21st International Seminar on Urban Form Our common future in Urban Morphology

Urban Form in Diagrams

Evandro Ziggiatti monteiro

Abstract

Teaching urban morphology is a task based on scattered ideas, physical examples of past and present cities but very few methods of analysis and evaluation. At an introductory level of an architecture and urban studies course in Brazil, the classic authors are used in the classroom to guide architecture students first steps on the path of understanding and dealing with the complex physical nature and dynamics of our cities. This article describes the effort made to construct diagrams based on classical texts of Cullen (1971), Lamas (1993), and Kostof (1991), aiming to provide the students with basic tools for reading the urban form through Conzen's (1960) three dimensions. The diagrams summarized basic principles of urban morphology, followed by exercises and site activities. The exercises consisted of common drawing over map activities, outlining and hatching recurring features, like the grid, organic, picturesque and monumental style street-systems; or pointing out possible situations for Gordon Cullen's qualities. The site activities were based on visits to Campinas-SP region cities, where students were challenged to use a "see through the classic authors' eyes" approach. Aside for confirming the value of the diagrams as easy learning, stimulating investigation tools and effective reinforcing study material, this teaching experiment highlights the urgent need of developing visual methodological tools for teaching urban morphology and translating the classics into more classroom-friendly procedures. Introduction

Historically there are many examples of classical authors who used diagrams to reinforce or to

better illustrate the urban concepts they were presenting or discussing. This can be traced all the

way back to Vitruvius and also seen in a variety of drawing types and scales, either to show small

parts of the urban tissue or the whole city, in perspective, ground plan or conceptual diagrams. All

these gradually become familiar to the architecture and urban studies students, which start to relate

facts and ideas of the urbanism timeline with those strong graphical milestones. Parallel to creating

their own language, the language of drawing, mainly due to enhance control over the construction

of the building environment, through previous planning and not projecting on site, renascence

architects gave themselves the tools to empower their ideas into a more concrete state. From

utopian writers (Owen, Fourier), all through pre-modern era urban thinkers (Camilo Sitte, Josef

Stübben, Raymond Unwin, Ebenezer Howard) to the modern movement icons (Le Corbusier,

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Garnier, Frank Loyd Wright), found through drawing a way not to design a city, but to discuss it.

Discuss it not only through words, but through words transformed into visions, or models.

Howard’s illustrations for his book “Garden Cities of Tomorrow” may be considered one of the first

full set examples of diagrams that not only carriers of a model of town in various possible scales –

regional, city, district – but also clarifies the author’s conceptual premises that have generated the

model (

Figure 1). In Howard’s case, this conceptual diagram is the famous “three magnets” drawing, a

“propaganda” device of the advantages of his town-country model. The two magnets on the top of

the diagram summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of either living in the countryside or in

the crowded 19th century European cities, while the third magnet, the town-country (mixed) is

brought up as the final solution to concentrate the best of the two realms. First published in 1945,

the book became famous more for these diagrams than the text itself, since many architects have

not even seen a copy of the book. This fact, not exclusive of Howard’s writings, but probably

equally common to all the other famous illustrated books in history, highlights the importance of the

diagrams, and of their function on communicating urban form analytical data, critical ideas or

proposition concepts. Another example is the graphic material that was part of famous theories of

Chicago School of Sociology in the 1940s: the circular diagrams of Hoyt and Burgess, also well

known of undergraduate architecture students (Laburn-Peart, 2002).

21st International Seminar on Urban Form Our common future in Urban Morphology

Figure 1: Howard's original drawings from his book "Garden cities of tomorrow". Concept diagram and garden city model, in three scales - regional; city area; section detail

From the teacher's point of view, Howard's text is one of the most classroom friendly, due to the

objectiveness of the book and the propaganda power of his diagrams. Dazzled by the well

calculated geometry of the designs in all scales, students assimilate quickly the idea of the garden

city model, and what is being proved difficult is to present them other historical utopias that haven't

been so clearly described. The work presented in this article attempts to, in some extent, follow

Howard's lesson when he focused in the communication of his ideas also through diagrams,

besides words. Rakes (1999) remarks that in this "multimidia age", "the impact of visuals on the

learning process is rapidly becoming more profound". Sharing Elias & Vasconcelos (2008) beliefs

that "contacting through drawing with concrete places, students achieve not only a richer

understanding of places and ambiences, but also reveal to be more prepared for innovative

interventions", the architecture and urban studies program at University of Campinas gives priority

to developing sketching skills at the first stages of the course. The classroom experience described

here may reopen the validity of exploring traditional hand-drawing (diagrams) in order to improve

urban morphology teaching techniques.

Diagrams in classroom

Mouldon (1995) defends that the strength of a morphogenetic approach "lies in its explanation of

the characteristics of urban form as the product of city-building processes". Becoming fluent in the

"vocabulary of forms", architecture students are then able to visualize, measure and then analyse

performance issues. In Unicamp 's architecture and urban studies course, it is expected, from the

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discipline AU-601 “Urban Studies Fundamentals” , to provide the students basic knowledge not to

only understand the physical nature and dynamics of the cities, but also with some basic tools to

initiate them in urban design. Diverse from other disciplines present in the course, with a strictly

historical approach, in this discipline History is present through the filter of the architect’s eye, and

filled with the classic author’s readings, theories, drawings and visions. Some of the classics' ideas,

despite their power to bring out clear spatial and morphological structures, were never expressed,

in the original books and text in other ways but written form. Every time one of these great texts,

describing with words clear images to understand urban form, was used, it seemed an opportunity

to produce pedagogical material that could graphically interpret those images. Year after year, a

new routine was incorporated to the discipline planning: converting classical texts into charts or

diagrams (Figure 1). The graphic material was primarily produced in order to summarize and

consolidate tools and discussions, but soon proved to be a valuable source of further investigating

the authors' ideas and for subsidise complementary activities and pedagogical games. Examples

were found in which this “conversion” was already made by other important authors. When that was

the case, the students could benefit from both: the original plain text and a famous interpretation

drawing. Another situation was when a graphic material was not produced as directly related to a

classical text, but allowed the discussion through a common theme. The criteria to select what

should be interpreted through a handmade diagram depended, besides not being in one of these

two situations, on the presence of one of the following aspects in the text: (a) proposition of spatial

structure, patterns or models, (b) analysis of dialectical historical events, or timeline.

The three texts selected for this work were also considered under the light of three Conzenian

dimensions (1968). In that matter, Lamas takes a interactive approach of the three; Kostof's

selected chapters explore the first dimension (street-system); finally Cullen's discussion is majorly

about the third (building fabric).

21st International Seminar on Urban Form Our common future in Urban Morphology

Figura 1: Pedagogic diagrams method info graphic

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A diagram-table over Lamas’ general morphological approach

Urban studies, theories and practices – are full of analogies. Lamas' (1993) text is a good example

of viewing the city, the physical dimension of the urban life, as a counterpart of a human body. The

book suggests a methodology of understanding the city by its parts, or elements. These elements

can be organised in five groups: (1) Base: elements that are related with the ground matrix. Not

only topography, but also the ground, its material and patterns. The plots, the land division

structure, are also base elements; (2) Solid: elements that are basically solid, confiners of space

within an external surface, like cells, or the membranes themselves. Buildings, façades, blocks are

examples of solid elements; (3) Permeable: mostly the vegetation, trees and shrubs are the

permeable elements. Not only they will merge the solid and the void, but allow time and seasons to

change and transform urban landscape; (4) Void: The street-system, the squares, the yards and

backyards. (5) Objects: The objects are elements in which form and figure come together, and

normally adding the idea of “place”.

Lamas methodology is centred in the analysis of the traditional city, but the book also points out the

changes in the structure, especially during the 20th century modern city. The table-diagram created

to discuss the book’s central ideas was structured as follows (Figure 2): Lamas’ elements were

divided into the described 5 categories, and subdivided into 12 rows, one for each element. The

columns represent the follow qualities: (a) name of category; (b) element icon; (c) element name;

(d) Conzen’s dimension associated with element; (e) urban scales associated with element; (f)

element characteristics; (g) history and changes. This chart is especially useful in a summary

activity class, after the author’s concepts have already been explored into two or three 4-hour

classes. The concepts should be exemplified with plenty urban cases and city images of the past

and present. A separate 4-hour class may be dedicated to the exclusive understanding of the

changes proposed by the modernist movement and the undergone changes of 20th century cities,

which are marked, in the chart, by a lightning bolt symbol.

21st International Seminar on Urban Form Our common future in Urban Morphology

Figure 2: Diagram table based on Lamas’ 12 elements, grouped in 5 categories: (1) base; (2) solid; (3) permeable; (4) void; and (5) objects

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An additional good tool to analyse how those elements transform along a time span is the series of

drawings by Swiss artist-architect Jörg Müller (1977), illustrating European cities changes between

1953-1976. A proposed exercise - experimented in the Urbanism Fundamentals' class - consisted

of a team assignment where each group was in charge of studying one set of Lamas' elements

(choosing among solid, permeable, void, etc.), based on the original text. Then they were asked to

analyse how their set of elements were expressed and changed along the eight of Müller's scenes.

A final discussion was carried out, with all scenes exposed together on the walls of the classroom.

A home assignment phase of the exercise would afterwards consist of using Müller's drawing

technique to produce images of the students' home town, in which they were also asked to do the

town's urban changes research. This research should be presented in the form of a timeline.

Diagrams over Kostof’s “street-system” typology

Kostof’s “The city shaped” (1991) is already a classic on urban morphology, and one of the few

references that dedicates many chapters to analyse what Conzen (1968) called the “street-system”

(Conzen's first dimension). Kostof does his analysis recognizing and organizing a few typologies

present in any complex palimpsest of street-system. Trough the chapters; "1. 'Organic' Patterns”;

"2. The Grid"; "3. The City as Diagram" and "4. The Grand Manner"; the author provides not only a

valuable tool to dissect any urban fabric, but also to guide students on their first choices in urban

design. This discussion is what inspired the street-system patterns diagram (Figure 3), which

summarizes the five patterns and the argumentation in favour or against their use. A few other

typologies were added to Kostof’s original, as blended patterns: picturesque-monumental, well

seen in the original city of Goiânia, Brazil; or the colonial-grid, typical of Portuguese settlements.

Prior to the chapters describing the street-system typology, the Introduction of the book is

dedicated to introduce the nature, origins and growth of a city. On page 26 there is a small figure

illustrating Conzen’s three dimensions, confirming the predecessor influence on Kostof’s work. The

21st International Seminar on Urban Form Our common future in Urban Morphology

discussion of how an urban settlement is formed and develops gave the argument, together with

the grid patterns, to a diagram describing city formation (Figure 4). There is a common misbelieve

that an organic street-system is layered down randomly. It is considered, in the diagram, the fact

that no human settlement is made without strategy, so the diagram shows two opposing vectors,

the vector of community strategy against the vector of planning, or the strategy of power.

In the course case of this study, four to five 4-hour classes were dedicated to studying the origins of

urban the settlement and the street-system patterns. A first exercise was set to help the students

identify the presence of the patterns and to recognize those origins and growth dynamics on

existing cities. The exercise consisted of studying the formation of famous cities, using layers of

translucent paper for each of its growth stages. Studying historical texts, the students were asked

to identify physical elements that indicate the type and dynamics of its origin and growth.'

Figure 3: Diagram representing the five street-system patterns, based on Kostof (1991)

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Figure 4: Diagram describing city formation and the possible adoption of a street-pattern system in the early stages of development. Inspired on Kostof (1991)

A second exercise consisted of starting an imaginary city plan from scratch, consciously using one

or more street layout patterns and they were asked to create a “timeline” for their town. A third

exercise required students to simulate the plan created in Exercise 2 in a city-simulation computer

game.1

Understanding “block-plans” through Gordon Cullen

Many architects and other authors (Sitte, 1986; Alexander, 1977; Lynch, 1960; Jacobs, 1961; Krier,

1979; Rossi, 1982) have written superb texts and books exploring Conzen’s third dimension, the

one he specifies as “buildings, or, more precisely, their block-plains”. The physical nature of the

city, or the city as a human artefact, has always been an inexhaustible source of material to explore

the existing urban landscape and its future/alternative possibilities. In the cinema, architects were

hired to create imaginary scenarios where flying cars are common, or where buildings are trees.

1 Suggested games were Simcity; CityLife; CitiesXL

21st International Seminar on Urban Form Our common future in Urban Morphology

Figure 5: Diagram summarizing the 45 qualities of "place", according to Gordon Cullen

Further exercises are related to complementary field studies, using all Cullen, Kostof, Lamas,

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Despite the degree of reality, or fantasy, in any of these morphological explorations of cities, the

common ground is usually, and still, based on the elements described by Lamas. Among these

great texts, Cullen’s “Urban Landscape” may be highlighted by the graphical quality of the author’s

photos and handmade perspectives aiming to apprehend the physical quality of the cities, at

ground level. The first section of the book - that contains qualities grouped by Cullen under the title

"place" - is what generated this diagram which is more like a "quick reference chart" of those 45

qualities (Figure 5).

One of the first classroom exercises exploring Cullen's qualities was based on the material that had

been produced by the students for the street-system exercise 2 (imaginary city). Cards with five of

Cullen's qualities were distributed for a team of students. Their task was to create a serial view,

picking one of their imaginary cities as the base. They should study the map street-system and

create the view as viable as possible, according to both the cards and the city design. Finally the

team should make a poster highlighting the serial view, and Cullen's qualities through perspectives

and sketches.

Further exercises were related to complementary field studies, using all Cullen, Kostof, Lamas,

together with Lynch, Alexander, Sitte and Solà-Morales approaches. The students were stimulated

to create their own "qualities" inspired on the spatial perception method. An urban morphology

"race" is another activity designed to use several analytical methods at the same time, in which

teams compete to seek and find as many as possible selected urban features in downtown

Campinas.

Conclusion

In a time when urban forms, shapes and figures can be manipulated and explored in infinite ways

by user friendly (and at the same time) sophisticated computer programs, simulations and virtual

realities, we may question what would be the right methods to teach urban design. Not long ago the

21st International Seminar on Urban Form Our common future in Urban Morphology

movie "Koyaanisqatsi", of director Godfrey Reggio would have a profound impact in a classroom

full of architects. Nowadays students see it as a curiosity. What this essay aimed to discuss was

the possibility of creating graphic pedagogical tools - "urban diagrams" - to narrow the distance that

separate the minds of 21st century undergraduate students to the urban morphology classics. The

language of shapes and figures that is behind the landscape of any city on earth was written by

many cultures, and deciphered by many authors. This essay's contribution lies on having brought

an experience of using a graphic pedagogical language to subsidize theoretical and practical

reading of the classics. This does not replace the importance of reading the full texts, which words

are precise, and which views are broad and deep. On the other hand, diagrams may add the image

power required to gain, in our students' minds, a separate link to these texts.

References Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., & Silverstein, M. (1977). Pattern languages. Center for Environmental Structure, 2. Conzen, M. R. G. (1968) ‘The use of town plans in the study of urban history’, in Dyos, H. J. (ed.) The study of urban history (Edward Arnold, London) 113-30. Cullen, G. (1971). The concise townscape. Routledge. Elias, H., & Vasconcelos, M. C. (2008). Approaching Urban Space Through Drawing. Strathprints Institutional Repository, 55. Jacobs, J. (1961). The death and life of great American cities. Random House LLC. Kostof, S. (1991). The City Shaped Urban Patterns and Meaning Throughout History. Bulfinch, Boston. Krier, R., & Rowe, C. (1979). Urban space. London: Academy editions. Laburn-Peart, C. (2002). Precolonial Towns of Southern Africa Integrating the Teaching of Planning History and Urban Morphology. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 21(3), 267-273. Lamas, J. M. R. G. (1993). Morfologia urbana e desenho da cidade. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.

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Lynch, K. (1960). The image of the city (Vol. 11). MIT press. Moudon, A. V. (1995). Teaching urban form. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 14(2), 123-133. Müller, J. (1977) ‘The changing city’. (Atheneum, New York) Rakes, G.C. (1999) Teaching visual literacy in a multimedia age, TechTrends; 43,4; Wilson Education Abstracts pg. 14 Rossi, A., & Eisenman, P. (1982). The architecture of the city. Cambridge, MA: mit Press. Sitte, C. (1986). City planning according to artistic principles. Rizzoli.