Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Importance of Observation: Urban Morphology in the Field

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Teaching Urban Morphology

Part of the book series: The Urban Book Series ((UBS))

Abstract

This chapter develops from an academic literature on the benefits of fieldwork in geography, and observation of the benefits for professional disciplines such as town planning and urban design. Both disciplines claim to recognise the need for understanding urban form to inform design and management decisions. Recent advances in technology and data manipulation, though, have led some apparently to rely more on the virtual than the real. I argue that deep engagement with the messy complexities of real-world urban form has benefits, including a better understanding of smaller features that cumulatively create a character, the factors that shape the lived experience and the genius loci. So, in a range of cultural contexts and urban forms, what is important to observe and measure, and how should we do so?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abercrombie P, Abercrombie L (1923) Stratford-upon-Avon: report on future development. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams-Hutcheson G, Longhurst R (2017) At least in person there would have been a cup of tea: interviewing via Skype. Area 49:148–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker NJ, Slater TR (1992) Morphological regions in English medieval towns. In: Whitehand JWR, Larkham PJ (eds) Urban landscapes: international perspectives. Routledge, London, pp 43–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Bednarz RS, Bednarz SW (1995) Teaching geography skills. In: Kemball W (ed) Spaces and places: a geography manual for teachers. Geographic education national implementation project, Washington, pp 53–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Bestor TC (2003) Inquisitive observation: following networks in urban ethnography. In: Bestor T, Steinhoff P, Bestor VL (eds) Doing fieldwork in Japan. University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu, pp 315–334

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyle A, Maguire S, Martin A, Milsom C, Nash R, Rawlinson S, Turner A, Wurthmann S, Conchie S (2007) Fieldwork is good: the student perception and the affective domain. J Geogr High Educ 31:299–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conzen MP, Dahmann NM, Schuble TJ (2006) At home downtown: the residential transformation of central Chicago’s new global-era core, 1985–2005. Committee on Geographical Studies, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

    Google Scholar 

  • Conzen MRG (1969) Alnwick, Northumberland: a study in town-plan analysis. Publication no. 27. Institute of British Geographers, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Conzen MRG (1975) Geography and townscape conservation. In: Uhlig H, Lienau C (eds) Anglo-German symposium in applied geography, Giessen-Würzburg-München, 1973. Giessener Geographische Schriften, pp 95–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Conzen MRG (1988) Morphogenesis, morphological regions and secular human agency in the historic townscape, as exemplified by Ludlow. In: Denecke D, Shaw G (eds) Urban historical geography: recent progress in Britain and Germany. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 253–272

    Google Scholar 

  • De Certeau M (1984) The practice of everyday life. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Degen MM, Rose G (2012) The sensory experiencing of urban design. Urban Stud 49:3271–3287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dummer T, Cook I, Parker S, Hull A (2008) Promoting and assessing deep learning in geography fieldwork. J Geogr High Educ 32:459–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elwood SA (2004) Experiential learning, spatial practice, and critical urban geographies. J Geogr 103:55–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Everson J (1969) Some aspects of teaching geography through fieldwork. Geography 54:64–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Gold J, Jenkins A, Lee R, Monk J, Riley J, Shepherd I, Unwin D (1991) Teaching geography in higher education: a manual of good practice. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorman R (2017) Changing ethnographic mediums: the place-based contingency of smartphones and scratchnotes. Area 49:223–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haigh MJ (1986) The evaluation of an experiment in physical geography teaching. J Geogr High Educ 10:133–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoskins WG (1967) Fieldwork in local history. Faber, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Huff D (1954) How to lie with statistics. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones P, Bunce G, Evans J, Gibbs H, Hein JR (2008) Exploring space and place with walking interview. J Res Pract 4. Article D2

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones P, Drury R, McBeath J (2011) Using GPS-enabled mobile computing to augment qualitative interviewing: two case studies. Field Methods 23:173–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kern E, Carpenter J (1984) Enhancement of student values, interests and attitudes in earth science through a field-oriented approach. J Geol Educ 32:299–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kent M, Gilbertson DD, Hunt CO (1997) Fieldwork in geography teaching: a critical review of the literature and approaches. J Geogr High Educ 21:313–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim KJ (ed) (2003) International urban form study. Seoul Development Institute, Seoul

    Google Scholar 

  • Knox PL (1976) Fieldwork in urban geography. Scott Geogr Mag 92:101–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Koter M (1990) The morphological evolution of a nineteenth-century city centre: Łódź, Poland, 1825–1973. In: Slater TR (ed) The built form of Western cities. Leicester University Press, Leicester, pp 109–141

    Google Scholar 

  • Kropf KS (2009) Aspects of urban form. Urban Morphol 13:105–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Larkham PJ (2003) The teaching of urban form. In: Petruccioli A, Stella M, Strappa G (eds) The planned city. Uniongrafica Corcelli Editrice, Bari

    Google Scholar 

  • Larkham PJ (2005) Understanding urban form? Urban Des 93:22–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Larkham PJ, Jones AN (1991) A glossary of urban form. Monograph No. 26. Institute of British Geographers Historical Geography Research Group, GeoBooks, Norwich

    Google Scholar 

  • Larkham PJ, Morton N (2011) Drawing lines on maps: morphological regions and planning practices. Urban Morphol 15:133–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Larkham PJ, Chapman D, Morton N, Birkhamshaw A (2005) Stratford-on-Avon district residential character study. Stratford-upon-Avon District Council, Stratford-upon-Avon

    Google Scholar 

  • Lilley KD (2000) Mapping the medieval city: plan analysis and urban history. Urban Hist 27:5–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lonergan N, Andresen LW (1988) Field-based education: some theoretical considerations. High Educ Res Dev 7:63–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowenthal D, Bowden MJ (1975) Introduction. In: Lowenthal D, Bowden MJ (eds) Geographies of the mind. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall S, Çalışkan O (2011) A joint framework for urban morphology and design. Built Environment 37:409–426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin D (2003) Observing metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. J Geogr 102:35–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • May J (1999) Developing fieldwork in social and cultural geography. J Geogr High Educ 23:207–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McElroy B (1981) Models and reality: integrating practical work and fieldwork in geography. In: Fien J, Gerber R, Wilson P (eds) The geography teacher’s guide to the classroom. Macmillan, Melbourne, pp 95–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Monmonier M (1991) How to lie with maps. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Moudon AV (1986) Built for change: neighborhood architecture in San Francisco. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Moudon AV (1995) Teaching urban form. J Plan Educ Res 14:123–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moudon AV (1997) Urban morphology as an emerging interdisciplinary field. Urban Morphol 1:3–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Natoli SJ (1995) The nature of geography. In: Kemball W (ed) Spaces and places: a geography manual for teachers. Geographic Education National Implementation Project, Washington, pp 1–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Nitz HJ (2001) Medieval towns with grid plan and central market place in east-central Europe: origins and diffusion in the early-thirteenth century. Urban Morphol 5:81–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowe PG (2014) Foreword. In: Correa F, Alfaro CG (eds) Mexico City: between geometry and geography. Applied Research and Design, Novato

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott I, Fuller I, Gaskin S (2006) Life without fieldwork: some lecturers’ perceptions of geography and environmental science fieldwork. J Geogr High Educ 30:161–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharpe C (1986) The teaching of urban morphogenesis. The Can Geogr 30:53–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sidaway JD (2002) Photography and geographical fieldwork. J Geogr High Educ 26:95–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slater TR (1981) The analysis of burgage patterns in medieval towns. Area 13:211–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Slater TR (1990) English medieval new towns with composite plans: evidence from the Midlands. In: Slater TR (ed) The built form of Western cities. Leicester University Press, Leicester, pp 60–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Smailes AE (1955) Some reflections on the geographical description of townscapes. Inst Br Geogr Trans Pap 21:99–115

    Google Scholar 

  • The Guardian (2017) Revealed: the insidious creep of pseudo-public space in London. The Guardian 24 July

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehand JWR (1977) The basis for an historico-geographical theory of urban form. Trans Inst Br Geogr NS 2:400–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehand JWR, Carr CMH (2001) Twentieth-century suburbs. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitelock D, Jelfs A (2005) Would you rather collect data in the rain or attend a virtual field trip? Int J Contin Eng Educ Life Long Learn 15:121–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wunderlich FM (2008) Walking and rhythmicity. J Urban Des 13:125–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zelinsky W (2001) The geographer as voyeur. Geogr Rev 91:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK

    Peter J. Larkham

Authors
  1. Peter J. Larkham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter J. Larkham .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Engenharia Civil, Centro de Investigação do Território, Transportes e Ambiente, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Vítor Oliveira

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Larkham, P.J. (2018). The Importance of Observation: Urban Morphology in the Field. In: Oliveira, V. (eds) Teaching Urban Morphology. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76126-8_15

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation