Great buildings face outwards not inwards: So do great organisations

T he built environment sector has never lacked talent, creativity or intent but, too often, the industry has relied on gut instinct. Where it does exist, scientific knowledge has remained siloed within disciplines, organisations or proprietary systems. At a time of growing urban complexity and urgent environmental and social challenges, we need a more open, evidence-based culture that allows professionals to build on one another’s insights to make better decisions faster.

 

Knowledge-sharing should be a central plank of real estate practice, with data and insights flowing both within organisations as well as between them, spanning the public/private threshold, and connecting the too-often separated worlds of academia and professional practice. 

 

There are many ways to make this happen: by publishing findings in the media, uploading data to online stores, licensing models for use by others and even opening up the source code of these models so that they can be worked on by multiple individuals and agencies. Some organisations will allow free access to their knowledge and others will provide paid-for services, or a blend of both. 

 

Regardless of the cost, the key is for those involved to be driven by the desire to share in the first place. Our own experience suggests that the demand for training in transparent, verified methods is growing, especially when these methods address the creation of social and environmental value as well as economic returns. A lesson for the development industry is, like great buildings, to face outwards not inwards, to contribute to a common realm of real estate intelligence and, in doing so, draw from that shared knowledge.

 

This matters because knowledge is a resource that can be amplified in its impact through dissemination, challenge and collaborative development. Models and methods matter, but only when they are applied in practice and open to scrutiny. Insights matter, but only gain real value and genuine respect when they are shared. This may not be the prevailing view of an industry that protects its sources and guards its secrets, but our experience suggests that it’s still possible to do this within a culture of sharing. After all, a city is a collection of private places held together by a network of public ones. Our approach to knowledge could follow this dual model.

 

Urban systems are complex, and complexity can be paralysing. One way through this is to recognise that almost every act in cities, whether economic, social, environmental or cultural, has a locational dimension. When that ‘place’ layer becomes visible and understandable it enables better conversations between disciplines. Maps of everyday human behaviour – recording where people walk, sit, talk or even where they lose their way and start looking around for help – create a common ground for shared learning. 

 

This is the lesson of Trafalgar Square where, in the mid-1990s, we followed 300 people as they navigated the old square from one side to the other. We quickly realised that less than 1% of them walked across the centre of the space itself. The central staircase was in large part inspired by this analysis: a bold design idea supported through the planning process by the evidence of the initial observation study. Cities are complicated and development decisions contested, but place-based, human-focused data helps make them understandable, provokes ‘common sense’ proposals to change them and provides arguments to bring sides together to agree them.

 

It is also a question of connection, not just between datasets or disciplines but between developers and communities, designers and users. When these relationships are structured around evidence and shared understanding, projects deliver more enduring value. This principle plays out clearly in the world of property development. Just as knowledge delivers more value when it is shared, so does urban space. Developments that turn outward - facing the street, connecting with public life and embracing their neighbours - consistently outperform those that close themselves off. 

 

 

For example, we learned at Broadgate in the late 1980s that the success of the project was built on exactly this kind of openness. Over three-quarters of everyone moving along its pedestrian lanes were just passing through and most people sitting in its spaces didn’t work there. This kind of openness, built on a simply connected set of ‘desire lines’, helped drive Broadgate’s commercial performance and set a new standard for real estate in the UK.

 

Sharing property data builds bridges between professions, facilitating a shared understanding. A common challenge in urban development is that architects, planners, transport engineers, economists and community engagement specialists speak different professional languages. But when people can see and understand how physical and spatial design features affect real estate performance - whether that’s economic, social or environmental value - then those silos begin to break down. Focusing the conversation onto people and space brings those languages into dialogue, creating a shared understanding that allows projects to cope with different, often competing, interests.

 

Well-designed places have the power to nurture thriving communities. This may sound like a bold claim, but it’s grounded in something solid: evidence. Our story begins in the 1970s at the Bartlett, University College London, where early work focused on studying human behaviour and writing algorithms to explain how, for example, pedestrian movement patterns in cities are hugely influenced by spatial layouts and land use attractions. The UCL researchers pioneered some of the earliest uses of AI to unpack the seemingly labyrinthine complexity of cities. Over time, this evolved into a methodology that is now taught in hundreds of universities worldwide. Space Syntax was established in 1989 to bring the approach into practice, to translate scientific methods into practical tools for industry. The company’s early support came from architects such as Norman Foster and developers like Stuart Lipton, who recognised the value of evidence-based spatial thinking.

 

 

We know from experience that public realm design is never neutral. The way a neighbourhood connects to itself and to the wider city affects everything from how people move and meet, to how safe they feel, how socially integrated they are, and even how carbon-intensive their daily lives become. Spaces that connect well foster economic activity, social inclusion and public safety. Spaces that are poorly connected can isolate communities, hinder opportunity and damage long-term investment. Working on the regeneration of the Elephant and Castle taught us that converting a vehicular-oriented road network - with notorious pedestrian underpasses - into a series of people-first streets and public spaces was not just a technical fix. It transformed how people experienced and used the area, restoring the civic character of the place.

 

At St David’s Centre in Cardiff, a forecast model was used to estimate that 38 million people a year would walk through the proposed new development. This model combined data on spatial connectivity, land use attraction, and transport infrastructure in a simple, highly graphic way, showing the relative influence of each on pedestrian flows. The results gave the investment team confidence to implement a more connected, pedestrian-friendly design. Post-opening surveys recorded 40 million visitors over the year – a validation for all involved. 

 

Of course, data-driven models have been around for some time. Who hasn’t had to suffer the consequences of a traffic model saying that something is impossible when common sense suggests it should have been done yesterday? Yet the traffic model is often impossible to challenge because its assumptions are hugely complex and impenetrable to the uninitiated. Genuine knowledge exchange requires dialogue built on shared understanding and key to this are the principles of simplicity and transparency. Simplicity accelerates learning; transparency allows models to be challenged, improved, reused, and adapted. In combination the openness they engender builds relationships of trust.

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Tim Stonor is an architect and urban planner specialising in the design of human behaviour patterns – the ways in which people move, interact and transact in buildings and urban places. He is recognised internationally for his work in the development and application of data-driven design techniques, including generative AI, to create places in which human life thrives. Tim was appointed Managing Director of Space Syntax in 1995. He has led this architectural and urban planning practice from its origins at The Bartlett, University College London to its position today as a practice operating globally

Dr Valentina Marin Maureira joined Space Syntax in 2016 and became an Associate Director in 2025. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Advanced Spatial Analysis, a Master of Science in Spatial Design and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture