Lars Marcus. Towards a socio-ecological spatial morphology.

Second Symposium on Social-Ecological Urbanism, 18 June 2019

TOWARDS A SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY

LARS MARCUS lars.marcus@chalmers.se

URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN New knowledge challenges

URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN Structures other urban systems

Social

Economic

Ecological

Technical

URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN Structures other urban systems by way of spatial form

URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN The knowledge challenge concerns the relation between urban form and urban life

URBAN MORPHOLOGY Different schools

British school: Conzen (1960)

Italian school: Caniggia (1960)

URBAN MORPHOLOGY The town plan by MRG Conzen

URBAN PLANNING AND DESIGN Cities do not only consist of built-up areas but also green areas

LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY A spatial morphology of natural landscapes

TOWARDS A SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL MORPHOLOGY Combining descriptions in urban morphology and landscape ecology

(Marcus, Berghauser Pont, Barthel, 2019)

TOWARDS A SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL MORPHOLOGY A joint description of built-up and green urban areas as configurations of patches

(Marcus, Berghauser Pont, Barthel, 2019)

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Representation of space: geometric languages

Discrete zones

Networks

Cellular Automata

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Representation of space: networks described as graphs

Node Link

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Representation of space: networks concerns relations

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Space syntax

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY What is actually represented

The theory of affordances (Gibson, 1979).

Affordances is what emerges in the meeting between properties of the physical environment and human abilities

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Affordances of visibility and accessibility

The theory of reversible occlusion (Gibson 1979)

Axial Map in space syntax theory (Hillier & Hanson 1984)

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Network of axial lines

A network described as nodes and links

Axial Map in space syntax theory (Hillier & Hanson 1984)

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY The centrality of a network of axial lines

B

B B

B B B A

A B Specific distance: distance from location A to location B

B B B

Centrality: distance from location A to all other locations

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY The centrality of networks structures flows

BRUNNSPARKEN 5000 people/h

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY The centrality of networks structures flows

HAGA 500 people/h

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY The centrality of networks structures flows

ERIKSBERG 50 people/h

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Validating the network model for pedestrian movement

(Stavroulaki, Bolin, Berghauser Pont, Marcus, HĂĽkansson, 2019)

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Validating the network model for pedestrian movement

• Observations through scanning of anonymised Wi-Fi signals from mobile phones.

• Observations in 53 areas in three cities (London, Amsterdam and Stockholm).

• Areas with greatly varying morphologies (city centre, suburban, villa areas, modernistic etc.).

• 846 observation points and 2.008.602 observations.

• 3 weeks in October 2017 (a week per city), from 6:00 am to 22:00 pm, Monday to Friday.

• Correlations vary for different areas but have a mean value of R2=0,652.

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting the model to affordances relating to other modes of transport

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting descriptions to affordances relating to other species

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting descriptions to affordances relating to other species

(Marcus, Berghauser Pont, Barthel, in review)

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting descriptions to affordances relating to other species

(Marcus, Berghauser Pont, Barthel, in review)

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting descriptions to affordances relating to other species

(Marcus, Berghauser Pont, Barthel, in review)

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY Adapting descriptions to affordances relating to other species

(Berghauser Pont, AhrnĂŠ, Gren, Kaczorowska, Marcus, 2017)

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY As a form of technology

“Technology captures phenomena for a purpose” W Brian Arthur 2007

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY As a form of technology

Regular technology captures natural phenomena for a purpose

“Technology captures phenomena for a purpose” W Brian Arthur 2007

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY As a form of technology

Spatial form captures ourselves as phenomena for a purpose

SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY As a form of technology

Spatial form captures ourselves and other species as phenomena for a purpose

Lars Marcus lars.marcus@chalmers.se Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering Chalmers University of Technology Gothenburg Sweden