Urban Design

LECTURE 4
The Morphological Dimension

Abhishek K. Venkitaraman
Assistant Professor

Urban morphology

Factors Influencing Urban Morphology

- Site factors
- Historical and cultural factors
- Functional factors
- Government influence
- Social values
- Economic forces
*economic circulation
*economic accessibility / urban land rents

MORPHOLOGY
Line breaks: morph|ology

THE STUDY OF THE FORMS OF THINGS

Origin
Mid 19th century: from Greek morph 'form' + -logy.

URBAN MORPHOLOGY
THE STUDY OF THE FORM AND SHAPE OF
SETTLEMENTS
Development patterns
Process of Change

Urban morphology the study of change in the physical form and shape of settlements over
time focuses on patterns and processes of growth and change.

Differences in street and block patterns, plot patterns, the arrangement of buildings within
plots and the shapes of buildings create very different environments the different patterns
are commonly referred to as urban tissue (Caniggia & Maffel 1979, 1984).

How form of the city changes?

BHOPAL- CHRONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

Growth of
Roorkee

Chronological growth of the town

Comparison of growth
1970

2012

Growth of a City
The growth of a city takes place in different stages. Some cities grow so rapidly that it
will be difficult to recognize them after few decades.

New York in 1851 was a fine and spacious city. Situated in the bank of East and Hudson
river it had three to four storied terraced houses.
But in 1951, the three and four storied flats gave way to skyscrapers. Only the streets remain
unchanged.

Similar is the case with the Birmingham, which expanded fast due to industrial establishments.
Toronto has also made the same mistakes that the other big cities have made.
One can see urban jungle in San Paulo also. But San Francisco is an exception due to the construction
of satellite city across the river, overdevelopment cannot be seen in this city. It has thus retained its
character.

Chicago is a city which is portrayed as a technological success but a planning failure.

Growth of towns

Growth of town can be classified in two ways

Growth according to Origin
Growth according to Direction

Growth according to Origin:

Natural Growth- Not preplanned development, developed as matter of chance;
Possibly could be a result of evolution rather than a pre-thought or preplanned
development;
Primary factors for the natural growth are availability of fresh water, rich soil,
immediate comfort and convenience of the people
Concentric Spread ,
Satellite Growth,
Ribbon Development and
Scattered Growth;

Planned Growth
The town develops on pre-determined line as prepared by the town planner Development in a orderly manner;

Planned growth can be understood through 2 points

1) Selection of site for the town;
2) Features to be embodied in the plan

Natural Growth
Concentric Spread:
Here the town develops in the form of concentric rings
Resulting from improper houses, concentration of the people in the heart of
the town, congestion of the traffic and accidents

Satellite Growth:
The satellite growth implies dependency on the parent city but still
possessing its town identity;
When a town reaches a certain size, satellite devolution must take place, to
break the suburban sprawl beyond that size;
Since its periphery falls away from the heart of the parent city, it becomes
less convenient and uncomfortable for the distant people

Ribbon Development:
Ribbon development is in the form of a ribbon or line, i.e. a single row of houses
along the bus stops, bus routes, railway station or highways;
It happens specially in newly developing towns where rules and zoning regulations
have not been strictly enforced;
Ribbon development has become a regular feature where we find over crowding
of all types of building such as school, factories, petrol pumps.

Disadvantages of Ribbon Development:

Advantage for the frontage of the main road
leaving the interior undeveloped and causes
wastage of valuable land;
Leads to over crowding of the road and,
streets become narrow and give rise to
accidents;
All types of buildings grow at the frontage,
some times affect health conditions;
Town spreads far and wide, becomes costly
to maintain and future developments are
very costly;

Scattered Growth
Town shows erratic growth, expands in a
very irregular manner; It results into traffic
congestion, slums and lack of
open spaces;

Leapfrog Development
Leapfrogging occurs when developers jump
from one built-up area to another, leaving a
large, undeveloped space of land or forest in
between.
This can occur because of the city's zoning
laws.
The problem with leapfrogging is that
transportation between the two developed
areas often becomes dependent on driving
rather than walking or biking.

Growth According to Direction

The growth of towns considering the direction takes place in two ways:

1) Horizontal Growth; 2) Vertical Growth

Horizontal Growth- City can grow horizontally in all directions, to accommodate the growing population.
Horizontal growth is economical at places where land price is cheap;
Vertical Growth- City grows vertically which is done by adding more floors to the existing building or by
constructing high rise or multistoried buildings. This type of development is suitable where the land value is
high;

1) Horizontal Growth:
Advantages:
Economic building construction
Does not require high technical personnel
Possible to have roof ventilation and maximum use of roof lighting
Density of population is generally low
Marginal space around the building could be used for garden
Disadvantages:
It requires more land for the same space area
The construction cost rises as foundation area increases
It is uneconomical where the land is costly
There is absence of group living

2) Vertical Growth:
Advantages:
Over all construction cost reduces because less expenses in foundation
Lot of land saving where land is costly
Increased green space around the building
Encourages a sense of group living
Disadvantages:
Fire safety, earthquake issues, heavy dependence on mechanized vertical transportation
system in building
Alteration in microclimate
Density of population is very high

Morphological Elements:
1. Land uses - Changes to land uses include both new uses coming in
and existing uses moving to other areas.
2. Building structures - There has often been a recognisable cycle of
building development on each plot.

3. Plot pattern - Cadastral units (urban blocks) are typically

subdivided or platted into plots or lots. These may be back-toback plots, each having a frontage onto a main street or
circulation route and a shared or common plot boundary at the
rear.
4. Cadastral (street) pattern - The cadastral pattern is the layout of
urban blocks and public space/movement channels between those
blocks. The spaces between the blocks can be considered to be
the public space network.

Elements which change:

LEAST RESILIENT

LAND USE
BUILDING STRUCTURE
PLOT PATTERN
CADASTRAL (STREET) PATTERN

MOST RESILIENT

Cadastral pattern is the layout of Urban Blocks

and, between them, the public space/ movement
network.

The blocks define the space and the space

defines the block

Neighborhood Status

32

Buildings as constituent
elements in Urban block
- Spatial Coherence

Buildings as freestanding
pavilions in amorphous space.
-Monumental buildings
-Arbitrary and disconnected
individual features

URBAN GRAIN
The balance of open space to built form, and the nature and extent of subdividing an area
into smaller parcels or blocks. For example a fine urban grain might constitute a network of
small or detailed streetscapes.

It
takes
into
consideration
the
hierarchy
of
street
types,
the
physical
linkages and movement
between locations, and
modes of transport

GRAIN
FINE: composed
of small sized
street blocks
COARSE: with
fewer larger
blocks

TEXTURE
EVEN
UNEVEN

Von Meiss contends that a fundamental problem of the

twentieth century urbanization has been the
multiplication of objects and the neglect of fabrics.

Cities slowly tended to lose their spatial coherence, becoming a

series of unrelated and competing or isolated monuments and
small complexes of buildings surrounded by roads, parking
and landscaping FRACTURING OF SPACE

Regular and Deformed Grids:

Regular or 'ideal grids :
characterised by geometric regularity.
they are typically planned and have some
degree of geometric discipline.
due to the ease of laying out streets, the
most basic planned layouts have generally
been rectilinear and many settlements with
regular or semi-regular grids exist.
'Deformed' grids:
characterised by apparent irregularity.
the cores of pre-industrial cities tend to
have deformed grids.
generally based on pedestrian movement
and strongly influenced by topography,
they were integral parts of the immediate
area, rather than through-routes, and
evolved and developed through use.

An important Urban Design quality established by

the cadastral pattern is that of PERMEABILITY
Visual Permeability
Physical Permeability

Railroad Suburbs
Railroads appeared about the time of the Civil
War and they changed the shape of cities. The
speed of the railroad allowed people (If they
couldn't afford the fare) to live in "ideal" small
towns built beyond the limits of the crowded
organic city in which people worked.

Features of these dormitory towns include

larger lots than in the city, stores near the
railroad station, and curving streets with names
that
have
rural/romantic
connotations:
Greenfield, Briarcliff, Idyllwylde, etc.

Streetcar Grids
Streetcars, at first pulled by horses and
later driven by electric motors helped to
shape cities in the late 1800's.
They allowed access to residential
areas along major routes, which were
often spaced a mile or half-mile apart in a
square grid. Stores and apartment buildings
line the main roads, while blocks of narrow
houselots fill the less valuable land far from
the streetcar lines.
Numbered or lettered streets and avenues
are typical, especially in those parts of the
cities that were being urbanized at a very
rapid rate.

The City Beautiful

Wide boulevards going diagonally through a
rectangular grid are the hallmarks of this
design, which was a deliberate attempt to
overcome the dullness of the streetcar city.

The avenues focus on public buildings

and pedestrian squares with statues or
monuments at strategic locations.
Unfortunately plans for the city beautiful were
expensive as well as imaginative and
therefore most of them were never finished,
though nearly every major American city has a
few districts.

Bungalow Grids
Compared with the earlier grids, the bungalow
districts have lower population densities,

larger lots, and elongated blocks,

often with alleys behind the closely
spaced single-family houses and
duplexes.

Tract Suburbs
After World War II, increasingly
affluent commuters demanded
better transportation in the form
of radial freeways (through old urban
areas to city centers)
andbypasses (around cities and railroad
towns.) The automobile suburbs

featured rectangular street patterns

with partially restricted access to the
major highways.
Blocks and houselots tend to be
larger and more square than in
bungalow districts; commercial strips
are common along the major roads; and
stree names often change at suburb
boundaries.

Rectilinear Grid Iron Pattern

Rectilinear Grid Iron Pattern

Curvilinear City

Cul-de-sac pattern

Image Source: Author

FIGURE GROUND ANALYSIS

FIGURE GROUND ANALYSIS OF OLD CITY OF GHAZIABAD

Lack of green
spaces & Poor
Maintenance
of
existing
green
spaces

TYPICAL NARROW LANES

Observations:

COLORFUL,OLD SHOPS

The buildings are densely packed with little or no space between them.
There are some open abandoned spaces which can be developed into potential urban
spaces.
Apart from the abandoned spaces, there is a lack of open spaces in the study area which
leads to visual chaos and deterioration.
There is no particular movement axis.

CENTRE OF WHOLESALE
& RETAIL

Theories in Morphology
Figure-ground Theory: relationship between
building mass and open space; analyzes textures
and patterns of urban fabric; and spatial order.
Linkage Theory: Dynamics of circulation as
generators of urban form; connection and
movement.
Place Theory: Importance of historic, cultural, and
social values in urban open space; contextualists
angle.

Figure Ground Theories

The figure-ground theory is founded on the study of the relative land coverage of
Solid masses: (figure) (buildings)
Open voids: (ground) (parks, streets, squares)
A predominant field of solids and voids creates the urban fabric.
The figure-ground approach to spatial design is an attempt to manipulate the
solid-void relationships by adding to, subtracting from, or changing the physical
geometry of the pattern.
The figure-ground drawing is a graphic tool for illustrating mass-void relationships;
a two dimensional Abstraction in plan view that clarifies the structure and order
of urban spaces.

Urban Solids:

Urban Voids:

Public Monuments or institutions

(Ziggurat, Pyramid, Gothic or
Baroque Churches etc.)
Urban Blocks (Kriers mission is to
reconstruct the traditional urban
block as the definer of streets and
square)
Edge-defining Buildings -establish
an edge of the district- (Berlages
Housing district in Amsterdam, 1915)

Entry foyer space establishes the important

transition from personal domain to common
territory- (fore court, mews, niche, lobby, front
yard)
Inner block void a semi private residential
space for leisure or utility- (courtyard and
covered passage)
Network of streets and squares places to
spend time in and corridors through which to
movePublic parks and gardens nodes for the
preservation of nature in the city, places for
recreationLinear open-space system commonly related to
major water features such as rivers, waterfronts,
and wetland zones

The objective of these manipulations is to clarify the structure of urban spaces in a city or
district by establishing a hierarchy of spaces of different sizes that are individually enclosed but ordered directionally in relation to each other.

A predominant "field" of solids and voids creates this urban pattern, often called the
fabric, and is punctuated by object buildings and spaces, such as major landmarks or open
spaces that provide focal points and subcenters within the field.
The figure-ground drawing is a graphic tool for illustrating mass-void relationships; a twodimensional abstraction in plan view that clarifies the structure and order of urban spaces.

Istanbul

Paris from Above

Berlin from Above

Linkages Theory
Linkage theory is derived from lines connecting one element to another.
These lines are formed by streets, pedestrian ways, linear open spaces, or
other linking elements that psychically connect the parts of a city.

The designer applying the linkage theory tries to organize a system of

connections, or a network, that establishes a structure for ordering spaces.
Emphasis is placed on circulation diagram rather than the spatial diagram of
the figure-ground theory.
Movement systems and the efficiency of infrastructure take precedence over
patterns of defined outdoor space.

Constantinople, reconstruction of the citys

appearance in the 9th-11th centuries,showing
the string of forums.

Place Theories
The place theory adds the components of human needs and cultural, historical,
and natural contexts.
Advocates of the place theory give physical space additional richness by
incorporating unique forms and details indigenous to its setting.
In place theory social and cultural values, visual perceptions, of users and an
individuals control over public environment are as important as principles of
enclosure and linkage

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/ceptwebmaster/janwani-lap-jm-rd

DEFORMED GRID

TRADITIONAL

MODERN

CHANGE OF MOVEMENT SYSTEM

HIERARCHY OF ROAD NETWORK

CAR AS COLONIZER OF PUBLIC SPACE

INTRODUCTION OF
CUL-DE-SACS

Queensway
in Birmingham

POD DEVELOPMENTS
A further transformation in the
morphological structure of urban areas is
that from outward facing urban blocks to
inward- focused complexes.

PROVIDES QUIETER
AND SAFE STREETS

LACK OF
INTERCONNECTEDN
ESS

PROMOTES
RESIDENT
INTERACTION

CREATES CAR
DEPENDENCY

PROVIDES A LOCAL
SENSE OF IDENTITY

ENHANCES
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR CRIME

REDUCES
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR CRIME

LACK OF IDENTITY
AND CHARACTER

SHARED STREETS
The shared street layout gives pedestrians primary
rights, so that, sensing they are intruding into a
pedestrian zone, motorists drive more cautiously

TRAFFIC CALMING

STREET RECLAIMING

Traditional focus was given to road design:

More infrastructure for cars
More space for motorized vehicles
Unsustainable focus

WHY
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT?

HOW TO ENCOURAGE SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT SYSTEM?

WALKING

?
PUBLIC TRANSPORT

CYCLING

FEEDER
SYSTEMS

Consider how best the site can

be connected with nearby
main routes and public
transport facilities

The typical cul -de- sac response

creates an introverted layout,
which fails to integrate with the
surroundings

A more pedestrian-friendly approach that

integrates with the surrounding community
links existing and proposed streets, and
provides direct links to bus stops

This street pattern then

forms the basis
for perimeter blocks,
which ensure that
buildings contribute
positively to the
public realm

Ballard Estate,
Mumbai

PERIMETER BLOCKS

Ref: URBAN DESIGN: A TYPOLOGY OF PROCEDURES AND

PRODUCTS- Jon Lang (pg-208)

SERIAL VISION
Sequence of revelations.
Manipulate the elements of town so that impact on emotions is achieved.
To walk from one end of the plan to another at a uniform pace will provide a
sequence of surprise. so an impact is made on eye.