Architecture done Right: Locational Logics [ PABLO JENSEN ]

http://perso.ens-lyon.fr/pablo.jensen/
http://lpmcn.univ-lyon1.fr/~jensen/

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Lucrative store locations pinpointed by new model

    * 10:00 07 October 2006
    * From New Scientist Print Edition.

The old mantra about the three most important factors for a shop's 
success - location, location and location - has been borne out by a new 
mathematical model. It could help retailers pinpoint lucrative sites for 
their stores.

Physicist Pablo Jensen from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon, 
France, analysed location records for more than 8500 retail outlets in 
the city. He found that the shops formed clusters, with shops such as 
butchers and delicatessens in one group, for example, and laundromats 
and bookstores in another. Stores of the same group seemed to attract 
each other, while stores from different groups repelled each other.

cont'd....
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10242-lucrative-store-locations-pinpointed-by-new-model.html

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In "Atomic Physics Predicts Successful Store Location, LiveScience 
reports that a French physicist has applied methods used to study atomic 
interactions for another task: "help business owners find the best 
places to locate their stores." Pablo Jensen has used his method for the 
city of Lyon and is now developing software with the local Chamber of 
Commerce to help future business owners. But read more…

Here are short excerpts from the LiveScience article.

    Researcher Pablo Jensen, a computational physicist at the Ecole 
Normale Supérieure of Lyon, France, studied the locations of businesses 
in that city. His goal was to determine which varieties of stores seem 
to draw or drive away other types of stores, much as how different kinds 
of atoms can attract or repel each other due to their electric and 
magnetic properties.

    To see how well one kind of business, such as furniture stores, 
attracted or repelled other types of stores, such as delis or 
hairdressers, Jensen looked at each kind of store and then examined what 
other sorts of businesses were or were not found within a 300-foot 
radius, which he judged as a typical distance a customer accepts to walk 
to visit different stores. He then plugged those numbers into 
calculations that are normally used to study atomic interactions.

As writes Pablo Jensen, "walking in any big city reveals the extreme 
diversity of retail store location patterns."

cont'd....
http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=369

(image: map of Lyon showing the location of all retail stores, with 
separate icons for shoe stores, furniture dealers and drugstores. 
(Credit: Pablo Jensen))