Space Syntax

This is our first axial analysis of Banda Aceh.
The thin colored lines represent all streets, from narrow sandy ones to the main roads of the city. The red (dark orange) lines show the streets with the highest integration values, while the blue ones are the most segregated axes. These values have been calculated by the software of Depthmap.
In a layer on top of this axial map, the thick red and pink lines show which parts of the city have been hit by the tsunami.



The pre-tsunami axial map is identical to the post-tsunami one. We think this is due to the following:

- The flat infrastructure hasn’t been damaged much by the big horizontal forces of the tsunami.
- Because of their slight elevation (constructed in that manner for drainage to the open sewer system and rice paddies) roads became one of the first visible remaining structures when the water (and debris) pulled back.
- New houses were built on locations according to land tenure. This gave no room for radical new planning of infrastructure.

While the axial structure of Banda Aceh hasn’t changed after the tsunami, the built up area has. We have seen several parts of the city that show foundations and tiled floors of destroyed houses, creating new ‘undefined’ voids in the urban structure.