Urban Morphology:

The research field of urban morphology provides a systematic basis for theorising and managing urban landscape change. In the past two decades or so, new urban morphological research has been undertaken in China, a country facing particularly acute planning problems associated with its explosive economic growth and consequent pressure for redevelopment of its historical urban areas. The new research is connected to town-plan analysis, especially through re-examining the interrelationships between the fundamental urban form complexes – the ground plan, building form and land utilisation – in a markedly different decision-making environment. This project illustrates how town-plan analysis, especially morphological regionalisation, can be carried out using documentary and cartographic sources and systematic fieldwork in Chinese cities. Such innovative morphological analyses are essential to lay the foundation for improved urban landscape management that considers spatial continuity and congruence, in both China and internationally.

Historical courtyard houses in Pingyao, Shanxi (Author’s photograph, 2005)