Ioannis MARAKAKIS, NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS, Greece
Thomas CHATZICHRISTOS, NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS, Greece
Angelos SIOLAS, NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS, Greece
The urban centre has been studied by different scientific disciplines and in the context of specific parameters resulting to sole definitions such as CBD, Inner City etc. However, city centres encompass various characteristics and it is their synthesis that can most completely define their complicated meaning. Moreover, in Greece, there is insufficient statistical information concerning urban centres despite their benefits for sustainable development; thus, in order to create and apply such statistics, city centres need first to be identified spatially.
This paper investigates the spatial definition of a city centre and the creation of a "Model of Centrality". Intrinsically, it envisages the development and implementation of a methodology resulting to city centre’s spatial identification and delimitation. After research and evaluation of various centrality estimators, the most critical are analyzed and a consistent methodology of spatial modelling of the urban centre is documented.
The latter concerns the design and creation of a geodatabase in a GIS using both vector and raster data spatial analysis methods. Data management, analysis and application of weighted factors using the Delphi method of futures research are presented. The final step concerns the model’s evaluation, implementing the machine learning algorithm of Geographical Random Forest.
The resulting boundary when applied with statistical information can be used by policy makers and planners for consistent decisions taking into consideration all critical characteristics of a city’s centre. Protection, monitoring, control, forecasting and management of the ongoing changes of the centre, can also be supported more effectively.
The pilot study of all the stages of the aforementioned methodology is implemented in the centre of the municipality of Athens in Greece. The conclusions of the present work, along with its advantages and disadvantages are analyzed and presented and ongoing future research is discussed.
Mots clés : Urban centre|Spatial Analysis|GIS|Delphi Method|Geographical Random Forest
A105505IM