Understanding urban networks: comparing a node-, a density- and an accessibility-based view

The question investigated in this paper is how to understand urban networks, taking both place-bound activities and (quality of) transport networks into account. The description should help formulate planning questions about the development of urban networks. This paper proposes three different views: node-, density- and accessibility-based.

Urban networks can morphologically be described as major nodes or concentrations of activities and physical and/or functional connections between nodes in a geographical area. Beyond this morphological description, places within an area can also be characterised by the amount and diversity of activities to be accessed by means of a transport network. This paper will compare these different views of the urban network for the northern part of the Randstad Holland conurbation (the greater Amsterdam area) by means of different spatial representations. The comparisons between the patterns of these representations can help explore the changing urban network, giving rise to planning questions, which can help formulate a planning research agenda for urban networks.