Urban form plays has big impact on the overall sustainability of cities. The shape of human settlements directly affects the ecological footprint, urban resilience, urban metabolism and the flow of resources.
Extracting indicators and rules from urban morphology principles and theories is the aim of urban morphometrics.
At the laboratory we compute a series of urban indicators with a particular focus on (i) urban form and energy aspects and (ii) urban accessibility and connectivity.
Urban form and energy aspects \ Among the indicators, we consider the following: density and built volumes, permeability and urban coverage, urban blocks descriptors, urban form descriptors: surface to volume ratio, compactness index, urban canyon ratios, prevailing orientation of facades (vertical surfaces facing south) , sky view factor etc.
USES: assessment of urban design projects and current built-up areas
REQUIRED DATA: 3-D Digital Urban Model (with Digital Terrain Model).
Urban Accessibility and Connectivity \ Computation of urban accessibility and connectivity indicators of the street network:
– connectivity indicators
– accessibility indicators
– centrality analysis and spatial analysis
– ped-shed analysis: accessible areas within a 5 or 10 minutes walk
USES: assessment of urban design projects and current built-up areas
REQUIRED DATA: the graph of the street network.