On the Discovery of Urban Typologies Data Mining the Multi-dimensional Character of Neighbourhoods

Abstract

In sustainable urban development the first stage of the urban design process should consist of a pre-design phase where the context of the site is analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In this paper we present a methodology for data mining an urban Geographic Information System (GIS) data set, consisting of three main phases: representation, analysis and description. The process reveals a series of block and street typologies at various levels of detail that highlight the different character of two neighbourhoods. This methodology is demanding in the preparation phase and requires a high level of GIS and statistics expertise in the analysis phase. However, it successfully addresses the complex multi-scale and multi-level nature of cities in a systematic way, providing a tool for systematic profiling of neighbourhoods, which is site and problem specific.