sahar hassan imam

Maintaining CharaCter through urban

Morphology analysis

Sahar Hassan Imam

Abstract
Relating development control regulations to urban morphology analysis concepts is essential to deal with incremental
change in existing contexts, relating urban morphology analysis to intangible factors of change such as land econom-
ics, human needs, politics and ideologies, helps protecting character and value of contexts from unguided change con-
trolled by waves of political decisions, change of densities and land values. The first part of the paper discusses differ-
ent approaches to urban morphology analysis, the need to development control regulations to protect character and
value, the incremental nature of urban change, and urban morphology’s non physical aspects effect on urban change.
The second part of the paper reviews two case studies in France and Egypt to assess development control regulations
in each case, how it affected urban change and area character, and examines whether urban morphology analysis was
part of Development control regulations or not. It concludes with the evaluation of the second case, and the develop-

open house international Vol.42 no.4, December 2017. Maintaining Character through urban Morphology analysis.
ment of a frame work linking non physical factors affecting incremental change with morphological studies, showing
the need to relate development control regulations to morphological analysis of town’s form and non physical variables
affecting form change to guide positively incremental change.

Keywords: Urban Morphology, Urban Form, Development Control Regulations, Incremental Change, Character preser-
vation.

introduction: the current paper critically reviews two cases

in many countries morphological analysis are not nec-
essarily related to regeneration plans or designs inter-
ventions in existing context, only recently researches
adopt the relation between morphological studies
describing contexts’ evolution and development con-
trol regulations suggested based on these prescrip-
tions (samuels i., pattacini l. 1997). on the other
hand urban morphologists have long concentrated on
town’s form and its historical development as a tool to
gain a better understanding of the built environment,
with less emphasis on the relation between form
change and intangible variables such as land eco-
nomics, human needs, politics and ideologies, though
intangible variables affected urban form of towns and
cities through history, and are usually an important
factor of built environment change.
in order to have development control regula-
tions and regeneration projects that guide change
positively and preserve character of existing contexts
specially historical contexts and contexts of value, we
must examine and understand the process of transfor-
mation of these contexts together with the intangible
factors of change; cultural, social, economical and
political to be able to understand the end result of a
process.
therefore the paper examines through com-
parative analysis how development control regulations
and regeneration project maintain the character of
towns when done through urban morphology studies
and non physical aspects consideration.
of existing contexts with value, the first is French. it
applied development control regulations to save a dis-
trict in a commune near paris, from uncontrolled
incremental change not caring about character and
history of the district. in the light of that case the paper
examines the egyptian case of ‘Finey’ district, giza,
egypt which is losing its character due to uncontrolled
incremental change. the two cases assess how the
development control regulations in each case affected
regeneration projects and area character.
approaches to urban morphology:
urban morphology is an analytical process of under-
standing the evolving form of a place. it shows the
pattern of change, the current urban condition and the
valuable parts of the urban fabric that should be pro-
tected. it is a field that is concerned with creating
detailed data base documenting historical change in
existing settings.
three main lines of research prevailed in the
field of urban morphology analysis, some developed
within the discipline of geography and were interested
in decomposing form into elements. others architec-
turally based were interested in detecting elements,
categories and types of building (lanci g. 2013). the
following part will go through the three lines of theo-
ries as a tool to understand urban environment, and
to detect ways in which towns have grown.
the first school led by M.r.g. Conzen a
german geographer settled in england, adopts the
approach of conceptualizing historical development
117
 through cartographic representation, looking at the
sahar hassan imam
buildings and plots at the same time as an integrated
entity defining the street, plot and building as a plan
unit (sima y., Zhang D. 2009). the school uses maps
comparison to understand change in the urban envi-
ronment. For this approach the key elements of urban
form are: land use, building structure, plot pattern and
street pattern (samuels i., pattacini l. 1997).
Conzen studies through the analysis of histor-
ical medieval towns are according to larkham
(larkham p. J. 1998) a combination of historical doc-
umentation and plan analysis that leads to deep
understanding of the development of current urban
condition.
another important school led by Muraturi an
italian architect and lecturer in Venice and rome,
adopts typo-morphological analysis approach which
focuses on the comparison of building types within
maps in different historical periods. the maps exam-
ine the internal structure of architecture in selected
urban quarter (sima y., Zhang D. 2009), with particu-
lar attention on the architectonic scale and the indi-
viduality of the dwellings.
Muratori between 1948-1952 was in search for the
collective spirit of the district, street, and square. he
open house international Vol.42 no.4, December 2017. Maintaining Character through urban Morphology analysis.
believes that by studying every unit the map tries to
capture the sentiment of the local environment and the
popular spirit which deals with city as organism in con-
tinuous evolution (Maretto M. 2013).
the third school in urban morphology is the
French school led by: philippe panerai, Jean Catex,
and Depaule (sociologist), this school is closer to the
italian school than the english one. philippe panerai
operationalizes the approach of visual sequences pro-
posed by Cullen (panerai, p. 2005). his methods of
analysis consider the visual sequence as a visual per-
ception analysis approach of urban areas, focusing on
images that reveal to the observer moving in a city.
recently the interaction of computing and
urban theories became essential since computers and
information systems have been used for urban design
by the end of 20th century, translating cities into data
due to the development of geographical information
systems (gis) that made analysis methods more prac-
tical and possible for wider contexts and had signifi-
cant impact on urban design (lanci g. 2013).
the French school tried to link urban form
and structure with the way it is perceived by observers
in a trial to include intangible factors in map readings.
other than the French school, most of the previously
mentioned urban morphology schools do not inte-
grate social relations in morphological theories to
relate transformation of space with social change
(sima y., Zhang D. 2009).
urban morphology analysis and development control
regulations.
Different urban morphology approaches from
Conzenian methods to digital ones are essential to
retrieve change, suggest redevelopment plan and cre-
ate development control regulations. studies of urban
morphology are essential for urban designer to con-
ceptualize the complexity of physical form before sug-
gesting development control regulations (Moudon, a.,
1997) that should be context specific and responding
to: market needs, political changes and communities.
118
Development plan of uses and forms and
development control regulations adopted by govern-
ment agencies according to Kropf (Kropf, K., 1996)
should include typo morphological studies, in order to
force the new buildings to respect the character
defined for each zone based on studies for its histori-
cal development. typo morphological studies help
understanding the character of town focusing on
urban tissue and building typology as a key to realize
the principles of typo morphology on the level of the
physical structure and historical development of urban
areas.
physical studies help to understand the ways
in which towns have grown and developed. according
to larkham understanding the physical complexities of
built environment varies from individual buildings,
plots, street block and street patterns, but this is not
enough to understand physical change. recent
researches focus on examining the processes and the
agent of change or the factors leading to change
(larkham p. J. 1998) for better understanding of the
physical change.
establishing frameworks to guide design
interventions and regeneration plans in existing urban
areas, should not adopt only conventional morpho-
logical approaches to understand contexts’ form evo-
lution, it also should include according to pattacini
(samuels i., pattacini l. 1997) analysis to the struc-
tures and processes that caused form change. since
morphological analysis is used to understand contexts’
change, frameworks have to take into consideration
cultural and social change as well as architectural and
urban change.
urban morphology analysis and character mainte-
nance.
tracing accurate maps and translating cities into digi-
tal data; defining land uses, building types and archi-
tectural style is essential to guide redevelopment deci-
sions, but not enough specially in areas where change
started to occur and affected contexts value. linking
data to factors that caused change makes studies
more accurate and solution more real.
social and economical factors may guide
map reading giving another layer of information to
understand contexts change, reach a more accurate
base for redevelopment control plan and regulations
that can effectively protect area character.
in many developing countries districts suffer
from the destruction and damage that occur to entire
neighborhoods of value due to change in regulations
controlled by land values change, urban growth,
waves of political decisions and not aware of areas
value.
long term effect of incremental change
affects the quality of environment by improvement or
deterioration (hall, a., 1997). Change is due to
changing needs and requirements for contemporary
living, changing trends to solve current urban prob-
lems, changing land values and changing users’
needs. Morphological studies show that change is
inevitable, it also show according to larkham that
there is a hierarchy of change within urban features:
buildings have the fastest change by demolition and
replacement, plot pattern by subdivision or wholesale
associated with changing ownership, then street net-
work which is the most resistant (larkham p. J. 1998).
 Form is a major constituent of character
according to larkham, development control regula-
tions applied in contexts of value should be developed
based on morphological analysis at the level of indi-
vidual plots and buildings to protect character
(larkham p. J. 1998). Character maintenance recently
is a very precious aim due to increasing globalization
of culture. architecturally based morphological
approaches are more concerned with measures of
local character, as they focus on building typology and
townscape not just function (samuels i., pattacini l.
1997).
the current study examines two cases: one in
‘Mennecy’ France, a research project applying sys-
tems of data collections tracking changes and trying to
relate it to reasons of change, the project applies mor-
phological studies change in creating development
control regulations that protect character mainte-
nance.
in the light of the French project the paper
examines the egyptian case of ‘Finey’ district, giza.
the ‘Finey’ area applies regulations not referring to
urban morphology analysis or factors of change, but
expressing land values and market needs. regulations
not related to morphological analysis led to drastic
changes in areas’ character and are threatening area
value.
urban morphology analysis and development control
regulations, the French trial ‘Mennecy’.
‘Mennecy’ is a town 35km south east of paris with
Medieval origins; it has grown during 1960s and
1970s with the development of large housing projects
on former agriculture land due to the need of com-
muters’ economy. the city’s oldest parts are early
medieval the town according to Kropf is attractive but
not exceptional in physical appearance or historical
importance, its center contains shops, offices and light
industries, sub centers have mainly retail activities
(Kropf, K., 1996). large percentage of the residents is
working in paris or another large proximate town.
‘Mennecy’ was facing the need to provide
new housing buildings due to the demand of com-
muters economy, and they were provided by large
plots subdivision on the edge of the center, and to face
this pressure traditional buildings were replaced by
new ones not sharing the same features which led to
urban character erosion.
the local government started a research pro-
Figure 2. photos of ‘Mennecy’ town centre church and la Fontaine Street https://collection-jfm.fr/p/cpa-france-91-mennecy-
rue-de-la-fontaine-87761.
sahar hassan imam
Figure 1. Morphological analysis done for Mennecy’s cen-
tre to identify the character and special features of the town
(Kropf, K.,1996)
ject to protect character erosion, the reason to main-
tain area character is that the area is a sign of conti-
nuity and has a common historical reference shared
by people though it is not with high historical value.
the research project adopted two models of
analysis one geometrical concerned with the physical
structure of towns, the other chronological compara-
tive analysis concerned with the development and
open house international Vol.42 no.4, December 2017. Maintaining Character through urban Morphology analysis.
change of that structure through time, to define the
older parts, the newly developed zones and how the
new development changed in the old structure of the
town.
the studies were area specific providing a
definition for the principal zones, each zone repre-
sented a district with a distinct character derived from
its historical development. accordingly regulations
were defined to include frontage dimensions, maxi-
mum area to build, and type of buildings, for a new
building to be approved it must follow the develop-
ment regulations (Kropf, K., 1996).
the French system according to Kropf (Kropf,
K., 1996) depends on land use plans for areas rede-
velopment which is a legally binding system, for areas
of special value there is another plan that is stricter. in
‘Mennecy' a version of the land use plan and devel-
opment control started taking into consideration char-
acter and its value, trying to use the available tools
effectively to achieve this. a team of consultants;
urbanists and lawyers was formed with the goal to
identify the character and special features of the town
as shown in Figures (1) and (2), and indicate the
119
 desired result of future development, reasons of
sahar hassan imam
change, residents need and the demand on housing.
the team started land use plan revision and
adjustments, tracking changes and relating physical
change reasons to development control regulations, in
order to help protecting character from erosion and to
provide users needs in the same time.
urban morphology analysis and development control
regulations, the egyptian trial, ‘Finey’ giza.
Cartography and mapping in egyptian context were
active till half of the twentieth century with accurate
maps that can document the urban evolution and
change of many districts. recent mapping and urban
morphology analysis are only done to historical con-
texts with a certain number of monuments not to all
contexts, therefore when urban regeneration work is
needed or regulations and building codes are devel-
oped it is hard to find updated information for the site
open house international Vol.42 no.4, December 2017. Maintaining Character through urban Morphology analysis.
Figure 3. Old maps comparisons to actual satellite images showing impact of regulations change on building densities and
green spaces.
120
or records showing how it evolved into its current con-
dition (stewart D. 2001).
on the other hand the analytical work done
on historical settings is usually done by international
organizations like unesCo in order to preserve the
area, but despite the accurate work done it is not used
to create a database for development control regula-
tions in those contexts, because such work is not eas-
ily approved by local government or ministries and
organizations involved. For example one of the impor-
tant organizations is nouh (national organization of
urban harmony), which is responsible for identifying
areas of value and proposing protection measures, its
decisions have to be approved by the supreme coun-
cil of urban planning and development.
this situation of absence of documentation
and accurate registration of urban contexts makes it
difficult to read and understand change and relate this
change to intangible factors causing and affecting it.

Figure 4. Arial views showing Finey area and surrounding districts’ change from residential medium density areas to high
mixed use areas. Raafat, S., http://www.egy.com/.
absence of documentation makes development con-
trol regulations not related to area history or charac-
ter which leads in many cases to character erosion of
complete districts and areas without even document-
ing them. this is the case of many Cairene districts.
‘Finney’ district in Dokki is an old district on
the western bank of the nile, part of giza gover-
norate. this district was designed during the 20s and
30s by the british Mr/oswald Finney the president of
‘the societe des terrains de giza and rodah’. the area
was a housing district with villas influenced by
european architecture ranging from neoclassical to
baroque to art deco due to british colonial era. the
houses in Finey district were villas with gardens and
grand mansions for upper class egyptian families that
belong to top bourgeoisie (raafat s. 2004).
unplanned urban growth and change of uses
occurred in the area starting 1950’s, through high rise
construction. another densification wave occurred
between 1970’s and 1980’s during which many of the
villas and mansions were destroyed to make way to
high rises and infill constructions between buildings,
and modifications of other existing buildings whether
by adding floors or changing ground and first floor
facades. recent satellite images and field survey
reveal that all green spaces are transformed to built
areas which increased the population density. the
destruction changed the visual quality of the urban
district; the newer constructions lack the distinctive
character of the previous villas.
Figure 5. Mansion of Abdel Hamid Sabry transformed to Nasser Higher Military Aacademy. Raafat, S.,
http://www.egy.com/
sahar hassan imam
heights regulations changed from two to
three stories height to 1.5 times the street’s width,
heights increased dramatically at the nile Front due to
land value increase, very few villas survived due to
special uses as diplomatic embassies or private com-
panies and banks, that can afford to maintain such
open house international Vol.42 no.4, December 2017. Maintaining Character through urban Morphology analysis.
beautiful buildings.
the following Figure (3) examines old maps
to actual satellite images and show extreme densifica-
tion starting to spread, disappearance of green areas,
and change in area building regulations from villas
with large setbacks to high rise buildings with no set-
backs, a change that was not reflected on infrastruc-
ture.
the uses also changed from mainly housing
and few commercial activities, to medical institutions,
governmental institutions, embassies and office build-
ings. the housing units changed their ground and first
floor to commercial and administrative uses. For
example the use of the Finey villa changed from resi-
dential to a hospital, then the anous hospital and the
el Kateb hospital appeared, boulos hana villa
(gilardini design) became bank Figure (6), mansion of
abdel hamid sabry Figure (5) became nasser higher
Military aacademy .
Very few villas survived due to being used by
embassies. Many villas didn’t make it and were
replaced by high-rises during the 1970’s and 1980’s
Figure (4) and (7).
urban growth in the same geographical area
121
sahar hassan imam

Figure 6. Boulos Hana villa (Gilardini design) as a bank, and Hindawi Villa among few villas still surviving Raafat, S.,
http://www.egy.com/.

led to: population densification, character erosion,

environmental deterioration and overburdening the
physical infrastructure (stewart D. 2001). When visit-
ing the district lately the old character of the place
cannot be detected except for rare buildings that still
resist destruction due to diplomatic uses. it is not an
easy task to understand morphological change due to
open house international Vol.42 no.4, December 2017. Maintaining Character through urban Morphology analysis.

lack of documentation but it is clear that regulations

controlling new buildings design are not involved in
any kind with urban form analysis of the area through
history. regulations and uses follow change in land
values, turning the area into high dense district with
demanding services like hospitals, instead of a quiet
residential area with medium low densities. Design
guides are not usually applied on renewal of existing
areas particularly in areas that are not characterized
as either historical or major center of activity (hall, a.
1997).
Discussion and Conclusion
sudden change of regulations -whether to accept
urban growth, market need or land value change-
without assessing its impact on area character and
infrastructure is a major reason for destruction and
erosion of valuable existing sites in Cairo egypt.
Morphological studies are effective in analyz-
ing and collecting data of the built environment and
understanding current urban condition. Detailed
descriptions of contexts form and uses through time
help accurate prescription of contexts reasons of
change and guide regeneration and infill design in
these contexts.
recent approaches in development control
combine the master plan proposed for an existing
context with studies of urban form, in order to combine
accurate data base with reasons of transformations
and actual needs of users. understanding reasons of
change in an existing settlement through readings of
the cultural, social, economical and political aspects
can guide for more accurate development control reg-
ulations to the studied contexts. this became recently
very important since many redevelopment strategies
and development control regulations protect only
monuments and historical buildings without taking
serious measures to protect contexts character from
decay and erosion.
lack of information documented about phys-
ical change of contexts in many developing countries
122
Figure 7. Map showing famous villas still surviving and oth-
ers changed uses to hospitals.
makes it essential to stress on the use of morphologi-
cal analysis and their inclusion in planning control sys-
tem and design guidance. it also makes it essential to
link these approaches with non physical processes that
cause change. linking morphological studies to non
physical processes can be done through involving dif-
ferent actors in the processes of plan preparation by
structured interviews, so that the plan and solutions
are acceptable by actors involved, it also makes peo-
ple aware of the qualities of their environment and
helps wider understanding to users’ needs and rea-
sons of change.
in egypt due to lack of physical documenta-
tion and the fact that many organizations responsible
of the management of the same context without hav-
ing main constants and goals, maintenance of char-
acter of districts became an impossible task, and many
districts are eroded due to systems of land uses forced
by land values and urban growth needs as shown in
table (1).
Developing tools to document old buildings
and plots in a valuable context should create a data
base for government agencies to manage these
assets. it will define buildings’ age and history of uses
which can be a useful guide and reference before tak-
ing any destruction or modification decision. Many
new database programs can be used to collect and
order data and make it an effective agent in planning
 reFerenCes

sahar hassan imam

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Table1 8. Framework linking building regulations development to
urban morphological analysis and the non physical reasons of hall a. 1997, Dealing with Incremental Change: An Application of
change. Urban Morphology to Design Control, Journal of urban Design,
Vol.2, no.3, pp221-239,Carfax publishing, uK.
process, but currently in Cairo building regulations are
not related to urban form analysis of the area. stewart D. 2001, New Tricks with Old Maps: Urban Landscape
For example in Finney land height regulations Change, GIS, and Historic Preservation in the Less Developed
World, the professional geographer, Vol. 53, no.3, pp 361-373,
changed by law from two to three stories in the Forties blackwell publishers, uK.
then to 1.5 times the street’s width in the seventies to
accommodate the urban growth specially the plots raafat, s., Cairo the glory years, auC press, 2004.
overlooking the nile. regulation changes didn’t differ-
entiate Finney land from its surrounding nor was raafat, s., Cairo’s recollection online, http://www.egy.com/
based on any historical morphological analysis. accessed 6/2016.
the current paper proposes in Figure (8) the
following framework for steps needed to link morpho-
logical studies to non physical processes affecting
physical change, and shows needed data to be col-
lected and ordered to be effective in planning process
for a specific defined district.

Figure8. Framework linking building regulations author(s):

development to urban morphological analysis and the
non physical reasons of change. sahar hassan imam
Cairo university, Faculty of engineering,
having a clear inventory through history of all build- architectural Department
ings and plots in an existing context is the first step that emaıl:saharimam@eng.cu.edu.eg,
enables government agencies to manage these assets saharimam@hotmail.com
and take decisions regarding regeneration and regu-
lations. Development control regulations based on
deep understanding to context morphology and fac-
tors of change through history protect contexts char-
acter and value from unguided change controlled by
waves of political decisions, change of densities and
land values

123