Modelling Spatial Morphogenesis in Cities: The Dynamics of Spatial Change in Manhattan

Applied studies in the area of urban growth have often focused on the apparent physical silhouette of urban form in modelling and simulating city growth. This paper is intended to go beyond such limitations and present a model based on observed dynamics of change in urban structures. Thus the paper translates the spatial laws which govern the process of urban morphogenesis in cities into mathematical rules which represent the change in the configurational structure of street networks. For this purpose, a set of analyses will be made for the sequential development of urban street network in Manhattan.

The change in the attributes of the elements under investigation will be judged according to physical and angular metrics. The objectives are to track any regularity in the bottom up growing system and detect the causal forces that took part in the rise of a distinguished structure in the planned uniform grid. The externalised model has the potential to be devised in computer aided design implementations and strategic planning development