ABSTRACT
Vacant shops are an important problem affecting urban areas today, particularly in the wake of the economic crisis. Most strategies to analyse and deal with this issue are related to economic and financial variables. However, the amount of research associating store geography and performance with urban morphology has increased over the past decade. Thus, this research tests the hypothesis that specific morphological features characterize vacant retail sites. Using four Portuguese cities as test-beds and Kernel density analysis to plot spatial patterns, vacant shops were for example positively correlated with low segment betweenness and negatively correlated with block area.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Space Syntax was pioneered in the 1970s by Prof. Bill Hillier, Prof. Julienne Hanson and colleagues at The Bartlett, University College London. Hillier’s collective works are suggested for further insights on the theories and techniques of Space Syntax.
2. r = 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 4000, 5000, 7500, 10000, 15000 and n.