Methodology
Framework for constructing comparable city portraits through spatial, documentary, and data-based analysis.
The methodology translates heterogeneous sources into structured representations of urban systems, enabling reconstruction, comparison, and interpretation across contexts.
Insights
Contextual Analysis
Extraction of historical, institutional, and narrative information from archives, publications, and actor networks. Outputs are structured descriptions of periods, decisions, and transformations.
Spatial Analysis
Derivation of urban structure from mapped data. Includes morphology, parcel logic, building distribution, and relationships between elements across scales.
Data Analysis
Quantification of attributes such as building types, densities, and distributions. Combines multiple datasets and resolves inconsistencies through alignment and calibration.
Workflow
Collection
Acquisition of spatial data, written sources, and statistical datasets.
Alignment
Linking sources through shared categories such as time periods, typologies, and locations.
Derivation
Extraction of patterns such as typological distributions, spatial structures, and temporal shifts.
Synthesis
Construction of consistent representations of the city for comparison across regions and time.
Principles
Integration
- Combine spatial, textual, and statistical sources within a shared structure
- Translate qualitative descriptions into comparable attributes
- Maintain links between scales such as building, block, city, and territory
Validation
- Check consistency across datasets describing the same phenomena
- Compare derived distributions with known references
- Use historical and spatial constraints to limit implausible results
Traceability
- Record source, assumptions, and transformation steps for each value
- Allow multiple interpretations where necessary
- Keep intermediate representations accessible
Objectives
Urban System Reconstruction
Reconstruct building stock composition, spatial structure, and temporal layers from incomplete and heterogeneous sources.
Comparability
Enable comparison between cities by expressing them through a shared set of attributes and distributions.
Interpretation
Provide a basis for explaining how historical processes, planning decisions, and material constraints shape urban form.