Generating urban morphologies at large scales

TL;DR

This paper explores generating large-scale urban morphologies using morphogenesis models, comparing them to real European districts to understand urban form diversity and improve planning strategies.

Contribution

It introduces a method to generate and compare large-scale urban configurations with real data, highlighting the complementarity of different models for urban morphogenesis.

Findings

Models can replicate a variety of real urban forms.

Calibration improves the accuracy of generated configurations.

Multi-model approaches enhance understanding of urban morphology diversity.

Abstract

At large scales, typologies of urban form and corresponding generating processes remain an open question with important implications regarding urban planning policies and sustainability. We propose in this paper to generate urban configurations at large scales, typically of districts, with morphogenesis models, and compare these to real configurations according to morphological indicators. Real values are computed on a large sample of districts taken in European urban areas. We calibrate each model and show their complementarity to approach the variety of real urban configurations, paving the way to multi-model approaches of urban morphogenesis.