2022 Theses Master's

Urban Morphology: A Study of Local Dependencies on Well-Being Metrics in Bogota, New York, and San Francisco

Rada Orellana, Mauricio Enrique

The configuration of the urban morphology shapes our behavior, which manifests through urban patterns such as livability, traffic, economic growth, and pollution. This thesis aims a two-fold objective: to deliver a typology of neighborhoods based on their urban form characterization and an analysis of the effects of the form on traffic congestion and pollutant concentrations. The methodology incorporates a quantitative-methods design. First, it encompasses a quantification of the urban form at the neighborhood scale based on the analysis from the literature review. I designed a typology through unsupervised learning to analyze the dependencies between the types and their components with estimated traffic and pollution patterns using statistical and supervised learning techniques.

While the cities of study are Bogota, New York, and San Francisco, this thesis aims to provide a generalizable quantitative theoretical framework of the positive or negative effects of the urban form on traffic concentration and pollutant concentrations based on replicable data collections methods. These findings can inform urban designers, planners, and officials to implement density, land use, and street configuration policies or review new infrastructure development. Finally, this modeling framework contributes to the current scarce but increasing literature on quantitative models that forecast built-environment changes at the local scale that can complement traditional city-scale analysis.