Urban Morphology

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.

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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.

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