Multi-Scale DMA Analysis

Lee Ka Sin Adelaide 1381024

DENSITY 1

3

et de stre Lembe Anton

4

2

STREET

50

At the 1-hectare scale, there are higher population densities near street components from the map, aliging with the notion that interesting street elements attract people and increase street vibrancy (Whyte,1979; Jacob,1996). For instance, food truck owners often position themselves near shop entrances to capitalize on the highest foot traffic. In contrast, the right side of Dorothy Nyembe Street with no street amenities has lower pedestrian traffic. Additionally, observations from Google Street View reveal that the area is heavily dependent on vehicles, with higher density on the roads compared to the footpaths. This observation aligns with the presence of extensive on-street parking, wider roads, and large areas devoted to car parking.

NYEMBE

0

STREET LIFE AND TRAFFIC

The figure-ground map reveals a high ratio of building coverage to block size. Buildings are typically constructed from boundary to boundary without setbacks, resulting in continuous building edges along the footpaths. This design makes it difficult to distinguish individual buildings from one another, thereby creating a uniform street experience. While some blocks feature internal shared or private open spaces, these are not accessible from the public street. However, the northeast block displays a lower density, attributed to two sizable park and low-rise historical buildings.

DOROTHY

FIGURE GROUND (25 HA.)

COVERAGE

STREET COMPONENTS (1 HA.)

0

Food Truck

Main entrance

Tree

Bench

Rear/side entrance

Shrubs

Street Nyembe Dorothy 2

Street Lembede Anton

1

MULTI SCALAR COMPARISION 1-10

11-20

0

21-30

50

100M

1

People around benches and entrance

4

High Car denisty

At the 1-hectare scale, all buildings range from 11 to 20 stories, yet the presence of a large public park introduces a significant visual break along the north and east Dorothy Nyembe street and Anton Lembede Street within the 25 hectace scale. Such green open spaces disrupt the continuous line of high-rise buildings, making the area feel less crowded and more open (Lynch,1960). This visual interruption helps balance the bulk of the buildings against the openness of the sky, making the high-rises appear less dominating and thereby reducing the perceived density which is how urban environment appears in our visual field (Pafka,2023). Additionally, the wide roads, which include four lanes, along with the wide footpaths( at least four meters) , also contribute to reducing the perceived density at ground level by creating more open space.

2

30+

Street view with open space

MIX FUNCATIONAL MIX

4

3

Live Visit Work

6 4

5

1

Visit + Work

2

Visist + Live Parking

5

Mixed used building with stores and office

1 City town hall 2 Museum 3 Church 4 Park

STREET

Located within the central business district, the area predominantly features high-rise office buildings indicated as "work". However, the northwest section presents a more mixed-use environment, with a shopping precinct that includes restaurants and stores occupying the lower floors of office buildings, denoted as “visit + work”. Additionally, the northeast precinct encompasses the city town hall, museum, church, and park, drawing continuous visitors, both tourists and local residents. Such mixed-use configuration fosters a diverse social mix, encouraging a variety of people to navigate the commercial buildings, rather than just those who work in certain office building. The integration of co-functioning morphological mixes has created successful synergies and enhanced street vitality (Dovey et al.,2017; Jacobs,1961).

3

Empty Street with no amentities

Street view with no open space

NYEMBE

Reference Alexander, C. (1996) "A City is not a Tree", in The City Reader, London: Routledge, pp. 118-131 (orig. 1965) Appleyard, B. (1981). Livable Streets. Elsevier.

Dovey, K., Pafka, E., & Ristic, M. (Eds.). (2017). Mapping urbanities: Morphologies, flows, possibilities.

Routledge.

Genl, J. (2011). Lie between bullongs: Using public space. London: Island Press Hillier, B. (2007). Space is the machine: a configurational theory of architecture. Space Syntax.

Jacobs, J. (1996) "The Uses of Sidewalks", in The City Reader, London: Routledge, pp. 103-108 (orig 1961) Lynch, K. (1960). The Image of the City. MIT Press.

Lynch, K. (1981) Ch.11 "Control", in Good City Form, London: The MIT Press, pp. 205-220 Pafka, E. (2023). Modelling, mapping and measuring urban densities. In The Routledge Handbook of Urban Design Research Methods (pp. 460-469). Routledge.

Pafka, E., & Dovey, K. (2024). Enquiry by mapping: understanding urban assemblages and morphological capacities. In Research Handbook on Urban Design (pp. 24-39). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Whyte, W. H. (1979). "New York and Tokyo: A Study of Crowding." Real Estate Issues 4(2):1-17

BUILDING STOREY MAP (25 HA.)

Gehl (2011) noted that from buildings taller than 10 stories, people are unable to see what is happening at ground level. The theory highlights the critical importance of the human experience at street level in urban design, arguing that high-rise buildings can weaken the connection between residents and street life, thereby diminishing community interaction and engagement with the urban environment. In the examined 25-hectare area, more than half of the buildings exceed 10 stories, with some rising above 30 stories. This contributes to a varied landscape and a high perceived density. Notably, buildings with fewer stories are often nestled closely among taller structures, potentially leading to issues such as overshadowing, blocked views and a sense of disconnection from street activities despite their spatial proximity.

DOROTHY

The urban landscapes of the 25-hectare and 1-hectare scales differ significantly in terms of density, mix, and accessibility. The analysis at the 25-hectare scale reveals a high building density characterized by extensive building coverage and height. In contrast, at the 1-hectare scale, the perceived building density is moderated by the presence of large public open spaces and wider roads. This scale also allows for the observation of spatial variations in street life intensity. The 25-hectare scale features a diverse mix of functions, building types, and interfaces between private and public spaces, whereas the 1-hectare scale shows a lesser variety due to its larger grain size. Furthermore, the 25-hectare scale displays a fairly connected urban fabric, integrating both vehicular and pedestrian networks in a more semi-lattice structure (Alexander,1996). On the other hand, the 1-hectare scale offers a more detailed perspective on accessibility, considering elements such as crossings, walls, and entrances that directly influence movement at a human scale.

2

Food Truck next to the entrance

PRECEIVED DENSITY

Hundred Square Kilometers 1:100,000

Located in the center of Durban, the selected 25-hectare site boasts a diverse array of uses, including a blend of building heights and a combination of historic and modern developments.

Situated within a high-density business district, the choosen area also features one of Durban's significant landmarks, the Durban City Hall, and two sizable green open space. The inclusion of major roads offers a valuable opportunity to examine urban street life and traffic flow. Furthermore, the presence of laneways, cul-de-sacs, and arcades within the densely arranged buildings adds layers of complexity to the urban fabric.

20M

100M

1

SITE SELECTION

10

6

Church adjacent to commerical buildings LIVE WORK VISIT MAP (25 HA.)

0

50

100M

Lee Ka Sin Adelaide 1381024

PRIVATE - PUBLIC OPEN SPACE

FORMAL MIX The area predominantly features modern commercial buildings that showcase the city’s urban development, while also preserving some historical structures. Prominent landmark the city hall is complemented by a few classic Baroque-style architecture funcationing as church, hotels and shopping areas. This mix of uses within the 25-hectare area creates synergy between tourist attractions, commercial and hospitality, adding cultural vibrancy to the modern business district, while attracting visitors.

2 1

Historial mansion reused as hotel

1

2

BUILDING TYPE MAP (25 HA.)

Morden

0

50

100M

2

4

1

Private open space used as parking

3

1 2

Restricted access for garden within the church area

The city town hall

OPEN SPACE MAP (25 HA.)

Historial

Private

0

Qusi-Public

50

FACILITATION AND BLOCKAGE

100M

Public

ACCESS CONNECTIVITY

The 25-hectare scales capture a mix of public, private and quasi-public open spaces as categorized by Pafka & Dovey (2024).

Most private open spaces are within the office buildings with limited access. In fact, those spaces are usually designed into onsite parking with limited recreation use. The large open space within the area is predominately contributed by the park area surrounding the church and city hall, with some area with restricted visitor access at certain times of day. While accessible to all, part of the open spaces is being used as weekend market which add density to the open space. This examined the potential of insufficient open space accessible for everyone.

3

4

Open access public park

Weekend market

PERMEABILITY AND TRAFFIC FLOW

The extensive parking spaces underscores the car-oriented nature of the Transportation network. The streetview Image 1 and 2 illustrates an example how a carpark is strategically designed to connect two perpendicular streets. This examines that the configuration and design of urban elements significantly influences the connectivity in the urban environment (Lynch, 1960).

Zooming into the 1-hectare scale, the footpath exhibits good permeability with a wide street width. Notably, the inclusion of greenery and food trucks (image 1) enhances street vitality, promote lively public spaces through activated edges (Gehl, 2010). However, the area is heavily dominated by vehicle use (image 2), with designated parking on each side of the road and multiple vehicle lanes connecting to various directions. Consequently, walking along the footpath might not be very pleasant due to air and noise pollution from heavy vehicle traffic, illustrating the negative impact of traffic on street usability and social interactions (Appleyard, 1981).

1 2

3

et de stre Lembe Anton

1

3

5

2

1

2

0

50

Pedestrain access

Crosswalk

Bus stop

Vehicle access

Footbridge

Parking

NYEMBE

TRANSPORTATION NETWORK MAP (25 HA.)

DOROTHY

4

100M

In the 25-hectare area, the absence of tram or train lines, with only two bus stop available, illustrates a strongly vehicle-oriented transportation network.

The area's rectangular network structure suggests a planned urban morphology rather than a natural landscape. The inclusion of pedestrian pathways along all blocks and crossways connecting different blocks indicates fair accessibility. Additionally, laneways within the blocks provide shortcuts, and footbridges connect one building to another across the road, further enhancing connectivity (Hillier,2007).

STREET WIDTH AND TRAFFIC FLOW(1 HA.)

3

4

5

However, upon closer inspection, several barriers still hinder accessibility. A dead end (Image 3) obstructs vehicle access because private property cuts off the connection between one street and another. Some buildings may have extended their frontages (Image 4) for private use, resulting in disconnected footpaths, pedestrians are forced to share the path with vehicles in certain sections of the street, which can be potentially dangerous. Finally, cars parking above the footpath lead to disconnection of pedestrian access. Those examine Jacobs’s (1961) criticism of car-centric urban planning that compromises pedestrian safety and community connectivity.

3-4M

5-6M

4-5M

6-7M

10

mbe Anton Le

2

20M

Parking

de street

3

1 0

Entrance

Additionally, despite having a large green open space, it is enclosed by walls and can only be accessed through a few entrances. For instance, after crossing Anton Lemede Street from the opposite side, people must walk all the way to the right to enter the park. This situation highlights that accessibility to urban green infrastructure could be improved, echoing the importance of accessible and inviting public spaces to urban livability (Whyte, 1980).

CONCLUSION The analysis of center of Durban at two distinct scales reveals crucial variations in density, mix, and accessibility, highlighting the complexities of urban space dynamics. The prevalence of high-rise buildings and a vehicle-dominant landscape notably hinders connection to street life. However, effectively placing amenities, addressing accessibility barriers, and integrating open spaces might counteract these effects. This approach not only makes the urban environment more inclusive and vibrant but also emphasizes the crucial balance between maintaining active urban experience and development.