The weak ties that bind a city: ‘to see bridges where others see holes’.

Space syntax deals with relationships: assuming the configuration of any spatial element as a property that depends on its relationships with the other elements involves to analyse an urban settlement focusing on the relational pattern of its spatial grid and to observe a city as a socio- spatial mechanism aimed at maximizing contacts and social interaction in space. This idea suggested to analyse spatial grids using methods, tools and parameters that had long been applied in social network analysis, and that sociologists had borrowed from graphs theory and network analysis. This paper aims at opening the configurational view onto the concept of weak tie, which, introduced in the early ‘70s and soon grown up as one of the most influential insights in social studies and in network analysis as well, has not yet found a similar translation into space syntax dictionary and logic. The contribute will discuss to what extent, in which terms and under which specific conditions such a transfer is actually feasible and the configurational variables that are suitable to identify the weak ties. The results on some case studies will clarify the significance of weak ties within a grid and their crucial importance in its spatial logic and in the phenomena that take place along its elements, highlighting the opportunities they provide and the effects that would derive from their removal. It will be argued that the fundamental role that weak ties play in favouring the global functioning of social systems and the overall cohesion of communities can be similarly observed in the socio-spatial systems that cities represent: so as to open up fruitful prospects for enhancing the use and utility of space syntax in urban studies.