Hi4 sophie clegg morphology survey edited

U37742 Designing the City: Analytical excercise 1 to 4 Excercise 2

Urban Morphology Analysis Sophie Clegg 11077531 Submitted: 26th October 2012 Studio Tutor: Regina Lim

Sophie Clegg 11077531 - Morphological Analysis U 37742

3 Streets

Defining the block

3.1 The study block

Map 3). It is a busy route for road traffic and an important bus route. The study block falls at the eastern end of the commercial area of Cowley Road so there is also a high amount of pedestrian traffic accessing these amenities.

The study block is illustrated on Map 6. It is defined by Cowley Road, Divinity Road, Warneford Road and Bartlemas Road. The straight roads and right Divinity Road is marked as a minor route on Map 7. It gives vehicle access angled junctions create a rectangular block that and measures 260m x 75m. to residential streets further up the road and is also used as a cut through from Headington to East Oxford despite the indents to slow traffic and discourage cars. It serves the same role for pedestrians and cyclists, linking The straight roads give the block an ordered feel with clear views up and Headington and East Oxford, making it a popular route for people travelling down the road. The block size is quite walkable. Although 260m maybe considered long for a permeable block, the main directions of movement are to Oxford Brookes, the Headington hospitals and schools. along Divinity Road and Cowley Road, neither of which is inhibited by the length of the block.

3.2 Street hierarchy Map 7 shows the hierarchy of streets within the block.

Cowley Road one of the major routes within the city. It is the historical route from Oxford to Cowley, predating the urbanisation of the area (see Map 6 Study block

Bartlemas Road and Warneford Road are local routes. These are routes that are primarily used to access houses on these roads. They receive little other traffic, perhaps because the distance is no different to following Divinity Road and Cowley Road around the other side of the block and the narrowness of Bartlemas Road and Warneford Road would make passing other vehicles very inconvenient. There are is also less pedestrian and cycle traffic, perhaps because Divinity Road provides a more direct route to Cowley Road amenities.

Map 7 Street hierarchy

3.3 Street morphology Images 1 to 11 break down the components of the Cowley Road, Divinity Road and Bartlemas Road to examine how the street hierarchy is manifested in the morphology of the block.

The streets get narrower as they get quieter. Cowley Road is 20m wide, Divinity Road 18m wide and Bartlemas Road 16m wide. Much of this change in width is due to the road width decreasing from 10m to 8m to 6m respectively. Cowley Road also has a wider set back and pavement but Divinity Road and Bartlemas Road have the same setback of 3m and pavement width of 2m. The road of Divinity Road narrows occasionally to 4m to control traffic.

These proportions are annotated on the photographs of images 1, 4 and 8.

These images also show the comparison in traffic flows. Cowley Road (Image 1) is a busy traffic route. In Image 4 2 cars can be seen passing on Divinity Road. On Bartlemas Road there is no moving traffic (Image 8). All three roads are densely lined with parked cars, highlighting that as this block structure pre-dates cars there was no provision for parking in the original layout.

Images 2,5,6,9 and 10 show the proportions of a sample of typical houses on these roads. In a similar pattern to road width the elevation proportions of the house on Cowley Road are larger than Divinity Road and Bartlemas Road. The proportions of the 2 storey houses are the same in Divinity Road and Bartlemas Road. The larger proportion of 3 storey houses on Divinity Road raises the elevation of the facades of terraces in comparison to Bartlemas Road.

The sections of Images 3, 7 and 11 are drawn to the same scale and illustrate how the proportions of the streets shrink from the larger scale of Cowley Road to the smaller proportions of Bartlemas Road.

These differences in dimensions create different feelings and allow the streets to be used in different ways. The wider pavement of Cowley Road provides space for people to stop and chat and for a higher volume of pedestrian traffic to move comfortably. The wider road leaves space for cyclists and cars to use the road together. This contrasts to the residential neighbourhood feel of Bartlemas Road. The smaller proportions and more greenery in the front gardens create a cosier feel. Here if people stopped to chat in the pavement people there would be little space to pass creating a moment contact between people who most likely live on the street together. There is no need for space for cyclists and cars to use the road together as there is so little traffic of either. The narrowness of the road is unattractive to motorists in comparison to Divinity Road. This narrowness however leaves little room for parking as demonstrated by the silver car in the foreground of Image 8 which is parked in a marked space which straddles the pavement and road.

COWLEY ROAD

DIVINITY ROAD

Image 1 Typical dimensions of Cowley Road

Image 2 Dimensions of a typical Cowley Road house

Image 3 Typical dimensions of Cowley Road in section

Image 4 Typical dimensions of Divinity Road

Image 5 Typical dimensions of a 2 storey Divinty Road house

Image 6 Dimensions of a typical 3 storey Divinity Road house

Image 7 Typical dimensions of Divinity Road in section

BARTLEMAS ROAD

Image 8 Typical dimensions of Bartlemas Road

Image 9 Dimensions of a typical Bartlemas Road house

Image 10 Dimensions of a typical Bartlemas Road house

Image 11 Typical dimensions of Bartlemas Road in section