Morpho-based Study on Urban Street Spatial Configuration: The Case of Nanjing City, China

Abstract

[EN] As the most important part of urban space, street space is often regarded as the urban design object which would be made to reach certain spatial configuration expected by urban designer. As we all know that street space is shaped by the buildings along it, and that the buildings not only belong to different owners but also would be changed through the time. If it is true one might ask how does the street space change and what does this change mean to the urban development? Based upon urban morphological theory this paper investigates the relationships between street spatial configuration and urban development policies, building coding as well as urban activities. Three streets located in the center of Nanjing City with different functions and various land uses along them are selected as the research cases. Though the research this paper will demonstrate that by reading the changes of the street spatial configurations we can understand the social development stages and times, and by evaluating the street spatial configurations through the time we can see how the land policies changed the spaces. The paper suggests that confronting the dynamic phenomenon of the urban street space, urban designer should see urban form as urban morph, which will help designers to make decision more proper and better.