Roots of Urban Morphology

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the research field ofurban morphology: the study of urban form. Urban morphology is agrowing field of cross-disciplinary research, attracting worldwideinterest among scholars in architecture, geography and planning. It aimsto decipher the physical form, the urban landscape or townscape ofcomplex contemporary cities. This paper discusses the evolution ofurban morphology, from its conceptual foundations in research on thephysical form of urban areas. Interestingly, the roots of urbanmorphology can be traced back to different disciplines in differentcountries. This discussion will cast light on various researchperspectives of urban morphology, as well as discussing similarities anddifferences between the geographical and the architectural approachesto urban form studies. This is followed by a closer look at the theoriesdeveloped by Gianfranco Caniggia and MRG Conzen. Their work has beenan inspiration for many practitioners and researchers, includingWhitehand, Maffei, and Moudon to name a few. Finally, a schematicdiagram is presented, which reflects the heightened activity of researchon physical form that is currently occurring in several disciplinessimultaneously, and showing the relationships between researchtraditions and authors. As the formation and development of the urbanlandscape becomes ever more diverse, it is necessary to revisit and use the concepts and methods established by Caniggia and Conzen in themanagement of urban landscape changes.

PDF

___

Alexander, C., S. Ishikawa, and M. Silverstein, with M. Jacobson & S.A Fiksdahl-King (1977). A Pattern Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Aymonino, C.M., Brusatin, M., Fabbri, G., Lena, M., Loverro, P., Lucianetti, S., & Rossi, A. (1966). La Citta di Padova, saggio di analisi urbana. Roma: Offician edizoni.
Caniggia, G. (1963). Lettura di una Citta: Como. Rome: Centro Studi di Storia Urbanistica.
Caniggia, G. (1997). Ragionamenti di tipologia, Operativita della tipologia processuale in architettura. (English translation by Nicola Marzot) Firenze: ALINEA.
Caniggia, G. & Maffei, G.L. (1979). Composizione Architettonica e Tipologia Ediliza: 1. Lettura dell’Edilizia di Base Venezia: Marsilio.
Caniggia, G. & Maffei, G.L. (1984). Composizione Architettonica e Tipologia Ediliza: 2. Il Progetto nell’Edilizia di Base. Venezia: Marsilio.
Caniggia, G. & Maffei, G.L. (2001). Composizione architettonica e tipologia edilizia. Lettura dell’edilizia di base. (English translation by Susan Jane Fraser) Firenze: ALINEA.
Castex, J. (2013). The City as the Only Model. A Critical Study a Century after Muratori´s Birth. In Cataldi, G. (ed.) Saverio Muratori Architetto (Modern 1910 – Roma 1973) a centro anni dalla nascita. Firenze: Aión Edizioni.
Cataldi, G. (ed.) (2013). Saverio Muratori Architetto (Modern 1910 – Roma 1973) a centro anni dalla nascita. Firenze: Aión Edizioni.
Cataldi, G. (1998). Designing in stages: theory and design in the typological concept of the Italian school of Saverio Muratori. In Petruccioli, A. (ed), Typological Process and Design Theory, pp. 35-54. Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Cataldi, G. (2003). From Muratori to Caniggia: the origins and development of the Italian school of design typology. Urban Morphology, 7, 19-34.
Cataldi, G. (2015). Abitazioni Primitive, Il processo evolutivo dei tipi edilizi nel mondo. Primitive Dwellings, The evolutionary process of building types in the world. Firenze: Aión Edizioni.
Cataldi, G., Maffei, G.L., & Vaccaro P. (2002). Saverio Muratori and the Italian school of planning typology. Urban Morphology, 6, 3-14.
Conzen, M.R.G. (1960). Alnwick, Northumberland: a study in townplan analysis (Institute of British Geographers Publication 27). London: Georg Philip.
Conzen, M. R. G. (1962). The plan analysis of an English city centre. In K. Norborg (ed.), Proceedings of the IGU Symposium in Urban Geography, Lund 1960. Lund: Gleerup.
Conzen, M.R.G. (1966). Historical townscapes in Britain: a problem in applied geography. In J. Whitehand, (ed.), House: Northern geographical essays in honour of G.H.J. Daysh (pp. 56-78). Newcastle upon Tyne: University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Conzen, M. R. G. (1975). Geography and townscape conservation. In G. Uhlig & C. Lienau, (eds.), Anglo-German Symposium in Applied Geography. Giessen-Würzburg-München (pp. 95- 102). Giessen: Lenz.
Conzen, M.R.G. (1988). Morphogenesis, morphological regions and secular human agency in the historic townscape, as exemplified by Ludlow. In D. Denecke & G. Shaw (eds.),Urban Historical Geography: Recent Progress in Britain and Germany (pp. 252-272). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Conzen, M.R.G. (1969). Alnwick, Northumberland: a study in townplan analysis (Institute of British Geographers Publication 27, 2nd edn.). London: Institute of Geographers.
Cullen, G. (1961). The concise townscape. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.
Darin, M. (1998). The study of urban form in France. Urban Morphology, 2(2), 63-76.
Darin, M. (2000). French belt boulevards. Urban Morphology, 4(1), 3-8.
Ducom, E. (2003a). Urban growth and planning, the case of Rennes (Britanny, France). International Seminar on Urban Form, Trani, Italy, 3-6 July.
Ducom, E. (2003b). Fringe belts and planning: a French example. Urban Morphology 7, 103-104.
Gebauer, M. & Samuels, I. (1983). Urban Morphology: An Introduction (Joint Centre for Urban Design Research Note No. 8). Oxford: Oxford Polytechnic.
Goethe, J.W.V. (1790). Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären.
Gu, K. (2001). Urban morphology of China in the post-socialist age: Towards a framework for analysis. Urban Design International, 6, 125-142.
Gu, K. (2018). The teaching of urban design: A morphological approach. Journal of Planning Education and Research, DOI: 10.1177/0739456XI8775480.
Gu, K., Li Y., & Zheng X. (2019). A typological approach to planning. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 12:4, 373-392, DOI: 10.1080/17549175.2019.1626264.
Holt-Jensen, A. (1999). Geography: history and concepts- a student guide (3rd ed). London: Sage.
Jacobs, J. (1961). The death and life of great American Cities. New York: Random House.
Kristjánsdóttir, S. (2001). The integration of architectural & geographical concepts in urban morphology: preliminary thoughts. International Seminar on Urban Form, Cincinnati, Ohio, 5-9 September.
Kristjánsdóttir, S. 2003: Jaðarbelti borga. in Björnsson, P. (ed). Borgarbrot, sextán sjónarhorn á borgarsamfélagið. Borgarfræðasetur and Háskólaútgáfan, Reykjavík, 104- 118.
Kristjánsdóttir, S. (2005). The concept of a house – the dialect of Reykjavík, Iceland. In M. Barke (ed.), Approaches in Urban Morphology (pp. 9-33). Newcastle upon Tyne: University of Northumbria
Kristjánsdóttir, S. 2006: Tradition and modernity in urban form: fringebelt as a pallet feature: preliminary thoughts. in Qviström and Saltzman (eds.) Landscape studies at the city edge, Department of Landscape Planning, Alnarp.
Kristjánsdóttir, S. (2007). Deciphering the contemporary urban landscape of Reykjavík, Iceland, by applying the concepts and methods of Caniggia and Conzen. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Birmingham.
Kristjánsdóttir, S. (2015) The recent economic downturn and fringe-belt creation in Reykjavík, Iceland, Urban Morphology, 19(1), 94-96.
Kristjánsdóttir S. (2018). A suburb in limbo. From an idea conceived in an economic boom and realised during a crisis: a case study of a Reykjavík suburb. In S. Kristjánsdóttir (ed.), Nordic Experiences of Sustainable Planning, Policy and Practice. London & New York: Routledge.
Kristjánsdóttir, S. & Sveinsson, J. R. (2016). Phantom suburbs out of the ashes, in Gromark, S., Ilmonen, M., Paadam, K. & Støa, E. (eds.) Ways of residing in transformation: Interdisciplinary perspectives, 242-259, (Ashgate).
Kropf, K.S. (1993). An enquiry in to the definition of built form in urban morphology. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Birmingham.
Kropf, K.S. & Larkham, P.J. (2000). Obituary: M.R.G. Conzen. Urban Morphology, 4, 90-95.
Larkham, P.J. & Conzen M.P. (eds.) (2014). Shapers of Urban Form Explorations in Morphological Agency. New York & London: Routledge.
Larkham, P. J. & Jones, A. N. (1991). A Glossary of Urban Form, Historical Geography Research Series no. 26. Geo Books, Norwich.
Larkham, P.J. (2015). Early ideas of urban morphology: a reexamination of Leighly’s The towns of Mälardalen in Sweden, Urban Morphology, 19(2), 59-65.
Lefebvre, H. (1968). Le Droit à la ville (2nd ed.). Paris: Anthropos (Paris: Ed. du Seuil, Collection "Points").
Lefebvre, H. (1974). La production de l'espace, Paris: Anthropos (Translation and Précis).
Leighly, J. B. (1928). The towns of Mälardalen in Sweden. University of California. Publications in Geography III [collected Vol. III dated 1931].
Levy, A. (1999). Urban morphology and the problem of the modern urban fabric: some questions for research. Urban Morphology, 3(2), 79-85.
Louis, H. (1936). Die geographische Gliederung von Groß-Berlin. Länderkundliche Forschung Krebs-Festschrift, 146–171.
Lynch, K. (1960). The image of the city. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Manfredini, M. (2017). The Augmented Meta-Public Space. Interpreting emerging transductive territories in enhanced centres of consumtion. The Journal of Public Space, 2(3), Special Issue, 111-128, DOI: 105204/jps.v2i3.120.
Moudon, A.V. (1994). Getting to Know the Built Landscape: Typomorphology, from Ordering Space: Types in Architecture and Design. In M. Larice & E. Macdonald (eds.), The Urban Design Reader. New York: Routledge.
Moudon, A.V. (1997). Urban morphology as an emerging interdisciplinary field. Urban Morphology, 1 , 3-10.
Muratori, S. (1950). Vita e storia delle citta. Rassegna critica dárchitettura, 11 -12, 3-52
Muratori, S. (1959). Studi per una operante storia di Venezia. I`, Palladio 3-4 (2nd ed, 1960) Rome: Istituto poligrafico dello Stato.
Muratori, S., Bollati, R., Bollati, S. & Marinucci, G. (1963). Studi per una operante storia urbana di Roma. Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche.
Oliveira, V. (ed.) (2016). Urban Morphology. An introduction to the study of the Physical Form of Cities. Switzerland: Springer.
Oliveira, V. (ed.) (2018). Teaching Urban Morphology. Switzerland: Springer.
Oliveira, V. (ed.) (2019). J.W:R. Whitehand and the Historico – geographical Approach to Urban Morphology. Switzerland: Springer.
Petruccioli, A. (1998a). Alice´s Dilemma. In A. Petruccioli (ed.), Typological Process and Design Theory (pp. 57-72). Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Petruccioli, A. (1998b). Exoteric, Polytheistic Fundamentalist Typology, Gleanings in the form of an Introduction. In A. Petruccioli (ed.), Typological Process and Design Theory (pp. 9-18). Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Rossi, A. ([1966] 1982). The Architecture of the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Rossi, A. (1964). Aspetti della tipologia residenziale a Berlino. Casabella – continuita 288 (June) 10-20.
Samuels, I. (1990). Architectural practice and urban morphology. In T.R. Slater (ed.), The built form of western cities (pp. 415- 435) Leicester: University Press.
Samuels, I. (2002). The Caniggia Seminar, Cernobbio, Como, Italy, 5-6 July 2002. Urban Morphology, 6, 90-93.
Sauer, C.O. (1925). The morphology of landscape (University of California Publications in Geography 2). Berkeley: University of California.
Schlüter, O. (1899a). Bemerkungen zur Siedlungsgeographie. Geographische Zeitschrift, 5, 65–84.
Schlüter, O. (1899b). Über den Grundriss der Städte. Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, 34, 446–462.
Schlüter, O. (1903). Die Siedlungen in nordöstlichen Thüringen: ein Beispiel für die Behandlung siedlungsgeographischer Fragen. Berlin.
Schlüter, O. (1906). Die Ziele der Geographie des Menschen. Munich.
Schlüter, O. (1919). Die Stellung der Geographie des Menschen in der erdkundlichen Wissenschaft. Berlin.
Slater T.R. (ed.) 1990. The built form of western cities. University Press, Leicester.
Strappa G., Ieva M. & Dimatteo M.A. (2003). La cittàcome organismo. Lettura di Trani alle diverse scale. ADDA Editore.
Tim Y., Gu K. & Tao W. (eds.) (2014). Urban Morphology, Architectural Typology and Cities in Transition. Beijing: Science Press.
Wang S., Gu, K. (2020). Pingyao: The historic urban landscape and planning for heritage-led urban changes, Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102489.
Whitehand, J.W.R. (1981). Background to the urban morphogenetic tradition, The Urban Landscape: Historical Development and Management – Papers by M.R.G. Conzen. In J.W.R. Whitehand (ed.) Institute of British Geographers Special Publication 13 (pp. 1-24). London: Academic Press, London.
Whitehand, J.W.R. (1987). The changing face of cities, a study of development cycles and urban form (The Institute of British Geographers Special Publication Series 21). London: Basil Blackwell.
Whitehand, J.W.R (1988). Urban fringe belts: development of an idea. Planning Perspectives, 3.
Whitehand, J.W.R. & Gu, K. (2003). Chinese urban form, a European perspective. International Seminar on Urban Form, Trani, Italy, 3-6 July.