Understanding cross-regional patterns of urban form using hierarchical morphotope classification

Martin Fleischmann

Charles University

What is hierarchical morphotope classification

Idea of a morphotope

excerpt from Larkham and Jones, 1991

How to capture it

Diagram illustrating a procedure to derive morphotopes using Spatial Adaptive Agglomerative Aggregation (\(SA^3\))

5 out of 54 morphometric characters illustrated on the Prague City Centre

Diagram illustrating a procedure to derive morphotopes using Spatial Adaptive Agglomerative Aggregation (\(SA^3\))

Morphotope delineation illustrated on the Prague City Centre

Morphotope classification

Diagram illustrating a procedure to derive Hierarchical Morphotope Classification (HiMoC)

Taxonomic tree (up to 256 branches)

Taxonomic tree with a cut marking 2 branches (level 1)

Illustration of different levels of the hierarchy.

Taxonomic tree with a cut marking 4 branches (level 2)

Illustration of different levels of the hierarchy.

Taxonomic tree with a cut marking 8 branches (level 3)

Illustration of different levels of the hierarchy.

Cross-regional patterns

Abundance of built fabric types derived from level 1

Abundance of built fabric types derived from level 2

Abundance of built fabric types derived from level 3

Taxonomic tree with a cut marking 107 branches (level 7)

Compression to 2 dimensions using UMAP

UMAP components reflecting the composition within 50km grid.

Projection of UMAP components

Projection of UMAP components

Projection of UMAP components

Projection of UMAP components

Projection of UMAP components

Projection of UMAP components

Projection of UMAP components

Projection of UMAP components

Take home points

Times have changed. Methods have changed.
Concepts? Those only evolved.

Urban morphology can be deeply embedded
in spatial data science.

Urban morphometrics can support
quantitative studies done at scale.

Structure of cities is deeply affected
by culture and politics.

We can ask questions like never before.

Do you want to follow up

uscuni.org/talks

urbantaxonomy.org

github.com/uscuni/urban_taxonomy

martin.fleischmann@natur.cuni.cz

martinfleischmann.net

The authors kindly acknowledge funding by the Charles University’s Primus programme through the project “Influence of Socioeconomic and Cultural Factors on Urban Structure in Central Europe”, project reference PRIMUS/24/SCI/023.