Extensive urban growth is often considered an uncoordinated process creating chaotic and fragmented suburban landscape. Such negative attitude is widespread among urban researchers and planners. But it contradicts with the very nature of the phenomenon – suburban sprawl is partly encouraged by people, who keep settling there due to a better quality of housing. This one and some other contradictions motivate more detailed morphological studies of the suburban fabric. This paper describes a research model, which is based on the three fundamental components of urban morphological research (form, resolution and time), and discusses the possibilities of its practical application for morphological examination of suburban settlements in Lithuania. Suggested research model is versatile and suitable for dealing with various morphological research problems of modern urban fabric, such as distinguishing different suburban tissues, analyzing their formation patterns, identifying their specific characteristics. As shown in the article, morphological knowledge can be integrated into the urban planning and design processes and be useful in guiding sustainable development of suburban settlements.

Article in: Lithuanian

Article published: 2013-10-21