Alleyways are functional not only as passages but also as space for complementing inhabitants’ needs of their daily activities and for communication with neighbors. Plenty of alleyways are formulated inside the shophouse blocks in the central area of Phnom Penh. It is utilized as both private and public space by inhabitants whereas underlying principles of alleyway – correspondence relationship between space and activity – are still remaining as a key subject on the architectural and urban planning regardless of the difficulty of preserving such spatial functions due to rapid development pressure. Statistical approach utilizing spatial information of alleyways and inhabitants’ activities will lead appropriate understanding of such phenomenon and its outcomes are expected to support spatial planning of city blocks,
This study aims to grasp spatial characteristics of alleyways and its impact on inhabitants’ activity through statistical analyses utilizing spatial information developed from network analysis based on the field survey. The results of this study are summarized as follows:
1) Alleyways are utilized by 16% out of the total area of 12,636m2. Living activities dominates 80% of utilized area whereas commercial activities fulfill the remaining 20% of the utilized area. Among living activities, 37% of the area is used as parking of motorbikes, 15% as others/ storage and 10% as chatting and cleaning respectively. Commercial activities are dominated by retail selling and eatery by 9% and 8% respectively.
2) Activity density tends to increase in proportion to the width of alleyways. Eateries are mostly located at the alleyways with 2~4m width whereas retail selling and chatting/ relaxing activities are located at the ones with 5~7m width. Motorbikes are located evenly across the most of widths. Shortest path distance does not have significant impact on activity density. Alleyways with accumulative angle over 270 degrees and approach to alleyways from sidewalk around the block indicate higher activity density as well.
3) Alleyways are classified into 11 clusters by cluster analysis. Narrow dead-end alleyways are merely used as parking. Chatting/ relaxing tend to be generated at the location with high density of building entrances and wider width. Cooking and eating activities are mainly distributed at narrow and recessed places. Other/ storage are observed either at narrow and recessed alleyways or alleyways with wider width. Eateries are located at the approach to alleyways whereas retail selling tends to be located at large-opened area.
4) Multiple regression coefficient is not high for individual activity by cluster; however, entire living activities indicates relatively higher coefficient by 0.47 of R2 in which cluster 8 to 11, the alleyways with wider width, gives positive impact on generation of living activities.
These results infer several perceptions on block planning, that is, a) necessity of appropriate arrangement of parking, b) emplacing wide-width alleyways gradually dispersed into individual space by taking turns while keeping certain amount of width for coexistence of commercial and living activities inside shophouse blocks, and c) enlargement and improvement of accessibility to building entrances will enhance utilization of narrow and dead-end alleyways by converting current usage from storage to other living activities.
