Network Density and the Delimitation of Urban Areas

This paper examines network analysis for urban areas. The research is focused on the problem of definition and visualisation of network geography and network spaces at different scales. The urban scale of analysis is examined and different spatial indices are considered. The built environment of the city is considered as a reference environment for a road network density index. The latter is implemented in order to study the spatial interactions between network phenomena and spaces and to provide further elements for the analysis of urban shape. The study is focused in particular on understanding spatial patterns drawn by networks and in helping with the delimitation of city centres. Different approaches are used to obtain the two indices: a grid–based analysis and a spatial density estimator based on Kernel Density Estimation. The two methodologies are analysed and compared using point data for the urban road network junctions and street numbers as house location identifiers in the Trieste (Italy) Municipality area. The density analysis is also used on road network junctions’ data for the city of Swindon (UK) in order to test the methodology on a different urban area.