Urban Design Vocabulary

URBAN TERMINOLOGIES
MORPHOLOGY refers to the physical form,

structure and the constituent elements of an
urban area, along with those processes which
are instrumental in determining that form.

Morphology is derived from morphos meaning
form and logos meaning study.

It is the study of the form of human settlements
and the process of their formation and
transformation. The study seeks to understand
the spati al structure and character of
a metropolitan area, city, town or village by
examining the patterns of its component parts
and the process of its development. This can
involve the analysis of physical structures at
different scales as well as patterns of
movement, land use, ownership or control and
occupation. Typically, analysis of physical form
focuses on street pattern, plot pattern and
building pattern, sometimes referred to
collectively as urban grain.
URBAN MORPHOLOGY
CHICAGO
MUMBAI
URBAN MORPHOLOGY
URBAN FORM
URBAN FORM is the collective three-dimensional expression of an urban area as represented by the elements of built and
open spaces and their relationship to each other. The term 'built' would refer to buildings, city walls, vertical towers, etc. while
'open spaces' would include streets, courtyards, roads, parks, tot-lots, river beds, etc. Size, shape, grain and texture of an area
are some of the characteristics that determine the nature of urban form.

URBAN FORM
URBAN STRUCTURE is the underlying basic skeletal
system around which the different parts of an urban area
are bonded together. This system comprises of physical,
functional, social and perceptional components, which
are instrumental in determining the nature or character of
the area.

URBAN STRUCTURE
DELHI
CHANDIGARH
URBAN STRUCTURE
URBAN TISSUE
URBAN TISSUE is the smallest identiable
segment of an urban area possessing and
exhibiting functional homogeneity and
cohesive built form.
CHICAGO
URBAN TISSUE
Squares within consolidated urban tissue. Image: Mario Gallarati
URBAN FABRIC
URBAN FABRIC refers to the manner in which urban tissues, uniform or
diverse in nature are knitted together with the urban structure to form an
entity. WASHINGTON
URBAN FABRIC
DELHI
SIZE OF CITY
SIZE of a city is dened by the population and
the physical extent of a city.
AUROVILLE
SHAPE OF CITY
SHAPE of the city is the physical outline
in horizontal plan form and vertical prole
or contour.
SHAPE OF CITY
PATTERN
PATTERN is the underlying geometry of city form.
Pattern qualies size and shape of a city.
GRAIN & TEXTURE
GRAIN is the degree of neness or coarseness in an urban
area.

In physical terms, grain can be understood by the bulk of the
built forms that constitute an urban area. For instance,
residential areas are usually of ne grain and civic buildings are
largely dened as coarse grain.

TEXTURE is the degree of mixture of fine and coarse elements.
It is qualified as being either uniform or uneven.
COARSE GRAIN EVEN TEXTURE COARSE GRAIN UNEVEN TEXTURE
FINE GRAIN EVEN TEXTURE
DENSITY
DENSITY is the ratio of persons, households, or volume of
building or development to a unit of land area.

Density is dened in both quantitative and qualitative ways.
Mathematically, it is computed by the number of persons
(population)/ unit area of any urban area, city and region.
Its qualitative dimensions however are manifold, having a
direct implication on the urban form and therefore a crucial
determinant of the quality of urban environment in an area.
Unless a city is evenly built up, studies of density are best
made on separate sectors of a city. Density gures indicate the
relationship between built-up and open land: therefore they can
describe almost graphically the image of the distinct parts of
the city, be it a suburban residential precinct, or a historic core/
center of the city. Also, densities have denite implications for
various forms of transportation.
In conducting a visual survey, it is useful to determine the
density of various areas and to relate the density gures to
physical patterns of land and buildings and hence, the visual
form of the area.

POPULATION DENSITY is the number of persons per square
mile or square kilometer in a country, or state, or region.
BERGEN, NORWAY 538/sqkm
MUMBAI 30,000/sqkm
TYPOLOGY
TYPOLOGY is the study and
classication of buildings and
urban spaces according to
some common characteristic:
plan conguration, use, form,
mat eri al , st yl e, l ocat i on,
meaning, idea and so on.

Urban Design Vocabulary

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What are the different elements that determine urban form?

What is the difference between urban tissue and urban fabric?

URBAN TERMINOLOGIES

MORPHOLOGY refers to the physical form,

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