The Scale of Urbanism

Abstract

While scale is an essential factor in discussions about sustainable cities, there is no common understanding of what scale is or how it should be measured. This paper sheds light on the issue of scale by suggesting how it might be measured and evaluated. My purpose is to offer both a methodological and empirical contribution to the understanding of scale, using Chicago as a case study. Using historical Sanborn maps, I first investigate scale change over time, focusing on a selection of 31 sites that are now “mega-developments” but were originally composed of small-scale buildings and blocks. I quantify that the historical urban fabric had five times as many buildings, and a much higher percentage of buildings with mixed use. I then look at the city as a whole and compare urban scale to pedestrian quality to assess whether there is a quantifiable difference between large- and small-scale urbanism. I find that, at least for Chicago, small scale urbanism is associated with higher pedestrian quality. For the third part of the analysis, I correlate scale and socio-economic characteristics at the census tract level. The results illuminate a mixed set of differences between scale and socio-economic characteristics like income and housing value.