Browsing by Author "Oliveira, Vitor"

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Applying a Morphological Approach Into Istanbul’s Urban Landscape
(Springer, 2022) Arat, Muzaffer Ali; Oliveira, Vitor
This paper proposes a methodology based on the concept of morphological region and the method of morphological regionalization. The concept has been proposed by M.R.G. Conzen in the early 1960s, and promoted by J.W.R. Whitehand and his colleagues at the University of Birmingham mainly from the late 1980s. A morphological region is an area that has unity in respect of its form that distinguishes it from surrounding areas, based on a combination of town-plan, building fabric, and land and building utilization (Conzen’s tripartite division of the urban landscape). The methodology is based on a set of criteria considering the tripartite division of the urban landscape. Age of streets, streets geometry, plot layout, and building coverage are four criteria offered on the basis of the town-plan. Architectural style, building material, and height are proposed on the basis of the building fabric. Finally, land and building utilization is used to design the methodology. The methodology is applied to the Fatih District, the historical core of Istanbul. A four-tier hierarchy of regions is identified. The map of first-order morphological regions can offer the basis to produce a map of planning zones—a key tool to guide urban landscape management. Lower order regions can support the formulation of regulations for each planning zone, framing the design of new forms, assuring a strong relationship with extant urban forms. These ideas, detailed in the paper, are of great relevance for spatial planning, particularly for Turkish planning, where regulations are very generic and do not acknowledge the specific character of each urban landscape.
Applying a Morphological Approach To Istanbul’s Urban Landscape [book Part]
(Springer, 2022) Arat, Muzaffer Ali; Oliveira, Vitor
This paper proposes a methodology based on the concept of morphological region and the method of morphological regionalization. The concept has been proposed by M.R.G. Conzen in the early 1960s, and promoted by J.W.R. Whitehand and his colleagues at the University of Birmingham mainly from the late 1980s. A morphological region is an area that has unity in respect of its form that distinguishes it from surrounding areas, based on a combination of town-plan, building fabric, and land and building utilization (Conzen’s tripartite division of the urban landscape). The methodology is based on a set of criteria considering the tripartite division of the urban landscape. Age of streets, streets geometry, plot layout, and building coverage are four criteria offered on the basis of the town-plan. Architectural style, building material, and height are proposed on the basis of the building fabric. Finally, land and building utilization is used to design the methodology. The methodology is applied to the Fatih District, the historical core of Istanbul. A four-tier hierarchy of regions is identified. The map of first-order morphological regions can offer the basis to produce a map of planning zones—a key tool to guide urban landscape management. Lower order regions can support the formulation of regulations for each planning zone, framing the design of new forms, assuring a strong relationship with extant urban forms. These ideas, detailed in the paper, are of great relevance for spatial planning, particularly for Turkish planning, where regulations are very generic and do not acknowledge the specific character of each urban landscape.
Applying a Morphological Approach To Istanbul’s Urban Landscape [conference Object]
(2022) Oliveira, Vitor; Arat, Muzaffer Ali
Change of the physical, economic, social, and environmental aspects, have existed in each city’s life, from the formation of the first settlement to today’s city or metropolis. The twentieth century has been the turning point for the urban transformation of many cities. Istanbul is one of these cities. For more than 1500 years, Istanbul was the capital of three great empires, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman. Over this period, the city has experienced a dramatic transformation in its historical urban landscape, particularly stemmed from wars, fires, and earthquakes. Over this process, the city has not been able to avoid the loss of a significant part of its built heritage. The historical core of the city, namely Fatih district, is the most prominent region that suffers from the interventions which are being maintained in the building fabric. Most of the traditional buildings were replaced with contemporary buildings, not considering their type, size, and height. While substantial changes were becoming in the street patterns, the plot system lost its shape, size and its arrangement in street blocks. The policies and decisions of agents and agencies responsible for change, particularly local planning authorities, initiators, architects, and builders have a great role in those changes. While new plans and design proposals are prepared for the city, in particular for the historical core of the city, they still lack an historical framework and a systematic understanding of urban form. In the Turkish planning system, urban regeneration projects many times contribute to the destruction of unique built heritage; reconstruction and rehabilitation projects tend to lack scientific support, and mainstream practice does not consider a consistent approach for maintaining the structural elements. Spatial planning should offer a more effective and protective framework for structural elements to be transferred to the future. This paper proposes a methodology based on the concept of morphological region and the method of morphological regionalzation to deal with these issues. The concept has been proposed by M.R.G. Conzen in the early 1960s, and promoted by J.W.R. Whitehand and his colleagues at the University of Birmingham mainly from the late 1980s. A morphological region is an area that has unity in respect of its form that distinguishes it from surrounding areas, based on a combination of town-plan, building fabric, and land and building utilization (Conzen’ s tripartite division of the urban landscape). The methodology is based on a set of criteria considering the tripartite division of the urban landscape. Age of streets, streets geometry, plot layout and building coverage are four criteria offered on the basis of the town-plan. Architectural style, building material and height are proposed on the basis the building fabric. Finally, land and building utilization is used to design the methodology. The methodology is applied to the Fatih district, the historical core of Istanbul. A four-tier hierarchy of regions is identified. The map of first-order morphological regions can offer the basis to produce a map of planning zones - a key tool to guide urban landscape management. Lower order regions can support the formulation of regulations for each planning zone, framing the design of new forms, assuring a strong relationship with extant urban forms. These ideas, detailed in the paper, are of great relevance for spatial planning, particularly for Turkish planning, where regulations are very generic and do not acknowledge the specific character of each urban landscape.
The Idea of Morphological Regions as a Tool in Planning and Design
(2020) Oliveira, Vitor; Arat, Muzaffer Ali
A great deal has been written on how to get a better understanding of urban form, to identify transformation processes of existing types, patterns of urban form elements, and types of forms. The idea of ‘morphological regions’, proposed within the historico-geographical approach by M.R.G. Conzen, has been one of the most powerful tools to overcome the difficulties of reading extremely diversified urban forms. The concept of region is clear. A region is an area that has unity in respect of its form that distinguishes it from surrounding areas, based on a combination of town plan, building fabric and land and building utilization. However, the concept still remains elusive among scholars and practitioners in regarding to how it deals with reading urban form, and what the capability of the concept is. On this basis, this paper attempts to clarify these inexplicit aspects. The paper has two main goals. First, it identifies the establishment morphological region on the basis of the tripartite division of the urban landscape - the town plan (streets, plots and their aggregation into street-blocks, buildings), the building fabric, and the land and building utilization. Second, it demonstrates the ability of the concept to be applied into planning and design practices. In this way, it is elucidated that reading urban form based on the idea of morphological regions can serve a sound basis for: new design, conservation area delimitation and control, heritage management, character assessment, urban landscape management, suitability and effectiveness of area preservation, and enhancement strategies.
Morphological Regions in Istanbul’s Historical Urban Landscape
(2021) Oliveira, Vitor; Arat, Muzaffer Ali
Istanbul has been a spectacular capital of greatest empires – Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman. In addition to the many wars and natural events that affected the city over 1500 years of urban history, Istanbul has experienced impetuous transformations of its physical form in the twentieth century. These transformations led to significant losses in a unique character and urban landscape. Against this background, it is argued that a scientific, evidence-based methodology should inform the regulation of change and transformation, in order to maintain the main elements of this unique urban landscape. This paper offers such a methodology. The concept of morphological region, identified by the historico-geographical approach to urban morphology, has the main role on the methodology. The methodology consists of a set of criteria based on the tripartite division of urban landscape. These are as follows: the age of streets, geometrical arrangement of streets, plot layout, and building coverage (in terms of ground plan); architectural style, building height, and building material or type of construction (in terms of building fabric); and land and building utilization. The methodology is applied into a part of the Fatih district, describing and explaining its physical form, and considering how future changes could be grounded on this analysis.
A Review on the Conzenian Concept of Morphological Region
(2018) Oliveira, Vitor; Arat, Muzaffer Ali
Various approaches have been developed in the last decades addressing the physical form of cities. The concept of morphological region, proposed within historico-geographical approach by M.R.G. Conzen, is one of the most powerful. It analyses morphological changes in terms of development phases and morphological composition of urban landscape. A main strength of the concept is to suggest a sound basis for planning practice and urban landscape management, in particular, conservation area delimitation and urban heritage management. Utilization of the concept have increased from the second half of twentieth century onwards. Despite the amount of research on the concept, the process of delimiting and mapping morphological regions, namely morphological regionalization, has remained elusive. Unclear aspects are particularly the derivation process of morphological regions, the contribution of form complexes, which are ground plan, building fabric and land utilization, to the hierarchical regions and a confusion between the terms employed in order to identify morphological regions. This paper has two main goals. One is to shed some light on the different terms employed for identification of the concept of morphological region. The second is to clarify the derivation process of morphological regions. In this context, firstly, a wide range of papers on the concept have been investigated. Secondly, a questionnaire has been made with the authors of these papers in order to clear up the inexplicit aspects of their methods.
Thinking About Morphological Regions
(2019) Oliveira, Vitor; Arat, Muzaffer Ali
Various approaches have been developed within the field of urban morphology. In the end of the 1950s, MRG Conzen started to develop seminal work that would later be expanded by JWR Whitehand, establishing an historico-geographical approach (Oliveira, 2018). For Conzen, the climax of urban morphological analysis was the concept of morphological region. A region is a spatial grouping of form ensembles based on the principle of geographical and historical similarities. The concept suggests a sound basis for urban landscape management. Utilization of the concept has increased from the second half of twentieth century onwards. Despite the amount of research on the concept, the derivation process of morphological regions has remained elusive. The focus of this research is on how morphological regions can be established in a systematic way. First, it aims at clarifying former applications of the concept in different continents. Second, fourteen criteria have been identified for discussion. These are as follows: main expansion phase of the town (in relation to the natural context), subdivision of main expansion phases, geometrical arrangement of streets, dimensions of street blocks, plot layout, block plan types, plot coverage ratio, position of buildings - on the basis of ground plan; floor area ratio, ratio of building height to street width - based on the relationship between ground plan and building fabric; architectural style, building materials, building height - based on building fabric; and, finally, land and building utilization.
Thinking About the Concept of Morphological Region in Istanbul
(2021) Oliveira, Vitor; Arat, Muzaffer Ali
The delimitation of morphological regions is the climax of exploration of the historico-geographical structure of the urban landscape. The concept of morphological region, and the method of morphological regionalization, conceived within the historico-geographical approach, provide a basis for management of existing forms and creation of new forms. Urban morphologists dealing with the concept and method, have debated on how to describe morphological regions, and have applied it to different geographical and cultural settings, testing the robustness of both. Despite the large number of applications worldwide, the implementation of the concept remains elusive. This paper intends to contribute for the clarification of the application procedures, exploring a set of relevant criteria. Accordingly, it applies the concept into the multicultural city of Istanbul – in particular to Fatih, an urban area with a strong legacy of Byzantion, Roman and Otoman empires. The morphological analysis reveals a four-order hierarchy of morphological regions. First-order regions consist of superimposition of two fundamental criteria: street ages and geometrical arrangement of streets. Second-order regions are a product of plot layout (area, width and depth), and land and building utilization. Plot coverage ratio, land and building utilization, plot area, and architectural style support the identification of third-order regions. Finally, building materials and height contribute to the identification of fourth-order regions. Recognition of this criteria-based approach and its application into Istanbul provides an important basis for a more systematic and clearer application of the concept, with benefits for urban landscape management and planning.