The Impact of University Campuses on City Urbanization: A Syntactic and Socio-Spatial Analysis of Kyushu University Campuses in Japan

Abstract

Received: 23 October 2021 Accepted: 23 November 2021 University campuses play a significant role in city transformation to the extent that depends on campuses’ openness and location. Therefore, open campuses provide various sets of values to city urbanization different from gated ones. Thus, this study provides a comparative syntactic and socio-spatial analysis between a gated campus and an open one in two different urban settings using space syntax methodology and cell statistical analysis to highlight the impact of campus’s openness and location on city’s urban growth. Case studies were chosen from Kyushu University to compare between Ohashi campus and Ito campus. Both campuses and a surrounding buffer area of 5 km radius have been analysed using angular segment analysis to examine campuses’ integration and accessibility. Furthermore, socio-economic data were adapted with syntactic analysis results to show the potential effects of campuses on their surrounding socio-spatial temporal change from 2008 till 2017. Results have shown that Ito campus has the potentials to contribute to the urban growth of Fukuoka city more than Ohashi campus. However, Ito campus’s accessibility limitations have shown to hinder its impact on city’s transformation due to its far location unlike Ohashi campus. Therefore, campus’s openness and location could promote or hinder city urbanization in intentional or ingenuous ways.