The morphology of Porto Alegre's industrial district: Between economics locational theories and space syntax methodologies

Altafini, Diego ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6559-2372, Da Costa Braga, A. and Maraschin, C. 2017. The morphology of Porto Alegre's industrial district: Between economics locational theories and space syntax methodologies. Presented at: 11th International Space Syntax Symposium, SSS 2017, Lisbon, Portugal, 3-7 July 2017. Proceedings - 11th International Space Syntax Symposium, SSS 2017. 39.1-39.19.

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Abstract

Economics has come a long way into describing the associations between space and industrial production. Since then, there has been considerable research on regional industrial distribution but not quite as much on how industrial sites organize themselves spatially inside urban spaces. This blunders on the hindrance of relating important economics spatial variables, as metrical distance, transport time and site costs, to morphological properties of self-organized and fragmented urban areas. As such, an economical based understanding of cities industrial distribution and agglomeration spatial patterns is still scarce. Space syntax methodologies offer interesting alternatives to classical economic models, since its methods enable a complex system approach to main economics and regional studies spatial and morphological variables. Its angular analysis allow the evaluation of topological distances, better suited to city network analyses than traditional locational theories approaches, and centrality measures depicted with this method can distinguish and pinpoint the industrial activity attractors only referred by theoretical economics, which permits a better interpretation of the economic spatial logic inside urban spaces. Therefore, this paper explores these relations between economics locational theories and urban spaces morphological properties, taking as its empirical case the 4th District-Development Corridor industrial area at Porto Alegre/RS, Brazil, which comprehends one of Porto Alegre Metropolitan Region's (PAMR) main industrial sites. To demonstrate such relations, the distribution of industrial structures in Porto Alegre's 4th District-Development Corridor Area was mapped and compared to its spatial network, modelled applying angular analysis. Integration and choice measures, correlated to the Kernel Distribution of industrial agglomerates provided robust evidence to corroborate the hypothesis that industrial land use follows the spatial logic suggested by regional economics locational theories in urban contexts. Global integration and choice measures correlation evidences that industrial activities tend to concentrate near the highest global accessibility areas, and, especially, have a strong dependence relation with most relevant "through-movement" routes in the system. However, the sites are scattered alongside these areas, placed in segments with lower global but high local integration and choice values, which denote a localised "clustering effect" provided by higher value global segments. The results discussion displayed here suggest that space syntax methodologies can provide relevant theoretical and practical contributions to economics locational theories, since they can depict attributes and effects regarding spatial logic of economic activities distribution in urban contexts, phenomena yet to be described and explored by economic locational theories.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status:	Published
Schools:	Architecture
ISBN:	9789729899447
Last Modified:	02 May 2024 08:03
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/168522

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