Speaker: Onur Tümtürk
Date: 29/03/2024
Time: 9:00
This is an online seminar. To obtain event details please send a message to department.
Title: Urban form as a catalyst or constraint for adaptive change: Insights from a data-driven investigation on morphological evolution in New York, Melbourne and Barcelona
Abstract: Unravelling the principles behind urban transformation processes is critical for understanding how cities evolve under different physical conditions. While socioeconomic, political and cultural forces undeniably shape the patterns of spatial change, urban form is not a passive resultant or a mere consequence of these processes. Quite the contrary, urban form plays an influential role in establishing the spatial conditions that guide future development patterns by constraining some choices while facilitating others.
This research presents a novel data-driven investigation into the relationship between urban form and spatial dynamics from a morphological perspective. By leveraging historical cartographic resources and current digital databases, the study generates longitudinal geospatial datasets spanning from the 1800s to the 2000s, enabling a comparative assessment of urban form evolution within New York, Melbourne and Barcelona. Through a diachronic and quantitative analysis, the research demonstrates that urban form conditions have a measurable impact on the patterns of physical and functional change. An evidence-based understanding of how particular design conditions enable or constrain adaptive change empowers practitioners and policymakers to choose particular forms and structures over others, guide the long-term evolution of urban form and improve the resilience of the built environment.
Bio: Onur Tümtürk is an urbanist with a particular research interest in urban morphology and urban form evolution. He currently serves as an instructor at The University of Melbourne’s School of Design, where he also obtained his PhD (2023). Prior to his doctoral studies, Onur earned a BSc in Urban Planning and an MSc in Urban Design from Middle East Technical University (METU). His research adopts a morphological and spatial analytical perspective, focusing on the adaptive capacity and resilience of urban form. His work has been recognised with the Doctoral Academy Fellowship of Melbourne Centre for Data Science (2022) and the Bharat Dave Research Excellence Award of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning (2023). His broader research interests encompass contemporary urban design theory, complexity theories, and socio-ecological thinking in urbanism, aiming to develop evidence-based design strategies for adaptive and resilient urban environments.