Publication date: 30 April 2025
Number of pages: 728
Number of illustrations: 370
Space Syntax
Selected papers by Bill Hillier
Laura Vaughan (Editor), John Peponis (Editor), Ruth Dalton (Editor)
Professor Bill Hillier spent most of his career at The Bartlett, University College London, where he founded and developed, with a team of colleagues, an original research programme that set the study of architecture on a firm scientific basis. His transformational way of thinking about buildings and cities influenced generations of scholars, researchers and practitioners within the built environment disciplines and way beyond – in fields ranging from archaeology and biology to physics and zoology.
Space Syntax: Selected papers by Bill Hillier provides a canon of works that reflects the progression of Hillier’s ideas from the early publications of the 1970s to his most recent work, published before his death in 2019. This selection of influential works ranges from his papers on architecture as a professional and research discipline, through to his later papers that present a theory of the spatial structure of the city and its social functions. By bringing together writing from across his career-span of half a century, with specially commissioned introductions by a wide range of international experts in the field, we are able to contextualise and show the range and evolution of Hillier’s key ideas.
Related titles
Space Syntax
Selected papers by Bill Hillier
Publication date: April 30, 2025
Open Access PDF ISBN: 9781800087712
Paperback ISBN: 9781800087705
Hardback ISBN: 9781800087699
Trim size (hardback): 24.4cm x 17cm
Trim size (paperback): 24.4cm x 17cm
Page count (hardback): 728
Professor Bill Hillier spent most of his career at The Bartlett, University College London, where he founded and developed, with a team of colleagues, an original research programme that set the study of architecture on a firm scientific basis. His transformational way of thinking about buildings and cities influenced generations of scholars, researchers and practitioners within the built environment disciplines and way beyond – in fields ranging from archaeology and biology to physics and zoology.
Space Syntax: Selected papers by Bill Hillier provides a canon of works that reflects the progression of Hillier’s ideas from the early publications of the 1970s to his most recent work, published before his death in 2019. This selection of influential works ranges from his papers on architecture as a professional and research discipline, through to his later papers that present a theory of the spatial structure of the city and its social functions. By bringing together writing from across his career-span of half a century, with specially commissioned introductions by a wide range of international experts in the field, we are able to contextualise and show the range and evolution of Hillier’s key ideas.
‘This monumental volume, edited by three leading scholars in the field… offers a long-awaited consolidation of the foundational texts of the space syntax theory… The book’s intellectual coherence, the insightful contributions and its analytical depth make it a work of enduring relevance, namely an essential reference that will continue to influence and enrich the discourse on urban form and spatial theory for years to come.’
Urban Morphology
‘Space Syntax: Selected Papers by Bill Hillier is a landmark publication that consolidates Bill Hillier’s pioneering influence in spatial theory while remaining open to future interpretation and application. It is a must-read for students and practitioners of architecture, urban planning, geography, and spatial cognition.’
European Spatial research and Policy
