Urban morphology in architecture and urban design education

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mainstream practice on the built environment has often become closed in its own idiosyncrasies, disconnected from fundamental socioeconomic and environmental challenges. This paper argues for a change in practice, sustained by research and teaching. It claims for urban morphology as a scientific support for architecture and urban design education. A methodology is proposed, grounded on the comprehensive historico-geographical analysis of human settlements and on a balanced reading of each settlement ground plan (street systems, plot patterns and building arrangements), building fabric, and land uses. In this methodology analysis and design are two sequential parts of the same process. As the design object, goals and programme are site-specific, they are defined after analysis. The paper describes the methodology’s application in Ganpu, Hangzhou Bay (China), under the framework of a Design Studio at Zhejiang University.