Research mapping the density and function of commercial activities in Greater London, then exploring relationships with travel patterns. Part of my PhD research at CASA UCL. Presented at Regional Science UK and Ireland Section 2009.

1. Polycentric Cities and Sustainable Development: A Multi-Scale GIS Approach to Analysing Urban Form Duncan Alexander Smith Regional Science 4th Sept 2009.

2. Polycentric Cities and Sustainable Development:A Multi-Scale GIS Approach to Analysing Urban Form Urban Theory of Polycentric Cities- What is driving polycentric structures? How can we measure this? Mapping Employment Geography- Techniques for the detailed mapping of economic activity and mix-of-uses applied to Greater London. Polycentricity and Commuting Efficiency- Are polycentric structures efficient in environmental and economic terms? Analysis applied to the South East.

3. Polycentric Cities- Evolution of Urban Form Globalisation and Information economy; gentrification, cultural/retail/tourism synergy. Airport attraction, manufacturing, large scale retail/leisure. Cities Enable Agglomeration Economic agglomeration allows specialisation, competition, share labour/info, economies of scale. Socially enables cultural development, ‘urban buzz’. Traditionally Monocentric Pre-industrial cities high density, maximise agglomeration. Public transport networks in 19th century cities reinforce monocentric structure. Polycentric Cities Rise of automobile, economic growth and restructuring. New urban forms evolve with multiple centres- multi-nucleated city (Harris and Ulman), 100 mile city (Sudjic), polycentric city (Gordon)… Monocentric and polycentric trends overlapping with multiple centres with competitive advantages for particular activities.

4. Polycentric Cities and Travel Sustainability Urban Task Force Key Diagram (1999) Monocentric Characteristics Monocentric structure supports public transport, but increases work-living separation and congestion with tidal commuting. Polycentric Advantages? Polycentric structures disperse employment closer to population, less congested outskirts. But often poor public transport access and produce car based orbital travel. Planning Policy Planners try to integrate with ‘concentrated dispersion’ policies. Is it working? Urban form and employment data integrated with travel patterns evidence base for this debate.

6. Regional extent, as often polycentric urban regions.

7. Measure specialisation of employment sectors and functions.

11. Floor-space.

12. Rateable Value- floor-space multiplied by a rent factor indicative of quality of property. Relationships with Employment Strong relationships between rateable value and employment, but variations in intensity between functions (e.g. industrial vs. office). Methodology Classify data into functional groups- office, retail, industrial, local services… Address match data. Aggregate into 500m grid for visualisation across Greater London.

13. Density of Office Rateable Value for Greater London 2005

14. Density of Retail Rateable Value for Greater London 2005

15. Office & Retail Rateable Value for Greater London 2005

17. Tertiary Centres: Canary Wharf grown rapidly. Similar trends to West.

18. Outer Centres: Significant for retail, but lack major office agglomerations. Struggling to compete.

21. Commuting Carbon Emissions Measure Mode Split Analysis Simple centre-suburbs split. Ignoring distance travelled and energy used in public transport journeys. Features Needed Destination based to relate to employment, integrate distance and mode data. Composite Carbon Measure Possible to estimate average carbon per journey, using average carbon emissions per unit distance. (distance currently Euclidean, missing congestion) Walking and Cycling!

22. Travel and Sustainability- Outer London Diversity Edge City No longer centre-suburbs split, but edge city vs. rest split. Likely link to office parks identified earlier. Centre Sustainable? Central London public transport dominated but long distance. Outer Contrasts Outer Centres close live-work relationships, so efficient. Sharp contrasts to western corridor. South East Edge city extends west with similar commuting. Reading possible exception. Specialised jobs likely influencing commuting.

23. Employment Specialisation and Travel Patterns Economic Specialisation Proxy Proportion of jobs in top three categories for proxy. East-West Split Much lower specialisation in East London. Western Wedge Generally high productivity, comparable to Central London, not back office. Outer Town Centres Most Outer Centres lower productivity jobs. Specialisation and sustainability tension.

25. Social and demographic considerations: Demographic considerations (family orientated environments, housing market divisions) big influence on live/work relationships.

26. Rent data: economic analysis of built environment links.

28. Thank you for listening! Welcome comments and questions. Contact Email: duncan.a.smith@ucl.ac.uk Data providers for this research: Greater London Authority Ordnance Survey Valuation Office Infoterra

29. References Alexander, C. (1974). A city is not a tree. Alonso, W. (1964). Location and land use. Batty, M. (2000). "The new urban geography of the third dimension." Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design27: 483-484. Batty, M. (2007). "The creative destruction of cities." Environment and planning. C, Government & policy34(1): 2. Breheny,M.,Gordon,I.,Archer,S.(1998), ‘Building densities and sustainable cities’, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Sustainable Cities Programme, Project Outline No. 5, June 1998. Burton, E. (2002), Measuring urban compactness in UK towns and cities, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 2002, 29, pp 219 – 250. Urban Task Force (1999). Towards An Urban Renaissance, E & FN Spon. Foster (1999), Docklands: Cultures in Conflict, Worlds in Collision, UCL Press, London. Jane Jacobs (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities New York: Vintage Books (NA 9108.J17); Jenks, M, Burton, E., Williams, K. (2000) The Compact City: A Sustainable Urban Form?, (Spon. London). GORDON, P. and RICHARDSON, H. (1996) Beyond polycentricity: the dispersed metropolis, LosAngeles, 1970-1990, Journal of the American Planning Association, 62, pp. 289±295. Greater London Authority (2004), The London Plan: Spatial Development Strategy for London, GLA. Greater London Authority (2006), London Office Policy Review 2006, GLA. Hall, P. (2003). "The End of the City? The Report of My Death was an Exaggeration." City7(2): 141. Longley, P. A. (2002). "Geographical Information Systems: will developments in urban remote sensing and GIS lead to'better'urban geography?" Progress in human geography26(2): 231. Newman & Kenworthy (1989), Overcoming Automobile Dependence, Island Press, Washington. Sherlock, H. (1991). Cities are good for us. Talen, E. (2003). "Measuring Urbanism: Issues in Smart Growth Research." Journal of Urban Design8(3): 303.

31. Social geography:housing patterns, gentrification, access to services, property market.

32. Urban Sustainability:transportation patterns linked to structure, energy use in buildings.

35. Street Based Aggregation- Streets themselves are units used.

37. Introduction to Urban Trends in Greater London Monocentric Structure London traditionally concentrated jobs in city centre with radial transport links to suburbs. Central Expansion in Boom Years Massive employment growth and immigration led population growth, particularly over last ten years. Policy directed growth to centre, global business services. Radial transport enhanced. Outer London Contrasts Significant growth around Heathrow and in ‘Western Wedge’, while traditional Outer Centres generally struggling.