*Celebrating Spatial Planning at TU Delft: 2008-2019. Edited by Stead, Bracken, Rooij & Rocco

46 Spatial Planning & Strategy
Application of Space
Syntax for road
alternatives in Leiden
AKKELIES VAN NES
Fig. 24: Space Syntax map by A. van Nes.
In recent years, the requirement
for impact assessments on large
urban intervention projects has
emerged in various countries. The
methods used are mostly based
on traffic flow and travel-time data
from road engineers. However, little
attention is paid to the economic
effects of existing urban centres in
these analyses.
In 2011, a local action group in the
Dutch Rijnland region asked us to
carry out space syntax analyses of
two different road alternatives linking
highways A4 and A44 through
the Leiden and Voorschoten municipalities.
As it turned out, the
solution in favour of the local action
group seemed to support the
economic vitality in Leiden’s centre,
whereas the alternative contributed
to its segregation.
When comparing the results from
these two projects, similarities
between the best proposals for
retaining a vital town centre can be
found. It is about choosing an alternative
road that is well-connected
to the existing centres. The challenge
of better integrating space
syntax in impact assessments is
in convincing provincial administrations
that it can add useful
indicators about economic vitality
in existing and future economic
centres at various scale levels.
NODES (New TOols for
Design and OpEration
of Urban Transport
InterchangeS)
AKKELIES VAN NES
Fig. 25: Rotterdam central station. Source:
https://cordis.europa.eu/
The overall objective of NODES
was to build a toolbox to
support European cities in the
design and operation of new or
upgraded interchanges as a way of
providing greater support, services,
and satisfaction to travellers and
users, the interchange operators
themselves, and those societal
and economic actors who depend
on the efficiency of interchange
operations.
The guidelines developed through
the NODES consortium (consisting
of 21 partners) covered the following
issues:
• Strategies for integrated land-use
planning with urban passenger
infrastructure planning.
• Innovative approaches relating
to the design of efficient new or
upgraded transport interchanges.
• Intermodal operations and information
provision.
• Management and business models:
the interchange as a business
case for the local economy and in
and of itself.
• Energy-efficient and environmentally
friendly interchanges.
Railway stations and
their vicinity
AKKELIES VAN NES
Rail transport is acknowledged
as one of the most sustainable
means of transportation
between cities and towns, and is an
important part in North Holland’s
strategy for development. A railway
station’s location in the built
environment, and its degree of
accessibility is, therefore, essential
for it to be accessible to as many
travellers as possible. Even though
there already exists research on
network cities and TOD principles
concerning rail accessibility to
urban centres and sub-centres, the
spatial configuration of local street
and road networks in a railway station’s
vicinity is seldom taken into
account when discussing railway
transport.
Here, two different analytical
methods were used with the aim of
identifying the degree of regional
and local inter-accessibility of all
train stations in the Province of
North Holland in the Netherlands.
The space syntax method provided
measurements on a street-net’s
inter-accessibility on different scale
levels, while the Node Place model
analysis provided the degree of the
station’s attractiveness in terms
of place value and transportation
value.
Correlations were found between
a station’s degree of local
and regional accessibility and
the frequency of its timetables.
When implementing and improving
sustainable means of public
transportation, urban functions
(such as dwellings, shops, services,
workshops, and offices) have to
be a short walking distance from
stations, and the street network
must be easily understandable
for way-finding. The results of this
inquiry were applied in the Province’s
policy plan as a priority list
for station improvements in terms
of degree of local accessibility.
Moreover, the priority list’s inclusion
of the need for new housing
areas was made on the basis on the
degree of local and regional accessibility
to existing railway stations.