SpaceViz co-founder Yorgos has been working closely with Allies and Morrison, Urban Practitioners for the past 4 years. When the team was commissioned by Historic England to identify the different character areas of London and to analyse their impact on development growth and density, it seemed like the perfect project for large-scale mapping investigation.

Identifying London's character areas was a challenging and complex process. To show a richer tapestry of space typologies, the team drew upon a vast range of information and data sources which was then compiled using GIS. The key output was the production of an interactive, London-wide mapping tool illustrating each character area’s complexity and forming the basis for a new kind of area assessment process that considers character factors like street morphology, variety, street relationship, building typologies and green spaces to steer the density and form of development.

The project won the RIBA President's Award for Research 2017 and the main character map of London is featured in the 2017 London Plan.