292 research outputs found
Rigour and comparison in urban morphology: Through the lens of JWR Whitehand
There are many reasons why we might want to deepen our understanding of urban environments, from the often quoted fact that over half the global population now lives in cities to the seemingly inexorable spread of common building types across the globe and the attendant loss of diversity. Or still, there is the spectre of moribund town centres and stagnating suburbs. The field of urban morphology has made significant contributions to our understanding of cities and has great potential to deepen it further. That contribution has been possibleâand continues to beâin large part, because urban morphology provides a rigorous approach to the study of urban form. As argued in this chapter, the rigour of urban morphology derives to a significant degree from the active use of comparison as a core part of its methodology. The suggestion is that comparison is used not just in explicit âcomparative studiesâ but in a thoroughgoing way at a number of different levels. This suggestion is pursued through the lens of the work of Professor Jeremy Whitehand. Over his long career, Whitehand has made a significant contribution to the rigour of urban morphology through his clarity of language and terminology, consistent reference to testable general principles and his high standards of scholarship. In particular, the chapter will take Whitehandâs work on plan analysis, the fringe-belt and cross-cultural studies as topics to explore the different uses of comparison. The paper concludes by taking lessons from Whitehandâs work that point to ways in which urban morphology can consolidate and extend its contribution to our understanding of cities
Evoking the sacred : the artist as shaman
This thesis examines, via a feminist theoretical framework, the systems in existence that permit the ongoing exploitation of the environment; and the appropriateness of ceramics as a medium to reinvigorate dormant insights. I argue that the organic nuances expressed through clay; the earthy, phenomenological and historic ritual connotations of clay; and the tactile textured surfaces and undulating form, allows ceramics to conjure responses within the viewer that reinvigorates a sense of embedment in the Earth.Doctor of Philosoph
Application of graph theory to the morphological analysis of settlements
In the following paper, the analyses of morphology of settlements were conducted using graph methods. The
intention of the author was to create a quantifiable and simple measure, which, in a quantitative way, would express
the degree of development of a graph (the spatial pattern of settlement). When analysing examples of graphs assigned
to a set of small towns and large villages, it was noticed that the graph development index should depend on: a relative
number of edges in relation to the number of nodes (ÎČ index), the number of cycles (urban blocks), which evidences the
complexity of the spatial pattern of settlement, and the average rank of nodes of a graph, which expresses the degree
of complexity of a street network
Recommended from our members
On the origin of spaces: morphometric foundations of urban form evolution
The modern discipline of urban morphology gives us a ground for the comparative analysis of cities, which increasingly includes specific quantitative elements. In this paper, we make a further step forward towards the definition of a general method for the classification of urban form. We draw from morphometrics and taxonomy in life sciences to propose such method, which we name âurban morphometricsâ. We then test it on a unit of the urban landscape named âSanctuary Areaâ (SA), explored in 45 cities whose origins span four historic time periods: Historic (medieval), Industrial (19th century), New Towns (post-WWII, high-rise) and Sprawl (post-WWII, low-rise). We describe each SA through 207 physical dimensions and then use these to discover features that discriminate them among the four temporal groups. Nine dimensions emerge as sufficient to correctly classify 90% of the urban settings by their historic origins. These nine attributes largely identify an area's âvisible identityâ as reflected by three characteristics: (1) block perimeterness, or the way buildings define the street-edge; (2) building coverage, or the way buildings cover the land and (3) regular plot coverage, or the extent to which blocks are made of plots that have main access from a street. Hierarchical cluster analysis utilising only the nine key variables nearly perfectly clusters each SA according to its historic origin; moreover, the resulting dendrogram shows, just after WWII, the first âbifurcationâ of urban history, with the emergence of the modern city as a new âspeciesâ of urban form. With âurban morphometricsâ we hope to extend urban morphological research and contribute to understanding the way cities evolve
Defining public open spaces: an investigation framework to inform planning and design decision-making processes
Typomorphological analysis has been used to study building types, but it is seldom applied to open spaces. This paper argues that the same systematic and rigorous approach can be applied to define public open spaces. It explores the potential of the application of a systematic analysis of types and forms to define urban landscapes. Drawing on existing literature, this paper identifies specific attributes related to urban landscape elements including formal and spatial aspects. This paper highlights the potential of open space networks to respond to the contemporary challenges facing urban designers working to create better places to live in. This paper contributes to the field of design research through the development of a method of survey and analysis to inform design decision-making processes. Its significance lies in proposing a comprehensive framework to contribute to a more detailed definition of urban landscape character and inform the development of sustainable urban strategies
Mind the gaps! A research agenda for urban interstices
Processes of urbanisation can hardly be considered without reference to the spaces that lie between developments. However, the literature on such interstitial spaces is fragmentary. In this paper we draw together insights from the extant literature into a research agenda on urban interstices. We propose a research agenda centred on four themes: the multiple geographic scales at which the interstitial spaces of urban sprawl might be analysed; the pending nature of such spaces; their planned or unplanned character and their relational properties. We develop these themes, briefly illustrating them with reference to the case of metropolitan area of Santiago de Chile. In conclusion, we emphasise some of the implications of interstitial spaces for theories of urban politics and their value in forcing inter-disciplinarity in urban studies
Strengthening the morphological study of informal settlements
Methods of articulating the morphological structure of slums can have considerable potential in better planning for site-specific design or policy responses for these areas in the contemporary city. Although urban morphology traditionally studies landscapes as stratified residues with distinct divisions between lot and boundary, built and unbuilt, the authors find these definitions insufficient to address the complexity of slum morphology. Through this article, the authorsâ identify that morphological analysis of informal settlements needs to be sensitive to the dynamics and the absence (or blurring) of physical boundaries. By analyzing the spatial impact of social, economic, and political factors, situational and site factors, building typologies, and configurations of circulation space, an attempt to articulate the morphological structure of slums is made. Aiming to overcome the current polarization in the literature between the formal and informal city, this article adds to the ongoing research on the study of challenges within contemporary cities, by providing new methodologies for studying the morphology of slum urbanization and shaping planning practice
A temporally cyclic growth model of urban spatial morphology in China: evidence from Kunming Metropolis
Rapid urbanization and complexity of political-economic transition in China has brought about continuous and remarkable changes of urban morphology over the past decades, which were driven by a mixture of spatial, social-economic and institutional forces. Understanding such urban morphological evolution requires new mixed evidences and holistic perspectives. In this paper, it is argued that two dominant types of urban growth in China: low-density expansion and high-density infill might be driven by different forces at different stages. To interpret the processes of urban development, two easy-to-understand morphological indicators: expansion-induced investment density indexâ (EID) and âinfill-induced investment density indexâ (IID) are defined to measure the investment density per unit of developed land and used to compare the morphological changes between different phases in a long period by integrating spatial and socio-economic data. The temporal variation of these indicators suggests a cyclic growth model (CGM), which means the periodic switch between low density expansion and high-density infill. Using Kunming metropolis as a case study, this paper has confirmed that its urban morphological evolution from 1950-2014 was periodically and reciprocally driven by a set of vis-Ă -vis dualistic dynamics, in which low-density expansion is led by pro-growth infrastructure oriented public investment, while the high-density infill is activated by collective and rational actions of individual enterprises and their economic behaviors. It is concluded that the confirmed CGM model, together with two morphological indicators, offers a new holistic perspective and method to easily and integrally interpret urban morphological evolution and accordingly has potential theoretical implications for reasonably understanding the urbanisation in China
- âŠ