Emerging urban form types in a city of the American Middle West

Abstract

The premise of this paper is that cities, such as Lincoln, Nebraska, which possesses a modern architectural heritage (mainly American Victorian and early twentieth century), and are in a constant process of development, can offer unexplored urban form configurations typical for current urban circumstances. The study method is divided into two stages. The first stage of the analysis includes the identification of four predetermined categories of urban form elements. The urban form element as such is viewed as an integration of urban physical attributes (geometric shape, size, materials) and content (uses, activities). The second stage of the analysis attempts to identify ways by which urban form elements are arranged and create urban form configuration types. Six categories of arrangements have been identified. The criteria, used to analyse the attributes of the urban elements and their arrangements into typical form configurations, derive from ecological and anthropological sources.