The 

Morphological Dimension

Lecture 4
Lecture 4
 Morphology 
Morphology
• from the Greek and meaning 
"study
study of shape
of shape"
Barcelona 
Barcelona
Paris, France. 
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Lyon, France.
Fes el Bali, Morocco.
Pesaro Italy
Pesaro‐Italy
Berlin, Germany.
Grammichele, Italy.
Guadalajara, Mexico.
Killeen, Texas, USA.
Moscow, Russia.
San Francisco, California, USA.
 Morphology 
Morphology
• Urban form exerts a powerful influence on 
p p
how people interact, consume and create 
value within cities.
• It is a critical determinant of energy efficiency, 
It is a critical determinant of energy efficiency
sustainability and the cost of infrastructure. It 
impacts on economic value creation and 
l
underlies the city’s livability and social and 
economic resilience. 
 Morphology 
Morphology
• ITLAIAN SCHOOL
• ENGLAND (BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL) 
ENGLAND (BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL)
• FRENCH SCHOOL 
 Morphology 
Morphology
• ENGLAND (BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL) 
• The context was very different in England, 
The context was very different in England,
where it was a geographer, trained in town 
planning whose research work led to the
planning, whose research work led to the 
elaboration of a theoretical system for the 
interpretation of urban forms.
f b f
 Morphology 
Morphology
• ENGLAND (BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL) 
G ( G SC OO )
• M. R. G. CONZEN (Michael Robert Gunter 
Conzen)
• The first step in Conzen’s
p approach is to map 
pp p
precisely individual plots of land and the block 
plans of the buildings that stand within them. 
• Subsequently plan units are recognized. These 
y p
are defined as unitary areas in respect of their 
ground plan that are distinct from neighboring 
areas 
‫القياس‬
‫علم القيا‬
‫عل‬
C e ’ Morphology
Conzen’s M h l
The burgage
cycle 1960
cycle 1960 
 Morphology 
Morphology
• FRENCH SCHOOL 
• Plot characteristics also became the object of 
j
particular scrutiny. It is probably in this field that 
French research has made the most striking
French research has made the most striking 
advances, in parallel with the international urban 
historical atlases project
historical atlases project. 
• The historian Bloch had in 1929 drawn attention 
to the interest of studying plot patterns and 
h i f d i l d
understanding their organization in the past. 
 Morphology 
Morphology
• U
Urban morphology seeks to understand the 
b h l k t d t d th
spatial structure and character of an urban area 
by examining its patterns and the process of its
by examining its patterns and the process of its 
development. 
• While urban morphology has been a disciplinary 
While urban morphology has been a disciplinary
specialization amongst American geographers for 
years, only in southern Europe, where there was 
no historical separation of planning and 
architecture, has the work of urban 
morphologists been brought to bear in the
morphologists been brought to bear in the 
training of architects.
Plan Unit
Plan Unit
Plan Unit
Plan Unit
 Morphological Dimension of Urban 
Design
• Layout and configuration of urban form and
p
space
• There are two types of urban space system:
1 T di i
1‐Traditional:
l consists
i off buildings
b ildi as
constituent parts of urban blocks, where the
blocks define and enclose external space
2‐Modernist : consist of free‐standing pavilion
buildings in landscape settings
 Urban Morphology
Urban Morphology 
• MMorphology
h l I the
Is th study
t d off the
th form
f and
d shape
h off
settlements.
• Appreciation
pp of morphology
p gy helps
p urban designers
g to be
aware of local patterns of development and processes of
change. Initial work in the field focused on analysing
evolution and change in traditional urban space.
space
• Morphologists showed that settlements could be seen in
terms of several key elements, of which Conzen (1960)
considered:
id d
1‐ land uses,
2‐ building structures,
structures
3‐ plot pattern and
4‐ street p
pattern to be the most important.
p
 Urban Morphology
Urban Morphology 
1‐ Land
1 d Uses:
land uses are relatively temporary.
Incoming uses often lead to redevelopment and the
creation of new buildings,
g to p plot amalgamations
g
and, less often, to subdivisions and changes in
the street pattern.
By contrast, displaced land uses are more likely to
relocate to existingg buildings
g in older areas and,,
rather than redeveloping them, to adapt and
convert them.
 Urban Morphology
Urban Morphology 
2‐ Building Structures
Burgage: is a medieval land term used in
England and Scotland under which property of
the king or a lord in a town was held in return
for a yearly rent or the rendering of a service
 Urban Morphology
Urban Morphology 
2‐ Building
ildi Structures
Some buildings, g churches, cathedrals, p public
buildings..... Lat longer than others for a
varietyy of reasons includingg the ggreater
investment‐ finical and symbolic‐in their
g , construction and ornamentation
design,
These buildings have meaning for residents and
visitors and often symbolically represent the
visitors,
city
 Urban Morphology
Urban Morphology 
3‐ Plot Pattern
 Urban Morphology
Urban Morphology 
3‐ The Cadastral (Street) Pattern
Patterns of streets and spaces have often
developed over many hundreds of years, and
fragments and 'ghosts'
ghosts of patterns from
different eras can be seen in the ground plans
off many cities. In Florence,
l f example,
for l theh
Roman street pattern is still evident in the
plan of the city's central core
 Urban Morphology
Urban Morphology 
3‐ The
3 Th Cadastral
C d t l (Street)
(St t) Pattern
P tt
'permeability’: meaning the extent to which an environment
allows a choice of routes both throughg and within it. It is
also a measure of the opportunity for movement
'accessibility’ : is a measure of what is achieved in practice
(i e a product of the interaction between the individual
(i.e.
and the cadastral system).

'Visual' permeability refers to the ability to see the routes

through an environment, while 'physical' permeability
refers to the ability to move through an environment.
environment In
some cases there may be visual but not physical
permeability (and vice versa).
• An area with smaller
blocks offers a greater
g
choice of routes and
generally creates a
more permeable
environment than one
with larger blocks
• Smaller blocks also
increase visual
permeability ‐ the
smaller the block, the
easier it is to see from
one junction to the
next ‐ thereby
improving people'ss
people
awareness of the
choices available.
• In countries and regions
with a long history of
incremental urbanisation,
most urban grids are
'deformed‘
• They are often described
as 'organic'; their layouts
having been,
been or appearing
to have been, generated
naturally rather than being
consciously
i l manmade. d
• Generally based on
pedestrian movement,
and strongly influenced by
local topography, they
were built as integral parts
of the immediate area
rather than as through
routes and evolved and
routes,
developed with use.
 Urban Morphology
Urban Morphology 
3‐ The Cadastral (Street) Pattern
3 h C d l (S )
Some planned street patterns have an important 
symbolic function written into the overall plan. 
Traditional Chinese capital cities, for example, 
were planned as perfect squares, with twelve city 
gates, three on each side, representing the 
twelve months of the year.
l h f h
In Washington DC, for example, the locations of the 
White House and the Capitol symbolise the 
separation of executive and legislative powers.
Ancient Roman Turin, 
Augusta Taurinorum
black the traces of original 
Roman streets
green the street‐plan of 
h l f
the current city
red visible archaeological 
findin s of Roman alls
findings of Roman walls, 
pavements and buildings
blue the conjectured 
position of the city forum
position of the city forum
1: Port Praetoria (Fortress 
Acaja / Senate) 
2: Principalis Dextera Porta
2: Principalis
(Gate Marmorea) 
3: Decumana Porta (Gate 
Segusina) 
Segusina)
4: Principalis Sinistra Porta
Roman new towns had two intersecting main streets 
(Porta Palatina) 
representing the solar axis and the line of the equinox. 
5: Theatre
Such layouts are not always religious or ancient
Such layouts are not always religious or ancient. 
Most of the curvilinear patterns 
developed from the late nineteenth 
century through to the 1920s and 
1930s were variations of grids. A 
refinement (introduced by Unwin and 
Parker at New Earswick, 1898) which 
)
became increasingly common during 
the late 1950s, was the cul‐de‐sac.
 The public space network and the 
capital web
The public space network accommodates the overlapping
realms of 'movement space' and 'social' space (i.e. outdoor
space for people to engage in economic, social and cultural
transaction).

This social space is a constituent part of the 'public realm‘.

Pedestrian movement is compatible with the notion of streets
as social
i l space.

There
h is a symbiotic
b relationship
l h between
b pedestrian
d movement
and interpersonal transactions. By contrast, car‐based
movement is pure circulation.
circulation
 The public space network and the 
capital web
Opportunities for most forms of social interaction and exchange
only occur once the car has been parked ‐ prompting a focus
on destinations rather than journeys.

When the principal modes of transport were by foot or by horse,

the realms of movement and social space had considerable
overlap. With the development of new modes of travel, these
realms
l h
have b
become i
increasingly
i l compartmentalisedli d into
i
vehicular movement space and pedestrian movement/social
space At the same time,
space. time public space has been colonised by
the car and the social aspects of the 'street' suppressed in
favour of movement and circulation ‐ the 'road‘.
 Buildings defining Space and 
buildings in Space
• A According
di t
to M d i t 'functionalist'
Modernist 'f ti li t' ideas,
id th
the
convenience of a building's internal spaces was the
principal determinant of its external form.
• Le Corbusier (1927, p. 167), for example, likened a building
to a soap bubble:
'This
This bubble is perfect and harmonious if the breath has been
evenly distributed and regulated from the inside. The
exterior is the result of interior.' Designed from the inside
out,
t responding
di onlyl to
t their
th i functional
f ti l requirements
i t and
d
to considerations of light, air, hygiene, aspect, prospect,
'movement', 'openness', etc., buildings became sculptures,
'objects in space', their exterior form ‐ and therefore the
relationship to public space ‐ merely a by‐product of their
internal planning.
p g
 Buildings defining Space and 
buildings in Space
• Shift toward
t d freestanding
f t di buildings:
b ildi
– Modernist urban space was intended to flow freely
around buildings rather than to be contained by them.
them
– Le Corbusier, for example, saw the traditional street
as 'no more than a trench, a deep cleft, a narrow
passage. And although we have been accustomed to it
for more than a thousand years, our hearts are always
oppressed by the constriction of the enclosing walls
– was also fuelled by the desire for them to be
distinctive ‐ a consequence of the commercial
i
interests off the
h development
d l i d
industry and
d building
b ildi
sponsors.
 Buildings defining Space and 
buildings in Space
• Before modern period:
– onlyy a few buildingg types
yp ‐ churches,, town halls,,
palaces, etc. ‐ used these means of gaining
distinction.
– These were typically 'public' rather than 'private'
buildings whose interiors had some significance
buildings,
for the city and its people.
 Buildings defining Space and 
buildings in Space
• Building
B ilding freestanding building
b ilding in traditional urban
rban space:
space
– they challenge and broke down the urban block system
• In traditional space:
– buildings are normally sited adjacent to one another and flush with
the street, their facades form the 'walls' of open space.
– They have major impact on the character of public space
– Therefore the public space network changed from definite spatial
types (streets, squares) towards an amorphous space that is residual,
accidental and merely occupied by objects standing within it
– Lefebvre
L f b (1991 p. 303) argues that
(1991, h theh outcome was a 'fracturing
'f i off
space': 'a disordering of elements wrenched from each other in such a
way that the urban fabric itself ‐ the street, the city ‐ is also torn
apart .
apart'
• Urban block system:
– Have an inherent discipline that relies on each individual property
The Return to Traditional Urban Space
The Return to Traditional Urban Space 
• R
Reacting
ti both
b th to
t modernist
d i t approaches
h and
d to
t
contemporary development pattern:
– urban design has seen new interest in the
relationship between built space and urban space
– an approach
pp explicitly
p y relatingg new development
p to a
city's historical structure and to traditional typologies
of urban space was explored at Cornell University
from the early 1960s.
1960s
– Particularly significant in these studies were figure‐
ground diagrams which Colin Rowe used to teach
architectural students to consider buildings not just as
objects, but also as backgrounds
The plan uses a technique akin to ‘figure ground theory’ in which built form is solid (black) and 
unbuilt areas are void (white). However, in Nolli’s map he draws detailed ground floor plans of 
p g, y rendering the interiors void.
the interiors of ‘public’ buildings, therby g The map is therefore 
p
more than a study of built/unbuilt space but a detailed mapping of 18th Century Rome’s public 
spaces; the private areas are poche. The plan is drawn in twelve plates.
The street edges become largely void whilst the poche
Th t t d b l l id hil t th h private areas are confined to a more 
i t fi d t
central position in the urban blocks.
The Return to Traditional Urban Space
The Return to Traditional Urban Space 
• In their book ‘Collage city’ Rowe and Koetter:
– Usingg figure‐ground
g g diagrams,
g , Rowe and Koetter
showed how traditional cities were the inverse of
Modernist ones: one diagram
g was almost all white
(an accumulation of solids in largely
unmanipulated
p void),
), the other almost all black
(an accumulation of voids in largely
unmanipulated
p solid).
)
The Return to Traditional Urban Space
The Return to Traditional Urban Space 
• A
Another
th morphological
h l i l approach h to t urban
b space
design developed from Aldo Rossi the Italian
Rationalist School in the mid‐ 1960s,, and subsequently
q y
of others such as Rob and Leon Krier.
• Rossi's book The Architecture of the City (1982)
– Resurrected (revive) ideas of architectural types and
typology.
– the architectural type is morphological and refers to form
– Architectural types are abstractions of basic principles,
ideas or forms and, in a sense, are three‐dimensional
templates that can be repeatedly copied with endless
variation
The Return to Traditional Urban Space
The Return to Traditional Urban Space 
• Architectural and morphological types:
– formalised and systematised the processes of learning
from experience and precedent,
– and revived a traditional way of looking at function.
– Typologists asserted that, when designing a building
or an urban space,
p 'tried and tested' architectural
types that had evolved over time offered a better
point of departure than Modernist functionalism
which sought to discover new forms latent in
'programme' or 'technology'.
The Return to Traditional Urban Space
The Return to Traditional Urban Space 
• Architectural and morphological types:
– Rob Krier book ‘urban space’
p ((1979)) he analyzed
y
urban space and developed a typology of urban
squares
q
The Return to Traditional Urban Space
The Return to Traditional Urban Space 
• Architectural and morphological types:
– Leon Krier developedp a critique
q of Modernist
urban space design, rooted in a preference for
traditional urban spatial
p forms and types,
yp , and
identifying four systems of urban space
 ‘Street/Block’ structure and ‘Road’ 
networks 
• Th
The other
th major j transformation
t f ti i the
in th public
bli space network's
t k'
morphological structure was a product of the need to
accommodate fast‐moving vehicular traffic.
• The
Th separationti off pedestrian
d ti f
from vehicular
hi l movementt in i
conventional streets occurred in many cities during the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries, through the introduction of pavements
(sidewalks) which left the centre of the street for vehicles,
vehicles where
pedestrians had to beware.
• During the early twentieth century, more radical ideas evolved. The
best way to accommodate the growing numbers of cars seemed to
be to give them their own dedicated movement network. Le
Corbusier's city plans featured both the radical separation of modes
of travel and their equally radical reintegration in vast transport
interchanges.
From the Market 
Place, about 1900. 

Looking towards 
k d
the Market Place, 
about 1900
Lower Castle 
Street, about 1910

Upper Castle Street 
looking down towards
looking down towards 
New Buildings, about 
1925
Lower Castle 
Street, about 
1950
 Lower Castle Street, about 1960

Upper Castle Street 
looking towards Hill Street, 
about 1960
Ville Radieuse, Le Corbusier in 1924
Hierarchical Road Systems
Hierarchical Road Systems 
• Hierarchal road system 
y
consists of a series of layers
 The Return to ‘Streets’
The Return to  Streets
• Streets:
St t
– Role of street in contributing to the quality of public life and
emphasize how streets and sidewalks can be captured for social
purpose
– Treat streets as ‘channel for efficient movement’ or as aesthetic
visual element’. Urban design ‘should rediscover the social role
of the street as a connecter that stitches together and
sometimes penetrates the disparate downtown realms’
– Movements (cars) diminishes the potential of streets to function
as social space, but also that traffic is given more concern than
to pedestrian SO
Careful design
g is needed to reconcile the demand of different
forms of movements. This involve in protecting social space
from the impact of cars.
 Urban Block Pattern
Urban Block Pattern
Reactions to the transformation of the
p g
morphological structure of p
public space
p
networks has led to a shift towards a new
appreciation of the qualities of traditional
urban space. Many contemporary urban
design projects are conceived in terms of
urban blocks defining space rather than
individual buildings in space
Many contemporary
M t
urban development
schemes use urban
block structures.
Master plan for
Granton,
Granton
Edinburgh,
S tl d
Scotland
Soruce: Llewelyn
Davies
 Urban Block Pattern
Urban Block Pattern
• The layout and configuration of urban block
structure is important in:
– The pattern of movement
– In settingg p
parameters for subsequent
q development
p
• Urban block structures open up possibilities for
good urban form (not architectural form or
content)
• This is akin (similar) to designing cities without
designing buildings
 Urban Block Pattern
Urban Block Pattern
• Block
Bl k size
i
– The size and shape of urban blocks contribute
significantly to an environment
environment'ss character.
character Micro‐
climate, wind and sun penetration also need to be
considered.
– Block sizes can be determined by the local context. In
undertaking development in established contexts or
on brownfield sites, block sizes may be inferred by an
'urban healing' approach ‐ that is, working with the
existing fabric and remnant (leftover) patterns of
previous urbanisations,
urbanisations reintegrating isolated
fragments,
• First: how the site can 
be connected with 
nearby routes
• Second: cul‐de‐sac 
layout
• Third: pedestrian‐
f
friendly approach
dl h
• Fourth: street patterns 
f
forms the basis for 
h b i f
urban block  (urban 
healing/urban weaving
healing/urban weaving 
(merge))
 Urban Block Pattern
Urban Block Pattern
• Block
l k size:
i
– Ideal block size cannot be established any more
precisely than the ideal height of a human body.
– Leon Krier (1990) observed that in most European
cities that have evolved organically, the smallest
and typologically most complex blocks are
generally
ll found
f d att the
th urban
b centre,t with
ith blocks
bl k
tending to grow larger and simpler towards the
periphery before finally dissolving into single
periphery,
freestanding objects.
 Urban Block Pattern
Urban Block Pattern
• Block size:
– Small block sizes are often advocated for reasons
such as urban vitality, permeability, visual interest
and legibility.
g y
– Jane Jacobs (1961, pp. 191‐9), for example,
devoted a chapter of The Death and Life of Great
American Cities, to 'The Need for Small Blocks',
because of the increased vitality and choice such
layouts offer.
 Urban Block Pattern
Urban Block Pattern
• Block size:
– Small urban blocks mayy be a single
g building,g, with
perhaps a central light well or atrium. Akin to
freestandingg buildings,
g , such blocks raise p
problems
of 'fronts' and 'backs'.
– Larger urban blocks are often perimeter blocks,
blocks
with the. ribbon of buildings around the edge
providing the public front and private or semi semi‐
private space in the interior
 Urban Block Pattern
Urban Block Pattern
• Block
Bl k size:
i
– Because the depth of the perimeter ribbon is limited to
the depth
p of buildingg that can be naturallyy lit and
ventilated, the size of the central space increases as the
dimensions of the block get larger.
– Depending on its size,
size this space can be used for various
purposes ‐ residents' car parking, private or communal
gardens, sports facilities
– Larger
L perimeter
i t blocksbl k provide id greater
t opportunities
t iti for
f
bio‐diversity
– llewelyn‐Davies
y ((2000,, pp. 58)) recommends that blocks of
external dimensions of about 90 m x 90 m, containing
private or communal gardens, provide a good trade‐off
between
bet ee b bio‐
o ddiversity
e s ty aand
d ot
othere co
considerations.
s de at o s
 Urban Block Pattern
Urban Block Pattern
• Block size:
– To examine the developmentp and sustainabilityy of
urban patterns, particularly block sizes and
circulation meshes,, Siksna ((1998)) studied the
CBDs of four American cities ‐ Portland and Seattle
((small square
q and rectangular
g block cities)) and
Chicago and Indianapolis (medium square block
cities)) ‐ and four Australian cities,, Melbourne and
Brisbane (medium rectangular block cities) and
Perth and Adelaide ((large
g rectangular
g block cities))
 Morphology 
Morphology
• W
We have
h di
discussed
d the
th morphological
h l i l dimension
di i
of urban design, focusing on two key
• a key issue in contemporary urban space design is
how to accommodate the car. By colon ising
public space networks,
networks subordinating other forms
of mobility, and reorganising the distribution of
activities in space, automobility both undermines
other forms of mobility (walking, cycling, rail
travel, etc.) and has a disabling effect on those
who do not have access to cars.
cars issues of urban
form and urban layout.