The spatial organization of accessibility and functional hierarchy: The case of Israel

Multiscale accessibility and urban performance

“…Mobility modes in Israel, including the mode split of journeys to employment, are based on usage of the road networks (Bank of Israel, 2018) and emphasize the dominant role of the road network in Israel state. This dominance is reflected well in the official Peripherality Index, which is calculated by a combination of road network accessibility of local authority (taking into account city size) and her network distance to the boundary of Tel Aviv District (economic heart) (Kaplan et al, 2020). These reinforce the road network as the main infrastructure for an accessibility analysis in Israel.…”

“…Studies indicate that the spatial patterns of accessibility at various geographic scales have exposed complex spatial structures built by increasing scales. They begin by highlighting a patchy pattern of roads aggregating to settlements or cities as well as regions with more central places which are prominent from the rest of the settlement system (Kaplan et al, 2020; Law and Versluis, 2015; Serra and Pinho, 2013). Moreover, these spatial accessibility patterns may be linked to a general spatial division (Kaplan et al, 2020; Serra and Pinho, 2013).…”

“…They begin by highlighting a patchy pattern of roads aggregating to settlements or cities as well as regions with more central places which are prominent from the rest of the settlement system (Kaplan et al, 2020; Law and Versluis, 2015; Serra and Pinho, 2013). Moreover, these spatial accessibility patterns may be linked to a general spatial division (Kaplan et al, 2020; Serra and Pinho, 2013). These types of methods inherently join the scale and size of a given geographical system, which is essential for a wider and more coherent perspective on spatial systems, as well as on the definition of scale (Batty, 2020).…”

Where and how much?

“…Geometric accessibility is defined as a type of resource that is determined by the network centrality and focuses on the topological, metric and geometric properties of urban layouts in a multi-scale approach (Bafna, 2003;Batty, 2004;Hillier, Turner, Yang & Park, 2010;van Nes, 2019;Volchenkov, 2019;Webster, 2010). Such an accessibility resource, as analysed in Space Syntax (SSx), has been frequently reported to be correlated with traffic flows, land use patterns and functional hierarchy (Jiang, Claramunt & Batty, 1999;Kaplan, Burg & Omer, 2020;Karimi, 2012;Li, Zhou & Wen, 2019;Serra & Hillier, 2019). Moreover, recent literature suggests that SSx metrics add relevant spatial information that improves the understanding of the variability of land and property values (Di Pinto & Rinaldi, 2019;Enström & Netzell, 2008;Law, Penn, Karimi & Shen, 2017;Xiao, Orford & Webster, 2016a).…”

“…neighbourhood and city-wide level). Geometric accessibility, as analysed in Space Syntax (SSx), has been frequently reported to have correlation with traffic flows, land use patterns and functional hierarchy (Jiang et al, 1999;Kaplan et al, 2020;Karimi, 2012;Li et al, 2019;Serra et al, 2019;van Nes, 2019). Moreover, recent studies suggest that SSx metrics add complementary spatial information to improve the understanding of land and property values variability (Di Pinto et al, 2019;Law et al, 2017;Morales, Stein, Flacke & Zevenbergen, 2020).…”