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Ref: Porta S, Latora V. (2008), The spatial analysis of urban systems: Multiple Centrality Assessment and the dynamics on street networks, in Hasic T (ed), ‘New Urbanism and beyond: the future of urban design’, Rizzoli International, New York, NY.
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How can we understand where to locate shops and retail services in a proposed development? Where can we place the main hall in a company headquarter? What impact can we expect from the realizing a new bridge or road on the rest of a city system? How can we better integrate a neighborhood (like a social housing estate) in its immediate and global surroundings? These are all crucial questions in sustainable urban design processes and centrality, it turns out, is a driving force in all this. MCA, as a tool for managing centrality in real spatial systems at all scales, can help decision makers directly and efficiently with scientifically-based assistance in processes of architectural and urban design.