Compare methods

	Figure-Ground Analysis	Space Syntax Analysis
Field	Urban Studies	Architecture
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1986	1984
Originator	Giambattista Nolli (Nolli map, 1748); Roger Trancik (figure-ground theory)	Bill Hillier, Julienne Hanson
Type	Pipeline for mapping and measuring built mass versus open space in urban fabric	graph-based spatial assessment method
Seminal source	Trancik, R. (1986). Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design. Wiley. ISBN: 9780471289562	Hillier, B. (1984). The Social Logic of Space. Cambridge University Press.
Aliases	Solid-Void Analysis, Nolli Map Analysis, Poché Mapping, Built-Mass and Open-Space Analysis	spatial configuration analysis, graph-based space analysis
Related	4	3
Summary	Figure-ground analysis is an urban-design technique that maps a city as a pattern of solids and voids — buildings rendered as black figure against the white ground of streets, squares, and open space (or vice versa) — to reveal the structure, density, and spatial quality of the urban fabric. Descended from Giambattista Nolli's 1748 map of Rome, it makes legible the relationship between built mass and open space that ordinary plans obscure. Roger Trancik's 1986 Finding Lost Space established it as a core method of contemporary urban-design theory, arguing that good cities are defined as much by the shape of their voids as by their buildings.	Space Syntax Analysis is a quantitative method for assessing spatial configuration in buildings and urban environments through graph-based representations. Developed by Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson in the 1980s, it quantifies how spatial layout affects human movement, visibility, and social interaction.