No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
From types to regions: a quantitative approach to the characterization of urban form
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Cities are complex products of human culture, characterised by a startling diversity of visible traits. Their form is constantly evolving, reflecting changing human needs and local contingencies, manifested in space by many urban patterns. Urban morphology laid the foundation for understanding many such patterns, largely relying on qualitative research methods to extract distinct spatial identities of urban areas. However, the manual, labour-intensive and subjective nature of such approaches represents an impediment to the development of a scalable, replicable and data-driven urban form characterisation. Recently, advances in geographic data science and the availability of digital mapping products open the opportunity to overcome such limitations. And yet, our current capacity to systematically capture the heterogeneity of spatial patterns remains limited in terms of spatial parameters included in the analysis and hardly scalable due to the highly labour-intensive nature of the task. In this paper, we present a method for numerical taxonomy of urban form derived from biological systematics, which allows the rigorous detection and classification of urban types. Initially, we produce a rich numerical characterisation of urban space from minimal data input, minimising limitations due to inconsistent data quality and availability. These are street network, building footprint and morphological tessellation, a spatial unit derivative of Voronoi tessellation, obtained from building footprints. Hence, we derive homogeneous urban tissue types and, by determining overall morphological similarity between them, generate a hierarchical classification of urban form. After framing and presenting the method, we test it on two cities – Prague and Amsterdam – and discuss potential applications and further developments. The proposed classification method represents a step towards the development of an extensive, scalable numerical taxonomy of urban form and opens the way to more rigorous comparative morphological studies and explorations into the relationship between urban space and phenomena as diverse as environmental performance, health and place attractiveness.
There have been notable efforts to coordinate and combine the historico-geographical and configurational approaches to urban morphology. Nevertheless, the new insights that the combination of these two approaches could offer are still to be fully identified, especially concerning the historical transformation of urban form. This paper develops a methodological framework for combining the historico-geographical and the configurational approaches in order to explore their complementarities. Ludlow (UK) and Chinatown (Singapore) are used as case studies to test this new framework. The results show that, on the one hand, the street configuration, especially the integration-segregation pattern, is correlated with the distribution of plan units and therefore can inform their recognition; on the other hand, place-specific knowledge relating to the historico-geographical process of the city can help to explain the changes in the configurational values of different plan units. The findings indicate that the combination of these two approaches is capable of providing enhanced understandings of the historical transformation of urban form for both urban areas with incremental growth and those with fast-changing urban landscapes.
Over recent decades, the historico-geographical approach has been established as one of the main morphological frameworks to describe, explain, and prescribe the physical form of cities and to understand how this form is continuously shaped by different agents and processes over time. Within this approach the concept of morphological region-and the method of morphological regionalization-stands as one of the most important in recognizing the historico-geographical structure of the urban landscape. While the relevance of the concept has been demonstrated in a number of applications in different geographical and cultural settings, this paper identifies and addresses some major challenges that the concept has been facing. In particular, it argues for a stronger linkage between each regionalization and the historico-geographical body of knowledge, for clearer usage of language and terminology in each application to facilitate the shared construction of a more robust method, and for a more explicit and systematic definition of procedural options and steps.
Plot systems (or ‘plots’, ‘lots’, ‘parcels’, ‘land divisions’) is a commonly recognised structural component of urban form along with streets and buildings. They play a critical role in understanding urban processes in cities, not least of all because they link directly between the physical world and institutions, such as property rights.
The role of plots and plot systems in urban processes is addressed in this thesis as the theory of natural occupation. The theory argues that the structure of plot systems is the driver of a process of economic concentration and diversification of economic activity in cities, as described in the burgage cycle concept (temporal evolution of built form) and the spatial capacity concept (link between plot shape and urban diversity).
However, plot systems remain the least studied component of urban form, which this thesis contributes to on two levels. Firstly, by developing more precise quantitative descriptions of plots and plot systems by way of morphological measures and plot types. Secondly, by making use of these descriptions and empirically testing some central ideas in urban morphology, such as urban diversity. The thesis thus contributes to methodological and theoretical development in the field of urban morphology. However, it also demonstrates how these ideas on urban morphology can be a central contribution to theories in other fields addressing urban processes, such as urban planning and especially urban economics.
The research design of the thesis involves the development of a generic method to spatially represent plot systems, the identification of three key morphological variables of plots based on extensive literature review in the field of urban morphology, the development of analytical plot types using statistical methods of data-driven classifications and finally, empirical testing of the theory of natural occupation (by correlating the morphological variables and plot types with the concentration and diversification of economic activity in five European cities).
The empirical studies provide support for a direct relation between the shape and structure of plot systems and economic processes in cities and are an important contribution to urban design and planning practice.
This article deals with current changes in the urban planning and design practice, and presents a tool based on the knowledge of the relation between physical density and urban form: The Spacemate.
The delimitation of morphological regions is a fundamental research activity, particularly for those urban morphologists with geographical backgrounds. Delimitations reflect the origin, development and modification of the urban forms being considered and the different methods of delimitation employed. Clear rationales for the decisions on precisely where to draw boundary lines are sometimes lacking. This paper explores regions and boundaries, drawing upon evidence from a range of studies using detailed measurements derived from digital mapping to assist discussion of differences within and between areas. It also reviews applications of such boundarydrawing processes to contemporary planning issues, including 'character areas' and conservation, using work undertaken for local planning authorities in the English Midlands.
The aim of this paper is to discuss the question of values in relation to the planning and conservation management of historic cities. It is structured in order to expose the logical problems of using the category of value in the urban planning process. This is done by: determining the main subjects of the urban conservation process; identifying the social process of the determination of the values; identifying values in reference to urban structure; and using values as important categories for the construction of a new urban conservation planning approach.
The use of typomorphology as a means of understanding urban areas has a long tradition amongst academics but the reach of these methods into urban design practice has been limited. In this paper we present a method to support the description and prescription of urban form that is context- sensitive, multi-dimensional, systematic, exploratory, and quantitative, thus facilitating the application of urban typomorphology to planning practice. At the core of the proposed method is the k-means statistical clustering technique to produce objective classifications from the large complex data sets typical of urban environments. Block and street types were studied as a test case and a context-sensitive sample of types that correspond to two different neighbourhoods were identified. This method is suitable to support the identification, understanding and description of emerging urban forms that do not fall into standard classifications. The method can support larger urban form studies through consistent application of the procedures to different sites. The quantitative nature of its output lends itself to integration with other systematic procedures related to the research, analysis, planning and design of urban areas.
The absence of a reliable tool to support local authorities in the process of boundary delimitation of significant urban areas is one of the major problems facing urban heritage conservation. This paper explores and introduces potentials of applying the concept of urban regions, and methods of urban regionalization, as a new approach to better inform processes of delimitation of significant urban areas in Cairo, Egypt. This is an important step towards urban conservation in a city where strong pressures of urbanization and the eradication of traditional and historic urban fabric represent a major threat. By tracing the morphological transformation of the historic quarter of Bulaq Abulela, then applying the morphological regionalization process to a selected area of study, several important historical urban gains that are not included within the national protection boundaries, are revealed. This calls for revisiting current local protection boundaries of the historic quarter, as well as a revision of the adopted local processes of protection boundaries delimitation in general. It also calls for the application of morphological regionalization in processes of boundary delimitation for urban conservation areas.
This paper presents a ‘complementary model’ for analyzing urban form by utilizing the historico-geographical and configurational approaches of urban morphology to achieve a better comprehension of the evolution of the urban form and, in particular, of the street formation of Famagusta. The results confirm that structurally the historico-geographical character and configuration of the town are determined by socio-economic activities. Within this context, both approaches identify the historical patterns of urban form as the key element to comprehend the relationship between socio-economic activity and urban form, which are both configurational and historical. Famagusta, a small historical town located in the eastern part of Cyprus, lacks a detailed urban morphological study and has been used to test this complementary method. The complementary model tested in Famagusta represents the strong relationship between land use and socio- economic activities, which determine how the urban form is transformed throughout the last six historical periods, and how socio-economic changes affected the urban form during these processes. Following political conflicts in the 1960s and the division of Cyprus in 1974, Varosha became the “ghost town” it remains to this day. These are the major hindrances to further development of the city toward the south. With the establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean University in 1979, the overall socio-economic structure of Famagusta has undergone rapid development. The Walled City remains intact and functioning, but is no longer the centre of socio- economic activity of the region, and the most integrated place in terms of global integration.
Typologies have always played an important role in urban planning and design practice and formal studies have been central to the field of urban morphology. These studies have predominantly been of a historical-qualitative nature and do not support quantitative comparisons between urban areas and between different cities, nor offer the precise and comprehensive descriptions needed by those engaged in urban planning and design practice. To describe contemporary urban forms, which are more diffuse and often elude previous historic typologies, systematic quantita-tive methods can be useful but, until recently, these have played a limited role in typo-morphological studies. This paper contributes to recent developments in this field by integrating multi-variable geometric descriptions with inter-scalar relational descriptions of urban form. It presents typologies for three key elements of urban form (streets, plots and buildings) in five European cities, produced using statistical clustering methods. In a first instance, the resulting typologies contribute to a better understanding of the characteristics of streets, plots and buildings. In particular, the results offer insight into patterns between the types (i.e. which types are found in combination and which not) and provide a new large scale comparative analysis across five European cities. To conclude, a link between quantitative analysis and theory is established, by testing two well-known theoretical propositions in urban morphology: the con-cept of the burgage cycle and the theory of natural movement.
The urban fabric is a fundamental small-scale component of urban form. Its quantitative analysis has so far been limited either in its geographical extent or in the diversity of components analysed. Moreover, the planning approach has traditionally privileged an aerial perspective. A new approach integrating the pedestrian point of view is proposed. Spatial analysis procedures are implemented with a twofold objective: identifying urban fabrics and studying their spatial organization within a large metropolitan area. The former is achieved through multiple fabric assessment, a three-step protocol using a network-based partition of urban space: (i) a set of skeletal streetscape indicators is implemented on each spatial unit, considering different constituents of the urban fabric; (ii) spatial patterns on the street network are identified, applying geostatistical analysis to each indicator; and (iii) spatial patterns with Bayesian clustering are recombined, allowing the identification and characterization of urban fabric types and subspaces within the city. This methodology is tested on the French Riviera metropolitan area, where nine families of urban fabric are identified. Disentangling the spatial organization of urban fabrics represents the second objective of this paper: the geographical distribution of urban fabrics is investigated, applying mathematical morphology and variography while considering network-constrained topological contiguities.
Morphological analysis similar to that employed by M. R. G. Conzen is used to examine the agents and agencies shaping the military city of Zuoying. The walled city and naval base underwent four phases of physical change. These were associated with functional changes that have reflected different military strategies and technologies. Seven morphological regions are recognized. Light is also shed on the urban historical context within which East Asian cities more widely have developed.
Geographical urban morphology as a field of research provides a systematic basis for theorizing and managing urban landscape change. After a review of urban morphology as a field of knowledge, particularly within Europe, and as a basis for planning and urban design, an example of its application in an urban design studio is discussed, focusing on the urban waterfront redevelopment in Auckland, New Zealand. The characterization of urban landscape forms is supported by cartographic- and field-based investigation. Urban design guidelines and development plans prepared by students contribute to improving the character of the built environment.
We propose a GIS-based method to enable the understanding of how global street-network properties emerge from the temporal accumulation of individual street-network increments. The method entails the adoption of quantitative descriptions of individual street-patterns and of classification algorithms, in order to obtain numerically defined typomorphologies, which may then be statistically associated with the numerical outputs of street-network analysis. We apply the method to the case of Oporto Metropolitan Area, whose development we observed over 60 years. We isolate each increment of development entailing the creation of new streets (4208 objects), we quantify the morphology of their street-layouts, and we classify them into typomorphologies with clustering techniques. Through the investigation of the temporal and spatial frequencies of those typomorphologies, we assess their impacts on the street-networks of a set of selected civil-parishes of the metropolitan region, demonstrating that different typomorphological frequencies result in also different global street-network properties. We conclude by summarising the advantages of the method to generic urban morphological research and by suggesting that it may also contribute to inform bottom-up metropolitan spatial planning.
Methods of articulating the historico-geographical structure of urban landscapes are fundamental to urban morphology and have considerable, but insufficiently recognized, potential in planning. M. R. G. Conzen made a major contribution to their development, notably between the late 1950s and the late 1980s. He demonstrated in traditional British towns and cities how the way in which the urban landscape is historically stratified, reflecting the distinctive residues of past periods, gives rise to a hierarchy of morphological regions or urban landscape units. In the past 20 years, there have been applications and adaptations of Conzen's methods, and demonstrations of their potential in conservation and heritage planning, in other types of urban areas and other parts of the world, including the Far East. However, it is essential that urban morphological regionalization is grounded in sensitivity to the dynamics of the urban landscape and, especially in comparisons of different urban areas, that there is awareness of the level of resolution at which urban landscape units are delimited. Carefully applied, this method can make an important contribution to meeting a major challenge facing urban morphology today: the provision of sound bases for comparative research and its application in planning practice.
The case study of Ludlow in Shropshire represents an attempt to indicate the succession of periods characterised by distinctive kinds of townscape and to trace the latter back to their socio-economic and cultural roots in an urban society changing in the course of time. -after Author
Methodological problems in urban morphology are discussed and a strategy for a more coherent development of the field is outlined. A theoretical framework, in which the explanation of urban form is firmly rooted in the wider realm of social and economic processes, is proposed as a basis for more specific studies and as a stepping-stone to a more fully developed theory. This framework relates to 'western', especially British, society during the industrial era and is supported in part by reference to empirical studies. Innovation, diffusion and constructional activity play major roles in the theoretical argument and the implications of their interrelationship for the arrangement of forms within the city are outlined. Regional variations in the adoption of innovations and in constructional activity are considered and their significance for the forms that characterize different towns is discussed.
The absence of a sound theoretical foundation is a major problem in urban conservation planning. This paper suggests the basis for a solution that harnesses the concept of urban landscape units. The nature and application of this concept are discussed in relation to the problems faced by urban conservation in China, where the pressures for change to, and the removal of, the traditional urban fabric are greater than practically anywhere else in the world. Parts of two conservation areas in Guangzhou are examined. Comparisons are made between the conservation proposals of the City and those based on urban landscape units.
Auch im Buchh. als: The Institute of British Geographers. Publication. Nr 27 Giessen, Naturwiss.-phil. F., Diss. v. 23. Juli 1963 (Nicht f. d. Aust.).
This paper is the last of a sequence of papers, and in it an attempt is made to model the disaggregation of built forms by types, that is, into detached, semidetached, terraced and connected forms, for the ninety-five kilometre-square cells used to record the built-form subsystem of the town of Reading, England. Such disaggregation is considered to be a nonindependent event, that is, the probability of having less connected arrays of forms in a zone is inversely related to the probability of having more connected arrays in the same cell. The paper concludes by considering the connectivity properties of the built-form subsystem as neither random nor deterministic but probabilistic in relationship with the urban spatial structure and certain elements of the urban graph.
This paper, the first of a sequence, defines built forms as quasi-mathematical models and uses graph-theoretic representation in order to express how buildings are connected and packed over an area of land. Buildings are represented by points called built forms; external walls and partitions (party walls between buildings) by lines. The connected subgraphs made up of built forms and partitions are called arrays of built forms. This constitutes a simplified view of the built-form subsystem which, together with the channel network, gives rise to an urban graph. Twelve measures representing either the connectivity amongst the elements of the built-form subsystem or of the adjacency between built forms and the external environment are defined in order to provide a numerical scale for the properties under study. The majority of these are ratio measures which will be evaluated in a subsequent paper by use of actual data.
The historic urban landscape
- F Bandarin
- R Van Oers
Bandarin, F. and van Oers, R. (2012) The historic urban
landscape (Wiley, Chichester).
Townscape change and local planning management in city centre conservation areas: the example of Birmingham and Bristol', unpublished PhD thesis
- H J Barrett
Barrett, H.J. (1996) 'Townscape change and local planning management in city centre conservation areas:
the example of Birmingham and Bristol', unpublished PhD thesis, University of Birmingham, UK.
Lettura dell'edilizia di base (Marsilio Editori, Venezia)
- G Caniggia
- G L Maffei
Caniggia, G. and Maffei, G.L. (1979) Lettura
dell'edilizia di base (Marsilio Editori, Venezia).
Spatial autocorrelation
- G Grekousis
Grekousis, G. (2020) 'Spatial autocorrelation', in
Grekousis, G. (ed.) Spatial analysis methods and
practice: describe -explore -explain through GIS
(Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) 207-74.