Identification of central business district (CBD) boundaries by Space Syntax analysis and the case of Elazığ (Turkey)

Özet

The central business district is a phenomenon used in many sciences, especiallyin geography. Various techniques have been developed to define the boundaries ofthis area. While the boundaries of CBD generally depend on the observation andexperiences of the researcher conducting the study, individuals working in differentfields of science try to determine the boundaries with various simple calculations.This situation may cause researchers to identify different CBDs in the samearea. In this research study, the integration calculation provided by the Space SyntaxAnalysis method was used to determine the specific locations of the CentralBusiness Districts. The city’s global integration analysis (Segment / IntegrationHH), local integration analysis (Segment / Integration R800) were conducted usingthe DeptmapX program. As a result of the study process, it was observed thatit is possible to determine the location, size and potential expansion of the centralbusiness area with the integration analysis of the Space syntax analysis method.Although it was possible to determine CBD boundaries of a city with this method,it is necessary to evaluate the study’s analysis results by comparing them with fieldstudies in order to reach the most accurate result.