Understanding City Structure: Components and Urban Zones

Urban Landscape and Internal Structure

The urban landscape can be analyzed through three fundamental components:

• The Plan: This is the most stable and persistent element of urban morphology, reflecting the influence of physical geography and historical stages. It comprises the road network and built-up areas.
• The Building: This encompasses different types of construction, varying in size and the arrangement of buildings, such as closed building blocks, open building blocks, or houses with gardens.
• Land Use: Highly conditioned by economic processes, land use is the component that varies most easily. It accommodates various urban economic functions and activities.

To analyze the evolution of each city, one should consider geographic factors of location (specific site) and the city's situation, which refers to its broader regional or county context.

Key Areas of the Urban Landscape

We distinguish four main zones within the landscape of our cities:

Old and Historical Centers

The old town corresponds to the pre-industrial city, often surrounded by small walls. It is a significant part of the city, holding symbolic value and sometimes serving as one of the most important hallmarks of the city's plan. It is characterized by irregular, narrow streets, and buildings and environments with historical and cultural values that are necessary to preserve. Urban transformations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have modified their traditional roles, and their population is often very aged. In degraded areas of the old town, marginalization can occur, compounding aging with problems of social exclusion. In recent years, comprehensive rehabilitation and protection policies have replaced simple restoration efforts.

Urban Expansion Zones (Ensanche)

These are neighborhoods planned and built in the second half of the nineteenth century after the demolition of city walls. In the mid-twentieth century, buildings were introduced with materials and designs less suitable for tertiary and excessive commercial outsourcing activities. Aging and the pressure of exacerbated traffic are some of the main problems in these areas.

Residential Periphery

This area encompasses the most recently built parts of the city. This landscape is characterized by heterogeneity, where fragments of 20th-century urban features, diverse and sometimes unrelated to each other, overlap. Notably, it features extensive housing estates with block-style buildings and high densities of open land. The construction of facilities in recent years and improvements in public transportation systems have significantly increased the quality of life in these areas.

Peri-Urban Fringe

This is currently the most dynamic area. Here, diverse uses such as suburban industrial parks and various facilities are juxtaposed with new housing developments and shopping centers. Urban land developments and infrastructure coexist with agricultural land in these areas adjacent to the city.