Representing Geographic Space as a Hierarchy of Recursively Defined Subspaces for Computing the Degree of Order
Bin Jiang, Chris de Rijke

TL;DR
This paper introduces a novel organic hierarchical representation of geographic space based on recursive subspaces to quantify the degree of order, or 'living structure,' with applications in urban environments and implications for geographic science.
Contribution
It develops a new organic, hierarchical approach to representing geographic space, contrasting with conventional mechanical models, and introduces methods to compute the space's degree of order.
Findings
Successfully applied to urban environments, patterns, and black-white strips
Demonstrated advantages over traditional geographic representations
Linked the degree of order to concepts like beauty and coherence
Abstract
As Christopher Alexander discovered, all space or matter - either organic or inorganic - has some degree of order in it according to its structure and arrangement. The order refers to a kind of structural character, called living structure, which is defined as a mathematical structure that consists of numerous substructures with an inherent hierarchy. Across the hierarchy, there are far more small substructures than large ones, while on each level of the hierarchy the substructures are more or less similar in size. In this paper we develop a new approach to representing geographic space as a hierarchy of recursively defined subspaces for computing the degree of order. A geographic space is first represented as a hierarchy of recursively defined subspaces, and all the subspaces are then topologically represented as a network for computing the degree of order of the geographic space, as…
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Taxonomy
TopicsUrban Design and Spatial Analysis
