2017 Volume 21.1
Editorial comment
Bridging the gaps: urban morphology 20 years on
Articles
High street changeability: the effect of urban form on demolition, modification and use change in two south London suburbs
I. Törmä, S. Griffiths and L. Vaughan {+}Abstract [Full paper, PDF, 13MB 
]
ABSTRACT: Adaptability and resilience are recognized as essential elements
of urban sustainability, yet they remain elusive as propositions supported
by empirical research. In the research presented here the affordance of
change and continuity – here termed changeability – is investigated through
a comparative historical study of two suburban centres in London - Surbiton
and South Norwood - which have matured differently, despite many extrinsic
similarities. Their development c.1880–2013 is examined through the
analysis of digitized historical maps, building use and space syntax analysis
of their street plans. Buildings on busy, but not necessarily the busiest, streets
in small town centres are said to be the most changeable since they can
accommodate a variety of non-domestic uses. Such streets tend to facilitate
incremental building modifications and cyclical redevelopment on widefronted
plots.
Urban landscapes and the atmosphere of place: exploring subjective experience in the study of urban form
P. Jones, A. Isakjee, C. Jam, C. Lorne and S. Warren {+}Abstract [Full paper, PDF, 9MB]
ABSTRACT: Urban landscapes are produced through the combination of
material forms and subjective human experience. Drawing on the concept
of atmosphere, we argue that human experience of urban spaces drives
alterations to the built environment, making it critical that these are studied
in tandem. Atmosphere is created through the combination of human activity,
individual emotional responses and subjective perceptions of built forms.
Though unique to the individual, it can also create a shared feeling of place.
Drawing on ethnographic methods to examine people’s experience of the
Balsall Heath district in Birmingham, UK, a series of examples is used to
illustrate how the interrelationship of subjective experience and built forms
creates different atmospheres within the neighbourhood. These, and the
desire to alter them, are in turn driving morphological change.
The integration of new social housing in existing urban schemes: the case of Cité Manifeste in Mulhouse, France
F. Kostourou and K. Karimi {+}Abstract [Full paper, PDF, 8MB ]
ABSTRACT: With a shortage of affordable housing, social housing has become
a priority on national agendas. However, designing social housing has
a poor record, as reflected in the current demolition of post-war
housing ‘utopias’. This paper seeks to explore how the design of new social
housing could increase the resilience of urban areas and its social and
spatial integration in the contextual urban fabric. It examines the twenty-first
century social housing area of Cité Manifeste, designed by renowned
architects as an extension of Cité Ouvrière, a nineteenth-century mass
industrial housing scheme in the city of Mulhouse, France. The spatial and
social performance of these two cités are investigated, focusing on the urban
interface between the streets and houses, and its patterns of evolution. Both
schemes are well embedded in the wider street network, and Cité Manifeste
has integrated better into the old quarter spatially than socially, yet not all
parts of the design perform similarly. The comparison of the two cités and
their components provides insight into the impact of architectural and urban
design on the viability of housing developments.
Urban regeneration, masterplans and resilience: the case of Gorbals, Glasgow
A. Feliciotti, O. Romice and S. Porta {+}Abstract [Full paper, PDF, 7MB ]
ABSTRACT: Over the last 200 years, particularly since the Second World
War, comprehensive spatial masterplans, aimed at increasing the efficiency,
amenity and value of degraded urban neighbourhoods, have been developed
widely in the UK. However, contrary to the assumption of their creators
that stable long-term outcomes could be planned and achieved, resulting
environments often failed to demonstrate the resilience necessary to deal
with the multi-scale changes cities face throughout their existence, often
worsening the problems they set out to solve. Masterplans have therefore
been the object of strong criticism and only recently, guided by place-making
principles, have they started to be re-evaluated. But are today’s masterplans
any better equipped to respond to the pace of current urban change? How
can masterplans help make places better suited to positively respond to
changes over time? To answer these questions, we explore the concept of
resilience by comparing examples of nineteenth-century, modernist and
recent masterplans, in a 150-year longitudinal study of Gorbals, a district of
Glasgow. The successive developments are observed against five resilience
proxies: diversity, redundancy, modularity, connectivity and efficiency.
Preliminary results suggest that the transition from the first to the second
development produced a reduction in all resilience proxies, only partially
recovered by the latest development.
Viewpoints
Practising the science of urban form L. N. Zertuche
Urban morphology and World Heritage practice G. Palaiologou
Reflections on the gap between academic research in urban morphology and heritage conservation F. Song, Y. Dai and N. Li
Reflections on the teaching of urban morphology V. Oliveira
[Viewpoints, PDF ]
Reports
Fifth Conference of the Portuguese-language Network of Urban Morphology, Guimaräes, Portugal, 15-16 July 2016 E. M. S. Mendonça
ISUF President’s Report, 2015/16 G. Cataldi
First Conference of the Hispanic International Seminar on Urban Form, Toledo, Spain, 15-16 September 2016 V. R. de Ávila Serrano
[Reports, PDF ]
Book reviews
M. Darin (2016) Paris, la forme d’une ville: précis d’anatomie urbaine de moyen âge â nos jours R. Boukelouha
S. P. Fernandes (2016) The imagined cities in the urbanization plans: Cape Verde, 1934-1974 G. D. Carlos
G. Cataldi (2015) Abitazioni primitive. Primitive dwellings P. Gauthier
G. Strappa (2016) Morfologia urbana e tessuti storici: il progetto contemporaneo dei centri minori del Lazio. P. Larochelle
[Book reviews, PDF ]
Book notes
[Book notes, PDF ]
Notes and notices
- Meeting of the Council of ISUF
- ISUF 2017: City and territory in the globalization age
- Revista de Morfologia Urbana
- ISUF 2018: Urban form and social context
- Forthcoming conferences
- Elections to the Council of ISUF
