The use of graphs to explore the network paradigm in urban and territorial studies

Abstract

As a result of the evolution of the ways of inhabiting and of the ways the economy has evolved in the post-industrial age, the network paradigm has become the most appropriate framework to describe urban and territorial processes. In overcoming the vision of space as a set of areas and points in which the reciprocal position is the main object of the analysis, exploring of internal and external relations to settlement and production systems has become the key element for examining reality. Therefore, finding appropriate tools and methods for examining networks has become fundamental in the studies aimed at understanding the city and territory. In this framework, the graph theory, which allows an analysis of the metric and topological properties of binary relationships represents an increasingly used means for modelling and studying networks also in the science of planning. The visualizations that can be achieved by graph theory in terms of urban and territorial processes have the potential to produce intelligible images of complex phenomena, which, otherwise, would be difficult to describe. The graphic representation of the urban and territorial phenomena is decisive, but sometimes it is underused in influencing public opinion and also the opinions of decision makers and administrators. In this framework this paper reflects on the effectiveness of graphs for exploring the network paradigm in urban and territorial areas under different profiles: communicative effectiveness, analytical effectiveness and interpretive effectiveness.