Syntactic Analysis of Settlements

This paper introduces a model for the representation, analysis and interpretation of settlement space: syntactic analysis. The model of analysis sees a settlement as a bi-polar system, arranged between the entrances to buildings and the world outside the settlement. The structure of space between these two domains is seen as a means of interfacing two kinds of relations: those among the inhabitants of the settlement and those between inhabitants and strangers. The essence of the method of analysis is that it establishes a way of dealing with the global physical structure of a settlement without losing sight of its social structure; and second - a function of the first - it establishes a method of describing space in such a way as to make its social origins and consequences a part of that description. It is proposed that it is precisely in the relations between local and global structure that traditional and vernacular settlements can be characterized and classified spatially.