To Not Talk Past Each Other: An Immodest Proposal for Cross-Conceptual Research in Urban Morphology

Abstract

The field of urban morphology has seen welcome conceptual expansion in recent years, particularly in the spheres of mathematical modeling and topological analysis. This has posed a challenge to conceptually integrate such inherently quantitative and frequently abstract thinking with that of fundamentally historical approaches to the field in which time and place are essential culturally dependent explanatory factors. The issue is not one of the conflicts between quantitative and qualitative explanations, but of reconciling highly variable sources of evidence and definitions of relevant context. Cross-conceptual studies in urban morphology aimed at bridging perceived gaps in communication have been on the rise, yet a carefully calibrated test of all the multiple analytical approaches that have emerged applied to the urban morphology of a common geographical case remains untried. Issues of spatial scale in structuring an investigation, the relevancy of different measures of urban form to be examined, and the appropriate depth of societal context to be factored in could then be adequately addressed in direct juxtaposition. It is presumed a significant enhancement of both conceptual cross-fertilization and enriched understanding of the urban morphology of the particular case involved could result. This essay concludes with a call for such a collaborative test.