Edital

2025-1: Urban morphology. Concepts and methods, projects and theory of design.

The concept of Urban Morphology and its consequent analytical instruments should be applied in the texts, studies, and research to be published in the upcoming issue of Cadernos de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo/Mackenzie. Architects and urbanists are also invited to engage in the theoretical and conceptual discussion of design propositions whose creative and/or methodological foundation is rooted in morphology.

Considering that the development of thought on urban issues in Brazil is closely tied to the transfer, borrowing, and translation of foreign experiences, it is evident that, despite its significant applicability in research and practice in European countries, urban morphological analysis remains an emerging theoretical field in the country. This slow engagement may be explained, in part, by the fact that Urban Morphology emerged in Europe in the context of criticism of the functionalist Modern Movement during the 1950s and 1960s. At the same time, Brazil was experiencing an enthusiasm for Lucio Costa’s project for Brasília and for the synthesis of the urban planning principles of the Athens Charter, as advocated by Le Corbusier. Another possible explanation lies in the strong association between Urban Morphology and studies on the preservation of historical, architectural, and urban heritage—fields deeply embedded in European culture but less referenced in Brazil, particularly regarding the preservation of urban fabrics.

Nevertheless, there is an expanding space for academic and professional engagement with the topic, reinforced by the strengthening of morphological research networks. Among these, the International Seminar on Urban Form (ISUF) stands out, with its most recent edition in 2024 held in São Paulo, aiming to bring together researchers and promote studies in Urban Morphology worldwide.

Thus, the upcoming issue of Cadernos de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo/Mackenzie seeks, even if briefly, to highlight and disseminate contemporary production and the trajectory of the concepts and methods of Urban Morphology. This will be achieved by recognizing the contributions of researchers and architects who have employed these concepts over the past century in various contexts and scales. The intention is to value the contributions of theorists who have applied and continue to apply the concept in both academic and professional practice.

The origins of the concept of Urban Morphology can be traced back to German geographers and, subsequently, to British scholars in the early 20th century. In the development of architectural and urban analyses, early contributions also emerged from professors and researchers in Italy and France, followed by Spain in the latter half of the century.

Anne Vernez Moudon (2006, apud BOTECCHIA 2017), in identifying a genealogy of studies on urban form, suggests that the theoretical field can be divided into two broad categories of knowledge: the first focuses on the city as it is, considering possible causes and consequences (a descriptive or substantive approach), while the second predominantly addresses aspects of how the city could or should be (a normative or prescriptive approach). Furthermore, according to Moudon (1997: 4), two scholars are considered pioneers in morphological research: Michael Robert Gunter Conzen (1907–2000), a German geographer who migrated to England before World War II to study and apply urban planning methods and later teach geography, and Saverio Muratori (1910–1973), an Italian architect who taught at the architecture faculties of Venice and Rome. Conzen, best known for his detailed study of Alnwick, Northumberland, in northern England (1960), had to resist the dominance of the post-war quantitative geography trend, which dismissed his inductive and empirical research as lacking rigor and predictive strength. Muratori, on the other hand, coined the term "operative histories" for his studies of Venice and Rome (Muratori, 1959 and 1963), using them as the theoretical foundation for his architectural projects. As a result, he faced intellectual isolation and was disregarded by his modernist architect colleagues.

The initial geopolitical delineations suggested for identifying the existence of schools of urban morphology—along with the strong connections between the works of Michael R. G. Conzen (England), Saverio Muratori, Carlo Aymonino, and Aldo Rossi (Italy), Philippe Panerai and Jean Castex (France), Oriol Bohigas and Manuel de Solà-Morales (Barcelona), among others—formed the foundation for the development of concepts and methodologies aimed at analyzing urban form as an evolutionary logic of social forces (Del Rio, 1990: 12).

Without presupposing this geopolitical organization, Kropf (2009) reaffirms the need to understand the predominant theories and methods in urban morphology according to what he defines as morphological approaches. Based on this perspective, in addition to the typological-processual and historical-geographical approaches, he also includes the configurational approach (space syntax) rooted in the theory of Hillier and Hanson (1984) and spatial analytics, characterized by the work of Michael Batty and the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London. By employing a variety of quantitative methods and models, including geoprocessing, cellular automata, agent-based models, and fractals, these additional approaches seek to understand spatial structure and urban dynamics as complex and emergent phenomena, in which global structure develops from local processes.

Another important aspect concerns morphological analyses in Brazil since the 1980s. According to Pereira Costa (2007), although the distinction between "morphological studies" and "urban studies" remains unclear in the country, at least two fields have actively engaged with urban morphology: human geography and architecture and urbanism. While drawing from foreign theoretical influences, Brazilian research has also developed its own perspectives. Scholars such as Stael Pereira Costa and Maria Cristina Teixeira (UFMG), Silvio Macedo (USP), Frederico de Holanda (UnB), Flávia Ribeiro Botecchia (UFES) and Denise Antonucci (Mackenzie), among others, have consistently demonstrated how urban morphology research can effectively contribute to understanding urban phenomena in the Brazilian context.

Denise Antonucci, Profª Drª FAU Mackenzie e Editora Temática do Caderno de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo

 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

ARGAN, Giulio Carlo. Sobre o conceito de tipologia arquitetônica (1962) in Projeto e destino. São Paulo: Editora Ática, 2001.

DEL RIO, Vicente. Introdução ao Desenho Urbano no Processo de Planejamento. São Paulo: Pini, 1990.

HILLIER, Bill, HANSON, Julienne. The social logic of space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

KROPF, Karl. Aspects of urban form. In Urban Morphology, 13(2), 105–120. Disponível em: <https://journal.urbanform.org/index.php/jum/article/view/3949>. Acesso em: 08 fev. 2025.

MOUDON, Anne Vernez. Urban Morphology as an emerging interdisciplinary field. In Urban Morphology, 1(1), 3–10. 1997. Disponível em: <http:// https://journal.urbanform.org/index.php/jum/article/view/4047 >. Acesso em: 08 fev. 2025

MOUDON, A. V. A catholic approach to organizing what urban designers should know. ln: CUTHBERT, A. R. (Org.). Designing cities: critical readings in urban design. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. p. 362-386.

 

2024-1: Public place. Projects, Concepts, Experiences.