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One of our current projects focuses on the different forms of analysis and prescription in planning, and on the possible advantages of their combined utilization. In recent years we have been exploring three different approaches–a morphogenetic analysis close to the theoretical and methodological proposals of the International Seminar on Urban Form, the syntactical analysis proposed in the end of the 1970s in the University College London, and finally, the Structural Accessibility Layer recently developed in our research centre. This paper describes the origins, developments and main characteristics of these three approaches. In addition it explores the relationships between the first and the second approaches using Oporto as a living laboratory. In particular, it focuses on the link between the concept of ‘morphological period’and the range of values for ‘integration’, both at global and local scales. Finally, our study on the relationships between the second and the third approaches is presented, highlighting the relationships between ‘global integration’and ‘comparative accessibility’.