Abstract: The purpose of this study is determine how the original street and lot patterns of an inner-city area have afffected the incidence of developoment, demoltion and redevelopment. In particular, the correlations is examined between teh pattern of streets, lots and building types, on the one hand, and the survival of nineteenth-century buildings on the other. The focus of the stud is the district called Over-the-Rhine, in Cincinnati, OH.
Abstract: This paper lays out a thesis about the formal nature of American urban suburbs and their development over time. The thesis is then tested in a case involving the development of Hudson, Oh, a suburb of Cleveland. The analysis shows that contemporary subdivisions and street networks derive from earlier patterns of farm roads and agricultural holdings, even going back to cadastral lines established by the land survey. The analysis also establishes and describes three different tissues, or patterns of street, lot and building type. This paper was the winner of the 2000 Chicago Institute of Urbanism Award for writing in urban design.
Abstract: The formal character of ssuburban edge city develoments is examined, using a series of scale maps. The maps compare street plan morphogenesis, current land subdivisions, and building footprints in the commercial centers of three edge cities. Each is also compared to a traditional downtown, offering compelling evidence of hte dramatic transformations in urban form that have taken place of the last sevety years. The analysis points to the difficulties planners may have in controlling the formal character of newly developing suburban areas.
Abstract: The practice of public design review has grown rapidly in the past decade, and its growth has brought into question issue of the appropriateness and effectiveness of public participation in the determination of aesthetics and individual building design. This article asks the question, "do we really want the environment designed according to the aesthetic preferences of the public?"
Abstract: An investigation of the highway commercial street using techniques of urban morphology. This chapter is an exploration of the underlying order of strip development. It seeks to capture, through formal analysis, the question of how these places form and how they are different from place to place. The subject of the study is Colerain Avenue in Cincinnati, OH.
Abstract: An examination and comparison of urban form in Chiang Mai, Thailand, using comparison of same-scale maps in historic and suburban areas. Discussion of the relative sustainability of contemporary form, building types, and land uses versus historic forms.
Abstract: A case study of design guidelines prepare for a small Ohio town, Fairborn. Innovation includes eschewing stylistic or material descriptions in favor of a formal analysis of the existing buildings to determine appropriate typologies. The subsequent code allows a flexible approach to design yet objective rulings can be made on the compliance of a project with the code.
Abstract: An exploration of the practice of design review in the context of public urban planning decision making. The chapter explores key problems inherent in the practice including those having to do with the first amendment freedom of expression, arbitrariness, and the impossibility of making objective judgments based on the aesthetics of buildings.
Abstract: An exploration of the unique housing types that make up the neighborhoods of Boston, including triple-deckers, row houses, and single-family and duplex types. Used to describe types prior to establishing design guidelines for public assistance.
