Analysing city agglomeration in terms of local economic development hierarchy with the use of space syntax

Abstract

Pattern of urban growth is dictated by a complex interaction of place-specific factors in individual cities including geography, history, lifestyle, economies and administration. City’s natural growth gradually defines its main economic centers and sub-centers according to spatial organization of its urban structure. In some cases of induced development planning, agglomeration of small towns forms a bigger city boundary for administrative operation. Narayanganj City Corporation of Bangladesh is similar to this case, which was formed by joining three municipalities in 2011. As commercial activities takes place in the most integrated part of a city, administrative agglomeration of small towns largely depends on their economic development cluster. Lack of proper agglomeration of economies among small towns may cause unplanned economic growth. Hence identifying local sub-centers can guide commercial development working as a whole. The spatial parameters of a city can evaluate functionality of economic activities within an urban structure, in accordance with hierarchical arrangement of local commercial centers. While analyzing city configuration with Space Syntax theory, movement & commercial growth within a given boundary can be predicted. This paper tries to analyze agglomeration of economic activities among three municipalities of Narayanganj working as a whole, with potential sub-centers as hierarchical city structure.