The history of urban morphology

Abstract

The use of town plans as a source for history and geography and as data for urban planning led, from the end of the nineteenth century, to major developments in the theoretical and analytical aspects of urban morphology. The contributions of the Italian 'school', first Muratori and then Caniggia, principally on architectural typology, are well known today, as are the contributions of the English 'school' initiated by Conzen. But knowledge of previous work is generally poor, especially of the German 'school', which played a major role between the 1890s and the 1950s. This article is a history of the ideas of urban morphology, based upon an examination of the German, English, French and Italian contributions. Its aim is to identify the most relevant scholars in this field and the way in which ideas passed from one discipline to another and across state frontiers. After examining the present-day situation, a new approach is proposed that achieves a better integration of morphological analysis and the use of written sources.