The Spatial Morphology Group (SMoG) focuses on describing the form, spatial configuration and character of the built environment with the aim to better understand the processes it allows or affords and, based on that, to provide knowledge on how, through design, the built environment can affect these processes. In essence, the group is concerned with the interaction between spatial form (the built environment) and society (people, processes). Understanding this relation is crucial because, typically, an architect affects society by modifying the built environment.
The group builds on methods and theories central to spatial morphology, space syntax, urban analytics and informatics.
The group includes faculty members, post-doctoral researchers and PhD students and often hosts international visiting researchers and postgraduate interns.
Research focus
The world is facing great challenges and with the majority of the world's population living in cities, urban planning and design plays an increasingly important role for sustainable development. Of critical importance to this is a deeper understanding of how urban form supports, structures and limits various urban processes. The SMoG group contributes to this with research that approaches these challenges from a social-ecological understanding instead of the socio-technical approach still dominating the field.
The research activities of the group can be summarized in three main areas:
- development of new methods and metrics for analysing built form and urban systems using spatial analysis and urban analytics,
- theory development focusing on the relation between urban form and society , and
- applications where the transfer of knowledge into practice is in focus, including the development of guidelines and decision support tools.
Education
The group is involved in education with particular emphasis on the integration of analytical methods in design where the intention is to strengthen students' understanding of how the spatial form of the built environment provides the framework and creates conditions for its functioning in terms of sustainable mobility, the clustering of local markets, and ecosystem service provision, but also in terms of segregation and spatial inequalities.
The SMoG currently offers two master courses, the Social - Ecological Urbanism design studio (ARK 142) and the methodological course Design Systems (ARK 177). The group also offers the master thesis direction ‘Social Ecological Urbanism’. In undergraduate education, SMoG is involved in various urban design and planning courses.
For more information on the activities of the group please have a look at the external webpage Spatial Morphology Group
Members of the research group
- Meta Berghauser Pont
Docent and Research area leader - Evgeniya Bobkova
Postdoc - Jonathan Edgardo Cohen
PhD Student - Job van Eldijk
Visiting Researcher - Jorge Gil
Docent and Head of Division - Flávia Lopes
Postdoc - Lars Marcus
Professor and Research area leader - Ioanna Stavroulaki
Docent