Skip to main content

Introduction

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Geometry of Urban Layouts

Abstract

This book is about the geometry of urban layouts for all interested in urban form and structure. It presents a compendium of the urban layout maps of 2-mile square downtown areas or central business districts (CBDs) of more than 100 cities in developed and developing countries. Created digitally using high-resolution satellite images, these maps are presented at the same scale for comparative geometric investigations by urban designers and spatial scientists. The book also presents analytic studies on the geometry of these maps using carefully developed metric geometrical, topological (or network), and fractal measures. Using univariate descriptive statistics, these analytic studies identify the ordinaries, extremes, similarities, and differences in the geometry of these urban layout maps. Using bivariate analysis, these studies investigate scaling in the geometry of these urban layout maps. Finally, using multivariate and factor analysis, these studies develop precise descriptive categories, types and indicators for multidimensional comparative studies of the geometry of these urban layout maps.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Appleyard D, Gerson S, Lintell M (1982) Livable streets. University of California Press, Los Angeles

    Google Scholar 

  2. Childs MC (2006) Squares: a public space design guide for urbanists. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque

    Google Scholar 

  3. Gatje RF (2010) Great public squares: an architect’s selection. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  4. Carmona M, Heath T, Oc T, Tiesdell S (2012) Public places–urban spaces. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  5. Hegemann W, Peets E (1922) Civic art: the American Vitruvius. Architectural Book Publishing, New York

    Google Scholar 

  6. Jacobs AB (1993) Great streets. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  7. Jacobs AB, Macdonald E, Rofé Y (2002) The boulevard book: history, evolution, design of multiway boulevards. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  8. Jenkins EJ (2008) To scale: one hundred urban plans. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  9. Moughtin J (2003) Urban design: street and square. Architectural Press/Elsevier, Burlington

    Google Scholar 

  10. Sitte C (1986) City planning according to artistic principles. Rizzoli, New York

    Google Scholar 

  11. Zucker P (1959) Town and square: from the agora to the village green. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  12. Cooper J (2005) Assessing urban character: the use of fractal analysis of street edges. Urban Morphol 9(2):95

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gil J, Montenegro N, Duarte J (2012) On the discovery of urban typologies: data mining the many dimensions of urban form. Urban Morphol 16:27–40

    Google Scholar 

  14. Laskari A, Hanna S, Derix C (2008) Urban identity through quantifiable spatial attributes: coherence and dispersion of local identity through the automated comparative analysis of building block plans. In: Gero JS, Goel AK (eds) Design computing and cognition ’08: proceedings of the third international conference on design computing and cognition. Springer, New York, pp 615–634

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  15. Nophaket N, Fujii A (2004) Syntactic and network pattern structures of city: comparison of grid and meandering street patterns in Kyojima and Honjo. J Asian Archit Build Eng 3(2):349–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Rodin V, Rodina E (2000) The fractal dimension of Tokyo’s streets. Fractals 8(4):413–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Steadman P, Evans S, Batty M (2009) Wall area, volume and plan depth in the building stock. Build Res Inf 37(5–6):455–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Thomas I, Frankhauser P (2013) Fractal dimensions of the built-up footprint: buildings versus roads. Fractal evidence from Antwerp (Belgium). Environ Plan B Plan Des 40(2):310–329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Vanderhaegen S, Canters F (2010) Developing urban metrics to describe the morphology of urban areas at block level. Int Arch Photogramm Remote Sens Spat Inf Sci 38(4/C7):1–6

    Google Scholar 

  20. Yoshida H, Omae M (2005) An approach for analysis of urban morphology: methods to derive morphological properties of city blocks by using an urban landscape model and their interpretations. Comput Environ Urban Syst 29(2):223–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Batty M, Longley PA (1994) Fractal cities: a geometry of form and function. Academic, London

    Google Scholar 

  22. Burton E (2002) Measuring urban compactness in UK towns and cities. Environ Plan B 29(2):219–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Chen Y, Zhou Y (2003) The rank-size rule and fractal hierarchies of cities: mathematical models and empirical analyses. Environ Plan B 30(6):799–818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Chen Y, Zhou Y (2008) Scaling laws and indications of self-organized criticality in urban systems. Chaos Solitons Fractals 35(1):85–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Frankhauser P (1998) The fractal approach: a new tool for the spatial analysis of urban agglomerations. Popul Engl Sel 10(1):205–240

    Google Scholar 

  26. Frankhauser P (1998) Fractal geometry of urban patterns and their morphogenesis. Discret Dyn Nat Soc 2(2):127–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Frankhauser P (2004) Comparing the morphology of urban patterns in Europe: a fractal approach. In: Borsdorf A, Zembri P (eds) European cities: insights on outskirts, vol 2, Report COST Action 10 Urban Civil Engineering. COST Office, Brussels, pp 79–105

    Google Scholar 

  28. Herold M, Scepan J, Clarke KC (2002) The use of remote sensing and landscape metrics to describe structures and changes in urban land uses. Environ Plan A Plan Des 34(8):1443–1458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Huang J, Lu X, Sellers JM (2007) A global comparative analysis of urban form: applying spatial metrics and remote sensing. Landsc Urban Plan 82(4):184–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Jiang B (2007) A topological pattern of urban street networks: universality and peculiarity. Phys A Stat Mech Appl 384(2):647–655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Jiang B, Claramunt C (2004) Topological analysis of urban street networks. Environ Plan B Plan Des 31(1):151–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Schneider A, Woodcock CE (2008) Compact, dispersed, fragmented, extensive? A comparison of urban growth in twenty-five global cities using remotely sensed data, pattern metrics and census information. Urban Stud 45(3):659–692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Schwarz N (2010) Urban form revisited: selecting indicators for characterising European cities. Landsc Urban Plan 96(1):29–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Strano E et al (2012) Urban street networks: a comparative analysis of ten European cities. arXiv preprint. http://arxiv.org/pdf/1211.0259.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct 2015

  35. Thomas I et al (2010) Clustering patterns of urban built-up areas with curves of fractal scaling behaviour. Environ Plan B Plan Des 37:942–954

    Google Scholar 

  36. Chen Y (2010) Characterizing growth and form of fractal cities with allometric scaling exponents. Discrete Dyn Nat Soc Article ID 194715. doi:10.1155/2010/194715

  37. Mohajeri N, French JR, Gudmundsson A (2013) Entropy measures of street-network dispersion: analysis of coastal cities in Brazil and Britain. Entropy 15(9):3340–3360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Longley PA, Batty M, Shepherd J (1991) The size, shape and dimension of urban settlements. Trans Inst Brit Geogr 16:75–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Samaniego H, Moses ME (2008) Cities as organisms: allometric scaling of urban road networks. J Transp Land Use 1(1):21–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Shpuza E (2007) Urban shapes and urban grids: a comparative study of Adriatic and Ionian coastal cities. In: Kubat AS et al (eds) 6th international space syntax symposium. ITU Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul

    Google Scholar 

  41. Cataldi G (2003) From Muratori to Caniggia: the origins and development of the Italian school of design typology. Urban Morphol 7(1):19–34

    Google Scholar 

  42. Conzen MRG (1960) Alnwick, Northumberland: a study in town-plan analysis. Transactions and Papers, Institute of British Geographers, no 27

    Google Scholar 

  43. Kasprisin R (2011) Urban design: the composition of complexity. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  44. Moudon AV (1986) Built for change: neighborhood architecture in San Francisco. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  45. Siksna A (1997) The effects of block size and form in North American and Australian city centers. Urban Morphol 1(1):19–33

    Google Scholar 

  46. Cardillo A et al (2006) Structural properties of planar graphs of urban street patterns. Phys Rev E 73(6):066107

    Google Scholar 

  47. Carvalho R, Penn A (2004) Scaling and universality in the micro-structure of urban space. Phys A Stat Mech Appl 332:539–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Crucitti P, Latora V, Porta S (2006) Centrality measures in spatial networks of urban streets. Phys Rev E 73(3):036125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Gudmundsson A, Mohajeri N (2012) Entropy and order in urban street networks. Sci Rep 3:3324. doi:10.1038/srep03324

    Google Scholar 

  50. Hillier B (2007) Space is the machine: a configurational theory of architecture. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  51. Hillier B et al (1993) Natural movement: or, configuration and attraction in urban pedestrian movement. Environ Plan B Plan Des 20:29–66

    Google Scholar 

  52. Porta S, Crucitti P, Latora V (2006) The network analysis of urban streets: a dual approach. Phys A Stat Mech Appl 369(2):853–866

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Xie F, Levinson D (2007) Measuring the structure of road networks. Geogr Anal 39(3):336–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Frankhauser P (2008) Fractal geometry for measuring and modelling urban patterns. In: Albeverio S et al (eds) The dynamics of complex urban systems: an interdisciplinary approach. Physica-Verlag, Heidelberg, pp 213–243

    Google Scholar 

  55. Longley PA, Mesev V (2000) On the measurement and generalization of urban form. Environ Plan A 32(3):473–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Tannier C, Pumain D (2005) Fractals in urban geography: a theoretical outline and an empirical example. Cybergeo Eur J Geogr, no 307

    Google Scholar 

  57. Tannier C et al (2011) A fractal approach to identifying urban boundaries. Geogr Anal 43(2):211–227

    Google Scholar 

  58. Batty M et al (2008) Scaling and allometry in the building geometries of Greater London. Eur Phys J B Condens Matter Complex Syst 63(3):303–314

    Google Scholar 

  59. Cook EA (2002) Landscape structure indices for assessing urban ecological networks. Landsc Urban Plan 58(2):269–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Hillier B, Iida S (2005) Network and psychological effects in urban movement. Spat Inf Theory Lect Notes Comput Sci 3693:475–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Hillier B et al (2007) Metric and topo-geometric properties of urban street networks. In: Kubat AS et al (eds) 6th international space syntax symposium. ITU Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul

    Google Scholar 

  62. Hillier B et al (2010) Metric and topo-geometric properties of urban street networks: some convergences, divergences and new results. J Space Syntax 1(2):258–279

    Google Scholar 

  63. Masucci AP, Stanilov K, Batty M (2013) Limited urban growth: London’s street network dynamics since the 18th century. PLoS One 8(8):e69469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Peponis J et al (2007) Street connectivity and urban density. In: Kubat AS et al (eds) 6th international space syntax symposium. ITU Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul

    Google Scholar 

  65. Smith DA, Crooks AT (2010) From buildings to cities: techniques for the multi-scale analysis of urban form and function. CASA Working Paper No 155. Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, London

    Google Scholar 

  66. Alexander C (1965) A city is not a tree. Archit Forum 122(1):58–62

    Google Scholar 

  67. Alexander C et al (1987) A new theory of urban design. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  68. Anderson S (ed) (1986) On streets. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  69. Bacon EN (1967) Design of cities. Thames & Hudson, London

    Google Scholar 

  70. Jacobs J (1961) The death and life of great American cities. Vintage Books/Random House, New York

    Google Scholar 

  71. Lynch K (1981) A theory of good city form. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  72. Southworth M (2003) Measuring the liveable city. Built Environ 29(4):343–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. Jacobs A, Appleyard D (1987) Toward an urban design manifesto. J Am Plan Assoc 53(1):112–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Brown DS, Papadakēs A (1990) Urban concepts. Academy Editions, London

    Google Scholar 

  75. Chase J, Crawford M, Kaliski J (2008) Everyday urbanism. Monacelli Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  76. Venturi R, Brown DS, Izenour S (1972) Learning from Las Vegas. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  77. Koolhaas R, Mau B (1998) In: Sigler J (ed) Small, medium, large, extra-large: Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rem Koolhaas, and Bruce Mau. Monacelli Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  78. Calthorpe P (1993) The next American metropolis: ecology, community, and the American Dream. Princeton Architectural Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  79. Duany A, Plater-Zyberk E, Alminana R (2003) The new civic art: elements of town planning. Random House, New York

    Google Scholar 

  80. Duany A et al (1991) Towns and town making principles. Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  81. Duany A, Plater-Zyberk E, Speck J (2010) Suburban nation: the rise of sprawl and the decline of the American Dream. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York

    Google Scholar 

  82. Kelbaugh D (1989) The pedestrian pocket book: a new suburban design strategy. Princeton Architectural Press in Association with the University of Washington, New York

    Google Scholar 

  83. Southworth M (1997) Walkable suburbs? An evaluation of neotraditional communities at the urban edge. J Am Plan Assoc 63(1):28–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  84. Murphy RE, Vance JE (1954) Delimiting the CBD. Econ Geogr 1954:189–222

    Google Scholar 

  85. Murphy RE, Vance JE (1954) A comparative study of nine central business districts. Econ Geogr 30:189–222

    Google Scholar 

  86. Murphy RE, Vance JE, Epstein BJ (1955) Internal structure of the CBD. Econ Geogr 31:21–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  87. Weaver DC (1969) Changes in the morphology of three American central business districts, 1952–1966. Professional Geogr 21(6):406–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  88. Abbott C (1993) Five downtown strategies: policy discourse and downtown planning since 1945. J Policy Hist 5(1):5–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Rashid, M. (2017). Introduction. In: The Geometry of Urban Layouts. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30750-3_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics