Logic of Traditional Korean Settlements Nakan, Hahoe and Yangdong villages

Little research has been done regarding the explicit and objective analysis and explanation of the spatial logic of traditional Korean settlement patterns, in spite of many archeological and socio-historical studies. In this paper we present research into spatial mechanisms and their social meanings in three traditional villages in the southern province of Korea. Conventional space-syntax analysis of spatial configuration has been used to analysis and investigate the morphological forms and functions of the traditional villages. The research results show that the traditional Korean villages are spatially deeper and syntactically less connected than other comparable urban forms, such as old European cities. Configurational analysis of the three villages reveals that their spatial structures are configured to have their own spatial logic, not a geometric order but a spatial structure. What is however noteworthy is the way they embrace their own environmental context and factors and implement them into the process of urban growth or spatial construction.