Creating vibrant urban places is a challenging task in urban design due to the intangible feature of
urbanity. This paper presents Form Syntax, a design analytical tool that is capable of assisting urbanity making in
design practices based on understandings of three essential urban morphological elements and their influences
on urbanity. Using the geographical information system (GIS), Form Syntax integrates three methods—Space
Syntax, Spacematrix, and Mixed-Use Index—to measure the street-network configuration, building density, and
functional mix, respectively. These three components can be quantified and combined to represent urban
morphological features, thereby providing a classification of the degree of urbanity. Form Syntax contributes to
geodesign by combining quantitative tools with traditional, intuition-based design to achieve a clear visualisation
of the degree of urbanity of a place, which can subsequently be used to propose spatial strategies for
enhancing vibrant urban places. The Dutch city of Rotterdam is used to illustrate how the tool improves the
traditional site analysis, idea evaluation, and proposal evaluation phases of urban desig

• ‘‘Form Syntax’’ as a contribution to geodesign: A morphological tool for urbanity-making in urban design