Conzenian Research in Practice

Abstract

The approach to the study of urban form developed by MRG Conzen gave rise to what was to become known as the Conzenian school of urban morphology. In recent decades it has provided a basis for applications in urban planning, especially conservation. The principal foundations of urban morphology were in the German-speaking countries of Central Europe. It was here that Conzen trained as a student of geography, history and philosophy before settling in England in 1933. After training as a town planner, he worked as a planning consultant, at the same time undertaking research in historical geography, before moving to a full-time academic appointment. Prominent among the concepts he developed were ‘morphological regions’, frequently termed ‘urban landscape units’ in recent usage, and the ‘objectivation of the spirit’, both of which drew on his German experience. But it was not until the last decade of the twentieth century that a sizable number of other urban morphologists began to explore his planning prescriptions, and most of them were working in Europe, where the International Seminar on Urban Form (ISUF) had been founded and the Urban Morphology Research Group (UMRG) in the University of Birmingham was expanding rapidly. The growth of urban morphology internationally was widespread after the turn of the century, notably in China and Portuguese-speaking countries. A major influence in China was the growth of the Urban Morphology Research Group in Peking University and its collaboration with the UMRG in the UK. Among the applications of Conzenian methods in urban conservation were those in the historic city of Pingyao, China and in an area adjacent to the Forbidden City in Beijing. Other World Heritage Listed Cities, or nominations for listing, in which the Conzenian approach was applied included St. Petersburg (Russia), Sibiu (Romania), Kuling (China) and Ouro Preto (Brazil).