Urban morphology

Urban morphology is the science that studies the physical form of cities, as well as the main agents
and processes shaping it over time.

Due to the complexity of this ‘object’ of study, urban morphology has a clear interdisciplinary
nature, receiving contributions from different fields such as architecture, geography planning and
history, to name a few.

The word morphology was first proposed by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe at the end of the
eighteenth century, and it was used to designate the ‘science that deals with the essence of forms’.

Although it was proposed as a branch of biology, the general and abstract nature of morphology
enabled its application in many different fields and at the end of the nineteenth century, in Central
Europe, it started to be used in the study of cities.

The systematic study of urban forms started more than one century ago with the research work
developed by a number of German geographers.

International Seminar on Urban Form

International Space Syntax Symposium

At the practical level, the study of urban form performs a vital educational function.

Through the detailed study of urban form, both of the present and of the past, we learn both what
we should not do and how we can do things better.

In cultural terms, the study of urban form is analogous to fields such as art appreciation.

A full appreciation and understanding of a townscape may be close to that of a specific work of art.

An understanding of urban morphology is therefore a prerequisite to a fuller appreciation of the

However, townscapes possess a deeper cultural significance in that they are not simply subject to
the ‘gaze’ but are real phenomena that are lived in.

Urban forms possess cultural and social significance that transcends the current functionality and, as
such, they have layers of meaning and of significance attached to them.

As with most educational endeavors, the study of urban form is concerned with trying to make sense
of the world around us.

The analytical study of urban form provides us with the tools to undertake such a task.

The Concept of Urban Tissue

Cities are objects composed of different objects or of different parts. It is possible to identify a
number of relationships between these objects and hierarchy in these relations.

To deal with the complexity of cities, urban morphology uses this hierarchical view of the city,
structured according to a set of fundamental physical elements.

At a general level, the city is composed of urban tissues.

These different levels correspond to different elements of urban form. The higher the level of
resolution, the greater the detail of what is shown and the greater the specificity of morphological
description.

In general, all cities and their tissues are constituted by a set of elements of urban form— streets,
blocks, plots and buildings.

Yet, in each city these streets, street blocks, plots and buildings are combined in a specific way,
originating different types of tissues.

Some of these tissues are clearly identifiable and are able to offer their cities a unique character.

The Streets System

It is through the streets system that we travel, and start to know, a city.

In morphological terms, and in a temporal perspective, streets are the most stable element of urban
form.

While the physical process of city building is something that ‘takes time’ involving permanent
transformation—it has a past, a present and a future.

The streets system of a city is the one that offers greater resistance to this process of urban
transformation, attaining a great temporal stability.

The plots system has a lesser durability than the streets system, and the buildings system has a
lower stability over time than the two first systems.

The Plots System

The plots system of a city is one of the most important elements of urban form, separating the
public domain and the private domain (or the different private domains).

Nevertheless, the role of this fundamental system is often neglected by the main agents and
stakeholders in the process of city building, largely because of the, apparently, reduced urban
visibility of plots.

An important element in the description and explanation of the physical form of the city is the
dimension of its street blocks and, within these, of its plots.

In general, the dimension of street blocks and of plots increases as we move from the historical
center to the peripheral parts of the city.

The Buildings System

Although buildings do not have the stability in time that streets and plots have, they are one of the
most important elements of urban form and, perhaps, the most visible of these elements.

In general, the city is made of two different types of buildings, ordinary buildings and exceptional
buildings.

The position of each building within its plot is of fundamental importance for the character of the
urban landscape.
In most cities, until the end of the nineteenth

century, the continuous alignment of different buildings defined, in a very clear

way, the street form.

Yet, a number of city theories, developed over the twentieth century, have led to the introduction of
an increasing variation in the position of buildings within plots.

Data (primary and secondary data)

Data collection methods

• Survey (physical and digital)

• Questionnaire survey

• Photography

• Videography

• Observation (participant and non-participant)

• Maps

• Interviews (structured, semi-structured, open ended)

Data analysis

• Tabulations

• Mapping

• Bar graphs, pie charts, etc.

• Basic statistics (descriptive)

• Statistical analysis

• Modelling (mathematical)