Functional signatures in Great Britain: A dataset

Area of Science:

• Urban studies
• Geographic Information Science
• Spatial analysis

Background:

• Urban function significantly shapes how city areas are perceived and experienced.
• Existing methods often simplify urban function to singular uses, overlooking its composite nature.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and apply the concept of functional signatures for mapping urban function.
• To create a detailed dataset of urban function across Great Britain using granular spatial units.
• To ensure the reproducibility and openness of the data and methodology.

Main Methods:

• Utilized enclosed tessellation cells (ETCs) as granular spatial units.
• Interpolated urban function data from diverse open sources including remote sensing, land use, census, and points of interest.
• Applied cluster analysis to group ETCs with similar functional profiles, defining functional signatures.

Main Results:

• Developed a dataset reflecting urban function as a composite of multiple aspects, not a singular use.
• Classified urban areas into 17 distinct types of functional signatures.
• The methodology and underlying data are fully open and reproducible.

Conclusions:

• Functional signatures offer a nuanced understanding of urban spatial organization.
• The open data product and reproducible pipeline facilitate further research in urban studies and planning.
• This approach enhances the granular analysis of urban environments.