NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)
Publication Date
2018-12-01
Abstract
This study explores the relative connections among pedestrian movement patterns, land use and street configurations by analyzing the pedestrian volume, existing land use patterns as well as the street configuration of Mymensingh. Mymensingh is a historic town in Bangladesh which was established by the British Colonists more than 200 years ago along the river Brahmaputra. The street patterns of Mymensingh was developed by the fusion of the wide streets made by British Colonists and the narrow streets made by the local inhabitants. The juxtaposition of these street patterns created a unique type of street configuration in Mymensingh. According to Space Syntax, urban street configuration is considered as the most dominant factor on pedestrian movements as well as the patterns of using the land and there exists a co-relation among these. In this study, pedestrian movements and land-use patterns are observed and compared with the configurational values of street segments within the street network by the simulation method of Space Syntax. By comparing the real-life and simulation data, the study result shows that the co-relation between urban street configuration and the distribution of pedestrians is not so strong at present. But extremely high volume of pedestrians is observed in the highly integrated streets where there exists spontaneous retail and commercial developments. On the contrary, where there are other implanted land-uses other than retail or commercial areas in the highly integrated streets, the volume of pedestrians is found to be lower. So, spontaneously grown land-uses like retail depends upon the spatial configurations which have very strong impact on the movement of pedestrians. The study results also suggest that, while planning for enhancing pedestrians' mobility in historic towns like Mymensingh both the spatial configuration and existing land-use patterns need to be considered.
First Page
137
Last Page
154
Recommended Citation
Aziz, Naimul
(2018)
"Land-Use, Street Configuration and Pedestrian Volume:The Case of a Historic Town, Mymensingh, Bangladesh,"
NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning): Vol. 15:
No.
1, Article 10.
Available at:
https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/nakhara/vol15/iss1/10