2022 Volume 10 Issue 4 Pages 174-191
An urban centre acts as the interface of economic activities and people and represents diversity, which can grow or decline over time. Here, we review the literature to explain the factors supporting and obstructing urbanisation based on three theories on urban morphology: theory of natural movement, theory of movement economy and theory of spatial centrality. Two research questions were then formulated to explain the morphological logic of urbanisation and the influence of the global movement grid on local natural movement, which are key factors supporting the growth and decline of each local neighbourhood within the city. The selected case study was Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town at the global and local levels and the space syntax theory was chosen for analysis. The results indicated that the spatial configuration of the global movement grid influence urbanisation and local natural movement the most. Therefore, local public spaces must be designed to support the global movement grid, which is fed by natural movement and influenced by the global morphological structure.
The centrality of settlements in either big or small cities refers to the utilisation of land located in a distinct area at a certain time. This area may have different functions, such as an urban centre or local centre, and there are typically various activities spread out throughout this structure, including shops, residences and facilities. However, the centrality can be relocated to another area, subject to its appeal to people and economic activities. Subsequently, this may lead to the decline of the old centre, which was perhaps historically important, as well as the urban vitality.
Urban vitality refers to the diversity that results from the concentration of activities, people, society and culture (Wirth, 1938). Jacobs (1961) also supported this concept of urbanisation, stating that “diversity is natural to big cities”. This diversity stems from the combination of building utilisation, people, activities, and time spent along the roadsides. Therefore, cities require a sufficient number of people to promote their diversity, which is an indicator of urban centrality (Jacobs, 1961).
Further, Jacobs (1961) proposed the concept of “eyes on the street” to foster urban livability through natural surveillance, by maintaining the number of people in public areas, roads and sidewalks. This process would help evaluate the vitality of the place through the “ballet of the sidewalk”, thus reflecting the social dynamics in public areas. More importantly, the eyes on the street concept in the urban context creates the feeling of being safe and protected for users of public areas and fosters mutual trust (Jacobs, 1961).
In contrast, an urban area with abandoned buildings, which fails to maintain pedestrian movement and lacks both interactions among people and roadside activities, is a negative sign, reflecting a sense of insecurity (Jacobs, 1961). However, the author observed that the natural surveillance of public open spaces, including roads and sidewalks, under the concept of eyes on the street is impractical because people cannot be unreasonably forced to utilise them in the absence of attractors, such as shops or restaurants. This raises an important question regarding how the city can attract people to utilise public areas, roads and sidewalks in order to create natural surveillance and promote the vitality of the urban environment and the safety of its residents.
The social logic of urban morphology called the “space syntax” presented the major argument that dynamic and static behavioural patterns are directly influenced by the form and configuration of space. Consequently, this theory can be used to explain the relationship between urban spatial configurations and the utilisation rate of public spaces in the form of pedestrian and vehicular movement. Further, it can determine the distribution and density patterns of land utilisation in accordance with such movements, leading to the forecast of growth trends and urban vitality. (Hillier and Hanson, 1984; Hillier and Sahbaz, 2005, 2008; Turner and Penn, 2002).
Therefore, the space syntax theory can promote the understanding of the urban centrality; this is because the spatial configuration, especially that of the street network or urban grid, has an influence on the constantly varying urban centrality in terms of border and location. This also explains that the relocation of the urban centre to another area with more economic activities occurs due to dynamic processes causing the growth and deterioration of the original centre (Hillier, 2007).
Therefore, understanding urban centrality is the key to determining the guidelines for urban design and planning. This can promote the attraction to the public areas, roads and sidewalks in order to create natural surveillance based on the eyes on the street concept. The existing literature on urban morphology can provide a better understanding of the morphological logic and explain the growth and deterioration of urban spatial centrality.
The three major theories of urban spatial centrality include the following:
(1) Theory of Natural Movement – The configuration of the urban grid has an influence on the pattern of natural movement and ratio of people moving in the road grid and public spaces. This is because the unequal natural movement at both the global and local levels is subject to the integration of such road grids and public spaces, which is an important factor for the attraction of people, economic activities and land utilisation (Hillier, Penn et al., 1993).
(2) Theory of Movement Economy – The road grid and public spaces that have a higher level of natural movement than other areas typically strongly attract commercial activities for pedestrians, resulting in a positive feedback loop. This has multiple effects and results in better opportunities for further development than the other areas, which leads to the partial or full structuring of the city through movement, called the movement economy (Hillier, 1996).
(3) Theory of Spatial Centrality – The spatial configuration fed by the highest natural movement tends to become the spatial centrality, causing a multiplier effect and grid intensification process. This results in an increase in surface area to support more movement. This is considered a configurational attractor of more natural movement, which normally appears in the live centrality. The whole process is referred to as “centrality as a process”, which can be used to predict the location of the urban centre (Hillier, 1999).
Hillier, Penn et al., (1993) explained that spatial configuration with low natural movement can cause negative attractors, lowering the natural movement ratio and local negative multiplier effects (Hillier, Penn et al., 1993). This results in the loss of the spatial aspect of multiple interfaces of people and economic activities, or lacunas in the natural movement system, which are the enclaves and spatial segregation of multiple urban social groups (Hillier, 1996).
Therefore, the theories of urban spatial centrality explain the spatial configuration of urban grids and living cities, from which it can be concluded that spatial configuration affects movement and causes the establishment of those grids and cities, the shape of which is then determined by the land utilisation and density. These three theories can also explain the general mechanism of socioeconomic activities based on spatial patterns, which is a key factor that holds the whole urban system together.
Therefore, the aforementioned theories lead to the following research questions:
Answering these research questions can provide insight into the spatial phenomena of urban centrality, leading to a better understanding of the relationship between global morphological structures and the patterns of local natural movement. Such understanding would enable the formulation of better policies and guidelines on the design of public spaces than those based on the consideration of physical characteristics. These would influence the design of public spaces fed by natural movement, which is a practical strategy to increase urban vitality.
Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town is a former urban centre, which is comprised of several residences, commercial quarters, public offices, and religious places. The primary road running through this area is Ratchadamnoen Road. Due to the current recession, the public sector has issued a policy related to the launch of a new project that aims to develop and restore Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town. The major tasks include developing the landscape of the Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple and its surrounding area and organising a weekly walking street, or market, every Saturday. This could potentially become a node that would attract tourists and local people and help distribute more revenue among the surrounding communities. However, the community behind the temple in the original commercial quarter still has low movement and does not benefit from this project.
According to previous studies on the theories of urban spatial centrality, two theoretical hypotheses have been formulated:
(1) Global hypothesis – The deterioration of the Old Town was a result of the relocation of the urban centre. The land in this area has been highly utilised for both religious and governmental purposes in the form of large blocks. According to the theory of spatial centrality, these blocks are considered negative attractors because they obstruct the movement economy and prevent the division of the movement grid in order to increase the space for more economic activities. Consequently, the urban grid began to shift away from the Old Town, causing configurational inequalities and natural movement differences within the entire urban movement grid (Figure 1). The urban centre was then relocated to the area where attraction can be generated, including people, economic activities and varied utilisation of the land and buildings.
(2) Local hypothesis – The failure to create natural movement in an area is the result of the urban design, which focuses on the local level with no local spatial relations influenced by the global urban grid structure. This factor is often ignored.
Such phenomena indicate that Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town is the theoretical representative that can help answer all the questions in this empirical study. This can lead to a better understanding of the factors responsible for the deterioration of the original commercial quarter or current old town, provide suggestions on how to develop and restore the Old Town, and create natural surveillance under the concept of eyes on the street.
In this study, the theoretical and analytical space syntax methods based on the graph theory and idea of urban morphology that were developed in the 1980s by Hillier and Hanson (1984) were applied. These graphical and mathematical methods (Kitchen and Schneider, 2007) measure the quantitative characteristics of urban spaces and architecture, which are reflected in the calculated spatial configuration (H. Boutabba, S. Boutabba et al., 2022; Tutuko, Santoso et al., 2021) and explain social logic using spatial systems (Karimi, 2012). The core of all space syntax explanations is the notion of network graphs (Tutuko, Bonifacius et al., 2021).
The principle of space syntax supports the belief that spatial patterns or structures could help forecast the impact of space properties on social activities, such as pedestrian and vehicular movement patterns, in urban environments (Hillier, 2007; Mohammed, 2011; Volchenkov, 2008). The forecasting accuracy has been found to range from 60–80% based on moving potentials and observed movement rates (Hillier and Sahbaz, 2009).
The “depthMapX” software, developed at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (Turner, 2004), helps perform morphological logical analysis in order to explain the centrality and influence of the urban grid on local movement.
Measuring Tool and Space Syntax TechniquesThe analysis was comprised of two levels:
(1) Global Integration Analysis – The axial line with the longest but the minimum number of straight lines was drawn on the movement grid and public spaces of a city and divided into convex spaces for mathematical and statistical evaluation. The obtained values were then arranged in descending order based on the position of each axial line as presented in the spectral range. The group of axial lines with high integration values was represented in warm tones, with red as the highest value or the route with potentially the highest movement, followed by orange and yellow, respectively. In contrast, the group of axial lines with low integration values was represented in cool tones, with indigo as the route with potentially the lowest movement, followed by blue and green, respectively. The location with the highest integration value tended to become the urban centre (Al-Sayed, Turner et al., 2014).
(2) Visibility Graph Analysis (VGA) – This tool was used for analysing the visibility of local public spaces. Here, a computer program processed the data to locate the space with the highest visibility (n), which was then presented in the spectral range using different tones ranging from red, which represented the space with the highest visibility superposition (seen the most from every point within the system), to indigo, which represented the space with the lowest visibility superposition (seen the least from every point within the system) (Benedikt, 1979; Turner and Penn, 1999).
Data Collecting Tool Used in Collaboration with Space Syntax ToolsThe movement grid and public spaces, represented by their integration and visibility values, were used to identify their relationship with the movement ratios for vehicles and pedestrians. This was done to validate the predicted values based on the real-world scenario. The movement ratio was calculated by counting the number of vehicles and pedestrians moving through the grid at a given time, which is known as the gate count (Leccese, Lista et al., 2020).
(1) Global Gate Count – Twenty seven global gates were set up at the intersections of the road grid, given the physical configuration of Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town (Figure 2). This settlement is located along the primary and secondary roads that are parallel to the mountain range and east coast, namely Ratchadamnoen Road, Phra Borommathat Road, Si Thammasok Road, Si Thammarat Road, and Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road, which is the new economic road of the area.
Data for the vehicle movement ratio for the 27 gates were collected daily by counting the vehicles crossing the gates for 6 minutes during 6 different periods of the day: morning rush hours (6.30–9.00 hrs), morning working hours (9.00–11.30 hrs), lunchtime (11.30–13.30 hrs), afternoon working hours (13.30–16.00 hrs), evening rush hours (16.00–18.30 hrs) and night-time (18.30–21.00 hrs).
(2) Local Gate Count - To perform the visibility graph analysis, 15 gates were set up in the public spaces within Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple and the surrounding roads to count the number of pedestrians crossing the gates for 9 minutes during 6 periods of the day at the local level (Figure 2).
Data were collected on Saturdays in the area where the weekly walking street/market was organized, which was expected to have the highest utilisation ratio, and on weekdays (Mondays–Fridays), where the movement was low and there were no activities that may attract people.
The global integration value analysis of the urban grid was performed to identify the morphological logic of urbanisation by evaluating the change in the global integration value over time using an axial map of the grid. The results of this analysis are presented in Figure 3.
In 1974 (2517 BE), Tha Ma Market—an important commercial quarter of Nakhon Si Thmmarat Old Town—had the highest integration value, followed by the community in front of Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple. Both locations were on Ratchadamnoen Road, thus indicating that this road was the centre of Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town in 1974; its axial line was represented in red and orange. On the other hand, the axial line of Phra Borommathat Road, on which was located the community behind the temple—another important commercial quarter at that time—was represented in orange.
In 1995 (2538 BE), Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road had the highest integration value, followed by Ratchadamnoen Road, which ranked the highest in 1974. However, the axial lines of both roads were represented in red and orange, thus indicating that Ratchadamnoen Road remained the primary economic road of the city despite a new one being formed outside Nakhon Si Thamamarat Old Town. Further, it is evident that Phra Borommathat Road, on which was located the community behind Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple, became less important as its axial line was represented in yellow.
In 1999 (2542 BE), Chaloem Phra Kiat Road was constructed parallel to Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road as a bypass to reduce traffic density. However, its integration value showed no significant change when compared to that in 1995; the axial lines of both Phatthanakan Khukhwang and Ratchadamnoen Road were represented in red and orange, thus indicating that these are the most important economic roads. However, the integration value of Phra Borommathat Road, on which was located the community behind Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple, decreased; its axial line was represented in green and indigo.
In 2020 (2563 BE), Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road had the highest integration value; its axial line was represented in red. The overall integration value of Ratchadamnoen Road decreased compared to that in 1999, especially in the case of the community in front of Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple, with its axial line represented in green. The integration value of Phra Borommathat Road, on which the community behind the temple was located, was the lowest.
Study of Vehicle Movement Ratio in Nakhon Si Thammarat Old TownThe data that was collected from the 27 gates were divided based on vehicle type, such as motorcycles, private cars, and mass transit vehicles. Subsequently, the vehicle movement ratio (vehicle/minute) in Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town was calculated as follows:
According to the average vehicle movement ratio (vehicle/minute) map on weekdays (Figure 4), it was found that Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road (P3), Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road (P2) and Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road (P1) had the highest values of the average movement ratio, with 34.48, 28.83 and 28.03 vehicles/minute, respectively. The maximum density was observed approximately during 11.50–13.50 hrs. Ratchadamnoen Road had a high average movement ratio in some areas; Ratchadamnoen Road (R7) had the highest average movement ratio at 33.03 vehicles/minute, with the highest density approximately during 6.30–9.15 hrs. However, Ratchadamnoen Road (R1), Ratchadamnoen Road (R2) and Ratchadamnoen Road (R3) in front of Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple had average movement ratios that were lower than other parts of the same road. Phra Borommathat Road had the lowest average movement ratio; Phra Borommathat Road (PT2) had an average movement ratio of 9.21 vehicles/minute..
The comparison of the overall movement ratios between Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road and Ratchadamnoen Road indicated that the density of the former was quite consistent, while the one of the latter was consistent only at certain times. Therefore, it can be concluded that Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road had the highest overall movement ratio and Phra Borommathat Road, on which the community behind Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple or the original commercial quarters of Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town were located, had the lowest overall movement ratio.
The comparison of the overall movement ratios of Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road and Ratchadamnoen Road indicated that the overall movement ratio of the former was higher than that of the latter, while Phra Borommathat Road still had the lowest overall movement ratio.
According to the average vehicle movement ratio (vehicles/minute) map on weekends (Figure 4), it was observed that Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road (P3), Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road (P2) and Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road (P1) had the highest average movement ratios of 26.83, 28.78 and 25,83 vehicles/minute, respectively, with the highest density approximately during 11.50–13.50 hrs. The average movement ratio of Ratchadamnoen Road on weekends appeared to decrease compared to that of weekdays; Ratchadamnoen Road (R4) had the highest average movement ratio at 19.90 vehicles/minute, with the highest density approximately during 11.50–13.50 hrs. However, Phra Borommathat Road (PT2) had the lowest average movement ratio at 7.66 vehicles/minute.
Simple regression analysis (SRA) was employed to identify the statistically significant relationships for causal analysis and to validate the global integration value. All variables were initially tested and it was observed that: (1) all variables had skewness and kurtosis lower than 1, indicating that the data were normally distributed; (2) Pearson’s correlation indicated that all independent and dependent variables had a linear relationship (Yan and Su, 2009).
Therefore, according to the initial test, all variables could be used for SRA and the results are presented below.
In Table 1, it can be observed that the variables have a statistically significant relationship. The value of R2 was 0.845, which suggests that the global integration value can explain 84.50% of the average vehicle movement ratio on weekends.
In Table 2, it is observed that the variables have a statistically significant relationship. The value of R2 was 0.559, which indicates that the global integration value can explain 55.90% of the average vehicle movement ratio on weekdays.
The relationship between the global integration value and average vehicle movement ratio on weekends was stronger than that on weekdays. This was likely due to a greater number of movement attractors and more natural movement on weekdays, especially on Ratchadamnoen Road, where the public offices and schools were located. This resulted in higher movement ratios on some parts of the road at certain times. Furthermore, it was found that the global integration value map was significantly consistent with the values of the vehicle movement ratios in real-world scenarios, thus suggesting that Phatthanakan Khukwang Road is the primary economic road and current urban centre.
| Model Summary | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | R | R Square | Adjusted R Square | Std. Error of the estimate | ||
| 1 | .919 | .845 | .838 | 2.36730 | ||
| ANOVA | ||||||
| Model | Sun of Squares | df | Mean Square | F | Sig. | |
| 1 | Regression | 761.412 | 1 | 761.412 | 135.867 | .000 |
| Residual | 140.103 | 25 | 5.604 | |||
| Total | 901.515 | 26 | ||||
| Coefficients | ||||||
| Model | Unstandardized B | Coefficients | Standardized Coefficients Beta | t | Sig. | |
| 1 | (Constant) | -21.957 | 3.161 | -6.945 | .000 | |
| Global Integration | 49.198 | 4.221 | .919 | 11.656 | .000 | |
| Model Summary | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | R | R Square | Adjusted R Square | Std. Error of the estimate | ||
| 1 | .748 | .559 | .541 | 4.79125 | ||
| ANOVA | ||||||
| Model | Sun of Squares | df | Mean Square | F | Sig. | |
| 1 | Regression | 727.744 | 1 | 727.744 | 31.702 | .000 |
| Residual | 573.903 | 25 | 22.956 | |||
| Total | 1301.647 | 26 | ||||
| Coefficients | ||||||
| Model | Unstandardized B | Coefficients | Standardized Coefficients Beta | t | Sig. | |
| 1 | (Constant) | -16.139 | 6.398 | -2.522 | .000 | |
| Global Integration | 48.098 | 8.543 | .748 | 5.630 | .000 | |
The global integration value analysis indicated not only the urban centre relocation but also that the community behind Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple in the original commercial quarter was not influenced by the global movement grid, resulting in a global integration value that was significantly low compared to that in the past.
Therefore, the study focused on the movement grid and public spaces of Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple in order to validate the effect of the relocation of the urban centre. Analysis was performed to identify the relationship between the visibility values of the movement grid and public spaces within and around the temple; this aimed to evaluate the visibility and integration values influencing the patterns of local movement and public space utilisation. The result was used to identify relationships with the pedestrian movement ratio.
Visibility Graph Analysis (VGA)The results of the VGA, shown in Figure 5 below, revealed that the roads surrounding Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple, in particular Ratchadamnoen Road in front of the temple, had relatively high visibility values, as shown in orange and yellow. This is likely due to the spatial configuration of the road and the large activity area/ In contrast, the space at the back of the temple towards Phra Borommathat Road, on which the community behind the temple was located, had low visibility values due to narrow lanes between the buildings and dead ends. These are shown in indigo and green.
To identify the relationship between visibility values and the average pedestrian movement ratio, 15 gates were set up to collect movement ratio data on Saturdays when the weekly walking street/market was organized and was expected to have the highest utilisation ratio, and on weekdays, when the movement was low and there were no activities attracting people. The results are presented below.
According to the map shown in Figure 6, there is a statistically significant relationship between the visibility value and pedestrian movement ratio on weekends in public spaces on the roads surrounding Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple. The movement grid and public spaces around Ratchadamnoen Road and the activity area in the east had high visibility and integration values, as shown in yellow and red, correlating to the average pedestrian movement ratio for the same area. The period with the highest density of pedestrian movement for the road was approximately 16.00–18.30 hrs due to the weekly walking street/market, while for the activity area within the temple, it was approximately 9.00–11.30 hrs and 11.30–13.30 hrs due to religious activities.
The movement grid and public spaces behind Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple and on Phra Borommathat Road had low visibility and integration values, as shown in indigo and green in Figure 6 below, correlating to the average pedestrian movement ratio, which was low in these areas as well. This suggested that the landscape design and development project within and around the temple and the walking street/market fails to attract people to move through the community behind the temple or the original commercial quarter as expected.
According to the map shown in Figure 7 below, there is a statistically significant relationship between the visibility value and pedestrian movement ratio on weekdays in the public spaces and roads surrounding Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple. The movement grid and public spaces around the activity area in the east had the highest visibility and integration values, as shown in yellow and red, correlating to the average pedestrian movement ratio of the same area. The period with the highest density of pedestrian movement for the activity area within the temple was approximately 13.30–16.00 hrs due to religious activities, followed by Ratchadamnoen Road in front of the temple. However, the average pedestrian movement ratio on weekdays was lower than that on Saturdays, when the weekly walking street/market was organised.
The movement grid and public spaces behind Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple and Phra Borommathat Road had low visibility and integration values due to the temple wall and a single gate, as shown in indigo and green, correlating to the average pedestrian movement ratio, which was low in the area as well. The majority of the activities occurred in the morning and lower movement was detected for the remainder of the day, thus suggesting that on weekdays, the community behind the temple or the original commercial quarter has no movement attractor.
The first research question was as follows: Does the global movement grid influence the local natural movement, resulting in the relocation of the urban centre, local growth and decline? Further, what are the factors obstructing the economic process and causing the failure to maintain the natural movement level of the original urban centre? The results of the research are discussed below.
On analysing urban grid evolution influencing the change of global integration, it was found that changes in the global movement grid influence the global integration value, resulting in the relocation of the urban centre from Ratchadamnoen Road in Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town to Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road, which has a higher integration value. This suggests that the community behind Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple in the original commercial quarter is not fed by natural movement and has low movement.
The key reason for the failure to maintain the global integration value of Ratchadamnoen Road is that a high proportion of land is utilised for public offices, religious places and schools. This hinders the grid intensification process, which would support natural movement as a result of the development of the movement economy. Consequently, intense expansion and connections occurred outside Old Town, leading to the relocation of the urban centre. In addition, the analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between the global integration value and average vehicle movement ratio in Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town, thus confirming that the current urban centre is on Phatthanakan Khukhwang Road.
The local study focused on the movement grid and public spaces within and around Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple, which were affected by the relocation of the urban centre. Its global integration value decreased significantly as a result.
The second research question was as follows: Do local public spaces that are not influenced by the global movement grid cause low natural movement and do these tend to be unutilised? The results of the research are discussed below.
To address the second research question, the relationship between the visibility value and pedestrian movement ratio of the public spaces within and around Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple, which were affected by the relocation of the urban centre, was analysed. It was observed that at the local scale, Phra Mahathat Road, on which the original commercial quarter is located, was not only influenced by the global movement grid but also had low visibility value. The single gate at the back of the temple and narrow lanes between the buildings failed to connect Ratchadamnoen Road (primary road) to Phra Borommathat Road (secondary road) by the pedestrian movement grid within the temple. Therefore, the activity area in the temple has a low visibility value, which can have a negative impact despite the attempt by the public sector to develop the landscape of the temple and surrounding area and organise activities to transform it into a movement attractor.
The global urban grid structure has the greatest influence on the local natural movement, leading to the relocation of the urban centre to an area with higher integration value and natural movement. In contrast, the quarter failing to maintain the level of natural movement due to lower integration faces a decline.
Land utilisation for public offices, religious places and schools often obstructs the development of a movement economy due to its failure to maintain the level of natural movement. Therefore, it is considered a negative attractor that hinders the grid intensification process, which would otherwise support natural movement as a result of economic expansion. Consequently, the occurrence of intense expansion and connection of the movement grid outside the original urban centre accelerates the relocation of the urban centre. This results in the decline and reduction in the vitality of the original urban centre as a result of the lower level of natural movement.
Therefore, the influence of the global spatial configuration on the local natural movement, which affects the design of local public spaces for their optimal utilisation, is not subject to the characteristics of the public spaces. However, the most important factor is the design of the movement grid that connects local public spaces the global space; this would feed natural movement by relying on the global urban grid structure.
The results of this study demonstrated that the religious activities in Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town act as negative attractors and obstruct the development of the movement economy, leading to a decline in local movement. Therefore, the transformation of this area into a more vital space requires the elimination of all such negative attractors in order to encourage natural movement and the establishment of a movement economy in the Old Town. Some suggestions for a spatial design that would support this are as follows:
(1) Create a local urban grid and increase the visibility of the space – The pedestrian grid with clear visibility both within and around the temple and public offices can serve as both the destination and transit area. Such a well-connected network would increase natural movement and attract more people to utilise the space, which could lead to the formation of pedestrian nodes connecting the surrounding communities. Further, this would result in natural surveillance under the concept of the eyes on the street for public open spaces, roads and sidewalks, which would promote the vitality of the space, as well as increase the security and quality of life of the residents.
Based on this suggestion, the layout of Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple was used as a model for restructuring. The goal was to connect the space to the primary movement grid around the temple by opening the back and both sides of the temple. This would allow pedestrian movement to connect Ratchadamnoen Road to Phra Borommathat Road. In addition, grid intensification was carried out on the large plot of land within the temple in order to create a movement grid to support natural movement and shorten the walking distance for pedestrians while utilising these public spaces. The result of such restructuring is presented in Figure 8.
The result indicated higher integration values of the movement grid and public spaces. The axial line was shown in red and extended from Ratchadamnoen Road through the pedestrian movement grid within the temple to Phra Borommathat Road and the community behind Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple in the original commercial quarter. This was the result of the creation of a movement grid within the temple as a part of the global one. Consequently, the local integration value of Old Town would also increase, thus encouraging more people to utilise the public space. This would help provide more revenue to the surrounding communities and promote the vitality of Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town.
(2) Create a local movement system within the temple – The local urban grid within the temple can connect and integrate to the global urban grid in the larger urban context. This would allow the spatial configuration to enhance natural movement within the local urban grid, promote the locally intensified grid structure and allow for the intensification of the movement economy process. This would result in the temple being a positive attractor rather than a negative one.
Therefore, the increasing natural movement and enhanced movement economy both within and around the temple in the Old Town may lead to the development of configurational attractors at a larger, global scale. This would have a multiplier effect on the deteriorating Old Town, resulting in it becoming a live centrality.
Based on these suggestions, the local urban grid was revised in all the spaces that had religious purposes and were negative attractors in the Old Town to connect and integrate them with the global network (Figure 9).
The local integration value (R3) was compared before and after the local urban grid revision within all temples with negative attractors in the Old Town using the paired sample t-test with a significance level of 0.05. The results indicated that R3 before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the local urban grid revision within the temples were 2.098218 and 2.391186, respectively. The statistical t-score was 8.037 while the significance was .000. Therefore, it can be concluded that after the local urban grid revision, R3 was significantly higher.
Following the local urban grid revision within all temples in the Old Town, the axial line of Ratchadamnoen Road, which is the main road of the area, was shown in warm tones, in red. It was widely distributed within the global urban grid, suggesting more natural movement within the Old Town. This reveals that it has a major influence on the restoration of this area to develop it into a live centrality.
Conceptualization, R.T.; methodology, R.T.; software, R.T.; investigation, R.T.; resources, R.T. and B.C.; data curation, R.T. and B.C.; writing—original draft preparation, R.T.; writing—review and editing, R.T.; supervision, R.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of the paper.
This research was funded by the individual research funding for year 2019 no. WU62219 from Walailak University, Thailand.
The authors are immensely grateful to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their supportive comments and beneficial and constructive remarks.
