Author

Dr Kiril Stanilov

Date

2011-2012

Project Type

Research

Subject

Geography

Datasets

Historical County Series 1856-1969

National Grid 1943-1996

OS MasterMap

Sources: Digimap

Dates/Editions: County Series – 1st Edition, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Revisions; National Grid - 1st Edition, 1st Revision

Scales: 1:10,650, 1:10,000

Related Subjects

Town Planning; Urban Modelling; History; Transportation

Key words

Transportation; Networks; 17th century; 18th century; 19th century; urban expansion; London

Publishing Institution

GENeSIS: GENerative E-SocIal Science

Summary

We reconstructed the expansion of the transport networks (road, rail and water) in Greater London from the late 1700s to the present.  

Aims & Objectives

The project findings serve as a basis for the development of rules describing the logic underlying the evolution of transport networks in urban models. Such models can predict with greater accuracy what the spatial behaviour of the transport systems will be on the basis of known structural properties.

Methodology

We used OS historical maps to document the evolution of the road and rail networks in time series, generating snapshots of the networks in roughly 20-year increments. This longitudinal database was then used to perform a network analysis of the statistical properties of the road infrastructure system characterising its spatial behaviour over time.

Results/Outcome

Research is ongoing, and details will be updated on the project website as they become available.

References & Acknowledgements

The project was carried out under the umbrella of the GENeSIS project funded by ESRC.

Image © Copyright Kiril Stanilov, 2012