Form and urban change – An urban morphometric study of five gentrified neighbourhoods in London
Research in Urban Morphology has long been exploring the form of cities and their changes over time, especially by establishing links with the parallel dynamics of these cities’ social, economic and political environments. The capacity of an adaptable and resilient urban form to provide a fertile environment for economic prosperity and social cohesion is at the forefront of discussion. Gentrification has emerged in the past few decades as an important topic of research in urban sociology, geography and economy, addressing the social impact of some forms of urban evolution. To some extent, these studies emphasize the form of the environment in which gentrification takes place. However, a systematic and quantitative method for a detailed characterization of this type of urban form is still far from being achieved. With this article, the authors make a first step towards the establishment of an approach based on ‘urban morphometrics’. To this end, the authors measure and compare key morphological features of five London neighbourhoods that have undergone a process of piecemeal gentrification. Findings suggest that these five case studies display similar and recognizable morphological patterns in terms of their built form, geographical location of main and local roads and physical relationships between street fronts and street types. These initial results, while not implying any causal or universal relationship between morphological and social dynamics, nevertheless contribute to (a) highlight the benefits of a rigorous quantitative approach towards interpreting urban form beyond the disciplinary boundaries of Urban Morphology and (b) define the statistical recurrence of a few, specific morphological features amongst the five cases of gentrified areas in London.
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/23998083
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Supplemental Notes:
- © The Author(s) 2016.
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Authors:
- Venerandi, Alessandro
- Zanella, Mattia
- Romice, Ombretta
- Dibble, Jacob
- Porta, Sergio
- Publication Date: 2017-11
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Web
- Features: References;
- Pagination: pp 1056-1076
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Serial:
- Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science
- Volume: 44
- Issue Number: 6
- Publisher: Sage Publications Limited
- ISSN: 2399-8083
- EISSN: 2399-8091
- Serial URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/epb
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Built environment; Neighborhoods; Social impacts; Urban design; Urban renewal
- Geographic Terms: London (England)
- Subject Areas: Design; Planning and Forecasting; Society; Transportation (General);
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01857854
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Sep 16 2022 8:40AM