From slum to suburbia : examining a spectrum of planned and unplanned urban morphology in humid sub-tropical regions of the world


Autoria(s): Marriott, Michael; Guaralda, Mirko; Lawson, Gill M.
Data(s)

05/07/2012

Resumo

The current rapid urban growth throughout the world manifests in various ways and historically cities have grown, similarly, alternately or simultaneously between planned extensions and organic informal settlements (Mumford, 1989). Within cities different urban morphological regions can reveal different contexts of economic growth and/or periods of dramatic social/technological change (Whitehand, 2001, 105). Morpho-typological study of alternate contexts can present alternative models and contribute to the present discourse which questions traditional paradigms of urban planning and design (Todes et al, 2010). In this study a series of cities are examined as a preliminary exploration into the urban morphology of cities in ‘humid subtropical’ climates. From an initial set of twenty, six cities were selected: Sao Paulo, Brazil; Jacksonville, USA; Maputo, Mozambique; Kanpur, India; Hong Kong, China; and Brisbane, Australia. The urban form was analysed from satellite imagery at a constant scale. Urban morphological regions (types) were identified as those demonstrating particular consistant characteristics of form (density, typology and pattern) different to their surroundings when examined at a constant scale. This analysis was correlated against existing data and literature discussing the proliferation of two types of urban development, ‘informal settlement’ (defined here as self-organised communities identifiable but not always synonymous with ‘slums’) and ‘suburbia’ (defined here as master planned communities of generally detached houses prevalent in western society) - the extreme ends of a hypothetical spectrum from ‘planned’ to ‘spontaneous’ urban development. Preliminary results show some cities contain a wide variety of urban form ranging from the highly organic ‘self-organised’ type to the highly planned ‘master planned community’ (in the case of Sao Paulo) while others tend to fall at one end of the planning spectrum or the other (more planned in the cases of Brisbane and Jacksonville; and both highly planned and highly organic in the case of Maputo). Further research will examine the social, economical and political drivers and controls which lead to this diversity or homogeneity of urban form and speculates on the role of self-organisation as a process for the adaptation of urban form.

Formato

application/pdf

Identificador

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/53401/

Relação

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/53401/1/PNUM_Conference_Poster___Marriott%2C_M___120704.pdf

Marriott, Michael, Guaralda, Mirko, & Lawson, Gill M. (2012) From slum to suburbia : examining a spectrum of planned and unplanned urban morphology in humid sub-tropical regions of the world. In (Ed.) Portuguese Network of Urban Morphology 2012, 5-6 July 2012, Instituto Universitário De Lisboa, Portugal. (Unpublished)

Direitos

Copyright 2012 Authors

Fonte

School of Design; Creative Industries Faculty

Palavras-Chave #120504 Land Use and Environmental Planning #120507 Urban Analysis and Development #120508 Urban Design #120599 Urban and Regional Planning not elsewhere classified #160404 Urban and Regional Studies (excl. Planning) #160499 Human Geography not elsewhere classified #160810 Urban Sociology and Community Studies #urban form #planning #population growth #sub-tropical #global comparison
Tipo

Conference Item