The effect of movement network on upgrading of informal settlements during spatial configuration: Case of erbil city- kurdistan region –Iraq

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of spatial characteristics of streets and alleyways pattern on the upgrading process in informal settlements of Erbil city.The pattern of movement in settlements related intensely to the configuration of the street grid, Much research has found that the spatial configuration of streets shows an effective role in shaping differences in the concentration of movement. The pattern of movement in streets has the potential for affecting the type of social community created as well as development of commercial activity. This paper adopted a procedure of configurational measurement by building of space syntax computer model to measure the local and global integration, connectivity, illegibility and synergy which represent the principal measures in syntactic theory. This analysis is to evaluate the levels of importance (centrality) of movement routes in (Badaw) informal settlement in Erbil. The study concluded that the syntactic properties of informal settlement layout affect the levels of importance of movement routes, and determined the rate of centrality in Badawi informal area according to their streets and alleyways. The research contribution is to measure the rate of movement network`s influence on the priorities' scale of informal settlements upgrading in Erbil city.