Se p 20 07 Scaling and Universality in City Space Syntax : between Zipf and

We report about universality of rank-integration distributions of open spaces in city space syntax similar to the famous rank-size distributions of cities (Zipf's law). We also demonstrate that the degree of choice an open space represents for other spaces directly linked to it in a city follows a power law statistic. Universal statistical behavior of space syntax measures uncovers the universality of the city creation mechanism. We suggest that the observed universality may help to establish the international definition of a city as a specific land use pattern. 1 Graphs and space syntax of urban environments Urban space is of rather large scale to be seen from a single viewpoint ; maps provide us with its representations by means of abstract symbols facilitating our perceiving and understanding of a city. The