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Yao Shen | PhD thesis | Understanding functional urban centrality: spatio-functional interaction and its socio-economic impact in Central Shanghai

Research

Thesis title

Understanding functional urban centrality: spatio-functional interaction and its socio-economic impact in Central Shanghai

Subject

Big data aided morphological analysis and spatio-social modelling 

Primary and secondary supervisors 

• Dr Kayvan Karimi
• Professor Laura Vaughan 

Abstract

A deeper understanding of the structural characteristics of urban settings is a prerequisite to evaluating the effects of urban design and planning proposals more efficiently. This thesis aims at shaping a new, comprehensive approach to uncover the structure of cities through the investigation of a diachronic spatio-functional process and the socio-economic impacts of such a process. It proposes a spatial network-based framework, in which individual street segments, indexed by space syntax centrality measures, are utilised to develop a series of more complex urban function connectivity measures by an analysis of the spatial network and land-use patterns in tandem. The specific application of this approach in Central Shanghai is conducted with a threefold focus: firstly, to trace the evolutionary interdependence between the spatial grids and the land-use distribution; secondly, to explain the varying economic value of the spatio-functional relationship in the housing market; and thirdly, to capture the impact of the spatiol-functional interaction on the variation of co-presence.

The outputs confirm that the centrality structures of the spatial network and the land-use distribution affect each other over time; however, certain degrees of inconsistency are observed, suggesting a distinct complementary relationship between these two systems, which is further validated by the improvement of the proposed model’s predictability of urban performance. The findings verify the hypothesis that urban spatio-functional synergy is a strong determinant of the formation of urban function regions, the delineation of housing submarkets, and the discrepancy of the spatial co-presence in the city. These results demonstrate that urban performance is directly affected by the way the spatial and functional structures of the city interact. Such findings support the proposition that understanding the complexities of the spatio-functional interaction in a morphological analysis can enhance the efficiency of urban design and planning interventions, which aim to improve socioeconomic conditions in city centres.

Methodologically, this thesis introduces the ways in which volunteered geographic information, emerging in the current new data environment, can be used in spatial network analysis thereby providing novel methods to predict the patterns of urban vitality that vary spatially and temporally. It opens the discussion on future extensions of space syntax against the background of increasingly digitised urban life in the contemporary society.

Biography

Professionally, Yao has involved in a wide range of projects in China, wining several national and international prizes (e.g. 1st prize in international green hope school design competition (built up in 2011) and 2nd prize in national college students design competition). In January 2015, a built regeneration project designed by him in Changzhou, Shandong, was awarded as national 4-A level tourist destination in China.

In parallel with his practice works, Yao has published over 10 peer-reviewed papers until now; simultaneously, he works as the peer reviewer in several top academic conferences and journals (e.g. EPB, IJGIS, UDI, etc.). He is also the founder and chief designer of CityMatrix, a data-based urban design and research studio in China.

Publications and other work

Law, S., Shen, Y., Karimi, K., and Penn, A., 2017, The economic value of geometric accessibility for UK cities: A comparative analysis using the hedonic price approach. 11th International Space Syntax Symposium.

Shen, Y., Karimi, K., and Law, S., 2017, Encounter and its configurational logic: Understanding spatiotemporal co-presence with road network and social media check-in data. 11th International Space Syntax Symposium.

Long, Y., Zhai, W., Shen, Y., & Ye, X., 2017, Understanding China's Uneven Urban Expansion in the Big and Open Data Context, Landscape & Urban Planning. (Published online)

Shen, Y. and Karimi, K., 2017. Urban Evolution as a Spatio-Functional Interaction Process: The Case of Central Shanghai. Journal of Urban Design. (Published online)

Shen, Y. and Karimi, K., 2017. The economic value of streets: mix-scale spatio-functional interaction and housing price patterns. Applied Geography, 79, pp.187-202.

Shen, Y., and Karimi, K., 2016, Urban Function Connectivity: Characterisation of Functional Urban Streets with Social Media Check-in Data. Cities. 55: 9-21.

Long, Y., Shen, Y.*, and Jin, X., 2016, Mapping Block-Level Urban Areas for All Chinese Cities. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 106(1): 96-113.

Yu, Z., Chen, Y., Zheng, S., Shen, Y., Yu, Z., & Pascual, J. 2016, Urban Impedance Computing Based on Check-In Records. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks,Ìý2016.

Wen, G., Yu, Z., Liu, Q., Chen, Y., and Shen, Y., 2016, Spatial Interaction Modelling Using Check-in Data. The 13th Web Information Systems and Applications Conference.

Penn, A., and Shen, Y., 2016. Urban Design in the New Data Environment: A Dialogue with Professor Alan Penn. Beijing Planning Review, 10, 178-195.

Shen, Y., and Karimi, K., 2015, Understanding the Roles of Urban Configuration on Spatial Heterogeneity and Submarket Regionalisation of House Price Pattern in a Mix-Scaled Hedonic Model: the Case of Shanghai, China. Proceedings of 10th Space Syntax Symposium. London, UCL.

Shen, Y., and Long, Y., 2015, Data as the Instrumentality of Design: Exploring the Sustainable Meanings of Urban Orders in the New Data Environment. Landscape Architecture Frontiers, 3 (3): 10-19.

Long, Y., and Shen, Y., 2015, Data Augmented Design: urban planning and design in the new data environment. Shanghai Urban Planning Review, 2(121): 81-87.

Zheng, S., Chen, Y., Yu, Z., Guo, S., and Shen, Y., 2015, Urban Impedance Computing Model Based on Network Interest Points, 11th Chinese Pervasive Computing Conference. Liaoning, China.

Zhao, S., Chen, Y., Yu, Z., Zhu, W., and Shen, Y., 2015, Strategic Analysis of the Optimal Restaurant Placement Based on Check-In Data, 11th Chinese Pervasive Computing Conference. Liaoning, China.

Long, Y., Shen, Y., Yao, X., and Gao, S., 2015, Spatially Heterogeneous Impact of Urban Form on Human Mobility: Evidence from Analysis Of TAZ and Individual Scales in Beijing. Book chapter in Geospatial analysis to support urban planning in Beijing, edited by Long and Shen, Springer Press. ().

Hall, P., Shen, Y., and Liu, L., 2014, Lessons from Europe: Challenges and Opportunities of Chinese Urbanism in Transition (part b) – A dialogue with Professor Sir Peter Hall. Beijing Planning Review, 6, pp. 186 – 192.

Hall, P., Shen, Y., and Liu, L., 2014, Lessons from Europe: Challenges and Opportunities of Chinese Urbanism in Transition (part a) – A dialogue with Professor Sir Peter Hall. Beijing Planning Review, 5, pp. 178 – 187.

Shen, Y., 2014, Measuring Street-based Function Accessibility with Urban Network and Points of Interest. AESOP Annual Congress 2014, Utrecht/Delft.

Shen, Y., and Long, Y., 2014, Mapping City Built-up Areas with Road Network and Point of Interest Using Vector Cellular Automata. Applied Urban Modelling Conference 2014, Cambridge.

Shen, Y., Karimi, K., and Xia, Q. 2013, Morphological Transformation of Historical Centres in Tianjin. Proceedings of 9th International Space Syntax Symposium. Sejong University Press.

Shen, Y., 2012, Research on Impact Factors and Its Balance about Preservation and Innovation of Historical District Based on Spatial Configuration, M.Eng. Dissertation, Tianjin University. (In Chinese / Awarded as the Best Master Dissertation of Tianjin City in Urban Planning and Design in 2012)