Second Symposium on Social-Ecological Urbanism, 18 June 2019
TOWARDS A SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY
LARS MARCUS lars.marcus@chalmers.se
URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN New knowledge challenges
URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN Structures other urban systems
Social
Economic
Ecological
Technical
URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN Structures other urban systems by way of spatial form
URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN The knowledge challenge concerns the relation between urban form and urban life
URBAN MORPHOLOGY Different schools
British school: Conzen (1960)
Italian school: Caniggia (1960)
URBAN MORPHOLOGY The town plan by MRG Conzen
URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN Cities do not only consist of built-up areas but also green areas
LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY A spatial morphology of natural landscapes
TOWARDS A SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL MORPHOLOGY Combining descriptions in urban morphology and landscape ecology
(Marcus, Berghauser Pont, Barthel, 2019)
TOWARDS A SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL MORPHOLOGY A joint description of built-up and green urban areas as configurations of patches
(Marcus, Berghauser Pont, Barthel, 2019)
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Representation of space: geometric languages
Discrete zones
Networks
Cellular Automata
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Representation of space: networks described as graphs
Node Link
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Representation of space: networks concerns relations
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Space syntax
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY What is actually represented
The theory of affordances (Gibson, 1979). Affordances is what emerges in the meeting between properties of the physical environment and human abilities
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Affordances of visibility and accessibility
The theory of reversible occlusion (Gibson 1979)
Axial Map in space syntax theory (Hillier & Hanson 1984)
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Network of axial lines
A network described as nodes and links
Axial Map in space syntax theory (Hillier & Hanson 1984)
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY The centrality of a network of axial lines
B
B B
B B B A
A B Specific distance: distance from location A to location B
B B B
Centrality: distance from location A to all other locations
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY The centrality of networks structures flows
BRUNNSPARKEN 5000 people/h
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY The centrality of networks structures flows
HAGA 500 people/h
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY The centrality of networks structures flows
ERIKSBERG 50 people/h
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Validating the network model for pedestrian movement
(Stavroulaki, Bolin, Berghauser Pont, Marcus, HĂĽkansson, 2019)
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Validating the network model for pedestrian movement
• Observations through scanning of anonymised Wi-Fi signals from mobile phones. • Observations in 53 areas in three cities (London, Amsterdam and Stockholm). • Areas with greatly varying morphologies (city centre, suburban, villa areas, modernistic etc.). • 846 observation points and 2.008.602 observations. • 3 weeks in October 2017 (a week per city), from 6:00 am to 22:00 pm, Monday to Friday. • Correlations vary for different areas but have a mean value of R2=0,652.
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting the model to affordances relating to other modes of transport
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting descriptions to affordances relating to other species
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting descriptions to affordances relating to other species
(Marcus, Berghauser Pont, Barthel, in review)
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting descriptions to affordances relating to other species
(Marcus, Berghauser Pont, Barthel, in review)
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting descriptions to affordances relating to other species
(Marcus, Berghauser Pont, Barthel, in review)
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting descriptions to affordances relating to other species
(Berghauser Pont, AhrnĂŠ, Gren, Kaczorowska, Marcus, 2017)
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY As a form of technology
“Technology captures phenomena for a purpose” W Brian Arthur 2007
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY As a form of technology
Regular technology captures natural phenomena for a purpose
“Technology captures phenomena for a purpose” W Brian Arthur 2007
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY As a form of technology
Spatial form captures ourselves as phenomena for a purpose
SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY As a form of technology
Spatial form captures ourselves and other species as phenomena for a purpose
Lars Marcus lars.marcus@chalmers.se Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering Chalmers University of Technology Gothenburg Sweden