Aspects of urban form: a descriptive technique and investigation of the form of a New Zealand urban environment

Abstract

This thesis investigates factors which influence the physical form of the urban environment at the micro-scale. Three aspects of form are considered. These are configuration, separation, and consistency. A method of assessing the form of a property from a public place with respect to these aspects is outlined. The technique breaks each aspect into a scale of form types as a tool for measuring the formal characteristics of the environment. These form types are used to describe an urban environment. A comparison of this description with the physical attributes of the area identifies four factors which may have affected the patterns and distributions of the forms observed in the description. These are land use, land ownership patterns, time, and regulatory controls. Detailed studies of these factors in five particular areas reveals that relationships between each of the factors and the incidence of the various form types exist. Correspondences which suggest that the factor probably has an influence on the forms identified are evident in varying degrees depending on the factor considered.