Spatial Configuration and Densities: A study in two scales in the Conurbated Area of Florianópolis/SC

Abstract

The rapid urbanization that took place in Brazil since the 1950s resulted in a country in which 80% of its citizens are urban dwellers. Understanding the dynamics of population density is key to dealing with the many challenges of city planning. Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate the configurational properties of space with greater influence over the populational densification in the conurbated cities from the Florianópolis metropolitan area, in the State of Santa Catarina. Space Syntax is the main foundation used in this research, through the application of segment angular analysis to the syntactic measures of Integration and Choice. Analyses were based on census tracts from IBGE’s 2010 Census, and, in the local scale, on the evaluation of segments and on CNEFE’s 2010 block faces. Results from the census tracts’ analyses revealed a positive correlation between population density and Integration, whereas a negative correlation was found between population density and Choice. On the other hand, in the analyses of the segments, it was identified that residential and non-residential uses compete for the best locations, and that demographic and residential densities are less sensitive to locational differences at street-level.

Keywords:
Population density; Residential density; Land-use patterns; Space Syntax; Spatial Configuration