Editing Space syntax (section)

==History==
Space syntax originated as a programme research in the early 1970s when Bill Hillier, Adrian Leaman and Alan Beattie came together at the School of Environmental Studies at University College London (now part of the Bartlett School of Architecture). Bill Hillier had been appointed Director of the Unit for Architectural Studies (UAS) as successor to John Musgrove. They established a new MSc programme in Advanced Architectural Studies and embarked on a programme of research aimed at developing a theoretical basis for architecture. Previously Bill Hillier had written papers with others as secretary to the RIBA, notably 'Knowledge and Design' and 'How is Design Possible'. These laid the theoretical foundation for a series of studies that sought to clarify how the built environment relates to society. One of the first cohorts of students on the MScAAS was Julienne Hanson who went on to co-author ''The Social Logic of Space'' (SLS) with Bill Hillier (CUP, 1984).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/social-logic-of-space/6B0A078C79A74F0CC615ACD8B250A985 |title=The Social Logic of Space |author1=Bill Hillier|author2=Julienne Hanson |date=June 1984 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |website=Cambridge Core |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511597237|isbn=9780521233651 |access-date=2019-04-10}}</ref> This brought together in one place a comprehensive review of the programme of research up to that point, but also developed a full theoretical account for how the buildings and settlements we construct an not merely the product of social processes, but also play a role in producing social forms. SLS also developed an analytic approach to representation and quantification of spatial configuration at the building and the settlement scale, making possible both comparative studies as well as analysis of the relationship between spatial configuration and aspect of social function in the built environment. These methods coupled to the social theories have turned out to have a good deal of explanatory power. Space syntax has grown to become a tool used around the world in a variety of research areas and design applications in [[architecture]], [[urban design]], [[urban planning]], [[transport]] and [[interior design]]. Many prominent design applications have been made by the architectural and urban planning practice [[Space Syntax Limited]], which was founded at [[The Bartlett]], [[University College London]] in 1989. These include the redesign of Trafalgar Square with Foster and Partners and the Pedestrian Movement Model for the [[City of London]].

Over the past decade, Space syntax techniques have been used for research in [[archaeology]], [[information technology]], urban and human [[geography]], and [[anthropology]]. Since 1997, the Space syntax community has held biennial conferences, and many journal papers have been published on the subject, chiefly in [[Environment and Planning B]].