Urban Morphology Despite both Hyde Park, Leeds and Nezu, Toyko having similar residential densities, they have morphologies which contrast massively. Figures 16-17 provide ‘figure ground’ illustrations of both neighbourhoods to depict building footprints and open space. Hyde Park consists mostly of late Victorian terraced houses in gridded streets off main roads. The built elements appear organised and structured, surrounded by relatively generous quantities of open land, unoccupied with built form. The blank areas shown on the eastern and western edges of the map are public parks. At initial glance, Nezu’s morphology appears to be less organised and more sporadic. Main roads stem throughout a dense accumulation of built form, gradually dispersing as distance from the main road increases. Despite looking spatially disorganised in comparison to Hyde Park, Nezu creates organic patterns in its street and building morphology, which result from intelligent planning developed alongside traditional Japanese lifestyles.
18 Nezu, Tokyo:
Street Morphology
34
morphological comparison / meso
What makes the street morphology of Nezu impressively organic in comparison to that of Hyde Park, is the presence of hierarchy in both the density of built form and the network of public roads and streets. Figure 17 depicts the way in which a strong physical compaction of buildings exists close to the Route 437 in Nezu. In a hierarchal manner, this compaction gradually deteriorates with distance from the main road. In contrast, there appears to be no hierarchy of built form in Hyde Park, but rather a consistent array of terraced housing.