Urban Forms

• Physical and Human Factors in Urban Forms:

  • Shape
  • Size
  • Density of population
  • Configuration of the Settlement
• Urban form has been shaped since settlements were first made, and is an evolving process in response to social, environmental, economic and technological developments.
• Characteristics of a megacity:

  • Offer opportunities to expand access to services, such as healthcare and education
  • Less environmentally damaging to provide public transport, housing and electricity for a densely settled urban population,
  • More access to larger and diversified employment markets
  • Better levels of education and healthcare can benefit women.
• Characteristics of a world city:

  • High proportion of residents employed in the service sector.
  • Centres of innovation
  • Existence of financial headwaters
  • Major manufacturing centres
• Urban Morphology = The spatial structure and organisation of an urban area. Affected by physical factors such as relief and drainage
• Peak Land Value Intersection (PLVI) is the point with the highest land value and from here, land prices decline in line with the theory of distance-decay.
• Bid-Rent Theory is where you take a transect from the CBD to the suburbs, and land values fall significantly as the different land users are less reliant on accessibility and unable to pay high prices associated with this.
• Contrasting World Cities:

  • Alpha ++ = More integrated than all other cities and constitute their own high level of integration e.g. New York, London
  • Alpha = Very important world cities that link major economic regions and states into the world economy e.g. Chicago, Milan
  • Beta = Important world cities that are instrumental in linking their region or state into world economy e.g. Copenhagen, Oslo
  • Gamma = World cities linking smaller regions or states into global economy e.g. Islamabad, Bristol
• Town Centre Mixed Development

  • Combination of residential, commercial, cultural, institutional or industrial uses.
  • Designed to be physically and functionally integrated, with free-flowing pedestrian access
  • e.g. Halifax Broad Street Plaza
• Cultural and Heritage Quarters

  • These areas focus on cultural or heritage themes within the area.
  • Include areas such as the arts and the creative industries
  • Tool for regeneration, improving perceptions of place and preserving history
• Fortress Development

  • Urban developments with a high focus on security measures
  • Driven by a 2009 Home Office review, where soft targets such as schools and events were seen as vulnerable to attack
  • Characterised by: high fences, CCTV, security bollards, clear boundary lines
  • Current trends linked to areas with high crime rates
• Gentrified Areas

  • Process of buying and renovating areas by wealthier individuals, an important part of housing improvements, but can occur and displace lower income residents
  • Rent Gap = when property price falls below its real value, developers are attracted to this
  • Commuting costs = people move to inner city areas for cheaper commutes
  • Pioneer Image = trend of creative individuals making neighbourhoods more ‘edgy’ and increasing prices’
• Edge Cities

  • Self contained settlements which have emerged beyond the original city boundary.
  • Largely a result of urban sprawl, which has occurred on a large scale in USA
  • Tend to develop closer to major roads or airports or found close to shops, offices and other businesses.
  • May lack clear structure
  • Linked to social segregation: wealthy move and separate from the poor.
• Postmodernism = describes the changes that took place in western society and culture in he late twentieth century. Mainly concerned with art and architecture and marked a departure from the conformity, uniformity and brutalist nature of modernism
• Key Features of the Postmodern Western City:

  • More fragmented urban form, more independent settlements, economies, societies
  • Greater emphasis on services and knowledge industries rather than industry
  • Eclectic and varied architecture
  • Flagship developments
  • Greater ethnic diversity, heightened economic, social and cultural inequalities.