Urban Morphology

An approach for analysis of
urban morphology:
methods to derive morphological properties
of city blocks by using
an urban landscape model and
their interpretations
Hiroyuki Yoshida a,*
Manabu Omae b
a Faculty of Policy Management, Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Keio University, 5322 Endo,
Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-8520, Japan
b Faculty of Environmental Information, Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Keio University, Japan
Received 1 September 2003; accepted in revised form 6 May 2004
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

29 (2005) 223247
An approach to analyze urban morphology is presented in this study.

It is based on an urban landscape model, and a 2 km x 2 km area in
Tokyo is used as a study site.
The approach has the following two characteristics.
1. city blocks are used as spatial units for morphological
properties to be derived and interpreted.
2. the morphological properties derived are interpreted on
quantitative basis.
An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

methods to derive morphological properties of city blocks by using an urban landscape model and their interpretations
The morphological properties featured in this study are:

1. surface area per projected area
2. volume per projected area
3. building to land ratio
4. mean height of buildings
5. surface area of buildings per unit volume of buildings
6. mean volume of buildings.
These six properties are calculated for each block, and

interpreted with attentions to their interrelationships as well as
geographical distributions.

Introduction
Recent developments in remote sensing and GIS, as well as massive

increase of computational power available to research communities,
are upgrading modes of urban analysis.
Low to middle spatial resolution satellite sensors (e.g. AVHRR,
MODIS and ASTER) acquire sequential images of cities and
vegetation formations. The on-going advancements in sensing
technology, such as high spatial resolution satellite sensors (e.g.
IKONOS and Quick Bird), digital aerial survey, airborne LIDARs,
enable recognition of individual buildings in a city and individual trees
in a forest.

Among a number of emerging urban research themes, generation of

urban landscape model (ULM) is considered an especially crucial task
(Sohn &Dowman, 2001).
In analysis of urban morphology, remote sensing and GIS may be able
to take advantage of the physical explicitness represented by city
blocks. It is practical to treat a city block as a spatial unit in certain types
of analysis for urban morphology, especially when a high spatial
resolution data set is available.
City blocks are solid components of morphology of ruralurban
continuum.

2. Objective of study
The objective of this study is to present an approach to analyze

urban morphology through
1. synoptic observation
2. utilization of ULM.

to fulfill the objective are concerned with the following two points:
1. City blocks are used as spatial units of observations and
analyses;
2. Quantitative analyses based on reproducible results from data
processing are performed.
With these two points being borne in mind, quantitative characterization
of morphology of city blocks through measurements and analysis of their
morphological properties is carried out in this study.

3. Morphological characteristics of urban area:

surface area and volume
Urban areas are characterized by Buildings, with a few exceptions,

consist of vertical walls and roofs.
High distribution of vertical walls increases surface area, and
produces large cubic content, on an urban land parcel.
Shapes, sizes and the number of buildings, which are often particular
to their socio-economic functions, determine surface area and volume
for a land parcel.

Example:
For a 100 m 100 m square flat land parcel without any

building,
both surface and projected areas are 1 ha.
If there is a cubic building of which sides are all 50 m on the
land parcel, the surface area including the building becomes
2 ha, and a volume of 125,000 cu. m.
If the cubic building is divided equally into four rectangular
solids (i.e. four buildings having the same height and smaller
footprints), the surface area increases to 3 ha while the
volume remains unchanged.

In the morphological properties two primary parameters are,

1. surface area per projected unit area for each city block
2. volume per projected unit area for each city block
a number of further variables can be calculated. They include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
building to land (BTL) ratio;

mean height of buildings;
surface area of buildings per unit volume of buildings;
mean volume of buildings.

They can be obtained for each block respectively through:

1. division of projected area under buildings by projected area for
each city block;
2. division of total volume of buildings by projected area under
buildings for each city block;
3. division of total surface area of buildings by total volume of
buildings for each city block; and
4. division of total volume of buildings by number of buildings for
each city block.

The standardization issue considered for the two primary variables

also applies to these four additional values. The units for these
variables are:
1. percent for BTL;
2. m or cm for mean height of buildings;
3. sq. m per cu. m for surface area of buildings per unit volume of
buildings; and,
4. cu. m for mean volume of buildings.

The six parameters are correlated, or interrelated, to each other

not in a single simple way but in various ways.
Firstly, in this study, the spatial unit of analyses and observations is
an individual city block.
When urban morphology is the subject of analyses, the focus must
not be on architectural edifices (Pesaresi & Bianchin, 2001).
Structural relations (Barnsley et al., 2003) in geographical space as well
as among morphological properties are likely to be better revealed
and more efficiently utilized for analyses when the block-based
approach is taken.
Secondly, and more importantly, relevance of classification in
the block-based approach has to be considered carefully.

4. Study area
The study area for testing of usefulness of the six morphological

properties is the2 km 2 km square area around the Shibuya station in
Tokyo.
Shibuya is considered one of the central business districts in the
capital, and functions as the busiest center for shopping and
entertainment.
The area is comprised of highly developed commercial areas around
the station and along major roads, residential areas at a few hundred
meters radial distance from the station, and transitional areas
between the two types of areas.

In the commercial areas, there are several large departmental

stores nearby the station, and densely located small to middle sized
multi-tenant buildings constitute a large number of blocks.
The residential areas consist of lowrise houses, and also housing
complexes having moderate heights.
The transitional areas are mostly along major roads relatively away
from the station, and their blocksare mixture of commercial and
residential buildings.

5. Datasets
Datasets available to this study are:

1. An airborne LIDAR dataset that has been already converted
into a raster image of which spatial resolution is 1 m;
2. Orthorectified aerial photographs; and,
3. Tokyo Urban Planning GIS data sets consisting of a large
number of vector layers produced by the Tokyo Metropolitan
Government.

Taking this relationship among the available data sets into account,
strategy for their usage in this study was drawn as follows:
1. The main material for processing and consequent analyses
would be combination of the LIDAR data set and the
observational layers, especially the building outlines layer, of
the vector data set;
2. The integrated aerial photograph, the most vivid presentation,
would be used for acquisition of extra information and
verification; and
3. The administrative layers would be used as references for
analyses carried out on the basis of the other data sets.

Each of the three groups held partial information for morphology of

the study area, and this strategy was for generation of a
perspective that enables quantitative handling of the
morphological properties explained in the previous section.

6. Construction of urban landscape model
Urban landscape model (ULM) is an abstraction of real urban

landscape in which features and land covers of an urban area are
exhibited in three dimensions (Dowman, 2000).
There can be several types of ULM having different levels of
spatial details and kinds of thematic contents.
In this study, an ULM of Shibuya detailed and approximated
appropriately for validation of the six parameters mentioned
earlier was constructed.

For the construction of the preliminary ULM, First of all, buildings on

the LIDAR data set needed to corrected for over-measurement by
pleats on building walls, under-measurement by chamfered
buildings, slope roof, terraces, roof top and other issues.
After the construction of the preliminary ULM, underlying terrain
needed to be removed. Production of a ground surface model would
enable its subtraction from the refined LIDAR data set, and hence
production of a terrain-adjusted ULM relevant for validation of the
urban morphological properties.

7. Observation of urban landscape model

Fig. 1 shows the terrain of
Shibuya and building footprints.
To indicate the terrain and
distribution of buildings on one
single grey-scale image,
gradation from low to high
ground elevation is indicated by
gradation from darker to
brighter shades, whereas that
of building footprints is inverted
and indicated by brighter to
darker shades on this image.
In other words, buildings on low
ground are represented as
bright polygons against dark
backgrounds, and vice versa.

A stereo-pair images generated by extruding the refined LIDAR data

set with the orthorectified aerial photograph overlaid
8. Morphological properties
8.1. Primary measurement
Measurement of surface area and volume per projected area is one of

the essential tasks to complete in the technical part of this study.
Measurements of the two variables from a surface model have not
become common yet, and there is no readily available tool to acquire
them for each block.
In this study, the algorithms for measurement of surface area per
projected area and the algorithms for measurement of volume per
projected area were developed and applied to the ULM of the study
block.

8.2. Feature space
The algorithms explained above were applied to the refined LIDAR

data set, and the two primary morphological properties, surface
area and volume per projected unit area for each city block, of
Shibuya were derived.

From these two

parameters, a feature
space can be
generated, and
represented as a
scattergram shown in
Fig. 3(a).

The overall shape of point distribution resembles to silhouette of a

bouquet, and can be divided into three parts according to
specification of usage denoted by the land/building use regulation
layer, one of the administrative layers, of the vector data set
produced by the Metropolitan government.
As Fig. 3(b) shows, points of the head, the flower part, of the
bouquet are mostly commercial blocks.
As Fig. 3(c) shows, the ranges of the two variables of mixed blocks
(i.e. both commercial and residential) are narrower than those of
commercial blocks.
As Fig. 3(d) shows, residential blocks form densely the stem, or
shank, of the bouquet.

8.2.1. Residential blocks
A closer examination of each part enables gaining of further insights

into morphology of the study area.
The two variables of the residential blocks can be examined in depth
by using the aerial photograph as a supportive resource.

In blocks
without building,
surface area and
projected area
equal to 1,
and volume per
projected area is
null.

8.2.2. Commercial blocks
The two parameters of commercial blocks are also plotted as a

scattergram. It is shown in Fig. 5.
The scales of the X- and Y -axes on this scattergram are different
from those in Fig. 4.
The ranges of the values of the scattergram for the residential
blocks occupy only about the bottom left quarter of this scattergram
for commercial blocks.
Examination of extreme blocks on this scattergram is virtually a
sightseeing tour of Shibuya.


8.3. BTL and FAR

The observation of the two primary variables as carried out above
leads to introduction of more variables for further analyses.
According to the city-planning law,
the main regulatory differences between commercial and
residential zones, which would be reflected directly on urban
morphology, are on:
1.
2.
building-to-land ratio, (BTL i.e. ratio derived through division of

building footprints by projected area of land parcel); and,
floor area ratio (FAR i.e. ratio derived through division of total
floor space by projected area of land parcel).

The legal limits for both BTL and FAR in residential zones
are stricter than those in commercial zones,
such regulations certainly have influences but are not
necessarily ultimate determinants of urban morphology.
As mentioned earlier, private land ownership and peculative
activity (Pesaresi & Bianchin, 2001) are also determinants of
urban mass.

8.3.1. Regulation and actuality of BTL
The regulatory limit of BTL and actual BTL show an interesting

contrast. The legal limit of BTL
for residential zones is in the range between 30% and
60%, and
for commercial zones 80%.
In the study area, the maximum BTL allowed for most parts
of the residential areas is 60% and that for the commercial areas is
80%.

Calculation of actual BTL for each block was a straightforward task

requiring only building outlines and block outlines vector layers.
The result from division of the former by the latter is shown as
histograms, Fig. 6.

8.3.2. FAR and mean height of buildings
Mean height of buildings in each block is a relevant parameter to

deepen interpretation of FAR.
Complete calculation of FAR is not feasible without plans of all
the buildings in the study area. Regulations on it, however, need to
be comprehended.
The legal limit of FAR for residential zones is basically in the range
between 50% and 400%, for commercial zones between 200% and
1000%,
Further tightened by width of contiguous roads, distance from

neighboring land parcels and restrictions on shadows made
during daytime.
Despite of the complex constraints,
relaxation of regulations on FAR is possible in some cases.
For example, it is granted to various extents in exchange for
environmental care such as installment of rooftop garden open
to the public.
There is also a slow but steady trend to alleviate
the limit as a response to ever growing demand for dwelling
place.

Mean height of buildings in each city block was derived through

division of total volume by projected area under building polygons.
The result is summarized as histograms shown in Fig. 7.

It is, however, still worth knowing that the typical height per
storey in Japan is around 3 m to have an approximate sense of
the number of stories in the three types of zones, and hence the
effect of the regulations on FAR to an extent.

8.4. Compactness
Apart from the actual BTL and the mean height of buildings, yet
another highly interesting variable is obtainable.
It is surface area of buildings per unit volume (i.e. the ratio of surface
area to volume).
It can be calculated through the 4 steps:
The resultant variable indicates 3-dimensional compactness, and its
unit is sq. m per cu. m.

The variable, surface area per building volume, can be expressed as:
where C, S and V denote respectively compactness, surface area and

volume. For comparison with the 2-dimensional compactness
explained above, the variable for a sphere can be calculated as
follows. Surface area of a sphere is:
where r is radius. Volume of a sphere is:
Hence, in the case of a sphere, the ratio of surface area to volume is:
This means that the larger the radius of a sphere is, the smaller the
ratio becomes.

In reality, a spherical building is extremely rare, but this principle

still applies.
More concretely, a large cubic building would have a relatively low
3-dimensional compactness value, and a building resembling to a
wall (i.e. thin and wide) and small houses, for example, would
have higher values.

8.5. Mean building volume

Building volume has a further expansibility.
By dividing total volume of buildings
by the number of buildings for each block,
mean building volume can be derived.
After simple spreadsheet operations on the
attributive information table from the
building outlines vector layer, the number
of buildings in each block was determined,
and mean building volume for each block
was calculated.
Some blocks are occupied by a few large
buildings, others accommodate a large
number of small buildings.


8.6. Characterization of city blocks

8.6.1. Conceptual foundation
After observing the variables and interpreting relationships among
them, the logical next step is characterization of the city blocks in the
study area by means of combination of unique and appropriate
variables.
In study ranges of the parameters of residential blocks overlap with
those of commercial blocks. This implies that, for example, it is
difficult to distinguish objectively and incontrovertibly a residential
block occupied by multi-storey apartments from a commercial block
occupied by multi-tenant office buildings. The difficulty is further
worsened by the existence of transitional areas.

Instead of taking such an approach, a simpler yet practical method

needs to be used. It is, namely, production of a false color composite
(FCC) by selection of three appropriate variables for red, green and
blue channels and simplification of the 3-dimensional feature space
through automated multiple-thresholding.
Shades of colors on such a FCC, as a simplified form of gradations in
the feature space, derive relevant and contextual material for both
visual interpretation and quantitative analyses.

8.6.2. False color composite
Three variables were chosen and a color image was created. After
extensive experimentations of combinations, the FCC consisting of
(1) surface area of buildings per unit volume,
(2) mean building volume, and,
(3) volume per projected unit area
was found to exhibit the largest variation of colors. It is shown
in Fig.10(a). The three variables are assigned respectively to
red, green and blue.


In Fig. 10(a), red blocks are mostly residential blocks where small
houses are densely located with or without open space.
A small number of blocks are in yellow, mixture of red and
green, as they contain less compact yet large buildings.
The gradation between cyan and blue indicate whether a block is

occupied by a single large building or a number of medium sized
buildings. A block with a small number of large buildings without
much open space becomes cyan as both green and blue channel
have high values.

A block with a larger number of buildings having moderate height and

smaller footprints (e.g. multi-tenant buildings) without much open
space becomes darker blue.
Purple to magenta blocks are more extreme cases of such dark blue
blocks.

The false color composite and the urban planning guideline set
by the governments present the context of morphological status
quo.
Firstly, Residential zones in Fig. 10(b) are also well
represented by blocks in shades of red in Fig. 10(a).
Transitional zones as indicated by magenta in Fig. 10(b) are
indeed mixture of blocks having a wide variation of colors.
Secondly, red blocks are relatively uncommon in commercial
zones in Fig. 10(a). Exceptional red blocks in the commercial
zones are mostly relict residential patches or car parking spaces.
Then, geographical distribution of such red blocks in commercial
zones is potentially a useful indicator of urban economics.

Thirdly, green blocks are relatively uncommon in Fig. 10(a). The

few green blocks on the false color composite are basically public
facilities such as the national stadium, the ward office and the
national broadcasting center.
Although it is not prudent to make an inference only from the

morphological observation and limited building use information, it
is still possible to hypothesize that, in the study area, existence of
the green blocks, large buildings surrounded by ample open
space, are only possible.

9. Discussion
The observations and interpretations having been made so far

offer a number of points for discussion.
Firstly, as seen in Fig. 3(a), blocks having the approximately
same volume per projected unit area may have a range of surface
area. Such a range is indicated by horizontal width of point
distribution in this scattergram.
The width is determined by factors such as actual BTL or volumes
and shapes of buildings. The regulatory limits on BTL and FAR
have certainly influences on those factors,
however, they do not control fully. Landowners and development
planners are important factors which a wide variation as seen in
the scattergram of the commercial blocks.

Secondly, the possibility of quantitative comparisons between cities

and their parts would open a number of opportunities. Cities in
developing countries, where comprehensive planning is often
required urgently but compilation of architectural plans is hardly
feasible, could benefit from this approach.
Thirdly, it is also necessary to consider weaknesses of the
approach shown in this study. The following two drawbacks
need to be mentioned.
The first drawback is requirement of datasets.
The second drawback is the production method of ULM.
A standardized guideline for ULM production procedures is
required not just for enhancement of the approach presented in
this study but also for wide ranges of analyses on urban
morphology,
10. Conclusion
The approach presented in this study has led to a number of

findings. Relevance of the basic spatial unit used, city block, for
synoptic characterization and comprehension of urban
morphology was demonstrated.
Two primary variables, surface area and volume per unit
projected area for each block, were found to be illustrative
of relationships between morphology and land use in the study
area. The four variables developed from them also exhibited
the crucial aspects of urban morphology.

The false color composite produced from three of the six variables
showed the gradations of morphological properties comparable to
the framework of the governmental regulations on land use.
attempt made in this study still needs certain refinements and
enhancements,
Future research scope from what this study has achieved
and standardization of methods to utilize morphological
properties are the key achievement of this approach.
It is hopeful that such networks of analyses become a foundation
for a wide range of studies and applications related to cities in
the world.

Thank You


Urban Morphology

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An approach for analysis of

Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

An approach to analyze urban morphology is presented in this study.

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

The morphological properties featured in this study are:

These six properties are calculated for each block, and

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

Recent developments in remote sensing and GIS, as well as massive

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

Among a number of emerging urban research themes, generation of

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

The objective of this study is to present an approach to analyze

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

3. Morphological characteristics of urban area:

Urban areas are characterized by Buildings, with a few exceptions,

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

For a 100 m 100 m square flat land parcel without any

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

In the morphological properties two primary parameters are,

building to land (BTL) ratio;

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

They can be obtained for each block respectively through:

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

The standardization issue considered for the two primary variables

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

The six parameters are correlated, or interrelated, to each other

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

The study area for testing of usefulness of the six morphological

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

In the commercial areas, there are several large departmental

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

Datasets available to this study are:

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

Each of the three groups held partial information for morphology of

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

6. Construction of urban landscape model

Urban landscape model (ULM) is an abstraction of real urban

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

For the construction of the preliminary ULM, First of all, buildings on

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

7. Observation of urban landscape model

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

A stereo-pair images generated by extruding the refined LIDAR data

Measurement of surface area and volume per projected area is one of

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

8.2. Feature space

The algorithms explained above were applied to the refined LIDAR

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

From these two

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

The overall shape of point distribution resembles to silhouette of a

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

8.2.1. Residential blocks

A closer examination of each part enables gaining of further insights

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

8.2.2. Commercial blocks

The two parameters of commercial blocks are also plotted as a

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

An approach for analysis of urban morphology:

8.3. BTL and FAR

building-to-land ratio, (BTL i.e. ratio derived through division of