Attractive Compactness: spatial analysis of Nordic city-regions
Urban form is described as the spatial structure of (and within) cities. It is inherently multi-scalar – meaning that a city can be seen as a constellation of immeasurable urban forms, just as it can be described in terms of its singular urban form. Concerning resource sustainability, a focus is often on the extent that a city's compactness – that is, its urban spatial density and level of sprawl - relates to positive environmental performance.
Urban morphological analysis is the study of form and structure in cities, including the processes and dynamics of change that shape the city. Elemental urban morphology is rooted in architectural history and building and block design – focusing on how cities are built rather than how they operate. Structural morphology examines the performance of the urban form, connecting to social space, urban economy, accessibility, and network principles.
This project aims to develop a framework for urban morphological analysis and to measure the 'attractiveness of compactness' within selected Nordic city-regions. This includes gathering spatial information from the different Nordic countries and using it to map the city-regions from morphological and functional perspectives. It also includes the presentation of morphological analysis of the urban form in terms of accessibility to services and land use diversity in selected Nordic city-regions.
Nordregio will produce a report that will be including visual elements (i.e., maps similar to those presented below, along with associated figures and tables) and a framework to compare Nordic city regions. An important added value of the research is to show what type of Nordic analysis is possible based on available data. Likewise, a documentation of data availability will concretely describe what data is available in different Nordic countries, how it can be accessed, what the key limitations are (cost, resolution, timeliness), and what challenges are involved in creating a consistent (or as consistent as possible) base of data for comparative Nordic research.
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