A methodology for measuring the form of organic settlements

This article introduces a methodology that aims to develop a detailed framework and guideline for analyzing and measuring the urban form of any settlement, and especially the urban fabric that represents an organic layout. The basis of the methodology lays on Conzenian approach that analyzes the urban morphology by categorizing it in three main elements: streets, plots, and buildings. Since then, many studies are conducted in the field of urban morphology but only few of them focuses on measuring the spatial features of the urban space. Especially, the measurement of irregular (organic) settlements has been a real challenge since it represents a high complexity that is difficult to be measured with mathematical tools. This study tries to develop a method that is useful for measuring the spatial qualities of an organic historic settlement. Firstly, it makes a more detailed categorization and structure of the urban components. Secondly, it makes detailed mathematical measurement to extract the distances, dimensions, areas, proportions and other relationships in the settlement in different scales. The methodology uses AutoCAD and GIS tools for producing maps and making different measurements. • The methodology is useful for measuring the complexity of urban form in organic settlements. • It makes a detailed framework of urban components and is helpful for synthesizing the information and understanding the relationships among different units of the complex urban system. • It can be useful to develop an automated software/tool that makes these measurements and makes correlations between different features of measured units.