1. Urban Typologies - Research Coordination Network
Valerie Moye and Marian Chertow
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
Drawing credit

2. Introduction
An urban typology is developed by first “identifying the dimensions along which cities vary in a relatively uniform way” and secondly from “forming homogenous groups of cities on the basis of these dimensions jointly considered” (Bruce and Witt 1971).
Linguistics

3. “ One of the most salient features of a city, its multidimensionality, has made the development of city typologies a complex and uncertain process … ”
Complex systems of systems
Bruce and Witt 1971

4. “… The typologist must include enough dimensions to encompass all important city phenomena while at the same time avoiding the particularlistic fallacy…”
Particularistic fallacy = The unwarranted derivation of a generalization from particular facts.
Bruce and Witt 1971

5. How many types? Does it get at the meat of what you’re comparing.
“… He/she must also define an operationally workable numbers of categories or types which group relatively homogenous cities without obscuring important differences among cities.”
Bruce and Witt 1971

6. Preliminary Findings Qualitative Methods – Quantitative Methods –
Bai and Imura 2000
Salvador-Sali 2010
The use of cluster analysis has increased with improvements in the quality and accessibility of a wide variety of urban data sources and the introduction of GIS and remote sensing technology in the 1990’s to 2000’s.
Qualitative conceptual models are the precursor - empirical statistical analysis in developing urban typologies. However, little research has followed up on empirically-based typologies to determine their usefulness for implementation of on-the-ground sustainable development.
Typology vs. Taxonomy.
Typology, which conceptually separates a given set of items multidimensionally..dimensions represent concepts rather than empirical cases. The dimensions are based on the notion of an ideal type, a mental construct that deliberately accentuates certain characteristics and not necessarily something that is found in empirical reality.
Taxonomy. classify items on the basis of empirically observable and measurable characteristics. Although associated more with the biological than the social sciences (Sokal & Sneath, 1964), taxonomic methods–essentially a family of methods generically referred to as cluster analysis–are usefully employed in numerous disciplines that face the need for classification
Qualitative Methods –
Conceptual Models
Theory development
Literature analysis
Surveys
Quantitative Methods –
Statistical cluster analysis
Hierarchical
K-means

7. Political Economy Land Use & Urban Form Socio- demographic
Urban Metabolism
Sociodemographic. 1950’s and 60’s - field of sociology - urban sub-areas based on social and demographic characteristics. Social Areas of Los Angeles, which used “social area analysis”. the degree of social and racial segregation in cities
Political Economy. economic industries, their government institutions, and the interplay between these two.
1940’s- Primary economic function: Manufacturing (M), retailing (R), diversified (D), wholesaling (W), transportation (T), mining (S),
1980’s of governance Paul Peterson’s book City Limits (1981) field of political science. Policy making-developmental, allocation, and redistributive
2000’s – stage of development – global climate change/development related environmental issues. (field of environmental change)
Land Use & Urban Form. 1990’s and 2000’s - spatial layout of the built environment. Awareness about urban sprawl + more GIS and remote sensing technologies. Field of architecture + urban planning.
Urban Metabolism. 2000’s – present. Field of industrial ecology: energy and material flows through cities, somewhat analogous to human metabolism. Thesis.