Physical Urban Form Research Articles

Diversifying the compact city: A renewed agenda for geographical research

The compact city has become part of the policy orthodoxy in dealing with climate change and other sustainability challenges, and scholars from a diverse set of disciplines have informed this policy through empirical research. In this paper, we argue that attuning research in this field to key perspectives and concepts in human geography and critical urban studies can help ‘diversify’ understandings of compact urbanism in ways that advance social and ecological justice. We show that the compact city has been conceived primarily through the lens of territorially bounded physical urban form, and thereby many of its social, political, and ecological implications are overlooked. Based on this critique, we propose a renewed agenda for compact urbanism that rearticulates it as a strategy for sustainable transformation by bridging socio-material and relational approaches and engaging the human geographical toolbox. Three entry points for this agenda are highlighted: (1) commoning the compact city; (2) metabolism of compact cities; and (3) antagonism in the compact city.

Population Density and Solar Radiation Effect on the Residential Buildings Forms: Case Study of the Graduates Villages at El -Burullus Lake

This paper suggests a methodology to Burullus Lake Metopas Center regenerate Egyptian Hinterlands Graduates villages at El-Burullus Lake into sustainable neighborhoods. The study defines urban potentials for the through the analysis of current physical urban context and population densities and their needs. It focuses on the optimization of physical urban form for residential buildings. The proposed methodology introduces and analyzes alternative design models for the residential building forms with respect to residents’ needs, approaching high density population as a strategy to develop social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability. The effect of solar radiation on design alternatives could be measured using simulation tools to develop design concepts. The conclusion of this study indicates that the morphology of a sustainable neighborhood and the solar design of its residential buildings should serve as a foundation of sustainable environment and offer suitable solutions for urban problems in similar cases.

Leaf my neighbourhood alone! predicting the influence of densification on residential tree canopy cover in Perth

Trees provide myriad ecosystem services of benefit to urban populations; however, urban development is pressuring existing urban tree coverage. Thus, a pertinent challenge for planners is identifying development scenarios that find synergies between urban growth and the preservation or enhancement of tree canopy coverage. This paper presents the training and validation of a model that predicts changes in neighbourhood-level urban tree canopy cover associated with different socio-economic and physical urban form variables. Neighbourhoods across Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, were used as a case study. A Random Forests model was trained using a suite of socio-economic and urban form variables and neighbourhood percentage tree canopy cover derived from very high resolution multispectral remote sensing images and digital surface models. This model was validated using independent test data with a mean absolute error of 1.78% and a root mean square error of 2.42%. An application of this model was demonstrated using the City of Nedlands, Perth, where a new planning scheme allowing denser urban development has been approved by the State Government. The magnitude and spatial variation in the change of neighbourhood tree canopy cover in the City of Nedlands in 2050 associated with three urban development scenarios was predicted using the model.

Tipe Urban Sprawl dan Eksistensi Pertanian di Wilayah Pinggiran Kota Denpasar

Denpasar City as the capital of Bali Province is attractive to regional development. The limited space of Denpasar City directs the development towards the periphery. The extension of physical urban form will be a significant factor of suburban developments. The study aims to examine the type of urban sprawl development in the Denpasar suburbs, and their relation to the existence of agriculture. The qualitative research method is used to analyze the type of urban sprawl with the following indicators of typical land uses covering rice fields, forest park, open land, and settlements. Remote sensing analysis of these four indicators applies GIS model drawn from three time-series data of 2005, 2010 and 2015. Spatial approaches are applied to examine the patterns and structures of urban sprawl types. The results find two main types of urban sprawl development in the city suburbs, that is, leapfrog type which is mostly scattered in the north, and the ribbon type mainly centered in the eastern part of Denpasar City. Both types of urban sprawl play a crucial role in decreasing the amount of agricultural land, especially rice fields, in the suburbs of Denpasar.

Comprehensive assessment methodology for liveable residential environment

This paper provides a methodology for the comprehensive assessment of residential environment liveability (REL) as a tool for architects, urban planners, and policy makers. Residential environments are facing challenges to achieve their liveability due to lack of resources, population growth, and urbanization. Over the past decades, a considerable progress has been made towards the evaluation of the quality of urban development and buildings and it mainly addresses environmental indicators. The main objective of this research is the development of a new methodology for assessing the quality of residential environment design in urban areas and to emphasize the significance of the holistic approach based on Scandinavian experience. The Scandinavian role model for housing issues not only comprises of building design, but also provides a development of high-quality residential environment as a whole to improve social well-being. An innovative deductive methodology serves as a platform for developing a system of criteria and quantitative and qualitative indicators for assessing the quality of residential environment while ensuring healthy, pleasant, and attractive environments for living. The REL method is discussed from many different aspects, while the indicators refer to various elements of physical urban form in residential environment. The results of the research show that the criteria system to assess residential environment quality, which focuses on liveability, is of general application.

Quantifying the Effects of Urban Form on Land Surface Temperature in Subtropical High-Density Urban Areas Using Machine Learning

It is widely acknowledged that urban form significantly affects urban thermal environment, which is a key element to adapt and mitigate extreme high temperature weather in high-density urban areas. However, few studies have discussed the impact of physical urban form features on the land surface temperature (LST) from a perspective of comprehensive urban spatial structures. This study used the ordinary least-squares regression (OLS) and random forest regression (RF) to distinguish the relative contributions of urban form metrics on LST at three observation scales. Results of this study indicate that more than 90% of the LST variations were explained by selected urban form metrics using RF. Effects of the magnitude and direction of urban form metrics on LST varied with the changes of seasons and observation scales. Overall, building morphology and urban ecological infrastructure had dominant effects on LST variations in high-density urban centers. Urban green space and water bodies demonstrated stronger cooling effects, especially in summer. Building density (BD) exhibited significant positive effects on LST, whereas the floor area ratio (FAR) showed a negative influence on LST. The results can be applied to investigate and implement urban thermal environment mitigation planning for city managers and planners.

Framework for Assessing Public Transportation Sustainability in Planning and Policy-Making

Transportation plays a key role in urban sustainability planning and urban greenhouse gas emission reductions. Globally, cities have established sustainability agendas and policies to guide the shift from traditional private automobile dependent transportation systems towards an increased use of public transportation, cycling, and walking. While the surrounding physical urban form and governance structures condition public transportation services, there are also many other factors to consider when discussing sustainability. As such, comprehensive planning and policy-oriented assessment frameworks that are independent of local conditions are still largely missing in literature. This paper presents a Public Transportation Sustainability Indicator List (PTSIL) that provides a platform for an integrated assessment of environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability through an indicator-based approach. To demonstrate its use, the PTSIL is applied to analyze the policy documents of public transportation agencies in Helsinki, Finland, and Toronto, Canada. The results show that while both cities achieve relatively high scores in all dimensions, there is still high variability among individual indicators. The PTSIL presents a missed stepping stone between descriptive definitions of transportation sustainability and case specific sustainability performance assessments, offering an opportunity within the planning and policy-making sectors to review, assess, and develop public transportation services comprehensively.

The Role of Built Environment's Physical Urban Form in Supporting Rapid Tsunami Evacuations: Using Computer-Based Models and Real-World Data as Examination Tools

Cities are increasingly becoming hot-spots for nature-originated disasters. While the role of the urban built environment in fostering disaster resilience has been recognized for some time, it has been difficult to translate this potential into practice. This is especially challenging in the case of rapid onset crises such as near-field tsunamis when appropriate urban forms have to support the populations’ ability to autonomously carry out safe and timely responses. In this respect, much of current research remains focused on large-scale elements of urban configuration (streets, squares, parks, etc.) through which people move during an emergency. In contrast, the critical micro-scale of evacuees’ experiences within the built environment is not commonly examined. This paper addresses this shortfall through a macro- and micro-scale analysis of a near-field tsunami scenario affecting the city of Vina del Mar, Chile, including a mixed-methods approach that combines computer-based models and fieldwork. The results show significant macro-scale tsunami vulnerability throughout major areas of the city, which nonetheless could be mitigated by existing nearby high ground and an urban form that allows short evacuation times. However, micro-scale outcomes show comparatively deficient spatial conditions that during an emergency might lead to dangerous outcomes including bottlenecks, falls and panic. Vertical evacuation, in turn, is confirmed as a suitable option for reducing vulnerability, but further examination of each shelter’s characteristics is required.

Impact of Urban Morphology on Energy Consumption of Vertical Mobility in Asian Cities—A Comparative Analysis with 3D City Models

Sustainable development of cities and the overall efficiency of urban infrastructure have emerged as central issues in policy consideration. Consequently, investigating the influence of urban physical form on resource use is critical. This paper investigates energy use due to vertical mobility in the context of Asia’s diverging cities. Micro mobility of citizens’ movement in the vertical direction has a distinct impact on the total energy consumption of a city or urban block. The objective of this research is to analyse the impact of different urban morphologies on vertical mobility—from buildings to urban blocks. A methodology is proposed to calculate energy consumption of lifts, based on a detailed review of literature, codes of practice, the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)/DIS 25745-1 standard and 3D city models. Furthermore, a tool is developed and applied in 20 typical urban blocks in four cities: Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Singapore. The average annual specific energy consumption of lifts varies significantly across the samples. A comparative analysis of all the morphologies across these cities help to understand the impact of building forms, usage, and a number of further parameters on the energy consumption for vertical mobility.

Revealing the mechanism of urban morphology affecting residential energy efficiency in Seoul, Korea

This study aims to expand understanding of the urban morphology's role on residential energy demand beyond the previous approach that focused only on the direct effect of physical urban form. This paper suggests the importance of indirect pathways through which three morphological factors―namely urban spatial conditions, land use and architectural attributes―affect the thermal efficiency of residential buildings and then the energy demand. To verify the alternative mechanism of morphology, an empirical building-level dataset of a residential area in Seoul, South Korea was established and analyzed using a structural equation modelling method. The urban morphology models substantially explained the variation in the thermal efficiency of houses, revealing the indirect contribution of the urban design and land use characteristics via other variables as well as the direct contribution of the architectural attributes. For instance, unfavorable urban design conditions of a parcel were associated with substantial underutilization of land property, consequently delaying improvement in residential thermal efficiency. The expectation of redevelopment or the complex ownership of a property also hindered the reinvestment efforts. Policy implications derived from the results were discussed at the end of the paper.

Developing an integrative urban resilience capacity index for plan making

Urban resilience assessment can help planners understand the status of resilience in an urban system and identify needs for improving resilience capacities. The issues related to urban resilience are complex because of multiple urban system components, threats from different sources, and uncertainty of the future. Urban resilience theories have progressed to consider an urban system as an integrated complex system; however, urban resilience assessments are inconsistent and underdeveloped in assessing an integrated urban system for different threats at various uncertainties. In an effort to address this deficiency, we propose to develop an Integrative Urban Resilience Capacity Index (IURCI) for assessing urban resilience capacity for all threats. To improve the quality of urban resilience assessment, the IURCI considers urban physical form, spatial structure, preparation for future, and performance after plan implementation to measure resilience capacities of absorption, mitigation, and adaptation. It is built in a Scenario-Based Planning Support System (SB-PSS). The SB-PSS is a framework and an open system that integrates IURCI with scenario generation, modeling, and assessment to inform the public, planners, and other stakeholders about the consequences of different planning policies and to assist them make decisions for implementing a preferred scenario.

Exploring the fringe-belt phenomenon in a Sino-Portuguese environment: the case of Macao

The fringe-belt concept has been recognized as an effective means of investigating the growth and transformation of urban physical form. Hitherto case studies of fringe belts have been mainly conducted in fairly homogeneous cultural environments. In this paper the fringe-belt concept is investigated in a city characterized by a Sino-Western admixture of cultures. The investigation of three fringe belts in Macao Peninsula reveals major factors influencing their formation and modification processes, especially in relation to socio-economic conditions, land reclamation from the sea and industrial development. Understanding the characteristics of fringe belts has implications for the appreciation and management of urban landscapes.

Narrating palimpsestic spaces

The term ‘palimpsest’ refers to medieval manuscripts that have been multiply erased and inscribed with the overlapping texts of successive scribes. More recently and amongst academics, the term has become a metaphor for describing the city, including both the physical urban form as well as memories and experiences of everyday urban life. The palimpsest offers a way of thinking not only about urban transformation, where new and repurposed structures exist alongside the old, but also changes in how the city is experienced, or how life stories are written upon and rewrite existing spaces. This paper focuses on the latter. Though the palimpsest metaphor has been used to describe material transformations of the urban, the question that this paper raises is: how can the notion of the palimpsest inform methodological approaches to researching how the city is lived and seen? Collaborative, digital storytelling that combines images, narration, and sound can provide a method that emphasises the polyvocality and multi-temporality that the term palimpsest implies. A palimpsestic approach to digital storytelling, as a visual and narrative method, gestures at places as open to future readings and inscriptions. This is relevant to all cities, but perhaps most obviously in cities where historical narratives, memories of violence, and questions over the future political direction of the country in which the city is located are all highly contested. To illustrate these points, this paper draws upon research conducted with young people in Beirut, Lebanon as part of a wider study about how youth experience citizenship and belonging in divided societies.

Mediation Impacts of Physical Urban Form on Rail Transit Ridership by the Infection Fear of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome : Focused on the Rail Station Area in Seoul, Korea

This study is aimed at decomposing and identifying the mediating effects of transit-oriented compact city planning elements on rail transit ridership during the proliferation of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Seoul, Korea. The study are focused on how urban physical form such as density, diversity, design, and transit accessibility in rail station areas had affected the decrease of rail transit ridership during that time indirectly as well as directly, by employing the path modeling. Their indirect impacts on it are measured as rail transit ridership of a rail station affected by the form indictors as well as condensing trip-inducing facilities and socio-economic indicators for the 500m-buffer rail station area. Analysis results are summarized as follows below. First, rail transit ridership significantly decreased by urban physical form as well as single-unit facilities within a certain area. Second, the former had more indirectly influenced ridership decrease. Third, some urban physical form such as density, diversity and design had statistically significant on it while total effects of the two socio-economic measures had not. Fourth and finally, the avoidance for the use of rail transit were more prominent for the elderly than for the others. In addition, all of the urban form measures were differentiatively influenced by the two groups of rail riders.

The land-use of Bandung, its density, overcrowded area and public facility toward a compact city

The concept of a compact city has been introduced since 1973. It is a utopian vision largely driven by a desire to see more efficient uses of resources. In 1980s, the reconfiguration of the physical urban form of metropolitan areas was increasingly debated by both theorists and practitioners. Recently, the concept of a compact city has been more focused on developed countries in which the population tends to decrease. However, in Asia, except Japan which contains many dense cities, it has become a concept which promotes relatively high residential density with mixed land uses, though rather only in population and density. This paper addresses the land-use of Bandung that having the density over 14,000 people/km2, which has been so much potential toward a compact city. Somehow, unprepared ness of urban planning and regulation, the city seemed overwrought to serve its inhabitants. This condition is shown from the demographic condition, especially population density in Bandung based on its sub areas of the city (SWK). The stack of public facilities in a certain district has led the concentration of density and activity, which finally raising the slum and overcrowded settlement. Finally, this paper explores the implications of land use management and describes challenges faced and possible approaches, especially in land-use management strategies to be implemented in Bandung.

Energy Resilient Urban Form: A Design Perspective

The paper introduces a design perspective of making energy resilient urban form, an approach to promoting energy performance through changing urban physical form. Existing urban energy research is often limited to performance analysis based on a positive question such as: “how urban systems function in energy efficiency”. The paper raises a normative question: “how urban form should be designed or changed to achieve better energy performance and system resiliency”. A research framework is suggested, including 1) energy flows in Euclidean geometry, 2) Gibson and Lynch's perceptual environment, 3) material flows and embodied energy, and 4) cross-scale dynamics. A test case of urban district is conducted, which demonstrates how performance analysis and design are connected. The paper concludes that urban design can be conceived as a forward-looking modeling method for synthesizing complex and uncertain energy problems in cities. It contributes to the agenda of creating a “normal science of urban energy modeling”.

A Study of Immunity-based Urban System: A Morphological Approach

Abstract This research endeavour to reveal the mystery of urban formation, and further illustrate the role of urban physical environment in this immunity-based system. Accordingly, a morphological approach to the scrutiny of the urban landscape in different scales will be undertaken. As a balanced urban system disrupted by a significant event, the physical urban form will be impacted directly, and thus transform to response to the change. After a series of transformation, the urban system can be steadied again. This process can be regarded as immunity-based procedure, which can help an urban system evolve and therefore survive.

Urban spatial structure: an interaction between employment and built-up volumes

This paper employs socioeconomic and remote sensing data to develop a novel approach to analysing the morphological urban spatial structure in select German city-regions. Furthermore, the suggested multidimensional procedure facilitates the analysis of the implications of different urban spatial structures in terms of physical urban form. All analyses are conducted on the spatial scale of 1 km² grid cells to allow for spatially detailed results and to account for intra-municipality differences in the urban spatial structures in the study regions. The results indicate fundamental differences among the study regions’ distribution of employees and built-up volumes and, as a result, among their urban spatial structures. Both employees and built-up volumes are found to be highly spatially clustered primarily within the core cities but with notable exceptions, which thus qualifies the regions as polycentric. This finding is consistent with prior research but also reveals that built-up volumes can be understood as physical manifestations of proximity advantages to which firms and employees are subject.

Applying quantitative techniques to evaluate the level of sustainability for physical dimension of urban form in sanandaj city, iran

This paper aims to understand and evaluate the sustainability of physical dimension of urban form in rapidly growing urban areas and presents some quantitative methods (Shannon's Entropy and Holden Apportioning Technique) to measure the level of sustainability for urban form as a practical implication. The rapid urbanization in Iran in the second half of the 20th century has mostly manifested itself in the emergence of large cities and issue of sustainable urban form is becoming ever more important, taking into consideration the contemporary urban population growth and the concern of sustainable development. The Sanandaj City is located on the west- ern side of Iran, and has a population of about 400,000. There has been rapid urbanization during the last three decades in the city and it is therefore chosen as a case study. The results of these measurements indicate that in order to achieve sustainable urban form, the urban policies for development should be changed. A more rational and focused approach is required in development of the urban areas to achieve effi cacy and sustainability. The main purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate the level of sustainability for physical urban form in the Sanandaj City, located on the in western side of Iran. This city has experienced dramatic changes in size and shape during last 30 years. A greater understanding of the sustainable urban form that contributes to the quality of a community is needed by design and planning profes- sionals to be able to play a more infl uential role in the preservation, enhancement and development of successful community environment especially for Iranian cities. The rapid urbanization in Iran in the second half of the 20th century has mostly manifested itself in the emergence of large cities without specifi c elements of Iranian culture. This will isolate them from their rich architectural and urban design heritage. In addition, the old city centers, which are the only remnant of the glorious past, are slowly vanishing, due to modern development. While sustainability of city is multifaceted, physical urban form and its relation to the effi ciency of the city is the most acknowledged issue in the world environmental agenda. Many scholars argue that sustainable urban form is a key towards achieving a sustainable development and that quality of life is one of its vital components. Moreover, as cities promote the goal of becoming livable through compact polycentric approaches; potential importance to spatial factors in determining well-being grows more vital. Yet there exists very little empirical research to establish this claim. Hence urban forms cannot be considered 'sustainable' in the full sense if they are not acceptable to people as places to live, work and interact. Today it is fully accepted that to achieve sustainable urban form, particularly in relation to land func- tionality and planning policy, the most effi cient solution must be performed using compact city model. This model consists of a city shape with high density and mixed land use. Therefore, an understanding of the physical development pattern in order to navigate it towards sustainable urban development is essential. A vital element for this acceptance is the measurement of compactness/sprawl. Hence this

The influence of urban physical form on trip generation, evidence from metropolitan Shiraz, Iran

This paper aims to examine the relationship between urban form and personal daily trips between urban zones across Metropolitan Shiraz, Iran. To cope with collinearity nature of trip generation determinants and also multicollinearity in model estimation, component principal analysis (PCA) was employed to identify latent dimensions of trip generation. Then, a multiple regression model with continuous independent variables was developed to measure the effect of each individual variable on entire trips generated among urban zones. The explanatory variables included both physical characteristics of the metropolitan (land use diversity, density, suburbanization, connectivity, and accessibility to public transport), and socio-economic characteristics of trip makers (age, employment status, education, migration, property value) aggregated on the urban zones scale. The empirical findings, based on ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation of 2006 data for 47 traffic area zones (TAZ) with total population over 1.1 million indicated that socio-economic characteristics were the most positive determinants of trip generation among the zones. On contrast, suburbanization (distance from central business district (CBD)) and distance from public transport facilities were negatively associated with the trip generation. However, other physical factors such as land use mix and network connectivity were found not important in influencing intra-zone trip generation, probably influencing inter-zone trip generation instead. In fact, improving local accessibility may reduce the need to intra-zonal travel, rather may also increase the tendency to travel within the neighborhood area.