Typomorphological Method for Exploring Built Environments Based on Density Measures

Abstract

Density measures has long been an integral tool in urban planning whilst its application in typomorphological studies of interpreting built forms has since then been established and applied in understanding the production and transformation process of urban landscapes However the operational definitions of existing density measurements used in describing the physicality of built forms has not been entirely consistent Furthermore despite the precision in statistical description offered by density measures the semantic translation and relation to typological properties of the built form remained weak This research aims to address the existing problems and proposes an integrated typomorphological method based on density measures The research explores the physical form of built environments uses the density measures of Ground Space Index (GSI) Floor Space Index (FSI) Floors (L) and Open Space Ratio (OSR) Data mining of underlying building types are explored using cluster analysis based on said measures whilst the density parameters and spatial distribution distinctive of each building type are visualized and interpolated using kernel density estimation Furthermore the research has developed a conceptual framework for understanding the dynamics behind emergent processes manifested within the built environment particularly through the investigation of co-occurrences in density measures and the variability and spatial distribution of building types Initial findings in the test case of Taichung City showed nine significant building type clusters proving that intrinsic density conditions specific of certain building types do exist and each are pertinent to specific density conditions that are adaptive and aligned with the demands of geographical cultural political and economic circumstances Circumstances are found to be both contributory and limitative of certain building types and only when conditions change will new types emerge and existing types be replaced or evolve to respond to new dispositions

Date of Award	2015 Aug 21
Original language	English
Supervisor	Han-Liang Lin (Supervisor)