Planning a Deep Island: introducing Space Syntax to an urban planning process for Phuket, Thailand

Transcription

1 Planning a Deep Island: introducing Space Syntax to an urban planning process for Phuket, Thailand Apiradee Kasemsook and Khaisri Paksukcharern Silpakorn University and Chulalongkom University, Thailand [email protected] Abstract To what extent can Space Syntax techniques be applied to an urban planning process for an area as large as a principal provincial city? How could the outcome of this integration influence a set of local areas urban project plan and enhance the public s understanding on the spatial logic of their local areas? This paper is a report of a pilot urban planning project in Thailand that is the first to integrate Space Syntax as one of the tools to investigate the existing urban spatial network of a city and some of its local areas. Connecting to the mainland by only a road bridge at its north side, the study area is Phuket Island, a principal provincial city and a main tourist destination in Thailand. The main aim is to use Space Syntax as a medium for identifying spatial problems and their related urban phenomenon and as one of the tools to assist urban planners/designers as well as local people to participate in laying out a set of controls and urban project plans. It is clear that by far Space Syntax has identified a deep spatial structure of the island including a crucial relationship with its imbalanced urban development including traffic problems and accidental rates. In addition to several other land use controls and beautifying the city urban design guidelines that were set out for Phuket, the study also suggests that Space Syntax should be properly introduced to the public and more involved in further local comprehensive plans in order to achieve a whole picture of successful urban planning process and to gain public participation in managing their own spaces in the future. 1. Introduction In recent years, the rapidly spreading of urbanisation into provincial towns, which gives rise to several newly established cities, and the expansion of urban areas into rural villages have become a major concern in developing countries. Mainly, this is caused by a lack of urban planning, while in some cases it is intensified and driven by tourism, which is seen as a new economic generator. As a result, this generally leads to conflicts among the authorities, the entrepreneurs and the locals for the extent to which types and degrees of dominant land use, infrastructures and building controls should be developed. Such planning process itself then was, and still is, very new in Thailand, as it also requires a public participation, to acknowledge and to let local people have their says in the future anticipated planning. In fact, in the case of Phuket, a principal provincial island city and a main tourist destination in the south of Thailand, this kind of planning process was very much needed then, because there had been a reckoning of the emerging conflict of interests among business and commercial entrepreneurs serving the tourist industry, the local people who conduct the tourist industry as well as involve in other small and local services and commerce, and those who are farmers, fishermen or work

2 716 A. Kasemsook and K. Paksukcharern Figure 308: Some images illustrating Phuket s varied socio-economic scenes - a beach, a marina, a mangrove forest and some fishery farms including typical historic commercial buildings in the local town centre. in other agricultural-related professions and so on (Figure 308). This was due to the fast speed of Phuket s urbanisation and development, from a tin-mining island town to a world class tourist resort-city destination in the past 20 years, as similar to those in many other developing cities in the world in the past 50 years. However, instead of stopping short of implementation which usually occurs in several planning processes (Sanoff, 1994), an outcome of the Phuket planning was aimed to produce local urban project plans that could immediately be carried out in a form of detailed programme for building construction and/or area development. In order to objectively identify the potential development as well as problematic areas in both local and global scales of the city, Space Syntax was introduced as a new, and another, spatial tool in addition to several other techniques using to conduct the study of a comprehensive urban plan and its specific planning guidelines for each of the three local districts in Phuket, (Figure 309). Practically, it is useful to explore how far Space Syntax techniques can be applied to an urban planning process for an area as large as a principal provincial city and how the outcome of this integration could influence the urban project plans in some of its local districts as well as help the public to understand their areas more clearly from a spatial point of view. 2. Method The introduction of Space Syntax was meant to be differed from those of traditional spatial analytical tools which have generally been used or involved in urban planning process in Thailand. The existing tools tend to emphasise on surface analysis such as Overlay Technique, Sieve Analysis, Threshold Analysis and Potential Surface Analysis (UCOM, 2004). These traditional tools are heavily score-based. Most of the classifications of the score are, in fact, interdependent facilities, in a sense that an existence of one facility will likely to affect the emergence of others, for example; degrees of accessibility, loca-

3 Planning a Deep Island: introducing Space Syntax to an urban planning process for Phuket, Thailand 717 Figure 309: A topographical map showing the whole area of Phuket and the three studied areas. tions of market/police station/healthcare centre and etc. (UCOM, 2004). However, none emphasises on the area configurational network and its spatial structure which crucially value the location within the network and would give rise to a truer picture of the area s potentiality based on each classification. In other words, urban spatial configuration has never been classified and integrated in the conventional scoring system. It appears that the urban planning process conducted in Thailand has engaged and concentrated on several other factors but spatial configuration by which the city life is generally influenced. More importantly, providing that there are some limits in discussing about space and its effects (Hillier, 1984), how a dialogue concerning about anything related to space and spatial structure could be engaged not only among the various planning disciplines but also those of the local people. It was hoped that the configuration of the urban spatial network identified by the Space Syntax techniques is fully understood and could help create that dialogue. The Space Syntax study was carried out at two levels. The first was at the city level in which all lines composing the city s global spatial network were studied; and the second was at the local level in which only lines composing each of the three studied areas were analysed as independent system (Figure 310). In both levels, Axman is the main syntactic tool. It was also agreed early on that the results of the syntactic study would be investigated in relation to the traffic pattern studied by traffic engineers including the land-use pattern as well as the surface potential analysis carried out by planners using GIS-based spatial analytical tool. The results of these studies, together with the findings from other environmental, existing resource and utility, topology and geology studies and etc. would later be cross-analysed and integrated in order to set up planning guidelines and to detail the action plan, both of which would then be commented by the planning authorities through formal meetings as well as by the local people through public hearings. 3. Results The syntactic study shows a series of consistent results that Phuket has the deepest structure of every spatial system ever studied in Thailand (Table 39) and possibly of all the 63 systems in Space Syntax archives presented in Hillier et al s study (1987). Firstly, most of the lines composing at both the city and the area levels are segregated lines

4 718 A. Kasemsook and K. Paksukcharern Figure 310: Comparison of the integration and the topographical maps of Phuket City. (Figures ). This is because most of them are short lines that tend to connect to one or two other lines. If line lengths were measured in kilometre and ranged into 10 groups in order of short to long lines, 98.73% of lines of the city system, 97.88% of lines of the first local area system, 98.73% of lines of the second local area system and 91.73% of lines of the third local area system are in the two shortest deciles. The percentage of the short lines, however, is not significantly different from that of Bangkok, one of the other Thai cities studied by the same method. Secondly, the mean syntactic values, and particularly intelligibility value and the radius of the radius-radius integration, of the Phuket City system and each of the studied area systems are lower than those values of the other Thai cities. This is a marked difference between them. However, this is not surprising, as Phuket has quite a number of steep hilly terrains in the central plain, coupled with many abandoned tin mining wells and a national forest conservation area. These topographic features cause the road network to be stretched out in a north-south direction. They also make the system to be more segregated, as lines tend to sequentially connect to form a broken grid structure instead of an orthogonal one. Thirdly, as a result of the hilly central terrain, by far, there is only one primary road in every system studied: the north-south corridor. It is the most integrated line in all Phuket s systems studied. The north-south corridor is also the only connection between Phuket and the mainland. Most of the secondary routes diverge from this primary road into the eastern and the western beach areas. It should be mentioned here that the western beaches are Phuket s main tourist destinations, as they have more beautiful coastal features than those

5 Planning a Deep Island: introducing Space Syntax to an urban planning process for Phuket, Thailand 719 Table 39: Comparison of the total number of lines, percentage of lines in the two shortest deciles and mean integration values of each system studied. system no lines 2-shortest int-rn int-r3 conn intell syng rad/rad -dec% Phuket City 8, PK area 1 1, PK area 2 1, PK area City of Udon 3, Bangkok (Part) 24, in the east, most of which are mangrove forest. The most integrated area of the Phuket City system is the city centre, which has been developed on the largest flatland within the island (Figure 309). This integrated area itself is the fulcrum of the city s spatial system as it is where all the roads leadings to the most important beaches are intersected. As such, most of the secondary east-west routes within the city centre are highly integrated, and some of them are the most integrated lines in the radius-radius integration map. Nevertheless, it is very clear that overall there is a lack of a systematic secondary road. Additionally, despite having the heavy dependency on a single primary road, the development of local commercial centres in Phuket is still found to be spatially similar to that found in the other syntactic studies (Hillier, 2001; Kasemsook, 2003). The commercial areas tend to have a compact and integrated grid. Their grid is markedly difference from the grid of the surrounding residential areas. In the case of Phuket, the commercial grid in the three studied areas tends to compose of fewer islands than the grid of the city s commercial area. The traffic study was mainly carried out at the city level. It investigates the existing trip distribution in order to forecast the future trip density, using a 4-sequential model and assuming that the shortest path would likely be the chosen trip (UCOM, 2004). It also focuses on the density of person car unit per day (PCU/day). The results of the study were shown in Figure 314. Both the existing and the forecast trip density maps show an imbalanced traffic pattern. Trips are heavily dense and will continuingly increase most in the north-south corridor. Significant trip density and density increase can be found only in a few east-west secondary roads. None of the coastal roads have any significant trip density, even though some of them form part of the secondary road network. These findings are predictable by the city s syntactic structure. The integrated lines will likely to attract higher movement density than the segregated lines. What is more interesting from the traffic study is the relationship between the traffic jam location and the connection of the integrated lines. A comparison between the traffic jam location and integration maps of the city level (Figures 311 and 314) shows that the heaviest traffic jam location is where the three most globally integrated lines of the city system directly and sequentially connect to one another. Because these traffic jam locations tend to have high numbers of vehicular-related accidents (UCOM, 2004), it is indicative that the integration could approximately be used to foresee and help divert this type of accident. In the light of the traffic study findings, it was suggested that the road network of Phuket City is in fact inconvenient. There was a need to propose new roads construction to help ease the trip density from the primary north-south corridor. Indeed, two

6 720 A. Kasemsook and K. Paksukcharern Figure 311: Comparison of the integration and the land-use pattern maps of Area 1. Figure 312: Comparison of the integration and the land-use pattern maps of Area 2.

7 Planning a Deep Island: introducing Space Syntax to an urban planning process for Phuket, Thailand 721 Figure 313: Comparison of the integration and the land-use pattern maps of Area 3.

8 722 A. Kasemsook and K. Paksukcharern Figure 314: Comparison of the existing and the forecast traffic patterns in Phuket, the locations of the traffic jam during rush hours where most vehicular-related accidents occur, and the proposed new roads. primary roads were proposed in the comprehensive plan. Both of them are parallel to the primary north-south corridor located at its both east and west sides, and some of their sections are extended from the unlinked existing short roads. The syntactic outcome of this construction is obvious: a more globally integrated spatial system. The last spatial study carried out in the planning process was the potential surface analysis. Nine factors which are geological condition, topographical condition, degree of accessibility (from immediate road provision), degree of natural conservation, proximity to recreation and park, market, school, police station and health centre, were classified in relation to three land-use types; residential, commercial and conservation. Each classification for all pixelate units of a studied area was then scored and normalised. The analysis is aimed to define the degrees of development potential of the area, which were divided into four grades: the area suitable for natural or heritage conservation, the area unsuitable for development, the area suitable for development and the area highly suitable for development. Although this analysis is distinctively area-based, there is a strong association between the degrees of potential development area and integration (Figures ). The highly suitable development area is the integrated area of every local system studied. In other words, it could be stated that due to the ability of integration to influence movement, the area provides a good degree of accessibility then has a potential to attract land-use development. All of these spatial findings and those from the socio-economic, environment, infrastructure provision studies were later integrated and synergised. The outcome of this final study was produced in two forms: the planning regulations and guidelines and the proposed urban project plans. At this final stage, the planning regulations and guidelines were mainly concerned with certain types of land use and building use allowed or recommended

9 Planning a Deep Island: introducing Space Syntax to an urban planning process for Phuket, Thailand 723 to be developed in the areas. The proposed urban project plans, however, were mostly focused on construction projects, whether they would be roads, as aforementioned, shelter structures and leisure areas for local villagers, several urban renovation projects in some historically sensitive areas and some new tourist attractions. It could also be said that most of the proposed project plans emphasise on the idea of city beautiful, to make Phuket more attractive than it is now. Finally, the planning proposals were reviewed by the planning authorities; both from the central government and the local councils including the public. 4. Discussion Although the Space Syntax study is rather new in Thailand, it is clear that the spatial maps could easily been comprehended by the authorities as well as the locals during a series of meeting and public participation. In fact, the spatial structure confirmed their intuitive grasp of potential areas and a sense of awareness about their location in the global configurational network of Phuket which they had never relationally understood before. They could also well relate the configurational structure of the city, illustrated graphically in spectral colors via axial maps, with the other findings conventionally carried out in the analytical process. However, their understandings of the spatial logic provided at the local level was not yet clear, particularly among the local planning authorities as well as the local people. There could be two possible reasons for this. One was that the locals really could not take hold of the configurational structure spatially due to the local areas poor intelligibility and deep structure. Second was that there were other more influential factors affecting local area development such as the political structure which very much relies on power-relationship, culture and etc. These factors could involve in the changing plans of the development locations or even the development programmes. What can be learnt and suggested from the introduction of Space Syntax to the Phuket planning process could be summed up from three points of views of the main parties involved: the planners and the two other involving disciplines, the syntactic researchers and the public. Firstly, although the planners are not too sceptical about the syntactic analysis, they are still unclear on the extent to which the integration could be intrinsically integrated in their familiar surface analysis. In short, this is a technical problem and the planners want to give the syntactic structure some scores, if possible. Secondly, from the syntactic researchers point of view, there should be more involvement in further local comprehensive plans in order to achieve a whole picture of successful urban process and to gain public acceptance and participation in managing their own spaces in the future. Although the locations of the proposed development projects were strongly associated with the city and the area configuration structure, the embedding of the projects within the local context has not yet been explored spatially. This could have some effects on the management of some local areas in the future. Finally, the public would very much like to make some inputs in the studied stage of the planning process, partially based on their understanding of the urban spatial logic which largely corresponded to their intuitive knowledge about their city. In the other words, they want to be the planner, while the planner should be the facilitator, a predictable phenomenon commonly found in the planning process in the developed countries (Sanoff, 1994).

10 724 A. Kasemsook and K. Paksukcharern Literature Hillier, B. (1984) Social Logic of Space, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Hillier, B., Burdett, R., Peponis, J. and Penn, A., (1987) Creating life; or, does architecture determine anything, in Architecture & Behaviour, Vol.3, No.3, p Hillier, B. (2001) Centrality as a process: accounting for attraction inequalities in deformed grids, Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Space Syntax, Atlanta, GA. Kasemsook, A. (2003) Spatial Layout and Functional Patterns in Urban Areas: A Case Study of Bangkok, Unpublished PhD Thesis, London, University College London Paksucharern, K., Suvanachata, R., and Kasemsook, A. (2004) Isaan Dead Space Society: The spatial and empirical analysis of Tung Srimuang, Udonthani, Proceedings of the 3rd Silpakorn Architectural Symposium, Bangkok. p Sarnoff, H. (1994) The experience of community action in an Australian town, in Neary, S. J., Symes, M. S. and Brown, F. E. (eds.), The Urban Experience: A peopleenvironment perspective, London, E & FN Spon. UCOM, (2004) Final Report: A Specific Planning for Three Areas in Phuket, Bangkok.