Space syntax theory and Durkheim’s social morphology: a reassessment

ABSTRACT

In outlining their influential architectural theory of space syntax, Hillier and Hanson acknowledge its affinity to Durkheim’s sociological considerations on the spatial-morphological basis of social life. In doing so, space syntax theory promised to address the then woefully under-theorized relationship between society and space, specifically by emphasizing the agency of spatial-morphological arrangements. Given the Durkheimian inspiration, it is surprising that sociology has been so silent on the subject of space syntax. This lack of dialogue may be explained by the gestation of space syntax research within the specialist disciplinary silo of architectural theory, as well as by the default sociological assessment that formal methodologies of spatial analysis – such as those associated with space syntax – sustain a discredited fallacy of physical determinism. Yet, intellectually this situation is unfortunate: while sociology overlooks how space syntax theory has advanced the Durkheimian understanding of spatial morphologies, space syntax theory misses an opportunity to update and broaden its notion of social processes. In response, we revisit Durkheim’s social morphology and review the strengths and deficits of Hillier and Hanson’s consideration of Durkheimian theory. We identify how difficulties arise because of an over-reliance of space syntax theory on the structural-functionalist macro-wing of the Durkheimain tradition. To address this issue, we prepare the ground for a theoretical engagement between space syntax and the micro-sociological branch of Durkheiminan scholarship, and show how this tradition offers a more coherent means for translating the spatio-morphological insights of space syntax theory into contemporary debates in the sociology of space.

KEYWORDS:

• Émile Durkheim
• space syntax theory
• social morphology
• sociology of space
• architecture theory
• structural functionalism
• micro-sociology

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Lars Marcus for his invaluable comments to improve the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Lasse Suonperä Liebst is Associate Professor at Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen. His research concerns micro-sociological theory, with a special interest in the application of quantitative observational methods to the study of face-to-face interaction dynamics. In his current work, he uses video surveillance footage to examine bystander helping in violent incidents.

Sam Griffiths is Associate Professor in Spatial Cultures in the Space Syntax Laboratory at the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture. His research interests include: the spatial culture of industrial cities; sustainable suburbs and high streets; urban manufacturing and space syntax as an interdisciplinary research perspective in the humanities and social sciences. He is currently working on a book about how historians draw on architectural-morphological ideas in their research and writing.

ORCID

Lasse Suonperä Liebst http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1062-2447

Notes

1 The Proceedings of the International Space Syntax Symposia, held bianually since 1997, are available on open access and offer a good overview of the community’s diverse research interests and activities, see spacesyntax.net.

2 An axial line graph is the least number and longest length of straight lines that cover a contiguous area of open space in any settlement or building. See Hillier and Hanson (1984) for details of the method.