I do not think there are any "Standards" in this regard. Nicos has definitely dealt in this matter but not regarding street hierarchy.

I further add "do not seek standards, create standards not for universal application but local specific.

Thanks Marija, Mukund. Also, Mukund's comment about standards is worth a discussion by itself, as I face this question at the moment.

Marija, I did some googling on Nicos Salingaros and came across something called "emergent urbanism". I am not sure where to start reading. You say Nicos has an article about hierarchy of connections in a city - do you have a link or title for it please, maybe I could start with that article?

Thanks for both your updates Marija. They are both very helpful.

Marija, I read through Nicos' article yesterday. It is really interesting, and has some good stuff on scales and on sensible land use planning. (I wonder if there is a difference between Nicos' ideas and what planners actually do in practice).

Thanks for both new comments Marija. I am happy if I have been of any motivational help!. What is the topic of your thesis?

Professor John Ellsworth, retired, from Utah State University Landscape Architecture Program, is a visual design research expert. You might try googling him or contacting Utah State to see if you can get a contact. He may be able to help.

Marija, I now think that road networks are fractal and that it should be possible to determine some sequence of scale steps. Road networks only exist as part of land use / movement combinations, and from Nico's paper for example I think land use is scalar and fractal, and should therefore have the same scale steps as for road networks.. At this point, I have some ideas but am getting a bit out of my depth. It sounds like you want to come up with some practical uses / implementations of fractal studies and urban space, which would be very good - but as you say, possibly too ambitious. Maybe you should split your research into two parts: (a) to get a pass with your thesis without excessive work load and (b) to develop practical uses of fractal urban studies?.

Thanks Joseph, I will try that

Marija, I will work up one idea and publish it in a blog post (perhaps it would bring in some constructive responses). Also, maybe someone (or some university) should set up a working group on "urban planning and the practical use of fractals."

There is a French company that is doing work on city planning based on various factors, which seemed quite interesting. I think they were working a prototype with the city of Lyon if I recall correctly. I will try to remember their name and pass along some info. They had developed some software that was somehow tied in with my company, Dassault Systemes, also French-based, tho I work in Massachusetts. tks.

The company name is Veolia. They have been collaborating with Dassault Systemes on city planning, but the videos etc are all internal on a private wiki, so I cannot share them. I suggest you go to this page as a start, and you can try contacting them if you need more info. http://www.veolia.com/en/innovation/public-services/

Good luck with your research.

Thanks Joseph and Marija, I will follow up your suggestions in the coming week.

I blogged a note on road hierarchy which also refers to Nikos Salingaros - thanks for the introduction to his writings Marija.

http://wp.me/p27Pox-42

I posted a note on "road hierarchy and scale" (see link). This attempts to link roads and scale and suggests speed steps can be indicators of different scale. There might be a fractal relationship here.

I am not sure that the note relates to "place" - in fact I wonder if a sense of place changes with speed (you have a full sense of place at 0 km/hr, and a zero sense of the place outside your car when travelling at 100 km/hr).

http://wp.me/p27Pox-4c