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Abstract Urbanization combined with global climate change, exacerbates the urban thermal environment and hinders sustainable urban development. However, the complex relationships between land surface temperature (LST) and urban morphology are being further understood, particularly in relation to different urban development patterns, distinct topography, and 3D building morphology. Thus, this study conducted a comparative study in Chengdu and Chongqing, Southwest China. We explored the impact of comprehensive factors (including socio-economic factos, topography, land use composition, and building morphology) on LST by employing the methods of linear regression, geographical detector model, and the boosted regression trees. Our results suggest that (1) high LST was mainly observed in the central part of Chengdu but it presented multicenter aggregation trend in Chongqing; (2) Socio-economic factors were the dominant variables affecting LST in both cities; (3) land use composition and building morphology showed distinct contributions to LST among the two cities; and (4) 3D building management was more effective in Chengdu than in Chongqing. A better understanding of the impact of various influencing factors on LST will enable policy makers and planners to develop appropriate strategies for constructing climate-adaptive cities and mitigating urban heat.

This article explores the application of procedural design methods in urban morphology, drawing inspiration from the innovative work of the Architectural Workshop of Miskolc in Hungary during the late 20th century. This study presents a generative approach termed “Simulated Morphogenesis” (or the “Miskolc Method”), which models organic city growth by analysing historical urban tissues and applying recursive algorithms to simulate natural urban development. The method leverages advanced generative tools, such as Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper, to model the step-by-step growth of Central European cities, with a particular focus on Miskolc. By incorporating controlled randomness into the algorithmic processes, the method captures the complexity of organic urban growth while maintaining structured development. The Miskolc Method emphasizes the importance of continuity and context, allowing for the “healing” of urban fabric discontinuities or the generation of new urban structures. This article demonstrates how this approach, while rooted in geometrical analysis, offers a valuable foundation for preliminary urban planning. The findings are relevant for understanding the morphogenesis of cities and provide a flexible framework applicable to various urban contexts globally.

This paper investigates the background and basis for O. Mathias Ungers’ exploration of the morphology of the city and its implications on the architectural project, beginning with seminal but unrealized proposals that resulted from typological and morphological studies, followed by a discussion of theoretical and academic investigations in Germany and in the U.S., and finally by the analysis of three executed proposals in Trier as the synthesis to these explorations.

Abstract The Olympic Games have been associated with many urban transformation projects throughout their history, often focusing on city expansion. Recent sustainability concerns, however, constitute a pressing challenge, with the regeneration of central areas fulfilling a key role in existing urban agendas. In this paper, the legacy of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at two proposed centralities was analysed, namely, the Olympic Park, intended as a future neighbourhood to the west of the city, and Porto Maravilha (PM), an urban project aimed at revitalizing a central, historical area of the city. By comparing the Olympic Park and the first provided areas in PM, in terms of selecting urban design criteria through qualitative in loco assessments, this paper focused on analysing the impacts of urban forms and heritage on the consolidation of these two centralities, as well as encouraging social interaction and integration into the city. The analysis results indicated that urban design attributes such as human-scaled, mixed-use, context-based urban spaces could interfere with social interaction and the usability of spaces. Moreover, the repurposing of heritage buildings contributed to urban cohesion for legacy transformation. Hence, novel insights into urban design and heritage could become important for future editions of the Olympics so that host cities may fulfil their sustainability agendas.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of two types of urban morphology existing in the area of Bucharest on the local microclimate, using Landsat satellite data, GIS techniques and numerical modelling. The two types of urban design analyzed are differentiated by the period in which they were constructed, one being built in the communist era and the other in the current period. The phases of the study are: i) geospatial analysis of urban morphology focusing on the urban design features of each period; ii) spatial analysis of the land surface temperature in relation with urban geometry, using Landsat 9 satellite images; iii) simulation of microclimate using ENVI-met software to highlight the local thermal environment. Satellite data analysis highlighted higher values for the land surface temperature in neighborhoods built in the current period compared to the areas built in the communist era. The results of the simulation highlight the distinctions in the thermal environment between the two categories examined, lower values of air and surface temperatures for the neighborhoods built in the communist era.

The literature considers urban green spaces as a key to promoting physical activity and health. Despite the increasingly recognized walking exercise promotion benefits of urban green spaces, the relationship between walking exercise preferences and green space layout remains unclear. We extracted preferred routes for walking exercise and measured the route heat using a one-year shared data of walking exercise from a mobile outdoor assistant app in the old city of Fuzhou, China. We then evaluated green space layout features within a 500-m buffer zone along the preferred routes in dimensions of scale, form, and function. The relationship between the route heat and green space layout features was analyzed using a series of poisson regression models, with the influence of urban morphology and the built environment allocation being controlled. Results showed that there existed a significant association between preferred routes for walking exercise and the combination of green space layout, urban morphology, and the built environment allocation; the route heat had positive associations with NDVI and comprehensive park area density, and showed negative associations with patch shape index and patch density. This study illustrates the necessity for targeted intervention strategies to promote the development of walkable and healthy urban areas.

Abstract The increase in urban population growth has contributed to the expansion of unplanned settlements, especially in developing countries. Triggered by the lack of government oversight, the expansion of these settlements is characterized by unique economic, social, physical, and functional attributes. This study aims at exploring the physical features of unplanned settlements in District 4th of Herat city, western Afghanistan. Employing a mixed-research method, we integrated spatial analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into detailed field observations to get a better understanding of the characteristics of the formation of these informal settlements. Our findings shed light on a number of key physical features including irregular street layouts, inadequate drainage systems, and substandard construction materials, irregular buildings in term of layout, number of floors, and building density. The features of unplanned urban morphology contribute to socio-economic loss and environmental degradation due to the absence of critical infrastructures including water infrastructures and the presence of unplanned streets in under-resourced unplanned settlements. In fact, the absence of government’s efforts in monitoring the development of unplanned settlements hinders the provision of essential services and infrastructures in the informal settlement communities. Our assertion is that the findings of this research will help policy makers in Afghanistan to reconsider their policies and decisions on urban development and growth, particularly in the poorer and under-served unplanned settlements in major cities in Afghanistan.

Abstract The relationship between green and grey urban infrastructure, local meteorological conditions, and traffic-related air pollution is complex and dynamic. This case study examined the effect of evolving morphologies around a city square park in Dublin and explores the twin impacts of local urban development (grey) and maturing parks (green) on particulate matter (PM) pollution. A fixed air quality monitoring campaign and computational fluid dynamic modelling (ENVI-met) were used to assess current (baseline) and future scenarios. The baseline results presented the distribution of PM in the study area, with bimodal (PM2.5) and unimodal (PM10) diurnal profiles. The optimal vegetation height for air quality within the park also differed by wind direction with 21 m vegetation optimal for parallel winds (10.45% reduction) and 7 m vegetation optimal for perpendicular winds (30.36% reduction). Increased building heights led to higher PM2.5 concentrations on both footpaths ranging from 25.3 to 37.0% under perpendicular winds, whilst increasing the height of leeward buildings increased PM2.5 concentrations by up to 30.9% under parallel winds. The findings from this study provide evidence of the importance of more in-depth analysis of green and grey urban infrastructure in the urban planning decision-making process to avoid deteriorating air quality conditions around city square parks.

Türkiye has experienced many destructive earthquakes in its history. Düzce, located on the North Anatolian Fault line in the north-west of Türkiye, was shaken by two major earthquakes on August 17 and November 12, 1999. These earthquakes caused great loss of life and material damage in the city. The earthquake that occurred in Düzce on November 23, 2022 caused minor material damage. In this study, the city of Düzce will be analyzed in the context of spatial development and city development plans in the period from 1999 to 2023, and urban resilience assessment will be made through the city macro form. The aim of the study is to compare the effects of the zoning plans implemented after the 1999 earthquakes on the city after the 2022 earthquake and to measure urban resilience. Urban resilience analysis was prepared in ArcGIS software by evaluating the building stock, land potential, earthquakes, storey heights, population densities, open green area capacity, transportation network standards, proximity to fault lines, and soil structure in the area where Düzce city core was established. As a result, it was revealed that the urban macro form of Düzce shows low and medium level resilience. The results of the study reveal the critical importance of these measures for the city of Düzce. In line with the analyses, it is recommended to develop and implement policies that increase the resilience of the city.

Street networks are ubiquitous components of cities, guiding their development and enabling movement from place to place; street networks are also the critical components of many urban analytical methods. However, their graph representation is often designed primarily for transportation purposes. This representation is less suitable for other use cases where transportation networks need to be simplified as a mandatory pre-processing step, e.g., in the case of morphological analysis, visual navigation, or drone flight routing. While the urgent demand for automated pre-processing methods comes from various fields, it is still an unsolved challenge. In this article, we tackle this challenge by proposing a cheap computational heuristic for the identification of ``face artifacts'', i.e., geometries that are enclosed by transportation edges but do not represent urban blocks. The heuristic is based on combining the frequency distributions of shape compactness metrics and area measurements of street network face polygons. We test our method on 131 globally sampled large cities and show that it successfully identifies face artifacts in 89\% of analyzed cities. Our heuristic of detecting artifacts caused by data being collected for another purpose is the first step towards an automated street network simplification workflow. Moreover, the proposed face artifact index uncovers differences in structural rules guiding the development of cities in different world regions.

This article provides an analysis of the urban morphology of Salvador, Bahia (Brazil), focusing on the spatial segregation issues that shape the city. The study examines the physical structure and spatial organization of Salvador, addressing the influence of these factors on the socioeconomic segregation of the city. Also, the configuration of sociospatial segregation is analyzed to study its influence on the relationships among distinct social strata. Based on this premise, we seek to perform a spatial analysis using the software Space Syntax as a tool. Results show how the various configuration patterns and the characterization of socioeconomic sectors reveal an interpretation of the urban morphology of segregation in Salvador.

The radioactive pollutant could migrate to the downstream urban area under the action of atmospheric dispersion due to the turbulent mixing under actual pollution accidents. A scenario in which radioactive contaminants from the upstream (for example, a nearshore nuclear power plant accident) migrates to the downstream urban blocks have been considered in this study. Numerical simulations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are then conducted to investigate the effects of the urban morphology (building packing density and layout) on the atmospheric dispersion of radioactive pollutants in this scenario. The building packing density and structure can significantly affect urban areas' mean flow pattern and the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). The flow pattern and the TKE distribution influence the radioactive pollution dispersion. It is found that the radioactive pollution at the urban canyons is significantly affected by the vertical transport at the canyon. A comparison of the distributions of radioactive and traditional non-radioactive pollutants is also provided.

This research is aimed at visualizing the historical evolution of residential landuse development of Sulaimani city based on GIS spatial analysis with the input of all of the relevant available data in various formats in order to determine the form of the city according to morphological classifications discussed in the literature of urban planning. Essentially, following the collection of data, processing, review of relevant literature and applied methods, this study draws a timeline for the spatial evolution of the city of Sulaimani in addition to constricting a spatial grid for morphological comparison of different growth stages and analysis on multiple aspects. Moreover, a number of criteria were established to evaluate spatial patterns based on published theories in the field of landuse urban planning. These indicators were formulated in a questionnaire survey and determined the main aspects of the city through visualizing the process of historical evolution up to modern date. Finally, the study presents transformations and addresses current issues, as well as recommends a number of possible solutions for residential landuse development in the city of Sulaimani.

Restructuring routes are significant urban elements that lead to physical changes in cities to meet modern needs, often resulting in traumatic transformations. This study investigates the morphological impact of the palimpsest phenomenon on Istanbul's Atatürk Boulevard, an exemplar of restructuring routes. The Boulevard's construction disrupted the organic urban fabric, creating a new structure and altering the area's identity. By employing a typomorphological analysis based on Conzen’s Town Plan Analysis, this research examines changes in the street, building, and subdivision systems. The study utilizes historical and contemporary maps to reveal the effects of Atatürk Boulevard on urban morphology, demonstrating both positive and negative consequences of restructuring routes. Findings indicate that the boulevard increased the economic value of the area but also led to the fragmentation and loss of historical urban elements, contributing to a complex urban palimpsest. The study highlights the need for sensitive urban planning to preserve the city's historical identity while accommodating modern developments. The insights gained are crucial for architects and urban planners in managing urban landscapes, ensuring sustainability, and respecting historical contexts in future developments

Urban heat island (UHI) has posed a threat to sustainable development, and the identification of the spatial characteristics of UHI is a prerequisite for the mitigation of UHI effects. Taking Kunming City and Guiyang City in the karst region of Southwest China as two examples, this study utilized spatial econometric modeling and random forest regression to identify and compare the spatial distribution and impact of urban heat islands related to topographic and urban morphology. The results indicated that the UHI in Kunming and Guiyang mainly monocentrically and polycentrically distributed, respectively, and the urban heat island intensity (UHII) in Kunming was significantly higher than that in Guiyang. The spatial error model effectively reflected the influence of topography and urban form on UHII, and the random forest regression model objectively measured the contribution of different influencing factors to UHII. Enhanced vegetation index (EVI), population density (PD), percentage of impervious surface (PIS), ground sky view factor (GSVF), building density (BD) and percentage of water bodies (PW) had similar effects and contributions to the UHII in the two cities, while urban surface roughness (USR) contributed less than topographic slope (SLOPE) on UHII in Kunming, and the SLOPE contributed less than USR in Guiyang. In the karst ecologically fragile zone, the morphology of Kunming and Guiyang are mainly shaped by the topography, which can be characterized as monocentric and polycentric, respectively. And the UHI distribution and UHII were also closely related to topographic patterns. EVI, SLOPE and PW, all showed inhibitory effects on UHII, and EVI contributed the most. PD, PIS, USR and BD, exacerbate the UHII, with PD contributing the most. The above conclusions can provide a reference for policymakers and urban planners to optimize urban morphology and mitigate urban heat island.

Located 30 km inland from Lebanon’s coast, The Beqaa Valley (or Beqaa Plains) is considered the agricultural backbone of the country. The Beqaa’s built geographies were shaped by the political and economic hierarchies established by the Roman and Ottoman Empires and revised by the French Mandate. Local and regional economic hardships in the last six decades have led the Beqaa to cycle through periods of decline and recovery, with quick introductions of infrastructural technologies, spurts of loosely regulated building development, and hasty innovations in industrial activity. In this vein, ‘reflexive realism’ concepts of risk regime, logic of production, topographical fragmentation, and internal connectivity, are useful to examine how towns and cities in the Beqaa developed, deteriorated, and adjusted. However, spatial evidence that would inform such inquiries in Rayak, Beqaa, is far from similar to evidence observed in Beirut. Urban morphology research techniques combined with the concept of vernacular architecture can help decode the layers and uses of the built environment. This article introduces a mapping workflow that typologizes built fabrics using five morphological criteria (streets, density, open space, architectural character, and land use) to construct a spatial narrative that can begin characterizing the nature of the Beqaa’s cities and towns.

Urban sprawl has become a concern in development because of its negative impact on sustainable development. Such a special trend is apparent in the transformation of a peri-urban area of Sinduadi Village that is directly affected by the city of Yogyakarta. The village is most likely affected by the urban sprawl phenomenon in the city of Yogyakarta, especially on the morphological aspect of the urban morphology. This study aims to analyze the urban morphology in the Sinduadi Village in 2021 as a result of the urban sprawl of Yogyakarta City. Using quantitative methods, this research is based on a primary data of obtained from field surveys through probability sampling method. The research data came from image interpretation and attribute data processing using ArcGIS 10.3 Software. Secondary data was obtained through Sentinel 2A Imagery while primary data was The data analysis used in this research is quantitative descriptive analysis and spatial analysis using maps. The analysis of the morphological form of the city is carried out by analysis of overlapping maps. This research found that the morphology of the city in the Sinduadi Village in 2021 is linear based on the center of the area on Magelang street This marked by activities in the center of the area are dominated by commercial activities, namely, trade and service. Therefore, regional needs can be accommodated. The center of the area has a high building density (BCR>70%). High density residential land surrounds the center of the area and its development follows a grid and spinal road network pattern. These findings show that Sinduadi village has experienced urban sprawl marked by development trend that trespasses its under bounded city.

Based on the urban morphology theory of the Conzen School and the actual situation of the Tangjiawan Ancient Town, a morphological process analysis of the Tangjiawan Ancient Town was conducted. The end result is a visualization of the process of urban form evolution. The first objective is to describe the morphological framework of Tangjiawan Ancient Town and the morphological changes that occurred during its development. The current urban landscape is divided into units by superimposing morphological units, building types, and land use. The results of the division also reflect the morphological development, structure, and compositional characteristics of the ancient city of Tangjiawan. Using Tangjiawan Ancient Town in Zhuhai city as an example, on-site research, historical evidence, urban morphology analysis methods, and interviews were used to elaborate and analyze the spatial structure and evolution process of traditional ancient towns in South China. In particular, morphological units, building types, and land use are included. The morphological map of the Tangjiawan ancient town is inconsistent with the current economic-oriented development of ancient town planning. This shows that current planning is less concerned with the physical form of architectural heritage, which may lead to further damage to the landscape of the ancient town. This study provides a strong reference for the follow-up planning of ancient town protection of the same type from the perspective of morphology and area and provides ideas for the subsequent preparation of protection plans.

Examining the morphological evolution of ancient Jiande County (JD) over time, our research adopts a diachronic perspective to explore county-level spatial planning and its correlations with local governance during the feudal and republican eras. Utilizing historical records, including chronicles, geo-maps, and remote sensing images, to reconstruct urban ground plans, our findings unveil a historical shift in administrative management within the ancient Yanzhou region (YZ). In the Song Dynasty, feudal authority was distinctly manifested through a spatial hierarchy, diminishing in influence during the Ming-Qing Dynasty. In contemporary times, Meicheng Town (the ancient Jiande County) has departed from traditional urban layouts, relinquishing its central position in the local administrative hierarchy. JD’s historic transition in county-level urban planning and local governance paradigms provides evidence for examing its future development trajectories.

ABSTRACTThe United Nations has proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), of which SDG11 aims to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. This is in line with Urban Vitality's objectives. This study proposes a quantitative framework to evaluate the impact of urban morphology on urban vitality. In this framework, a proxy that is more reflective of economic and human activities is proposed for depicting urban vitality based on geographic big data; then we use a Multi–scale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR) regression considering spatial heterogeneity to analyze the different effects of urban form on urban vitality. Taking the Beijing Sixth Ring Road area as the study region, the results indicate that tall, large–area, multi–functional buildings have a significantly positive impact on urban vitality. These areas exhibit single–function buildings and high levels of greenery, leading to inefficient space utilization. Increasing road network density, as well as the density of transportation and public facilities, also positively influences urban vitality. However, commercial density has a negative impact on workday vitality. Furthermore, excessive green space density, a high proportion of the largest green patches, and complex green space borders all contribute to a reduction in urban vitality.

This study explores the role of architectural composition and urban design in enhancing urban biodiversity, which is crucial for improving ecosystem services and overall urban sustainability. It addresses a gap in the literature by providing empirical evidence on how specific morphological characteristics in urban regeneration projects can support biodiversity, emphasizing the overlooked potential of architectural morphologies in urban greening strategies. Focusing on five recent urban regeneration projects in Milan, the study conducts a detailed analysis of built volumes and green areas. Quantitative measurements, such as green area compactness, perimeter edge continuity, and building front permeability, were combined with qualitative assessments to identify correlations between urban morphology and biodiversity potential. The analysis revealed three distinct urban morphologies—"Central Park," "Fluid Park," and "Garden Between Houses"—each offering unique conditions for accessibility and biodiversity development. These morphologies demonstrate varying capacities for conserving, promoting, and implementing urban biodiversity, depending on their interaction with the surrounding urban fabric. By establishing a clear correlation between urban morphology and biodiversity potential, this research highlights the critical role that architects and urban designers play in addressing the emerging challenge of enhancing urban biodiversity. It provides valuable insights for future urban regeneration projects aimed at fostering sustainable and biodiverse urban environments.

Optimizing the spatial distribution of urban functional zones (UFZs) effectively improves the thermal environment. This study utilized an enhanced regression tree model and relied on Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment data to analyze the relative contributions and marginal effects of 2-D/3-D urban morphological factors on the diurnal land surface temperature (LST) in Shenyang, China. The results showed that public and residential areas dominated Shenyang's UFZs. The temperature in industrial areas was the highest during the day, and residential and commercial functional areas are high-temperature concentration areas. Furthermore, the effects of the urban spatial morphology on the LST differed between diverse time points and UFZs. The digital elevation model and the normalized difference vegetation index contributed significantly to daytime and nighttime LSTs. Construction indicators, such as the normalized difference built-up index and the proportion of construction land, significantly impacted commercial services. Residential daytime LST had a large contribution value, and the sum of its contribution rates reached approximately 30%. Population greatly contributed to the nighttime LST of the industrial and residential zones, accounting for 16.77% and 22.06%, respectively. Vegetation contributed to the cooling effect on daytime LST in summer, especially in industrial areas, contributing 29.79%. In addition, 3-D indicators, such as building height and building density, contributed to diurnal LST. Finally, when the proportion of construction land reached approximately 45%, it negatively affected LST. In this study, the main factors affecting day and night LSTs were identified, and this work acts as a relevant strategic reference for alleviating the urban heat island effect.

Building height dataset is crucial in urban studies, holding significant importance in understanding the interactions of human activities and the built-up environment. However, high-resolution three-dimensional building datasets covering large areas are limited. A rapid and accurate method for revealing fine-scale urban morphology is required. In this study, we developed a method for estimating building heights at the building scale. First, we integrated multisource datasets (i.e., synthetic aperture radar, optical, terrain, social-economic, and vector-based datasets) and built the machine learning model for building height estimation. Second, we applied the model to 11 cities in the U.S. and assessed its performance. Our results were consistent with the reference data, indicating that the effectiveness of our method is applicable [i.e., the R2 was 0.82, and the root mean square error (RMSE) was 3.39 m]. The evaluated results in various cities, across different height intervals, and within distinct regions also show the good agreement with reference heights according to the correlation (R2: 0.51–0.86, RMSE: 2.57–5.97 m in cities) and similar height distribution. Moreover, our results also showed the superiority by comparing with other height datasets at different scales. Finally, we mapped the building-scale height to characterize the urban morphology. These results demonstrate our proposed method's usable accuracy and the vast application potential in estimating building heights. Our proposed method's refined building height information can significantly help socioeconomic and climatological urban studies.

Historic urban areas are a crucial component of urban heritage, embodying the collective memory of urban development and possessing distinctive urban textures and cultural attributes. However, the growing impact of globalization on the urban environment poses challenges to historic urban areas, including diminishing social recognition, aging infrastructure, loss of vitality, and cultural erosion. To address these challenges, this study proposes a novel approach to revitalizing historic urban areas by employing space syntax methodology. The study focuses on Yushan Historic District in China as a case study and uses spatial models within space syntax to describe, analyze, and interpret its urban morphology. The objective is to enhance urban vitality while preserving the heritage fabric of historic urban areas. Additionally, it aims to contribute to the advancement of space syntax research, specifically in the context of urban renewal and revitalization of historic districts. The findings reveal the spatial factors that contribute to the generation of vitality within the district, identify areas requiring intervention, and provide strategies for revitalizing historic urban areas. This study demonstrates the potential of utilizing a space syntax approach in urban revitalization, providing valuable guidance for effectively conserving urban heritage within the context of urban renewal.

The urban cemetery is the material carrier of citizens' view of life and death, and it also evolves with time as a special part of the urban form. Since the reform of the housing system in the 1990s, China has entered a period of rapid urbanization, and the urban cemeteries has entered a cycle of shock and accelerated transformation. The cemeteries originally located on the urban fringe were gradually surrounded by new built-up areas as the city sprawled, and then most of them inevitably migrated outward under the pressure of urban population explosion and land shortage. Taking Nanjing as an example, this paper presents the morphological evolution of Nanjing's urban cemetery since the early 20th century, discusses the relationship between the evolution of the cemetery and the urban fringe belt, and analyzes the reasons for its evolution. The different types of morphological evolution of Nanjing cemetery are further summarized, revealing the general law and its Chinese particularity. The article concludes with a discussion of the value and significance of morphological research on urban cemeteries in China.

This article proposes a 35D form index system to quantitatively describe the 3D form of urban blocks. Utilizing the T-distributed stochastic neighbor (TSNE) embedding algorithm for cluster analysis, the visually complex and disordered urban 3D texture is translated into distinct form clusters, enabling the recognition of the overall urban form structure from the block perspective. The research methodology includes experiments conducted in the central area of Nanjing and comparative analysis in three neighboring cities: Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou. Results demonstrate the efficacy of form parameters and cluster analysis in achieving sound recognition. The four cities differ remarkably in the number and distribution structure of clusters. Shanghai has the fewest types of clusters with a compact distribution, Suzhou has the most types with a dispersed distribution, and Hangzhou and Nanjing exhibit similar characteristics, located between Shanghai and Suzhou. Correlation analysis reveals a negative relationship between the number of cluster types and the level of urban socioeconomic development in similar areas. This research implies that governments and urban planners can exploit neighborhood morphological types to devise customized spatial management and renewal strategies. The overall urban structure can be improved by strategically minimizing the quantity and distribution of neighborhood morphological types, fostering socioeconomic development.

The paper’s subject examines the role of open spaces in restructuring the Cerak Vinogradi housing estate, planned and built in Belgrade in period 1977-1985. The paper provides a historical comparative analysis with an overview of spatial processes on the one hand and social processes on the other through identification of the role of open spaces in the structure of the Cerak Vinogradi housing estate from its construction to the present day. Spatial processes are shown through a mapping of the urbomorphological processes of open-space transformations, while social processes include a review of the regulatory framework: the laws, regulations, and plans that led to visible changes in space. The work aims to establish the stages of morphogenesis in which there occurred a paradigm shift in the management and use of open spaces of the housing estate.

Urban heat islands are hotter than rural places. Sustainable urban growth and improving urban environments need understanding Urban Heat Island (UHI) causes and finding effective mitigation techniques. This research examines the seasonal deviations in surface temperatures for the UHI effect in Pune, India, focusing on land use patterns and water body cooling. Land use categorization included residential, commercial, industrial, vegetation, and open spaces. The research studied the cooling potential and temperature variance by distance from water bodies in the form of lakes, rivers, and ponds. These aquatic bodies have surface and ambient temperature sensors. Roads, soil, commercial areas, residential areas, industrial areas, and vegetation have all shown increases in NDBI, ranging from 15.84 to 36.45%. Urban regions with heat accumulation and dissipation have been revealed by DEM and contour maps. The research found that the water bodies have a cooling effect on LST till the distance of 350 m. The research finds hotter places and shows how natural features mitigate UHI by analyzing land use patterns and water body cooling. The findings emphasize the significance of green areas and water bodies in urban design and development to improve Pune's climate resilience and inhabitability. HIGHLIGHTS Study examines how UHI gets affected by Landuse variation and Water cooling with remote sensing and geospatial analysis.; The findings inform urban planning and climate change adaptation in similar cities.; Urban water bodies can act as natural climate buffers by cooling.; The study illuminates the UHI effects on urban climate resistance.;

This study proposes an exploratory urban morphology agent-based model (ABM) to simulate the combined impact of the establishment of hub facilities that urban residents can conveniently access, policies for promoting human interactions around them, and the introduction of trams amidst dispersed habitations in peripheral urban areas. The proposed model offers a new perspective on ways to improve the urban environment. It describes a shift from dispersed habitation to concentrated habitation in a bottom-up manner through behavioural changes at the micro level, which lead to productive human interactions in an urban setting. Specifically, the model experimentally demonstrates a trade-off between increased human interactions caused by the introduction of hub facilities that attract a diverse range of activities, and policies that promote such interactions and development amongst dispersed habitation. Additionally, the model suggests that the direction of urban growth is a consequence of collective action, implying that collaborative efforts can facilitate its improvement.

The significant increase in building energy consumption poses a major challenge to environmental sustainability. In this process, urban morphology plays a pivotal role in shaping building energy consumption. However, its impact may exhibit latent heterogeneity due to differences in temporal resolution and spatial scales. For urban energy planning and energy consumption modeling, it is crucial to pinpoint when and where urban morphology parameters matter, an overlooked aspect in prior research. This study quantitatively explores this heterogeneity, utilizing a detailed dataset from old residential buildings within a university campus. Spatial lag models were employed for cross-modeling across various temporal and spatial dimensions. The results show that annual and seasonal spatial regression models perform best within a 150 m buffer zone. However, not all significant indicators fall within this range, suggesting that blindly applying the same range to all indicators may lead to inaccurate conclusions. Moreover, significant urban morphology indicators vary in quantity, category, and directionality. The green space ratio exhibits correlations with energy consumption in annual, summer, and winter periods within buffer zones of 150 m, 50~100 m, and 100 m, respectively. It notably displays a negative correlation with annual energy consumption but a positive correlation with winter energy consumption. To address this heterogeneity, this study proposes a three-tiered framework—macro-level project decomposition, establishing a key indicator library, and energy consumption comparisons, facilitating more targeted urban energy model and energy management decisions.

Prior studies have failed to adequately address intangible characteristics and lacked a comprehensive quantification of cultural dimensions. Additionally, such works have not merged supervised and unsupervised classification methodologies. To address these gaps, this study employed multidimensional numerical techniques for precise spatial pattern recognition and urban morphology classification at the block scale. By examining building density, mean floor numbers, functional compositions, and street block mixed-use intensities, alongside historical and contemporary cultural assets within blocks—with assigned weights and entropy calculations from road networks, building vectors, and POI data—a hierarchical categorization of high, medium, and low groups was established. As a consequence, cluster analysis revealed seven distinctive morphology classifications within the studied area, each with unique spatial configurations and evolutionary tendencies. Key findings include the dominance of high-density, mixed-use blocks in the urban core, the persistence of historical morphologies in certain areas, and the emergence of new, high-rise clusters in recently developed zones. The investigation further elucidated the spatial configurations and evolutionary tendencies of each morphology category. These insights lay the groundwork for forthcoming studies to devise morphology-specific management strategies, thereby advancing towards a more scientifically grounded, rational, and precision-focused approach to urban morphology governance.

This study examines the impact of spatial parameters on urban well-being by comparing the urban design and housing policies of Roosevelt Island in New York City and Bat Yam in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, Israel. Despite their distinct political and cultural contexts, these cities exhibit similar urban design approaches that integrate physical well-being parameters—such as density, building height, open spaces, and walkability—alongside social well-being parameters including age distribution, income levels, and ethnic diversity. The research traces the evolution of affordable housing through various historical phases, including Urban Renewal, Community Development, and Neoliberal Urbanism, and explores how different residential ownership structures have influenced demographic shifts, gentrification, and neighborhood transformation over the past decades. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines historical analysis with spatial and demographic data, this study highlights the contrasting impacts of Roosevelt Island’s affordable housing program and Bat Yam’s state-led urban renewal policies. The results illustrate how distinct housing models affect community resilience, social stability, and overall urban well-being. By uncovering parallel narratives and extracting valuable insights, this analysis offers lessons for other cities navigating similar market-led pressures and policy shifts. The findings underscore the importance of understanding the interplay between spatial design, housing policies, and ownership structures in shaping the long-term sustainability and quality of life in urban neighborhoods.

This study examines the transformation of the urban fabric by analyzing changes in both structural and numerical parameters of spatial organization, with a particular emphasis on the hierarchical relationships between streets, blocks, and buildings. The research utilizes Bursa, the former Ottoman capital in Turkey, as a case study to explore these dynamics. The elements of streets, blocks, and buildings are posited as fundamental components in conceptualizing cities as layered palimpsests, where successive historical layers coexist within the urban fabric. The research establishes a conceptual parallel between the methodologies and analytical tools of urban morphology, particularly through the shared notion of the palimpsest. In the case of Bursa, the architectural remains and urban form of the Early, Classical, and Late Ottoman periods and of the Republican period are superimposed. In particular, the late Ottoman reform era, the Tanzimat period of the 19th century, brought great change. Historical maps from this era serve as primary sources for comprehending the evolving character and spatial configuration of the city. This research presents a novel methodological contribution by extending the analytical framework of urban morphology to integrate both qualitative and quantitative data. It employs Geographic Information Systems (GISs) and statistical methods to quantify changes in the urban fabric, assessing both pre-modernization and post-modernization phases. Historical maps from the 19th century are utilized as primary sources to trace and compare transformations within the urban fabric, with clustering techniques further aiding this analysis. The findings provide a deeper understanding of the dynamic processes that shape the historic structure of cities, offering a dual approach to urban transformation that harmonizes historical continuity with modern development.

Urban thermal anomalies profoundly impact human society, affecting daily life, public health, and residential comfort. Prior studies linked thermal anomalies to urban morphology evolution and land use change during urbanization based on multi-indicator quantification of urban morphology and linear regression modeling. However, it remained unclear which urban morphology elements predominantly dominate thermal anomalies and whether their impact is solely linear, and understanding on the diverse mechanisms through how urban morphology influences various thermal anomalies across seasons remains limited. Therefore, this study employed convolutional neural networks and interpretable machine learning (Grad-CAM and SHAP) to explore nonlinear relationships between urban morphology and thermal anomalies, focusing on comparisons between different types of anomaly events across time. The main findings indicated: (1) Grad-CAM's identification of pivotal hotspot pixels and SHAP's interpretability assessment highlighted that crucial urban morphology factors contributing to thermal anomalies include the area of green spaces, water spaces, the number of residential facilities, building floor area ratio, and the count of industrial production facilities. (2) Clear nonlinear relationships were observed between dominant urban morphology factors and the occurrence of thermal anomalies, which confirming the existence of multiple thresholds and activation levels, as demonstrated through SHAP's partial dependency analysis. The dynamic complexity of these associations significantly varied depending on the type of event and the timing of thermal anomalies. These findings offer actionable guidance for urban planners to refine climate-friendly strategies, revealing the heterogeneity of these relationships across time and seasons through multi-scenario analysis and providing tailored insights for climate-sensitive urban planning.

This study intends to investigate the urban morphology in forming microclimatic conditions in urban outdoor spaces. The Research looked at the compact form of a city and analyzed elements linked to air temperature, urban ventilation, and individual thermal comfort at a comprehensive street plan level. The urban design and the availability of open spaces directly impact all of the studied elements. The field study took place in the old city center of Karbala, a typical compact urban fabric, where the relationship between urban morphology and microclimate was explored. The precise street plan and the local buildings patterns were used to determine urban morphology. The software used to perform simulation was the ladybug tool in Grasshopper. The field study results show that the street layout, urban canyon, and open and compact urban form play a significant role in producing microclimatic conditions and influencing bioclimatic parameters as well as Unplanned urban growth may lead to a disregard for crucial elements including solar exposure, wind patterns, and the overall thermal comfort of metropolitan areas. Wide roadways inside conventional urban fabric can also contribute to increased solar radiation exposure. When urban areas are created without sufficient planning, there is a higher possibility of producing spaces that are exposed to excessive sun radiation without suitable shading. resulting in high temperatures and discomfort for pedestrians and other city dwellers.

Urban microclimate faces serious challenges due to increased urbanization and frequent heatwave events. Many studies focused on investigating the holistic quantitative relationships between urban morphology factors and heat island intensity at the city scale, but less effort has been devoted to exploring the relationships on a block scale. Additionally, there is a lack of fast prediction methods for urban microclimate for local climate zones (LCZ) planning and design. To address these challenges, this study proposes a Long Short-Term Memory Networks (LSTM) model to predict the effects of urban morphology factors on the air temperature under local climate zones. The effects of the spatial morphology features on the air temperature were characterized and quantified employing a post-interpretation method. The Pearl River New Town (PRNT), the downtown area of Guangzhou, China, was considered as the research area for the model implementation. The results showed that air temperature prediction accuracy is the best when using the historical three-time step data, with R2 of 0.975. LCZ A has the highest prediction accuracy, with an R2 of 0.990. LCZ 5 has the lowest accuracy, with an R2 of 0.881. Moreover, the effect of urban morphology factors on air temperature was found to be greater than the effect of land cover type. In this regard, the sky view factor (SVF) has the highest impact, followed by the aspect ratio (AR) and the pervious surface fraction (PSF). Nevertheless, the warming effect in built type was stronger than that in land cover. During the heatwave period, the maximum and minimum temperature changes were recorded in LCZ 4 and LCZ A, respectively, with values of 9.7 °C and 8.6 °C. It was shown that low-rise areas are more resilient than high-rise areas during heatwave periods. This is because low-rise areas generally exhibit a smaller increase in air temperature. These findings provide a better understanding of the relationship between urban microclimate and urban form, and a method of rapidly predicting the microclimate of a neighborhood block. It provides guidance and support, with great significance for climate-friendly urban planning.

The research focused on simulating wind patterns in urban planning design offers substantial contributions to both the social and economic aspects of the urban planning and design field. To begin with, it addresses a critical factor in urban development, especially in Mediterranean climates, where natural ventilation significantly influences summer comfort. By incorporating predictive numerical simulations of urban wind patterns, this study provides valuable insights into improving outdoor thermal comfort within urban areas. This holds particular importance in the context of adapting to climate change, as it equips urban planners and architects with informed decision-making tools to create more sustainable and comfortable urban environments. Additionally, this research makes an economic contribution by presenting guidelines for iterative wind simulations in the early stages of designing medium-scale urban projects. Through the validation of a simulation workflow, it streamlines the design process, potentially reducing the time and resources required for urban planning and architectural design. This enhanced efficiency can result in cost savings during project development. Moreover, the study's recommendations concerning simulation parameters, such as wind tunnel cell size and refinement levels, offer practical insights for optimizing simulation processes, potentially lowering computational expenses and improving the overall economic viability of urban design projects. To summarize, this research effectively addresses climate-related challenges, benefiting both social well-being and economic efficiency in the field of urban planning and design, while also providing guidance for more efficient simulation-driven design procedures.

The designation of historic conservation areas (DHCAs) from the cities classified as “National Famous Historical and Cultural City” (NFHC-city) is the key tool for maintaining large-scale historic environments, wherein the boundaries are blurred because of redevelopment. Therefore, exploring potential historic conservation area is fundamentally important. In this study, we examined historic urban areas in 11 old colonial cities (concessions and leased territories) to determine the potential historic conservation areas (P-HCAs). Our results suggest that P-HCAs are characterized by relatively small size, minimal residential use, and irregular morphological boundaries, except in some non-NFHC-cities, where P-HCAs are located adjacent to officially protected public and commercial buildings. The DHCA boundaries and extent of urban development influence the storage of P-HCA. The approach and method proposed in this study not only provide reference for the conservation and replenishment of the historic districts in China, but are also applicable for other countries.

The aim of this research is to explain the indicators of urban morphology based on sustainable development and evaluate the level of sustainability of neighborhoods based on these indicators. The present research is of a research-applied type. The indicators used in the research are building age, building materials, building quality, fractal index, texture status index, sky view factor (SVF), proximity to the main street, proximity to public transportation, proximity to shopping centers, proximity to Education centers, Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Land Use Mixing. The results determined that Gol Park, Valiasr 1, Valiasr 3, Baghmishe Ghadim 3 are the neighborhoods with sustainable morphology. Also, Golkar, Valiasr 2, Kalantar Koocheh, Sangi Pol 1 and 2, Baghmishe Ghadim 1 and 2, Bilanko 1 and 2 are the neighborhoods with semi-sustainable morphology. In addition, the neighborhoods of Shahid Beheshti, Mullah Zeinal 1 and 2, Idealo 1 and 2, Yousefabad 1 to 3, Ghoshtkhaneh seylab 1 to 3, Valiasr 4, Abbasi 1 and 2 are the neighborhoods with unsustainable morphology. The results showed that neighborhoods with high social and economic status are generally sustainable neighborhoods and neighborhoods with low social and economic status and informal settlements including Shahid Beheshti alley, Mullah Zinal 1 and 2, Ideolo 1 and 2, Yousefabad 1 to 3, Ghoshtkhaneh seylab is 1 to 3, they are unsustainable. The total number of people living in neighborhoods with sustainable, semi-sustainable, and unsustainable morphology is 46.544, 79.603, and 89.851, respectively. Based on the results, texture status index, NDVI, and proximity to public transportation with weights of 0.18335, 0.12975, and 0.11036, respectively, are three essential indicators in explaining urban morphology.

Making cities health-promoting places is an evolving theme. Numerous studies confirm the health-promoting qualities of contact with nature and problems resulting from the deprivation of access to public green spaces. Easy access to safe and inclusive public green spaces is still one of the long-lasting problems of urbanized areas around the globe. It is one of the sustainable development goals, SDGs, proposed by the UN: 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Point 11.7 By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities. The major question is how to implement this goal in practice and design cities to provide easy access to safe and inclusive public green spaces. One of the important concepts for sustainable urban development is the urban block, Macrolot, coined by Christian de Portzamparc, which led to the new urban morphology of eco-neighborhoods in France. It combines the traditional, walkable urban grid with the Le Corbusier vision for a healthy modernist city offering daylight, fresh air, and greenery for everyone. Among the advantages of this particular urban morphology are the increased presence of green spaces and possibilities for placemaking. Studying the effects of the urban form of the Macrolot is of great significance for sustainable urban development. In this study, five neighborhoods—three eco-neighborhoods from France designed according to the open urban block, Macrolot urban morphology, ZAC Massena, ZAC Trapeze, and ZAC Clichy-Batignolles, and two award-winning developments from Poland, Riverview and Ostoja Wilanów—were chosen as case studies. The application of the Macrolot concept to sustainable urban planning and design and the possibilities for operationalization of the SDG—11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable—are discussed. This study offers valuable evidence to inform urban planning and design.

Over the past few decades, several analytical approaches have been developed to understand urban form and to address the complexity of human settlements as well as various socio-economic and environmental challenges. Each approach is characterized by specific disciplinary and geographical trends, often emerging from distinct schools of thought within urban morphology. Typically, these approaches are associated with specific research centers or individual researchers and have frequently been applied in isolation, with some exceptions. The teaching of urban morphology in higher education institutions across Europe faces the challenge of training future graduates to effectively address contemporary urban issues from often isolated perspectives rooted in the aforementioned schools of thought, either reflecting specific national educational trends or adopting a globalized approach that overlooks local specificities. Furthermore, the relationship between professional practice in urban and planning fields and higher education institutions is a notable concern. While the importance of broad knowledge and multidisciplinary skills for urban professionals is recognized, the connection between academia, research and practice is minimal. The increasing demand for evidence-based approaches in urban design highlights the need for solutions grounded in sound knowledge. To address the relationship between academic research and its integration into professional practice, innovation in teaching practices is crucial, aligning academia with the evolving needs of planning, architecture, and urban design professions. This involves focusing on developing learners’ fundamental and transversal skills and providing tools, methods, and research findings applicable in professional settings. This paper is based on two research projects that sought to bridge the gaps between different morphological approaches in teaching and between academic research and practical application. The projects, Emerging Perspectives on Urban Morphology (EPUM) and the Knowledge Alliance for Evidence-Based Urban Practices (KAEBUP), brought together partners from various South and Central European countries to address these gaps. EPUM focused on integrating different morphological approaches within the context of teaching, while KAEBUP aimed to connect theoretical knowledge with practical actions concerning the built environment. The situative pedagogical perspective, rooted in communities of practice and supported by a blended learning approach, is central to this endeavor. This perspective provides a collaborative framework for educators, students, and professionals in urban morphology to co-create knowledge through integrated learning, teaching, and research activities.

Rapid urbanization has altered the natural surface properties and spatial patterns, increasing the risk of urban waterlogging. Assessing the probability of urban waterlogging risk is crucial for preventing and mitigating the environmental risks associated with urban waterlogging. This study aims to evaluate the impact of different urban spatial morphologies on the probability of urban waterlogging risk. The proposed assessment framework was demonstrated in Guangzhou, a high-density city in China. Firstly, a spatial weight naive Bayes model was employed to map the probability of waterlogging risk in Guangzhou. Secondly, the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT)-based method was used to create a local climate zone (LCZ) map of Guangzhou. Then, the range of waterlogging risk and the proportion of risk levels were analyzed across different LCZs. Finally, the Theil index was used to measure the disparity in waterlogging risk exposure among urban residents. The results indicate that 16.29% of the area in Guangzhou is at risk of waterlogging. Specifically, 13.06% of the area in LCZ 2 is classified as high risk, followed by LCZ 1, LCZ 8, and LCZ 10, with area proportions of 11.42%, 8.37%, and 6.26%, respectively. Liwan District has the highest flood exposure level at 0.975, followed by Haizhu, Yuexiu, and Baiyun. The overall disparity in waterlogging exposure in Guangzhou is 0.30, with the difference between administrative districts (0.13) being smaller than the difference within the administrative districts (0.17). These findings provide valuable insights for future flood risk mitigation and help in adopting effective risk reduction strategies at urban planning level.

In the context of the current information age, leveraging Earth observation (EO) technology and spatial analysis methods enables a more accurate understanding of the characteristics of small towns. This study conducted an in-depth analysis of the urban morphology of small towns in the Qinba Mountain Area of Southern Shaanxi by employing large-scale data analysis and innovative urban form measurement methods. The U-Net3+ model, based on deep learning technology, combined with the concave hull algorithm, was used to extract and precisely define the boundaries of 31,799 buildings and small towns. The morphological characteristics of the town core were measured, and the core areas of the small towns were defined using calculated tessellation cells. Hierarchical clustering methods were applied to analyze 12 characteristic indicators of 89 towns, and various metrics were calculated to determine the optimal number of clusters. The analysis identified eight distinct clusters based on the towns’ morphological differences. Significant morphological differences between the small towns in the Qinba Mountain Area were observed. The clustering results revealed that the towns exhibited diverse shapes and distributions, ranging from irregular and sparse to compact and dense forms, reflecting distinct layout patterns influenced by the unique context of each town. The use of the morphometric method, based on cellular and biological morphometry, provided a new perspective on the urban form and deepened the understanding of the spatial structure of the small towns from a micro perspective. These findings not only contribute to the development of quantitative morphological indicators for town development and planning but also demonstrate a novel, data-driven approach to conventional urban morphology studies.

This article presents the pedagogical process of reading and designing in the design studio course in the first semester of the fourth year in Architecture and Urbanism (2020–2021) held at the Lisbon School of Architecture of the Universidade de Lisboa. The research by design results are inscribed in the Embryo Project “[entra]mar Sea Intertwined City. Interpretation and Design of Portuguese Seashore Streets Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise”, funded by the FCT exploratory projects through CIAUD—Research Center in Architecture, Urbanism and Design at the Lisbon School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal). The aim of this article is to demonstrate the usefulness of urban morphology in the reading and design process of an urban seafront vulnerable to extreme weather events. The approach to the “Sesimbra [entra]mar” in a pedagogical context confirms morphological interpretation as a key instrument for the formation of students and is consequently valuable for the practice of architecture and urbanism.

As a consequence of global climate change, sea level rise (SLR) presents notable risks to both urban and natural areas located near coastlines. For developing effective strategies to mitigate and adapt to these risks, it is essential to evaluate the potential impacts of SLR in coastal areas. While substantial research has been conducted on mapping the broad-scale impacts of SLR based on scenarios of Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL), consideration of regional scenarios, systematic classification, and distinct stages of SLR have been largely overlooked. This gap is significant because SLR impacts vary by region and by the level of SLR, so adaptations, planning, and decision-making must be adapted to local conditions. This paper aims to precisely identify the landscape and urban morphology changes caused by the impact of SLR for each foot of elevation increase based on remote sensing technologies, focusing on St. Johns County, Florida, and Chatham County, Georgia. These two counties are both situated along the southeastern coastline of the United States but with completely different urban forms due to distinct historical and cultural developments. Regional forecasting SLR scenarios covering the period from 2020 to 2100 were utilized to assess the landscape transformation and urban changes, incorporating selected landscape and urban metrics to calculate quantitative data for facilitating comparative analyses. This study investigated gradual alterations in urban morphology and green infrastructure both individually and in combination with the effect on wetlands due to SLR. The mapping outcomes of this research were generated by employing comprehensive remote sensing data. The findings of this research indicated that, when the sea level rose to 3 feet, the wetlands would experience notable alterations, and the level of fragmentation in urban built areas would progressively increase, causing most of the metric data to exhibit a pronounced decline or increase.

With the increase in car domination, air pollution, traffic congestion, and urban sprawl, sustainable, livable, creative, and walkable cities are critical, now more than ever, for improving quality of life. The effect of neighborhood urban morphologies on walkability has received much attention in recent years. In this vein, the main research question is: how do different neighborhood urban morphologies impact the level of walkability in urban environments, and what are the essential elements impacting the walkability index? Thus, this research aims to determine the impact of urban morphology on walkability in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, as a case study by utilizing multi-spatial analysis. In particular, the study focused on assessing the walkability of four different study areas that vary according to their urban morphology: Kafr–Abdo, Smouha, Latin Quarter, and Roushdy areas. The analysis utilized GIS to calculate a number of indicators to reach the final walkability index for each study area. Results helped to identify the neighborhoods characterized by the lowest level of pedestrian walkability in relation to the area’s urban morphology in an attempt to help decision-makers suggest the appropriate interventions for those areas. The aggregated index results showed that the highest walkability index was that of the gridiron morphology, followed by the linear morphology, with the radial and organic morphologies coming in behind them, respectively. The composite walkability index values were 0.364, 0.247, 0.232 and 0.225, respectively. The reason for this is mainly the presence of the commercial density, intersection density, street density, services density, BCR, and residential density.

Vineyard (Turkish: bağ) culture is a common urban phenomenon in Çukurova region communities, which have strong ties with the land, due to the favorable climate and soil conditions. Adana's historic city center and some of the vineyard settlements to the north of this area lost their rural settlement characteristic and started to be built up as a result of Hermann Jansen's planning studies that started in the 1930s, and the city continued its development as planned towards the vineyard settlements (Turkish: bağlar) to the north. Although Gazipaşa, Ziyapaşa, and Namık Kemal Neighborhoods, which were examined within the scope of the study, were planned as a result of these planning studies, they were not built according to the plan. Thus, the implemented part of the Jansen Plan was defined by the railway line located to the south of these three neighborhoods. As a result, these three neighborhoods turned into an area where vineyards began on the periphery of the planned built-up areas and became known as Bağlarbaşı (starts of vineyard area). The aim of the study is to make a morphological analysis of the transformation of the three neighborhoods formed in the area where the vineyards, which previously had a rural settlement texture, disappeared as a result of the urbanization pressure that started in the 1950s, starting from 1950 to the present day, and to examine the process dynamics and to determine the general characteristics of the vineyard culture and houses in the study area. In the study area, morphological analyses were carried out by comparing aerial photographs from 1950, 1954, 1961, current maps from 1985 and 2019, zoning plans dated 1940, 1969 and current data. In addition, the transformation was documented with photographs from various archives and oral history research was utilized. Two vineyard houses in the area were surveyed to determine their spatial characteristics. The data obtained through the studies coincide with Marcel Poëte's assertion that "the memory of a city survives in the physical structure of that city". It has been determined that today's parcel boundaries, main roads, and streets, physical formations such as thresholds and reinforcements of the three neighborhoods bear traces of the period when the neighborhoods were vineyards and gardens. In the area, a small number of vineyard houses (cottages), which are in parallel with the typological characteristics of the traditional Turkish House, have survived to the present day, albeit in ruins.

Research Purpose: High urban density, often considered as harmful for the urban climate, may correspond to different morphologies of urban structures. The objective of this study is a predictive evaluation of the climatic performance of urban fabrics, presenting different densities and morphological patterns, based on the correlation of traditional and advanced urban planning parameters. Methodology: The methodological procedures were: a) computer simulation for predictive analysis of climate performance of hypothetical scenarios using ENVI-met model; b) statistical analysis to verify the degree of correlation between environmental and urban morphology variables. Air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed of the hypothetical scenarios and of spatial typologies were analysed in the urban site of Arapiraca-AL located in the semiarid region of northeastern Brazil. Findings: A negative correlation was observed between the behavior of the maximum air temperature (dependent variable) and the advanced urban planning parameters of the mesh porosity and the arboreal density index (independent variables), through correlation coefficient with absolute values above 0,7. Originality/Value: Correlation analysis indicated the influence of morphological patterns on the climatic performance of urban fabrics. The results demonstrate that advanced urban parameters can be investigated to optimize the use of bioclimatic strategies in the urban environment.

The main goal of the article is to present the morphological changes that occurred in the Old Town of Wrocław in the post-war period. Morphological transformation is a natural process that shapes the external and the internal structure of a city. The damage inflicted during World War II interrupted the natural development of the burgage cycle and deeply altered the landscape of the city. Through the analysis of building coverage within street blocks, a classification of street blocks was obtained. On this basis, eight areas that underwent analogous phases of the burgage cycle in particular blocks were distinguished; this made it possible to identify the processes that can affect changes in morphology. The main analysis of the study was conducted using cartographic materials from 1934 to 2019 (through Conzenian methods), which visualised the distribution of buildings within street blocks.

Hutong neighbourhoods, composed of Chinese courtyard dwellings (Siheyuan), are historically and socially significant urban spaces that embody the traditional Chinese way of life and philosophy. As part of the national heritage, there is an increasing research interest in Hutong neighbourhoods, many of which are facing oblivion. This study presents a formal grammar for Hutong neighbourhood generation. This research investigates traditional principles of urban planning of ancient Beijing, based on examples on the historical map Qianlong Jingcheng Quantu, to derive the lost design rules. These rules are used to build up a procedural modelling framework, which reveals the development of Beijing's urban structure from the Yuan (1271–1368) to the Qing (1644–1911) dynasty. Our findings present a grammar incorporated into the procedural modelling framework to parametrically generate Hutong neighbourhoods, which replicates the morphological characteristics of historic cases. It contributes to the understanding of the generation of Hutong neighbourhoods. In support of heritage sustainability, this grammar can be implemented in a computational environment by visual scripting that enables the generation of new instances of Hutong neighbourhoods, both real and virtual.