Centers all the way down: a study of centrality in the modern city

This thesis will empirically examine the distribution of centers of commercial activity in the modern city. Using measures of built space for different types of activity in Atlanta, we will map the distribution of activity in the city; then we will derive the system of centers distributed throughout the city. This system of centers will be sorted into scales, from global to local, so that the morphological properties of the street network associated with each scale may be analyzed using space syntax and other tools. We will then compare the distribution of centers in different portions of Atlanta, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Finally, we will compate the emergent distribution of centers to distributions proposed by Doxiadis, Alexander, Central Place Theory, and others.MSCommittee Chair: Peponis, John; Committee Co-Chair: Dobbins, Michael; Committee Member: Yang, Perr