Urban Morphology and City Functions Explained
Understanding Urban Morphology
Urban morphology refers to the external features of a city, shaped by the physical conditions of its location. The most appropriate instrument for studying urban morphology is a city map, which allows us to distinguish old town areas, suburbs, and peri-urban areas. A map can interpret the city’s development over time.
Models of Urban Morphology
Various models of urban morphology can be distinguished:
Irregular Plan Morphology
This morphology generally characterizes old cities of medieval Christian origin. It shows spontaneous growth without prior planning, resulting in narrow, winding streets. This pattern creates problems for traffic flow and for establishing community services. To address these issues, rehabilitation operations are often carried out in historic centers with the most irregular patterns.
Octagonal Plan Morphology
The Octagonal Plan describes a city layout where streets intersect perpendicularly, forming square or rectangular blocks. While applicable to many cities globally, it was widely used during the 19th century when numerous cities needed to accommodate a large population influx due to the Industrial Revolution.
Radiocentric Plan Morphology
The Radiocentric Plan features a radial layout of streets that converge from the periphery towards a central core (e.g., a square, cross, or monument). These radial streets are interconnected by other streets forming concentric circles around the central point. The radiocentric plan was widely used in city planning during the Renaissance.
Linear Plan Morphology
The Linear Plan emerges spontaneously when a city develops along a natural geographic feature, extending along a main axis.
Classifying Cities by Dominant External Functions
When urban functions extend beyond the inner city to other areas of the territory, they are termed external functions. These can operate at regional, national, or international levels, depending on the urban hierarchy of the function being analyzed. Dominant external functions help classify cities:
Shopping Cities
This category encompasses most cities, both ancient and modern, as major markets are typically located in urban areas. Activities include the exchange of products and services, as well as their distribution across territories of varying scales. The sheer volume of goods and services a city requires generates a significant impact on its environment.
Industrial Cities
For years, industrial cities have been the engine of growth and transformation for cities in developed countries, and the origin of flows of people, goods, and information. Cities attract industry due to being the main consumer market, the availability of abundant labor, the concentration of capital they experience, and the ease of communication and information access they provide.
Economic Management Cities
These cities often hold important industrial and commercial functions. The world’s financial and economic power is concentrated in certain cities that can influence smaller regions (e.g., Barcelona, Madrid) or make economic decisions on a global scale (e.g., London, Paris).
Administrative Cities
These cities concentrate political power. Territorial capitals vary, including regional, national, centralized state, or confederate state capitals.
Cultural Cities
These cities attract many visitors. Examples include tourist cities offering rich cultural heritage (e.g., Venice, Rome), or cities hosting international conferences or festivals. This category also includes cities with significant religious functions.