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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.

This paper presents a study of the urban morphology of Videira, Brazil, framing the evolution of the traces of the urban form as a process and of the manufacture of the city as an object. The object of study was chosen due to particularities such as: great formal-functional similarity with other Brazilian and European cities, a city produced from the 20th century, with a strong presence of the railway as a structuring road axis and topography as a matriarchal element of formation. We understand that there is a gap in understanding the formation of cities after the 20th century, fragmenting the elements of the urban form to understand the design of the city. The main objective is to understand the temporal evolution and generate models that can be used as parameters of block drawings focused on the geography of the sites, contributing to the urban planning of housing allotments more analogous in the distribution of lots. The method used is part of a compendium of theoretical and practical concepts, focusing on the classification of the urban form reviewed by several authors, with predominance of the School of English Urban Morphology: (1) relationship of the tracing with physical expression of the site, (2) main elements to support the composition and; (3) shape of blocks and lots. Preliminary results allow identifying blocks with predominantly irregular formats and very diverse lot patterns, circulation routes with a sinuous or poorly homogeneous profile and with several structural problems, reflecting the need for lots adapted to topography.

Over the last fifty years, urban green areas have undergone deep changes in their functionalities and their spatial organization. These developments have highlighted the rise in societal and ecological interests in the built environment. One of the answers consists of improving the ecological framework into a territorial approach with the development of the green and blue infrastructure. However, their operationalisation within urban areas faces a twofold problem, a lack of specific and specialized data in highlighting the need for knowledge to support arbitration and citizen participation. To work around the lack of data, the article presents an exploratory methodology based on a typo-morphological and urbanistic approach to urban blocks. This methodology has been tested within the cross-border territory of the Franco-Belgian Sambre watershed. This approach aims to illustrate the types of private green spaces as a possible support for the development of the green and blue infrastructure in an urban environment. The article then looks at the creation of a specific WebGIS which, in response to the need for territorial knowledge, is intended as a tool to assist knowledge of operational actors and citizens on both sides of the border. Hence, this approach puts forward a new analysis perspective of the territory to implement the blue and green urban corridor. It provides an useful tool for its emergence and to develop the synergies necessary for cityplanning.

Climate change and rising temperatures are some of the biggest challenges tropical cities face. These cities need to be designed to accommodate high population growth while providing a comfortable thermal environment. In this context, we propose a framework for developing urban design guidelines with a focus on improving thermal comfort in outdoor environments, a concept known as Outdoor Thermal Comfort (OTC). The framework is based on computing climate variables such as temperature, wind speed, humidity, and others for several urban design strategies at the district scale. Furthermore, we use the spatial occupancy over the course of the day in the district to calculate an overall OTC performance score. Finally, the design strategies are ranked and represented in a three-dimensional space. The strategies are extracted from the body of knowledge of urban planning and design, and adjusted to local status and building codes. The climate variables are computed using numerical climate models, and the OTC performance score is calculated using a statistical risk management model. The guidelines discussed in this paper are limited to passive design strategies such as urban geometry, orientation and vegetation for tropical cities with high density. These guidelines can be used to support architects and urban planners in the early design stages of a new district.

After an introduction on the main morphogenetic features of rural space, this article presents some typical morphological problems in small rural municipalities, such as the situations we have called semi-urban blocks, linear formations or large urban blocks. To do so, we analyse the treatment of these problems in the urban planning in force in several specific Spanish municipalities. Through the cases analysed, the insufficiency of the traditional urban planning tools in Spain is verified, both in the technique of classification or delimitation of urban land, as in the detailed management proposals for the treatment of semi-urban blocks and large urban blocks.

This paper is about the relevance of proposing geovisualization methods to visually integrate, co-visualize and interact with urban and meteorological data into a 3D environment, in order to support the visual analysis of the urban climate. Meteorological experts and researchers already face meteorological data and climate models analysis issues, at larger scales into the city: yet even if they have existing practices and tools to address these issues, they could take benefit from the knowledge and the methods from the Geovisualization domain, to complement these analyses by a visuospatial reasoning approach.In this paper, based on the knowledge of the expectations of the meteorological experts we are working with, we brought climate analysis into the city and visuospatial reasoning closer, on both heterogeneous urban and air temperature data(1). We reviewed the existing works regarding geovisualization of spatio-temporal phenomena and visualization of meteorological data (2). We then presented the different approaches we fulfilled to provide a 3D geovisualization environment and graphic representations, visually integrating both meteorological and spatial data. One provides style and interaction capacities on those data, enabling the interactive 3D exploration of their spatial and value distributions, throughout the city. Another geovisualization-design experiment is presented as a co-visualization of meteorological data and morphological indicators on 2.5D maps (3). These complementary approaches are presented and discussed with the meteorological experts, based on their relevance to tackle climate analysis at a larger scale and on the refinements required to extend their exploration capacities (4).

The comparative reading of urban expansion in Malaga, Murcia and Valladolid during the twentieth century allows identifying common phases in the construction of their peripheries. And also helps to identify the features of the structure of these cities. This paper describes how these peripheries were configured from multiple urban actions that successively create the centrality spaces and the urban fabrics according to the different ways to build the city in each period.

With the growth of urban population, humanity faces new challenges concerning urban food provision. Urban planning is paramount to guarantee a sustainable functioning of the several systems which operate within the urban realm, including the food system. However, while it is widely acknowledged that urban planning would benefit from the integration of urban agriculture, which operates at the production stage of the food system, it is less clear what are the morphological impacts of planning instruments on urban space, in terms of urban agriculture. This paper tries to address this gap, while focusing on one particular area of Portugal, Lisbon and its surrounding territory (Lisbon’s Greater Area). The proposed methodological approach aims to trace the perception of urban agriculture by municipal planning instruments (Municipal Master Plans) and identify their impact in contemporary urban agriculture solutions. It concludes that current planning regulations in Lisbon’s Greater Area are specifically focused on morphological solutions that give preference to urban agriculture uses related to leisure and aesthetic solutions, in determinant of design solutions that tackle economic growth or ecological diversity.

The thermal performance of a building is significantly influenced by the climate around it. It is observed that the microclimate of an urban area is notably different from that of the surrounding regions. This difference is mainly due to the variations in anthropogenic heat, built morphology and surface characteristics. The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) system, effectively classifies the urban areas concerning these climatic variations. This study comprises two sections; the first section explores the climatic differences across LCZs and the impact of urban built morphology on microclimate. For this, three different LCZs – LCZ-2, LCZ-5 and LCZ-9 (high, medium and low density respectively) were modelled within the range of values prescribed in the LCZ system and an analytical study was carried out with the help of the CFD tool – ENVIMET. To understand the influence of urban morphology features on microclimate, LCZ-2, a representative LCZ was chosen and a parametric study of variations in morphology variables was carried out. It was observed that incidence angle, surface characteristics and H/W greatly influence the microclimate. The second section of the study explores the thermal performance of the built environment across the LCZs. A typical 3-bedroom residential building was considered and thermal performance evaluation of the same in three different local climatic conditions was carried out through field measurements. It was observed that heat flux in LCZ-5 (65.5 W/m2) is high compared to that of LCZ-2 (16.6 W/m2) and LCZ-9 (6.04 W/m2). The study points to the significance of location-specific building performance studies and design criteria.

The rescue of the issue of patrimony in its cultural confinement has been conducted according to patterns of European cities. These pattern sare difficult to apply in other situations; therefore it is important to confront them with the various society transformation processes and its substrate material. The transformation of Guadalajara’s Downtown in the mid-twentieth century represent the virtual elimination of urban heritage of the city, which is a very different example of radical reshaping functional and social space- This is induced by the new regime of accumulation deployed at that time which allows consideration on the meaning of another context, alternatives and opportunities to introduce the heritage dimension in the evolution of the city.

The morphology of the colonial cities in the Maghreb is characterized by certain similarities that are related to their common history. The city includes a Medina, often characterized by some alterations, a colonial city developed along a Haussmannian grid, and new extensions made up of large high-rise housing estates, known in France as “Grands Ensembles”. The aggregation of three types of urban patterns contributes to the discontinuity and fragmented character of these cities. Our exploratory study aims at analyzing this overall urban configuration in the specific context of an Algerian city, the city of Annaba (located in the east of Algeria), in terms of spatial accessibility. Our objective will be to evaluate the degree of closure and openness of the different parts of the city. This accessibility will be interpreted along several Space Syntax indicators, namely: spatial integration, intelligibility, and controllability. It is further completed by counts of the pedestrian flows along selected streets, in order to address the relationship between spatial configuration and co-presence in public open spaces.

RESUMO O artigo examina a transformação morfológica da cidade de Belém do Pará influenciada pelo novo regime fundiário inaugurado com a Lei de Terras de 1850 e pelo crescimento do planejamento urbano estatal. Investiga-se a atuação da Câmara Municipal no ordenamento urbano-fundiário da cidade e na implementação de um Plano de Expansão para Belém no século XIX. Para compreender as ações espaciais empreendidas pela Câmara, parte-se do estudo de três instrumentos: o aforamento, que constituía a principal forma de transmissão de terra utilizada pela Câmara Municipal; o alinhamento, relacionado com a definição de vias e limites público-privado; e a arrumação, referente à demarcação das terras aforadas. Foram investigados os documentos fundiários originais que registram as ações de aforamento, alinhamento e arrumação realizadas pela Câmara ao longo da Estrada de Bragança, principal eixo de expansão da cidade nos oitocentos. A partir da espacialização gráfica das informações contidas nos documentos fundiários e da pesquisa em periódicos locais, foi possível verificar que a Câmara atuou pioneiramente como agente loteador, com um projeto sistemático de partilha da terra. Esta discussão contribui para a compreensão do papel estruturador do poder local na definição e alteração da morfologia urbana e para um novo entendimento do Plano de Expansão de Belém, classificando-o não apenas como um projeto estatal de ordenamento e embelezamento urbano, mas como produto da transição político-fundiária que marca o século XIX.

Traditional religious rites obey rules and impose discipline on members of the community at public gatherings. This article aims to demonstrate the influence of ambulatory ceremonies on the physical transformation of Tehran (Iran) about a century (1831-1941). Imposed by the Safavid dynasty (XVI-XVIII), these national Shiite processions deeply transformed public space in Tehran from the reign of Shah Qajar Nasseradin (1831-1896) during which these rituals have developed strongly in the capital-city. Their expansion continued until the reign of Pahlavi I (1925-1941). From historical sources including old maps, we identify and analyze two key factors for the occurrence of ritual symbols in the urban space: neighborhood bereavement groups and altars that played a key role in their formation. In return, the presence of these groups in the streets has shaped the open space due to the particular function assigned to the altars. The analysis of changes between the two study periods shows that these ritual symbols are one of the main factors (conscious or not) of continuity and dynamics of the urban space. The paper proposes a structuralist semiotic theoretical interpretation showing that religious symbols adapt to changes in the urban fabric as well as public space is transformed by the signs associated with processual routes and altars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on urban and architectonical contexts in Mesoamerica have generally concentrated on the study and excavation of settlements’ civic-ceremonial core. Nevertheless, in recent years, several projects aim to understand the real extension of Mesoamerican cities and their territorial and political integration. The Palenque Regional Project, directed by Dr. Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo, has concentrated its efforts on the register and documentation of the archaeological sites within the area controlled by the Palenque kingdom in the Classic period. In this regional context, Chinikihá and Palenque are the only settlements that we can define as capitals of a large territory, because of their public architecture as temples, ball games, big central plazas and the hieroglyphic inscriptions, which testify the presence of a ruling dynasty. The urban complexity they manifest, with respect to the other 600 registered sites, confirm their predominant role and their capacity to concentrate people and activities. In this paper, in order to understand the functioning of the city as a response to people´s movement, differential accessibility, buildings hierarchy and association, I propose a methodology to study the ancient Maya urban morphology. This is composed of two topics: a first typological categorization of architectural compounds and groups, and the adoption of the five formal categories proposed by the American urbanist Kevin Lynch which, in my opinion, help outlying the perception that the users could have had of their surrounding built environment. The methodological proposal here formulated is a first approach to understand the urban morphology of ancient Maya cities: I consider that, from an architectonic point of view, it is a fundamental task to complement archaeological investigations with the study of the urban context, in order to better comprehend and propose how space was used and how it would have been to live in a planned city and in a symbolic environment.

The urban space of an oasis is paradoxical, it displays traces of permanent settlement, while avoiding to calque the prints of former inhabitance. It seems that the ground anchor of buildings will be all the more durable as it has been conceived in an abstract and deterritorialised way. Technocratic urban rules are imposing road networks that overrule the ancient lattice organisation of irrigation systems once essential to the ksour. Street alignment has gradually broken free from vernacular paths. The spread of cars and of road traffic has now become a direct threat to the fragile mechanics of fluids that has ruled over a system of self-sufficient food crop for centuries. Rising individualism has set off a gradual and general collapse of kinship ties, and with it the slow evaporation of traditional irrigation know-how. Urban shape is becoming unruly with the spread of illegal land occupation, slowly giving rise to the indiscriminate proliferation of a loose and sparse urban network. The architectural and urban space of the oasis is thus modernised with a view to easing the circulation of goods, yet also radically impairing the territory and roots of traditional activities; it gives shape to new cities in desert landscapes, and drafts new off shore urbanism.

According to the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), a poorly insulated roof can be the cause of 25 to 30% of heat loss from a building. Given that a municipality's real estate consists mainly of old buildings, a comprehensive approach is essential to improve roof thermal efficiency. In this context, the Urban Region of Compiègne (URC), in partnership with ADEME, has implemented an extensive public awareness campaign on building insulation, targeted at local residents and elected officials. Among other initiatives, the campaign conducted an aerial thermographic survey of the entire URC. The urban region of Compiègne organized a Thermography conference to help residents interpret data about their own residence and to inform them about relevant financial aid and other programs. To extend the study beyond an analysis of individual buildings, the URC asked the Department of Urban Systems Engineering of the University of Technology of Compiègne to perform additional studies. This article presents the work we did for building stock. The scope of the study was to propose a tool to conduct a comprehensive diagnostic of the territory of Compiègne and identify areas of particular interest. This article will discuss two points: first the implementation of a database for spatial analysis, and second a set of indicators that allow indicators to refine the analysis relativizing heat loss through the roof and to identify priority intervention areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Recherches Amérindiennes au Québec is the property of Société Recherches autochtones au Québec and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper undertakes a fractal analysis of spontaneous self-built neighbourhoods within Algerian cities. It focuses on a city called Batna and situated in the East of the country. Three phases structure this research work. First, the fractal analysis of the morphological identity of four spontaneous self-built neighbourhoods; second, the verification of the hypotheses related to the morphological characteristics of spontaneous self-built neighbourhoods in comparison to two planned self-built neighbourhoods; and finally, the comparative study of morphological identity between spontaneous self-built neighbourhoods and two other traditional self-built agglomerations. Correlation and dilatation analysis methods have been used in this research in order to study the built-up areas and their urban boundaries.The results showed that spontaneous self-built neighbourhoods have a distinguishing morphological identity that reflects the existence of distinct elements: the correct adaptation to the land relief, the hierarchy of public thoroughfare as well as the complexity of the urban blocks forms. Those elements constitute a specific morphological system. This morphological identity is the result of the communities’ lifestyles and the pragmatic logic of construction. The research could figure out that fractal features of spontaneous self-built neighbourhoods represent a median between the ones of planned self-built neighbourhoods and the ones related to traditional self-built agglomerations. This research is a preliminary study about the fractal features of spontaneous self-built neighbourhoods in Batna city. Future researches will aim at extending this study to other morphological features of neighbourhoods from a larger number of Algerian cities.

Recent financial crisis has revealed the extraordinary discrepancies between the prosperity that our economy was enjoying until a few months ago and her real material ground. The realestate universe seems to be the clearest candidate to illustrate this discrepancy with a spectacular collapse, giving finally, though with notable and inexplicable delay, the reason to those that announced the "snap of the bubble" long time ago. A prick that, till now, has not reached the dimensions predicted. This paradoxical behavior and the contradictory evolution of prices for decades, regarding the market laws that govern them in theory, are at the beginning of this research that leads to the most complex development of a theoretical frame in which social and urban dimensions acquire a determinant role. This new frame articulates the evolution of urban morphology with the forms of housing and a new approach to the "political economy" of the social space. Urban deterioration and the phenomena observed of social exclusion and dispossession of the city integrate the pathology linked to the evolution of these models in “La Almendra Central” of Madrid, used as a laboratory.

Urbanization is very recent in the nine countries presented in this article (Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia, and Tanzania). Urban growth has been very fast too over the last three decades, and has given form to large urbanized territories in areas historically very densely populated and officially classified as rural. These territories are linked with metropolitan areas (Nairobi, Dar es salam, Bujumbura), secondary cities (Jinja, Bukoba, Mtwara), and conurbations of regional magnitude (Kenya). However, without proper statistical measurement, these new urban territories would remain unintelligible. The figures and conclusions presented here draws on a study conducted by the research program e-Geopolis, which measures urban sprawl at various geographical scales and locates population agglomerations, independently of official data. This original approach makes possible to provide a statistical measure of the “generalized urbanization” in progress around Bujumbura, Kisii, or Kisumu. A careful look at urban morphologies and territorial status is another essential step to better understand territorial dynamics at work. The complex urban forms observed, marked by a triple heterogeneity, (morphological, economic, administrative) suggest that the new urban territories may be strongly fragmented. Many include in their perimeters large commercial agricultural areas as well as large urbanized areas without development, a trend that goes against recent political schemes. These evolutions call for renewed views on the nature of urbanization in East Africa, although the magnitude of in situ urbanization against the role of metropolitan areas in the emergence and expansion of the new urban territories is still difficult to determine.

Urban landscapes are an essential part of the daily lives of most of Europe’s citizens. The European Landscape Convention (ELC) recognises the value of everyday landscapes for the well-being of citizens, in urban areas as well. There is far more experience in dealing with landscape in rural and natural areas than in urban areas. Literature dealing with urban landscape is rather focalized on natural elements within the cities than on built areas. Downscaling the Landscape Character Assessment (LCA), using the ELC framework, in major urban areas is still a challenge. Thus, this paper aims at discussing how LCA approaches developed for broad-scale non-urban settings need to be reviewed, adapted and articulated with other disciplinary approaches. Within the exploratory exercise carried out in the city of Lisbon, it was also explored how different maps, as produced by different groups, can be integrated into a joined consensual view that captures the diversity and the uniqueness that provides the character of the urban landscape.

Outdoor spaces promote urban life quality in cities. The physical environment has an important effect on the effective practice of outdoors. In order to apprehend the most important urban morphological components that can contribute to the improvement of outdoor thermal comfort, à field study was conducted through six public spaces in the city of Annaba. These spaces can be identified as: Corse, square, plaza and public garden. As the comfort describes the user's state of body and mind, the thermal conditions were assessed using two indexes: statistical index to assess the actual thermal sensation STE and mathematical index to predict the thermal sensation using modified version of a mathematical model of the human thermoregulatory system, initially developed by Brown and Gillespie "COMFA." The method adopted is experimental inductive based on field measurements and interviews, and deductive based on simulation using COMFA. Results showed that the proposed model can be used to predict the impact of urban morphology on outdoor thermal comfort at Annaba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically examines the relationships between urban morphology and travel behavior in the agglomeration of Strasbourg. Urban morphology is measured by built-up and network indicators while mobility and socio-economic characteristics are obtained from the Household Travel Survey (EMD – Enquête ménages déplacements) of Certu (French Centre for the Study of Urban Planning, Transportation and Public Facilities). The built environment indicators based on landscape metrics constitutes our original approach. These indicators are then used in statistical tests to specify relationships between urban morphology and mobility according to urban context. Some morphological indicators of proximity and fragmentation of form of buildings complete socio-economic characteristics to explain urban mobility.

Industrial accidents are a major risk in many countries. Despite this observation, effective preventive action is not being developed and studies of the behaviors of vulnerable populations remain under-explored. According to safety instructions, residents must take shelter and remain indoors but other behaviors may be observed such as: running away from the affected area, panicking, or following people around. In order to assess the attitudes of people and the effects of local contingencies that could interfere with official advice in the event of a toxic cloud, a specific agent-based model called TOXI-CITY has been developed. The aim of this explorative model is to determine whether a minimum number of well-informed agents (i.e. those who follow the emergency protocol) can save a maximum number of uninformed and impressionable ones. Simulations indicate that the initial number of agents and the spatial configuration of the grid strongly influence final survival rates. A non-linear pattern emerged: survival rates increase when well-informed agent rates are low (below 30%) while increasing the percentage of informed agents (from 70%) seems to improve only slightly the chances of survival.

Copyright of Cahiers de Géographie du Québec is the property of Universite Laval, Departement de Geographie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)