Elek Pafka
Biographic Data
| ID | 6010259 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elek Pafka |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elek |
| FAMILY NAME | Pafka |
| SIGNATURE | PAFKA E |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Melbourne |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5095-4206 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 45 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Becoming durable–becoming makeshift
Urban block enclosure and labyrinthineness
This paper proposes two new urban morphological measures: Block Enclosure Ratio (BER) and Block Labyrinthineness Ratio (BLR). BER captures the built-up ratio of the block perimeter, linked to the sense of enclosure. BLR is the ratio between the shortest route around a block and its total perimeter, capturing how labyrinthine its shape is. The analytical value of these metrics is demonstrated based on the case study of Paris. Results indicate that…
Walkability
Walkability has become a key focus of urban research, linked to the aims of reversing car‐dependence and re‐enabling walking as a healthy, environmentally sustainable and sociable mode of mobility. This thematic issue presents a collection of articles using cutting‐edge research methods ranging from walk‐along interviews to statistical analysis of historic photography, topological and morphological analysis of street networks, and analysis of the…
Capturing spatial inequalities
Social inequity is a global problem that often acutely materialises in cities, where people with lower incomes have reduced access to open spaces. This article examines how walkable access to open spaces mediated by urban morphology and topography differs for people with contrasting income profiles. Taking Lima as a case study, the spatial analysis adapted GIS tools to consider the steep slopes of informal settlements. The combined mapping and me…
“Density Done Well” in the Pursuit of 20-Minute Neighbourhoods
The pursuit of 20-minute neighbourhoods has been recently combined with calls for “density done well”. However, this catch-phrase is not well defined in planning policy and there is little understanding of what is being meant by it. This article investigates its meanings and how it may or may not contribute towards more liveable cities. Semi-structured interviews and analysis of participants’ examples showed a multiplicity of nuanced and diverse …
Multi-scalar urban densities
Extremes of mixed-use architecture
The concept of mixed-use is now well-established as an urban design and planning principle that adds to the vitality, walkability and productivity of the city at neighbourhood scale. There is much less research on the dense and complex vertical mix of functions within buildings. This paper investigates the extremes of informal vertical mixing of functions within buildings in Dhaka, where commercial and retail functions often penetrate to upper fl…
The spatial logic of informal street vending in Manila
While informal street vending is defined by its location in urban public space, the spatialities of street vending are often reduced to generic context. Applying an assemblage approach, we analyse the spatial logic of street vending in metropolitan Manila at multiple scales. Findings show how intensities of trading are unevenly distributed, and geared to urban morphologies, pedestrian flows, redundant spatial niches, codes of control and competin…
Mapping the ‘beat’
This paper explores how morphological conditions have mediated the evolution of live music venues in Melbourne. Three inner-city creative milieus have been selected in which the frequency of live music gigs shows different patterns of change: emergence, resilience and decline. The urban DMA—density, mix, access—of the study areas was mapped, as the synergies between these attributes have been linked to the emerging ‘atmosphere’ of creative places…
Shopping morphologies of urban transit station areas
Synergies between shopping and public transit have long been noted, with main streets emerging along tram lines and shopping malls attached to train stations. The shopping-transit synergy is also at the core of transit-oriented development (TOD), a widespread planning approach to urban sustainability. However, there is a lack of morphological research investigating how shopping clusters around transit stations at a fine-geographic scale. This pap…
Limits of space syntax for urban design
Space syntax analysis of the city as a movement economy has made major contributions to our understanding of the spatial structure of cities, particularly the importance of a mapping of network integration in relation to density, functional mix and streetlife vitality. It has focused attention of urban researchers onto the importance of the relations between the sociality and spatiality of the city. The primary methods of syntactic analysis invol…
What is walkability? The urban DMA
The concept of urban ‘walkability’ has come to occupy a key role at the nexus of a series of multidisciplinary fields connecting urban design and planning to broader issues of public health, climate change, economic productivity and social equity. Yet the concept of walkability itself remains elusive – difficult to define or operationalise. Density, functional mix and access networks are well-recognised as key factors: density concentrates more p…
AwaP-IC—An Open-Source GIS Tool for Measuring Walkable Access
Within the broad field of walkability research, a key area of focus has been the relationship between urban form and capacities for walking. Measures of walkable access can be grouped into two key types: permeability measures that quantify the ease of movement through an urban fabric, and catchment measures, quantifying the potential to reach destinations within walking distance. Of numerous street network measures in use, it has been shown that …
Agglomeration and assemblage
In two recent papers Storper and Scott have sought to counter the rise of assemblage thinking in urban studies, suggesting it is indeterminate, jargon-ridden and particularist – that it lacks a critique of power. Against such approaches they propose the ‘nature of cities’ as an ‘urban land nexus’ driven by the economics of agglomeration. In this paper we respond, largely agreeing on jargon yet arguing that assemblage is a form of critical urban t…
What is walkability? The urban DMA
The concept of urban ‘walkability’ has come to occupy a key role at the nexus of a series of multidisciplinary fields connecting urban design and planning to broader issues of public health, climate change, economic productivity and social equity. Yet the concept of walkability itself remains elusive – difficult to define or operationalise. Density, functional mix and access networks are well-recognised as key factors: density concentrates more p…
Agglomeration and assemblage
In two recent papers Storper and Scott have sought to counter the rise of assemblage thinking in urban studies, suggesting it is indeterminate, jargon-ridden and particularist – that it lacks a critique of power. Against such approaches they propose the ‘nature of cities’ as an ‘urban land nexus’ driven by the economics of agglomeration. In this paper we respond, largely agreeing on jargon yet arguing that assemblage is a form of critical urban t…
The spatial logic of informal street vending in Manila
While informal street vending is defined by its location in urban public space, the spatialities of street vending are often reduced to generic context. Applying an assemblage approach, we analyse the spatial logic of street vending in metropolitan Manila at multiple scales. Findings show how intensities of trading are unevenly distributed, and geared to urban morphologies, pedestrian flows, redundant spatial niches, codes of control and competin…
Shopping morphologies of urban transit station areas
Synergies between shopping and public transit have long been noted, with main streets emerging along tram lines and shopping malls attached to train stations. The shopping-transit synergy is also at the core of transit-oriented development (TOD), a widespread planning approach to urban sustainability. However, there is a lack of morphological research investigating how shopping clusters around transit stations at a fine-geographic scale. This pap…
AwaP-IC—An Open-Source GIS Tool for Measuring Walkable Access
Within the broad field of walkability research, a key area of focus has been the relationship between urban form and capacities for walking. Measures of walkable access can be grouped into two key types: permeability measures that quantify the ease of movement through an urban fabric, and catchment measures, quantifying the potential to reach destinations within walking distance. Of numerous street network measures in use, it has been shown that …
Agglomeration and assemblage
In two recent papers Storper and Scott have sought to counter the rise of assemblage thinking in urban studies, suggesting it is indeterminate, jargon-ridden and particularist – that it lacks a critique of power. Against such approaches they propose the ‘nature of cities’ as an ‘urban land nexus’ driven by the economics of agglomeration. In this paper we respond, largely agreeing on jargon yet arguing that assemblage is a form of critical urban t…
AwaP-IC—An Open-Source GIS Tool for Measuring Walkable Access
Within the broad field of walkability research, a key area of focus has been the relationship between urban form and capacities for walking. Measures of walkable access can be grouped into two key types: permeability measures that quantify the ease of movement through an urban fabric, and catchment measures, quantifying the potential to reach destinations within walking distance. Of numerous street network measures in use, it has been shown that …
Limits of space syntax for urban design
Space syntax analysis of the city as a movement economy has made major contributions to our understanding of the spatial structure of cities, particularly the importance of a mapping of network integration in relation to density, functional mix and streetlife vitality. It has focused attention of urban researchers onto the importance of the relations between the sociality and spatiality of the city. The primary methods of syntactic analysis invol…
What is walkability? The urban DMA
The concept of urban ‘walkability’ has come to occupy a key role at the nexus of a series of multidisciplinary fields connecting urban design and planning to broader issues of public health, climate change, economic productivity and social equity. Yet the concept of walkability itself remains elusive – difficult to define or operationalise. Density, functional mix and access networks are well-recognised as key factors: density concentrates more p…
Mapping the ‘beat’
This paper explores how morphological conditions have mediated the evolution of live music venues in Melbourne. Three inner-city creative milieus have been selected in which the frequency of live music gigs shows different patterns of change: emergence, resilience and decline. The urban DMA—density, mix, access—of the study areas was mapped, as the synergies between these attributes have been linked to the emerging ‘atmosphere’ of creative places…
Shopping morphologies of urban transit station areas
Synergies between shopping and public transit have long been noted, with main streets emerging along tram lines and shopping malls attached to train stations. The shopping-transit synergy is also at the core of transit-oriented development (TOD), a widespread planning approach to urban sustainability. However, there is a lack of morphological research investigating how shopping clusters around transit stations at a fine-geographic scale. This pap…
Multi-scalar urban densities
Extremes of mixed-use architecture
The concept of mixed-use is now well-established as an urban design and planning principle that adds to the vitality, walkability and productivity of the city at neighbourhood scale. There is much less research on the dense and complex vertical mix of functions within buildings. This paper investigates the extremes of informal vertical mixing of functions within buildings in Dhaka, where commercial and retail functions often penetrate to upper fl…
The spatial logic of informal street vending in Manila
While informal street vending is defined by its location in urban public space, the spatialities of street vending are often reduced to generic context. Applying an assemblage approach, we analyse the spatial logic of street vending in metropolitan Manila at multiple scales. Findings show how intensities of trading are unevenly distributed, and geared to urban morphologies, pedestrian flows, redundant spatial niches, codes of control and competin…
“Density Done Well” in the Pursuit of 20-Minute Neighbourhoods
The pursuit of 20-minute neighbourhoods has been recently combined with calls for “density done well”. However, this catch-phrase is not well defined in planning policy and there is little understanding of what is being meant by it. This article investigates its meanings and how it may or may not contribute towards more liveable cities. Semi-structured interviews and analysis of participants’ examples showed a multiplicity of nuanced and diverse …
Capturing spatial inequalities
Social inequity is a global problem that often acutely materialises in cities, where people with lower incomes have reduced access to open spaces. This article examines how walkable access to open spaces mediated by urban morphology and topography differs for people with contrasting income profiles. Taking Lima as a case study, the spatial analysis adapted GIS tools to consider the steep slopes of informal settlements. The combined mapping and me…
Walkability
Walkability has become a key focus of urban research, linked to the aims of reversing car‐dependence and re‐enabling walking as a healthy, environmentally sustainable and sociable mode of mobility. This thematic issue presents a collection of articles using cutting‐edge research methods ranging from walk‐along interviews to statistical analysis of historic photography, topological and morphological analysis of street networks, and analysis of the…
Becoming durable–becoming makeshift
Urban block enclosure and labyrinthineness
This paper proposes two new urban morphological measures: Block Enclosure Ratio (BER) and Block Labyrinthineness Ratio (BLR). BER captures the built-up ratio of the block perimeter, linked to the sense of enclosure. BLR is the ratio between the shortest route around a block and its total perimeter, capturing how labyrinthine its shape is. The analytical value of these metrics is demonstrated based on the case study of Paris. Results indicate that…
Engineering (10 works) · Geography (10 works) · Civil engineering (9 works) · Land Use and Ecosystem Services (8 works) · Urban Transport and Accessibility (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Economic geography (7 works) · Urban Design and Spatial Analysis (7 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Economic growth (5 works)