MORPHOLOGICAL

DIMENSION
URBAN MORPHOLOGY

 the study of change in the physical form and shape of settlements over time –
focuses on patterns and processes of growth and change.
 The study seeks to understand the spatial structure and character of a
metropolitan area, city, town or village by examining the patterns of its
component parts and the process of its development.
 This can involve the analysis of physical structures at different scales as well
as patterns of movement, land use, ownership or control and occupation
MORPHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS
 Land uses - Urban land use reflects
the location and level of spatial
accumulation of activities such as
retailing, management,
manufacturing, or residence. They
generate flows supported by transport
systems.
 Commercial Land Use
 Residential Land Use
 Industrial Land Use
 Institutional Land Use
 Recreation Land Use
 Transport Land Use
 Land use models are theories which
attempt to explain the layout of
urban areas. A model is used to
simplify complex, real world
situations and make them easier to
explain and understand.
BUILDING STRUCTURE

 They shape and form the street walls of the city.

 Well designed buildings and groups of buildings works together to create a
sense of place .
 All kinds of buildings like residential, commercial, institutional, educational,
industrial, government etc.
PLOT PATTERNS

Cadastral units (urban blocks) are

typically subdivided or ‘platted’
into plots or lots. These may be
‘back-to-back’ plots, each having
a frontage onto a main street or
circulation route and a shared or
common plot boundary at the rear.
Cadastral (street) pattern - The
cadastral pattern is the layout of
urban blocks and public
space/movement channels
between those blocks. 
STREET PATTERNS

 Streets are the connections between spaces and places, as

well as being spaces themselves. They are defined by their
physical dimension and character as well as the size,
scale, and character of the buildings that line them. 
 The pattern of the street network is part of what defines a
city and what makes each city unique.
Buildings Defining Space and Buildings in
Space:
 In traditional urban space, the urban fabric
is relatively dense, and buildings are
normally built adjacent to one another and
flush with the street. Building facades thus
provide the ‘walls’ of open space and also
contributes to larger systems of ‘street’ and
‘urban block’
POD DEVELOPMENT

 A transformation in the morphological

structure of urban areas from outward-facing
urban blocks to inward-focused complexes of
buildings served by an exclusive road
connection – often referred to as ‘pods’. In
pod development, each use – shopping
mall,fast-food outlet, strip mall, office park,
apartment complex, medical centre, hotel
and convention facility, etc. – is conceived as
a separate element, surrounded by its
associated parking and usually with its own
individual and exclusive access onto a
collector or main distributor road.
URBAN BLOCKS

 Reaction to object-buildings
and pod developments saw
new interest in the conscious
design of the space between
buildings and in the creation of
well- defined, positive space.
This has led to explicit attempts
to compose and organise the
parts so that the whole – the
place – is greater than the sum
of the parts (individual buildings
and developments).