Concepts of space and movement

Nuggets Extracted from my RE:

There is little doubt that the individual is mobile: he moves about an urban area daily in the course of fulfilling various day-to-day needs and motives (e.g. home to work commuting). As the individual moves about an urban area, he synthesizes stimuli from his observation and experiences of this urban area, allowing him to conceptualise this built environment.

In describing the boundary of this urban area, Eilot Hurst proposes the conception of movement space... action space... *section cut*

The individual’s movement space is one defined by boundaries:

*section cut* (Limitations of transport system, socioeconomic/time abilities, psychological determinants)

In consideration of these boundaries on movement space, we would instead propose a refined concept of and viable micromovement space, that is, the part of the built environment within which day-to-day micromovement is viable. There is no universal viable micromovement space, rather, it varies on the boundaries placed upon the individual; it varies from the limited realm of a toddler to the more extensive realm of a young adult with a car. The viable micromovement space of individuals is not absolute, it can vary with time and changing housing locations; it changes as the boundaries and limitations placed on his movement space change.

Undoubtedly, modern urban transport has enabled the individual to travel much further in the finite amount of time available for commuting each day, and hence greatly enlarged the individual’s viable micromovement space.

A logical subset of viable micromovement space would be the first two extents of Brown and Moore’s postulate of the individual’s activity space (Brown and Moore, quoted in Hurst, 1974), that is, his day-to-day activity space, which is the part of the urban area with which direct contact occurs as the result of daily activities.

*section cut* (Core area, Median Area, Extensive area)

It should be self-apparent that in dealing with urban micromovement flows, we are primarily interested in the individual’s day-to-day activity space (especially the core area, which is responsible for the majority of trips), and not his extensive area of activity space.

In general, as viable micromovement space expands, opportunities increase as the “catchment area” for them increases, and therefore day-to-day activity space similarly expands, as individuals have the impetus and self-interest to realise these opportunities, in line with individual needs and goals.

This conception of space “allows for a re-orientation of movement studies away froom a description of habit patterns to an analysis of the causes behind movement behaviour” (Hurst, 1974), therefore promoting a better understanding of travel patterns “and insights into the true conditions governing transportation demands.” (Hurst, 1974), allowing for better management and manipulation of these demands.