EDITORIAL COMMENT

PNUM and the regional networks of ISUF

PAPERS

Convergence of methods of urban form description: analysis of satellite images texture and visual graphical analysis
L. Amorim, M. B. Filho

{+}Abstract [PDF]The paper presents the results of an investigation that aims at integrating different approaches to the analysis of the urban form. The proposed methodology integrates two lines of investigation: i) texture analysis of high resolution satellite images using fractal and lacunarity measures to describe the spatial distribution of pixels with similar grey levels; ii) Visual Graph Analysis (VGA) describing visual properties of spatial systems. A second order analysis is proposed in order to describe the texture of VGA maps and to investigate to what extent the underlying configurational and texture patterns are correlated. The results reveal how robust the procedures are, particularly in identifying distinct socio-spatial patterns.

A temporal geography of encounters
V. Netto, J. V. Meirelles, M. Pinheiro, H. Lorea

{+}Abstract [PDF]The integration between spatial and social networks is fundamental to new approaches on cities as systems of interaction. In this paper, we focus on the spatial and temporal conditions of encounters as a key condition for the formation of social networks. Drawing on classic approaches such as Freeman’s concept of segregation as ‘restriction on contact’, Hägerstrand’s time-geography, and recent explorations of social media locational data, we analysed the space-time structure of potential encounters latent in the urban trajectories of people with different income levels in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This approach allows us to estimate trajectories examining spatiotemporal positions in tweets, and assess spaces of potential encounter and levels of social diversity on the streets. Finally, we discuss the utility and limitations of an approach developed to grasp how clusters of encounters between groups with different income levels are produced.

The process of production and transformation of urban form in Brazilian coastal cities
D. Benfatti, V. Tângari

{+}Abstract [PDF]The universe of the national research, sponsored by FAPESP through the thematic project ‘Open spaces and urban form’ coordinated by QUAPÁ-SEL laboratory, in FAUUSP, encompasses 35 cities, among state capitals and medium-sized cities in Brazil. It is based on procedures that include: individual and group network surveys; workshops held in the cities studied; annual research colloquiums; presentations in national and international scientific events. This paper focuses on five cities located on the coast of Brazil where workshops have already taken place in 2014 and 2015, and have made possible the analysis of some results through comparative approach: Vitória, Salvador, Maceió, Santos and Recife. The text includes reflections and comparisons between cities and concludes by indicating for discussion some criteria of intervention in the studied cities that could generate urban quality, safeguarding the particular socio-environmental situations. In this paper, instead of discussing all the research issues, proposed for the workshops carried out by the QUAPÁ-SEL network, we have decided to focus only in some of them that have in common the fact they relate to the location along the Brazilian coast. The reflection was based basically on the results of the workshops, which brings to this analysis a simplification and, at the same time, a difficulty. The workshops and their reports are presented in a very heterogeneous and uneven manner. However, the discussions were always based on the same lines of research, ensuring, on the other hand, homogeneity in our approach.

VIEWPOINTS _[PDF]

Analysis in urban morphology: the contribution of the Catalan school
C. López, M. Carreiro

Cities in history: ideas and their influence on urban form
Deborah Schirmer

REPORTS _[PDF]

Portuguese-language Network of Urban Morphology
T. Marat-Mendes

6th Conference of the Portuguese-language Network of Urban Morphology, Vitória, Brazil, 2017
J. Correia

3rd PNUM Workshop, September 2017, Coruña
V. Oliveira

NEWS

Urban Morphology
ISUF 2018: Urban form and social context
PNUM 2018: The production of territory – forms, processes, purposes
ISUF-H 2018: City and urban forms – cross perspectives