Configurational morphogenesis under rapid expansion: Access network adaptations in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh

This paper presents a multi-temporal, multi-layered analysis of the configurational morphogenesis of Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh as a critical case study. In particular, it investigates the configurational adaptations of the access network from incremental growth to rapid expansion, and the extent to which topography has enabled or constrained the network’s spatial transformations over time. The study adopts an exploratory approach and engages with a range of interconnected spatial variables. Using Space Syntax angular segment analysis at local and global radii, six time slices (2002–2025) are analysed for integration, choice, and intelligibility. A slope-range index from SRTM data quantifies terrain engagement at the segment level. The relationship between terrain and configuration is then interrogated at the level of individual access network segments through bivariate correlation, multivariate regression, and spatial autocorrelation diagnostics. The findings illustrate how the 2017 major influx marks a configurational rupture: local and global integration cores diverge, global choice axes reorient, and intelligibility falls significantly by 2025. Terrain associations with syntactic measures are statistically detectable but substantively negligible: elevation and slope add negligible explanatory power once segment length, building density, water, and road density are controlled for, and model residuals remain strongly spatially autocorrelated, so terrain effects are interpreted as exploratory rather than causal. The study shows how topography constrains but does not deterministically shape the network’s evolution under crisis conditions. The findings also suggest that as flatter terrain became saturated first, expansion increasingly encroached into steeper, more topographically challenging areas. Presenting a novel exploration of the dynamics between topography and configurational morphogenesis in a significantly large settlement, this study offers insights to inform more spatially grounded and contextually tailored upgrading interventions in displacement contexts.