Multifractal analysis of axial maps applied to the study of urban morphology

Street layout is an important element of urban morphology that informs on urban patterns influenced by city growing through the years under different planning regulations and different socio-economic contexts. It is assumed by several authors that urban morphology has a fractal or monofractal nature. However, not all the urban patterns can be considered as monofractal because of the presence of different morphologies. Therefore, a single fractal dimension may not always be enough to describe urban morphology. In this sense, a multifractal approach serves to tackle this problem by describing urban areas in terms of a set of fractal dimensions. With this aim in mind, two different neighbourhoods of the city of Cordoba, in Andalusia (Spain), are analysed by using the Sandbox multifractal method and lacunarity. We analyse the street patterns represented by axial maps and obtained from the Space Syntax algorithm. The results suggest that the Rényi dimension spectrum is superior to a single fractal dimension to describe the urban morphology of Cordoba, given the presence of regular and irregular street layouts established under different planning and socio-economic regimes.

► Urban morphology can be represented by axial maps.
► Irregular morphology exhibits multifractal nature.
► Sandbox method provides a suitable description of different urban geometries.