Configurational Economies: The Value of Accessibility in Urban Development

This research is an effort to understand the theoretical foundations of how the configuration of space is interrelated with the economic properties that sustain the built fabric. The argument is based on unfolding accessibility in two perspectives: As a spatial parameter that understands urban form as a system of relational patterns of connections that organises human activity. And as an economic parameter that can be valued under specific price mechanisms of urban properties. The paper shows a first preliminary study of testing street prices with spatial accessibility measures. The method was to use current house prices with Space Syntax techniques, a spatial analysis tool that outputs measures of connectivity and accessibility represented in a street network. Overall, economy contributes on the shape of our cities that prevail in the spatial relations of the built form, resulting in new configurational economies.