What do we know about urban form?

Abstract

This paper gathers fundamental ideas on urban form conceived after the mid-twentieth century. It does not aim to offer a comprehensive literature review or a general theory of urban morphology. The paper’s contribution to debate is the construction of a coherent narrative, gathering different concepts and methods (collected from a growing body of literature of varied relevance) as fundamental parts of a body of knowledge for systematic description, explanation and prescription of the physical form of human settlements. At the beginning of this narrative there is a general morphological framework proposed by M.R.G. Conzen in the mid- twentieth century (section 1). The structural nature of this framework enables insights from within (section 2) and outside the field (section 3), as well as a link into action on the urban landscape (section 4).