is the
first time we have seen women movement dominate the other side of the edge of the village, on the
north, in the commercial streets, rather than in the inner space close to the residential area. The
entire village holds a higher number of non-Bahraini movements compared to non-Bahraini, which
confirmed the figures from the demographic village census of Bahrain, being more male dominated
than female.
Hoorah has a very liveable inner space compared to the other villages analysed. The west side of the
commercial streets shows a significant movement for the first time of pedestrians and vehicles;
these streets are picked out from local 500 to district radius 2000 with a high integration space of
movement. At the same time, by looking at the pattern of geometrical continuity of the high choice
routes of local radius and district radius, it shows a significant geometrical continuity of routes on
two scales covers the inner and the boundary of the village system. This gives an indication of a
strong connectivity of people passing by from the surrounding area to find their way to reach the
inner space of the village, which allowed exchange of movement between the inhabitants and
people from the surrounding area, whether passing by the village or having a long journey to a
destination. This village channels all the inward space to be reachable from the surroundings.
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NAIN R2000
Mean (1.215), Max 1.888
Adult movement density = 0.288 /
Total Movement percentage over all villages 21.5%
F
igure 4: The highest total observation movement located in highest integrated space at R2000.
Figure 5: A cultural movement patterns pick out by the Geometric Continuity of normalised choice space.
On the other hand, parts of the surroundings are blocking the longest linear local space from
continuing to reach the global structure by configuration and space use. As mentioned earlier, the
area is surrounded by high commercial use streets, mixed with hotels and restaurants on the east
side. From the west the girls’ school, big blocks with a boundary wall located between the village and
Palace Avenue, detaches the village from a further connection with one of the main global structures
of Manama City (Palace Avenue). To the south are a number of big gated compounds for commercial
use and offices. Only the north side of the village is mainly for residential use. It is one of the old
neighbourhoods of Manama adjacent to Hoorah, where most female movement is concentrated.
2.3 Second Semaheej village in Muharraq
2.3.1 Semaheej village vignette
Semaheej is located in between two villages, Dair to the east, Galali to the west and Bahrain Airport
on the southern side. The village was close to the shoreline in the past, before the reclamation
process. The village was known for beautiful gardens and numerous wellsprings. The inhabitants
were engaged in fishing and farming fields. Even now, Semaheej gives the impression of a village
space. In the residential area, the streets look narrow with small blocks of houses next to each other,
divided into 12 neighbourhoods known by the inhabitants, and a number of Shia religious buildings
in the village. Most of the commercial activity is located in the internal space of the village with a few
local shops. There is a big cemetery in the middle of the village, dividing it in two, and some small
green spaces. Women dominate the space in the daytime, and for the first time we observe women
extend their duties from the home, such as slicing vegetables in the front yard of the house, thus
engaging more with the public. Men do more gathering in the public space and do so at night. There
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is even a certain area in the village where they put chairs in a strategic location either at one of the
wide open spaces or next to their house. These locations where men gather at night might give them
the opportunity to take visual control as gatekeepers for the village; in this respect, female
movement might be limited with less freedom to explore around the village at night. In addition, the
inhabitants can easily notice visitors to their village. 88% of inhabitants in Semaheej are Bahraini,
well known in society as relatively conservative and very active in religious events, as the village
holds a Shia Islamic culture centre and society for the funeral houses in the village.
2.4.1 Semaheej generic properties
Semaheej village’s generic properties of the most accessible space at local radius is revealed by
normalised integration movement at local radius R500, with a semi wide ring pattern in the edges
intersecting with two long linear spaces stretching between the cemetery in the east and main
avenue on the west side, where some local shops are situated [Figure 6]. By raising the radius to
R2000, the whole ring pattern faded away almost washing out the entire village, what emerged was
that only a few lines intersected with the principal avenue in the south at almost a right angle. At the
global radius, the whole system of the village disappears as high integration movement, neither does
the main avenue pass by the village.
Geometrical continuity (R500 & R2000) = 1.5%
NACH Rn
Mean (0.853 ), Max 1.476
[internal 0.848, Max 1.222]
NAIN R500
Mean (1.202 ) , Max 1.997
NAIN R2000
Mean (1.027 ), Max 1.859
NAIN Rn
Mean (0.816 ), Max 1.140
[Internal mean 0.785, Max 0.987]
Figure 6: Semaheej Normalised Integration and Choice at multi scale from local, intermediate, and global radius
The movement of high choice for local radius is shown on the two edges in the west and south side
of the village and a full ring shape picks out all commerce in the inner space and at the edges. By
raising to radius 2000, the pattern starts breaking to semi ring form, and part of the linear space at
the edge starts to fade away. By the time we raise the radius to a higher distance the weaker the
choice measure gets (mean value), again at the global radius the high movement of choice shifts
away from the village system and moves to the main avenue adjacent to the village. If we look closer
at the pattern we will see it is most concentrated in the local space of the village with a small ring
shape and linear space on the edge without any choice of route of global structure. Which means
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the pattern of the routes of high choice is relatively short and does not reach further than confined
spaces like Hoorah, nor does it reach the surrounding context.
The Observation movement shows [Figure 7] the highest movement concentrated in the inner space.
The pedestrian movement is way higher than vehicle movement, dominated by Bahraini. In addition,
male movement dominated the space more than women did; however the ratio between the two is
less compared to other villages. The pedestrian ruled in the inward commercial streets of the village.
Their locations have a stronger correspondence to choice movement for local radius than integration
like RasRuman. Bahraini movement is virtually in all commercial streets in the inner space and in the
edge toward the east side of the village. Men and women dominated totally different spaces, men
more towards public space, with women in the innermost commercial streets and residential area.
Bahraini movement density = 0.154 /
Movement percentage over all villages 16.13%
NAIN R500
Mean (1.202 ) , Max 1.997
Bahraini Adult Movement percentage over all villages 1.78 %
Figure 7: Semaheej highest movement located at high local integration space at R500
From the angular step depth [Figure 8] the network reaches only the village system when we select
the internal segment, and by the edge segment the ultimate reach is to one step further than the
local system, which indicates weak ties between the village and the surrounding context as shown
from syntactic analysis and observation movement; the movement does not reach further than the
local system of the village and is dominated by inhabitant movement [Figure 9].
3. Part two: Villages as collected analysis
3.1 Generic properties
The studies found the village structure was revealed through the spaces that accommodated high
potential of movement at a local distance. These spaces come in different patterns with different
functions. The strongest is one that remains with high movement at multi-scale, for non-residential
use. The research study showed integration is distributed normally; while choice increases rapidly all
over the system through the scales. By the time we raise the radius from local to global, the
integration core shifted from one space to another. On the contrary, a number of high choice
segments continue relatively unchanged through local to global radius. Where integration appears in
patterns of patches, choice appears in the pattern of continuous routes in urban space.
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Semaheej Angular Step depth, Mean 2.158, Max 5.367
Semaheej Angular Step depth Mean 2.686, Max 6.219
(from the north commercial edge )
(from the centre commercial street )
Muharraq villages Angular segment Step depth
Muharraq villages Angular segment Step depth
(from the edge)
(from the inner space)
Figure 8: Semaheej Angular segment step depth
Figure 9: A cultural movement patterns pick out by the Geometric Continuity of normalised choice space.
3.2 Choice (geometric connectivity and continuity) at multi-scale
A strong geometrical connectivity is found in general between context radius and global radius of all
the absorbed villages, and the lowest geometrical connectivity was found in Muharraq villages rather
than those in Manama. The study shows that geometrical continuity of choice routes at radius R500
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and R2000 shows a significant negative correlation with the embeddedness measure. Also
noteworthy is the correlation with segment intelligibility of the villages at global level (Rn, R500).
This gives an indication that the higher the geometrical continuity of choice routes at different
scales, the higher the chances of village space integrated at a global scale, which leads to a high
intelligibility system in the village (a sign for a well-embedded villages within the urban context). This
is could be a promising measure, which has to be tested several times in different case studies. On
the other hand, this is the start of revealing the indirect relationship between choice of routes and
the degree of integration in the villages.
3.3 Village-isation pattern (Village Patchwork)
To identify the pattern of village patchwork or village-isation from the surroundings can be done
through spatial differentiation, so maintaining inter-accessibility between the village of local radius
of 500 and the surrounding urban conditions at radius 2000. In this study, the analysis intends to
focus in identifying the absorbed villages of Manama and Muharraq urban system by using the Tao
measure of Embeddedness of the change rate of node count between the local radius of R500 and
the vicinity radius R2000 (Emd (2000, 500)). From [Figure 10], you can simply discern the high to low
embeddedness from the colour of their village patchwork on the urban system, the red colour
means strong differences of node count between radius 500 and 2000, and blue means there is less
differences of node count range between the local and context scale. The pattern of patchwork,
seems to distinguish clearly absorbed villages with fuzzy boundaries (Hillier and Tao, 2007).
3.4 Part-whole relationship
What degree of the local forms of the absorbed villages corresponds to the surrounding area, and to
universal global form of the cities? Key spatial factors could involve defining the way absorbed
villages locally correspond to the global urban system through statistical correlation R², between
local structure of the villages at 500, urban context in 2000 and global radius Rn. The analysis shows
50% of the village’s local integration R500 corresponds with their urban context R2000. And 40% of
local integration of Manama villages is related to the global scale Rn, whereas it is 26% in Muharraq
villages.
Furthermore, Manama villages hold a higher synergy between village urban context and global
reach, 79%, while in Muharraq villages have 45%. Manama and Muharraq villages have a different
synergy between local and surrounding contexts. However, the significant differences between the
two are that Muharraq villages hold a low synergy between the urban context scale 2000 of the
integration movement and global Rn 38% while Manama 69%. This is might relate to the enormous
void in the centre of the urban structure of Muharraq due to the airport splitting Muharraq into
three areas, connected by a few highways.
3.5 The configurational reading of the social nature
This final section the study turns to the configurational reading of generic properties of urban
villages and the critical implication for their social nature. The studies found in the first phase that
village structures are revealed through the spaces that accommodate high potential of movement at
local distance. These spaces come in different patterns with different functions. The strongest
remain with high movement at multi-scale, at non-residential use. In addition, the location of theses
structures are essential elements, whether they are found on the periphery, in the inner space, or
both. These variables of the spatial characteristics give an indication of how well the village is
embedded within the urban context.
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Figure 10 Manama and Muharraq Embeddedness (R500, R2000)
In the second phase the study found that pedestrian movement, showing diversity between local
and non-local people, dominates the generic property of high movement of integration and choice.
The more a village is accessible at different scales the more it attracts or holds high potential for
diversity of people movement from different areas. When spaces are routes of this dynamic high
choice of movement at multi scale, this implies a space with potentially high co-presence of relative
inhabitant movement from the village and the surrounding areas; the longer the graph of routes, the
higher the potential of movement from different scales. The two key features of the village space
are expressed both by the location of the commercial activity and the surrounding urban context
characteristics used for the villages. At the same time it has been noticed that the presence of men
and women or/and Bahraini and non-Bahraini inhabitants in the same space seems to vary from one
village to another.
Statistically speaking, observation movement concentrated strongly on generic properties of the
absorbed villages 83% of the movement correlated with space potentially with high integration and
choice at global radius, and 70% with the segment intelligibility at global scale. In addition the more
the village is isolated physically (node count) or geometrically (by block sizes) within the urban
context the more we found 70% of movement disappears (negative correlation with [Embd, R500,
R2000]). The higher the Embeddedness (village-isation), the less non-Bahrainis explore in the village
space. Also the study found that there is a sort of cultural movement where men dominated the
most integrated space, while women and non-Bahraini were located in most geometrical continuity
of choice routes at R500 and R2000. Interestingly men, women and non-Bahraini adults are related
in the same percentage 73% to 67% at the space with high potential of integration and choice. On
the other hand, 73% of Bahraini adult movement correlates with segment intelligibility at global level
in the inner spaces of the villages and the maximum normalised choice at context radius R2000.
The gender and diversity of the ethnicity movement correlate strongly, above 90%, with the axial
integration at local radius R1, R2 and R3, axial connectivity, and with normalised global choice.
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Above 80% they correlate with intelligibility (R500 & R2000) and normalised integration at R2000,
70% with angular connectivity and maximum normalised integration at R2000. And above 60% they
correlate with segment intelligibility at global level and with the local normalised integration at
R5000. In addition, gender and ethnic movement correlate negatively 68%, 60% & 59% with
embeddedness R500 R2000, internal angular step depth of individual village graphs and space
potential of integration and choice at local level.
4. Discussion
This research sets out to investigate what is the key spatial character of the way village spaces are
embedded in the urban context, which is of interest not only for themselves, but also for their
critical implication for creating different patterns of space use and movement. Stage one: the study
conducted comprises many levels of analysis, to discern the local system of the villages and the
global morphological regularities of the village space. In order to disentangle the specific and
general issues of the villages absorbed by Manama and Muharraq, they are described and
characterised through space syntax analysis. The aim here is to see if anything can be said, beyond
giving a physical description, about a deep configuration of absorbed village space. What is
particularly needed is an understanding of how these differently absorbed villages, as a part of the
urban fabric, have on the one hand a characteristic distinctive form and share on the other hand
commonalities with each other. How is this individual configuration of the village embedded in the
urban space through multi-scales?
To begin to address these questions it is necessary to identify the villages’ configuration within a
spatial arrangement of the urban system and their intelligibility to the urban space structure. In the
first step, an attempt is made to analyse the generic properties of villages absorbed. In this way,
space syntax analysis is used to explore how the absorbed villages’ spatial layout is constituted as
dependent variables, what configurational properties are built into the segment model of Manama
and Muharraq urban spatial layouts, and how these absorbed villages vary in urban conditions. In
this respect, the study used space syntax main measures as a key property of urban layout, of
normalised ‘integration’ and ‘choice’ movement at different distances. In addition, a new measure is
introduced to reveal geometric continuity of choice routes between local and contextual radii. The
second step is about the part-whole relationship; each village space constituting an urban system
has certain relations to its surrounding area. However, it also has a certain position in the urban
layout as a global whole. What degree of this specific local form of the absorbed villages
corresponds to universal global form? The relation between the local and global properties of the
villages is the second dimension of the model measurement.
The main finding from stage one was, the absorbed villages appear to have been morphologically
differentiated as parts within the urban context at local radius, which implies an identity of local
elements. However, the combination of the variant pattern of village local space with a high degree
of invariant pattern overlap within global space networks thus defines the village nature and the way
of its embedding in the whole system. The key is that the long linear space pattern and a deformed
wheel pattern at the local scale are essential urban elements to enhance the ability of local systems
such as the villages to bind with the surrounding context. The more the village is accessible at
different scales the more we expect a high density of movement of different groups and commercial
generation.
4.2 The key properties of the cultural movement within village space
The second stage shows, first there is a sort of cultural movement between different gender and
ethnicity in the villages’ space, where the presence of men and women and Bahraini and nonBahraini inhabitants in the same village space seems to vary from one village to another. Second, the
high density of people movement patterns picked out by the generic properties of high choice and
integration of village space at local radius sometime continue to intermediate distance R2000 or Rn.
W AL-Ghatam
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The study found in certain villages’ Bahraini movement is co-present in the space more than nonBahrain, and women governed the space more than men do. At the same time, the diversity of
ethnicity and men and women meeting in the village space are correlated strongly with villages’
space with high integration from local to global scale, strong intelligibility, high global choice of
movement and high connectivity of village space. On the other hand the structure of the street
network determines and shapes the movement; also, it generates land use patterns and attracts
more people from the surrounding urban context. The more a village is accessible at different scales
the more it attracts or holds a high potential for diversity of people movement from different areas.
Re gre ss ion Sum m ary
SS Me an NAIN Rn vs . Total Bahraini/ Non-Bahraini (Inne r) %
Count
10
Num. Missing
Regre s s ion Sum m ary
SS Me an NACH Rn vs . Total M e n/ Wom e n (Inne r) %
Count
10
0
Num. Missing
0
|R|
,881
|R|
,745
R Squared
,775
R Squared
,555
Adjusted R Squared
,747
Adjusted R Squared
,499
RMS Residual
,503
RMS Residual
,708
ANOVA Table
DF Sum of Squares
Mean Square F-Value
Regression
1
6,978
6,978
Residual
8
2,020
,253
Total
9
8,999
ANOVA Table
DF Sum of Squares
Mean Square
P-Value
27,631
,0008
Re gre ss ion Coe fficie nts
Coefficient Std. Error
Std. Coeff.
t-Value
P-Value
Regression
1
4,995
4,995
Residual
8
4,006
,501
Total
9
9,001
Regre s s ion Coe fficie nts
Coeff icient Std. Error
Intercept
1,155
,271
1,155
4,260
,0028
Intercept
Total Bahraini/ Non-Bahraini (Inner) %
-,356
,068
-,881
-5,257
,0008
Total Men/ Women (Inner) %
Regre s s ion Plot
P-Value
9,974
,0134
Std. Coeff.
t-Value
P-Value
-1,693
,581
-1,693
-2,914
,0195
,627
,199
,745
3,158
,0134
Regre s s ion Plot
2
1,5
1
SS Mean NACH Rn
1,5
SS Mean NAIN Rn
F-Value
1
,5
0
-,5
-1
,5
0
-,5
-1
-1,5
-1,5
-2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Total Bahraini/ Non-Bahraini (Inner) %
Y = 1,155 - ,356 * X; R^2 = ,775
7
8
77% of background network of integration at global radius SS
mean NAIN Rn are negative correlation with the percentage
between Bahraini to non-Bahrain movement in the inner space of
,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
3,5
4
Total Men/ Women (Inner) %
Y = -1,693 + ,627 * X; R^2 = ,555
4,5
5
55% of background network of choice are correlation with the
percentage between men to women movement in the inner
space of the village. The high background network of choice in
the village the more men movement in the inner space
the village. The less integrated background network of the village
the higher Bahraini movement in the inner space .
Plot 1: Regression plots of the observation movement and different syntactic measure
References
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A configurational reading of the urban villages and - SSS10

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