Explain how the concepts
of urban morphology can be applied to explain the current form
of city centres.
Morphology is the area of biology that deals with the forms
and arrangements of living organisms. The term urban morphology
generally refers to the manner in which different functions
are distributed in a city. This essay will outline the various
concepts of urban morphology, including bid-rent theory and
how this shapes the different functional zones in a city.
It will then endeavour to explain, with the use of examples
and models, how these concepts of urban morphology can be
applied to city centres as a specific zone of a city, and
how useful these concepts are in explaining their current
form.
Heinrich von Thünen published The Isolated State in
1826 in an attempt to outline the ways in which agricultural
land use varied in relation to its distance from the market.[1]
In this book he created a model that acknowledged that the
patterns of land use around a market were the result of competition
with other land uses. This model was later transferred to
an urban setting, and then became known as the land value
model, or bid-rent theory. In an urban setting, there are
generally four different functional zones: the central-business
district (CBD), the inner city, the industrial zone, and the
residential zones.[2]
The CBD has the most expensive sites in the city (because
of accessibility and shortage of space), and is usually occupied
by businesses, shops and offices that are able to pay the
high prices for land. Moving away from the CBD land loses
value, and is then characterised by industry that needs more
space and must pay lower prices for land. Residential land
is found further still from the city centre where individual
householders can afford the land because of less competition.
The fourth sector, the inner-city, is occupied by those who
cannot afford to commute into the city centre, living on smaller
plots with higher densities and often characterised by unfavourable
social and economic conditions.[3]
In describing how concepts of urban morphology can be used
to explain the current form of city centres, it is important
not to forget the main principle of urban morphology: in a
free market, the highest bidder will obtain the use of the
land. Models of urban structure based on bid rent theory (Burgess,
Hoyt, Mann, Ullman and Harris) have often been received criticism
for being too simple and not applicable on any kind of universal
scale.[4]
Whilst this is true, for the most part these models were
applicable at the time, and were not meant to be predictive
of future changes in urban structure. Additionally, there
has been a “disenchantment with what has been termed
‘the passive view of human agency’”[5]
, implying a growing recognition that humans are responsible
for the forces that are causing urban change. As the economy
has been restructured to have less emphasis on mass production,
a society has been created that does not readily or easily
fit into the zones and sectors that had shaped early debates
of urban morphology. That said, the major current characteristics
of city centres can still be explained using the general premise
of bid-rent.
Generally speaking, city centres are still characterised
by businesses and shops that can afford to pay the high rents
in the areas. The main changes that have occurred in city
centres are created by two major trends: the relocation of
shopping, industry and office accommodation to more peripheral
areas, and the re-development of inner city areas. The first
trend can be accounted for by the fast and growing development
of an automobile culture that has facilitated moves out to
peripheral or “fringe” areas. There has been a
massive expansion of pedestrian malls or high technology strips,
moving businesses that would traditionally occupy the CBD
out into more peripheral, and therefore cheaper, areas. Nonetheless,
the classic CBD area has not suddenly been occupied by a completely
different sector. It is still in the interest of some groups
to pay for land in these areas, for example, the banking or
financial industries that are keen to keep their location
in the CBD. In short, though many shops and businesses are
finding it easier and more beneficial to move out of the city
centres, the CBD is by and large still occupied by businesses
and industries that can afford to bid a high price for the
most central, accessible and expensive part of a city. [6]
There has also been a change to city centres that is related
to the trend towards city centre re-development, specifically
the re-development of inner city areas. The gentrification
(or the renovation to correspond more to middle-class preferences)
of inner-city areas has become hugely popular and created
trendy areas to live in from previously unsafe and poor inner
city areas. This movement is a prime example of the main premise
behind urban morphology, and a good example of how the highest
bidder will obtain the use of the land that they would like
to use. In this fashion, various areas (for example, the Islington
area of London) have been transformed into desirable places
to live as higher bidders have successfully moved the previous,
but poorer, occupants out of these areas. This also serves
as a good case in point of rejecting the idea of passive human
agency – these shifts are not simply a function of the
market, but of a change in social values which indicates that
the various attributes of suburban living that drove so many
people out of the cities are perhaps not has attractive as
they once were.
In conclusion, the basic concept behind urban morphology
remains true, and is useful in explaining the current form
of city centres. Nonetheless, it is also useful to take into
account not just the prices of land or market forces, but
also the changes in social values and lifestyles that also
form the morphology of a city. Once these are taken into account,
it is clear why the various models of urban growth or development
do not always hold true, and cannot all be applicable perfectly
to any city throughout time. Each city is unique and will
have its own structure shaped by various social, economic
and cultural factors that will indeed have an effect on the
form of their particular sectors.
Use any town as an example and discuss the two following
issues: morphology and the persistence of historic form in
today’s urban landscape, and changing technology and
urban form.
This paper will use Washington, DC to discuss the presence
of both continuity and change in a city. It will consider
the persistence of historic form in today’s urban Washington
landscape to illustrate continuity, and it will examine the
effect of changing technology on urban form to demonstrate
change. Washington, DC is located on the east coast of the
United States, about 250 miles south of New York. As the capital
of the United States it has a long history, and today houses
about 7 million [7]
people in its “metropolitan” area (including parts
of Maryland and Virginia) and a little over half a million
in the city itself. A map of the Washington area can be seen
in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Map of Washington, DC area
Taken from: http://www.areahotelguide.com/maps-washington-dc-3.htm
Washington, DC was originally designed by Pierre
L’Enfant (a French architect) in 1791 [8]
, in an area chosen for its tactical location between North
and South, as well as its accessibility along of the Potomac
River. This city is divided into four quadrants: NW, NE, SE,
and SW, as can be seen in Figure 1.
The persistence of historic urban form is most clearly visible
in the downtown, or CBD district of Washington. The District
of Columbia is a purpose-built capitol and is more European
than other American cities being full of parks and tree-lined
streets. The cityscape is marked by the lack of tall buildings,
originally absent so as to not outdo the monuments, a practice
that continues today. The city-centre has very much preserved
the expected and historic functions of a CBD. As the most
valuable area in Washington, the CBD is full of imposing and
magnificent buildings such as the White House and the US Capitol,
in addition to the various monuments. Washington has, like
many cities throughout the world, experienced a massive expansion
of its suburbs, and many businesses have moved out to pedestrian
malls or cheaper office spaces in these fringe areas. Nonetheless,
a marked central business district does still keep its historic
form – whilst some businesses move out, government building
will clearly remain in the centre. Additionally, Washington
provides a home for the headquarters of a variety of important
organisations such as the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund that clearly benefit from their location in
the CBD.
As far as residential areas are concerned, some areas of
Washington have experience change. Areas such as Adams Morgan,
Georgetown and Foggy Bottom have been gentrified and become
trendy and safe neighbourhoods close to the CBD. The housing
in NW (along Massachusetts Avenue) is also popular amongst
the middle-classes who do not wish to commute from the suburbs.
The best example of maintaining historic form is the continuance
of Washington’s inner-cities. DC is often viewed as
a paradoxical city, a third world city in the first world,
and a city that is home to some of the richest and poorest
North Americans. Washington is indeed wealthy on the surface,
but has a drawback that most visitors to the city will never
see. The SE and SW quadrants of Washington are poor and dangerous
areas that are consistent with the “inner-city”
sector of the land-value model. These areas are inhabited
by people that cannot afford to live elsewhere, benefit from
the cheap land value because of the undesirable location,
and would probably not be able to afford to commute into the
CBD. It is these areas that make Washington the “murder
capital of the world” and have the highest crime rate
in America, in addition to very high unemployment, illiteracy
and drug use rates. Most cities in the developed world have
dealt with their social and economic problems, or tried to
work towards better planning. DC, on the other hand, seems
to allow these problems to thrive, and in doing so shape its
urban landscape. These areas of Washington fit into the historic
and typical “inner-city” sector, and are characterised
much more by continuity than they are by change.
To demonstrate a feature of the urban landscape that is
promoting change over continuity, changing technology and
its effect on Washington’s urban landscape will be analysed.
Much research has gone in to technology and its impact on
urban form and there are a few issues that seem to recur:
(1) we are shifting towards a knowledge economy where intellectual
capital replaces other forms of wealth, (2) awareness of where
these “high-tech” workers want to “work,
live and play is fundamental to the geography” of the
urban landscape, and (3) urban design that attracts these
new young workers is essential.[9]
With the time-space compression that comes with information
technology (IT), workers can make more selective decisions
about where they want to be. Two urban phenomena have been
associated with this: gentrification, and the creation of
IT corridors.
New “high-tech” workers are often hostile towards
the idea of ‘urban sprawl’, perceiving it as going
hand in hand with “long commutes, traffic gridlock,
fast disappearing open space, environmental pollution, and
mass-produced uniform development patterns” [10].
In Washington, this has contributed to the gentrification
of certain residential areas close to the CBD, where people
have the money to put in to creating a neighbourhood the way
they want it. Areas such as Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Dupont
Circle, and other neighbourhoods bordering the CBD have been
refashioned and transformed to meet the needs of these workers,
undeniably changing the urban landscape.
In contrast, another phenomenon is the creation of IT corridors,
where businesses recognise that there is little need to pay
the high land prices of the CBD and establish themselves in
more peripheral areas. As like industries tend to congregate,
the effect is the creation of a “corridor” of
IT businesses and companies. In the Washington area, this
has happened mostly in what is known as the “Dulles
Corridor” along the road than connects the city to it’s
suburban international airport (the Dulles Access Road can
be seen in Figure 1). The creation of these IT corridors has
profound effects on the urban area – for example, public
transport is being created to service a previously unconnected
area.[11] These
areas also create further expansion for the city, and associated
issues of housing, pollution, employment, etc. that shape
the urban environment.
In short, Washington is a city that in many ways has preserved
much of its historic form, and continues to do so. Much of
the urban structure is shaped by history (such as the CBD
areas) and is unlikely to change. On the other hand, IT has
offered some exciting opportunities for development in the
Washington area. Not only has it made gentrification possible
in a lot of the District’s neighbourhoods, but it is
also changing the urban landscape by creating entirely new
quarters.
- Waugh, 1995.[Return]
- Witherick, 1995.[Return]
- Waugh, 1995.[Return]
- Witherick, 1995[Return]
- Whitehand, 1993: 297[Return]
- Waugh, 1995.[Return]
- http://www.areahotelguide.com/maps-washington-dc-3.htm[Return]
- http://www.aviewoncities.com/washington/washingtonfacts.htm[Return]
- Audirac.[Return]
- Audirac[Return]
- see: www.dullescorridorrail.com[Return]
- List of References:
- “A View on Cities” – www.aviewoncities.com/washington/washingtonfacts.htm
- Audirac, I. Information Technology and Urban Form:
Challenges to Smart Growth, Department of Urban and Regional
Planning: Florida State University.
- Dulles Corridor Rail Information – www.dullescorridorrail.com
- Waugh, D. (1995) Geography: An Integrated Approach,
Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd.
- Whitehand, J. W. R. (1993) “Recent Advances
in Urban Morphology”, in R. Paddison, B. Lever, and
J. Money (eds.) International Perspectives in Urban Studies,
London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
- Witherick, M. (1995) Environment and People, Cheltenham:
Stanley Thornes (Publishers) ltd.
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