Glossary – International Seminar on Urban Form

Glossary of Terms

This glossary (listed below) was compiled by Peter Larkham and Andrew Jones in the late 1980s, first as an internal discussion paper at the the University of Birmingham, and subsequently published as a Research Monograph by the Historical Geography Research Group of the Institute of British Geographers (ISBN 1 870074 08 4).

At that time, we felt that the nature of research in urban morphology was developing rapidly, as were contacts with like-minded scholars in several countries. The volume of published research was increasing. It was becoming evident that a lack of knowledge of the terminology used in different countries was an increasing obstacle to understanding what was being published. As Ivor Samuels wrote in 1990,

‘It is one of the attractions of the nexus of concepts, ideas and approaches that occupy the field of urban morphology that they are capable of being appropriated for use by different professions in different contexts who seek to use them for their own purposes. Choay and Merlin (1986) … complain about this. Everyone seemed to be discussing something different and there was very little common ground or methodological base, quite apart from language problems. This, however, is one of the strengths of morphology. It is open to approach by various disciplines with their own methods and any attempts to restrict or strait-jacket the discourse could stifle it’ (pp. 433-434).

Hence we compiled a basic glossary of technical terms common principally in English-language studies. We took as a basis M.R.G. Conzen’s own glossary in the revised second edition of his Alnwick study (1969), extending it with terms found in other publications and theses. We felt it necessary, rather as the Oxford English Dictionary does, to give precise citations and indeed quotations from works which have used particular terms in particular ways, to establish context and provenance for usage.

With the growth of ISUF as an international organisation from 1994, and the identification of a series of national ‘schools’ (Moudon, 1997), comes the opportunity to develop and broaden this Glossary. However, that is still very much work-in-progress, and meantime the 1990 Glossary has been placed on this website (with the permission of the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers). It has been found particularly useful for students and those new to the subject – but they (and all other users) should be aware of its limitations!

Any comments, suggestions, new terms and definitions are very welcome please e-mail peter.larkham at uce.ac.uk

Absolutist period

A period after the Thirty Years War when parts of continental Europe were dominated by principalities and dukedoms, with heads of state exercising absolute rule within their domain. This morphological period dominated central Europe for some 200 years, and resulted in the foundation of a number of new towns, typically with palaces in Baroque or Rococo styles. For the example of Koblenz in this period, see von der Dollen (1978, 1990).

Accretion – Conzenian terminology

“A peripheral addition to the built-up area of a town generally consisting of a non-traditional plan- unit and forming a component of either a residential integument or a fringe belt” (Conzen, 1969, p. 123).

Adaptive redevelopment – Conzenian terminology

A redevelopment of a plot, or series of plots, within the existing street system without the introduction of new streets (Conzen, 1960, pp. 69, 95, 123).

Addition – fabric change

SEE: building adaptation. The addition of floorspace to an existing building; extension.

Additive processes – Conzenian terminology

A sequence of activities whereby new forms are created at the outer edges of an urban area (Whitehand [Ed.], 1981, pp. 114-121). Contrast with transformative processes.

Aesthetic control – planning terminology

Control over details such as the external appearance of new building by the local planning authority (Punter, 1986b; 1987). Punter offers a working definition of the term as “that aspect of the regulation of development that seeks to control the physical attributes and uses of new buildings, and the spaces between them, so as to ensure a rewarding sensuous experience for the public who use the environment thus created (Punter, 1990, p. 2). In Britain, central government’s philosophy on aesthetic control has been summarised as “(a) the design of a building is synonymous with its external appearance; (b) the external appearance of a building can be considered separately from other aspects of a building; (c) any judgement of the external appearance of a building is essentially an aesthetic judgement; (d) aesthetic judgement is subjective; and (e) architectural training confers special status in the exercise of aesthetic judgement” (Bacon, 1980, pp. 75-79). Recent Department of the Environment guidance is that local planning authorities should not exert such control, except in special circumstances such as in conservation areas (Department of the Environment, 1985; Punter, 1986a). SEE: planning application

Agent – agent of change

This term is found in planning application and building regulation files, designating the representative of the initiator who liaises with the local authority. Some morphological studies (eg Callis, 1986) use it in a general sense. To avoid confusion with agent of change and estate agent, the simple term `agent’ is usually not used unless its context is unmistakeable: the term depositor is now preferred (eg Freeman, 1986a, p. 18).

Agent of change

Term used to denote all those active in the process of built-fabric change (eg Whitehand and Whitehand, 1984). This term is translated in Catalan as agent de canvi (Vilagrasa, 1990).

Agricultural residual – Conzenian terminology

Areas of agricultural land that have become surrounded by urban development. These often form part of the, usually open, middle and outer fringe belts or the intervening residential integuments (Conzen, 1960, pp. 81, 123).

Alley – street type

Small lane; SEE: back lane/access

Almshouse – building type

Small groups of cottages to be occupied by the poor or beneficiaries of local charities. Usually terraced; facilities often cramped and poor by current standards. Many groups survive in smaller British towns and some larger villages. Close parallel to the German Sozialwohnungen.

Altstadt

Ger. `old town’; SEE: kernel Usually the established medieval extent of a town when it received full legal status (see Schlesinger, 1969, p. 14).

Amenity group – agent of change

Group, often of local individuals but also including national bodies such as the Georgian Group, Victorian Society, Civic Trust etc. whose views may be sought by a local planning authority as being representative of the general public. In Britain, the rise in numbers and menbership of amenity groups follows the formation of the Civic Trust in 1957; their significance in terms of public consultation in the planning process follows the Skeffington Report on Public participation in planning (1969). See Lowe (1977).

Anglo-Scandinavian – architectural style

Style typical of British post-WWII housing, derived from Voysey’s smaller housing and contemporary Scandinavian developments. Main characteristic is the use of several textures, contrasting brickwork with weatherboarding, tile-hanging, and rendering; and often the use of pantiles rather than plain tiles (Edwards, 1981, p. 162).

Apartment

A dwelling within a block of similar dwellings. Common in North American use; in Britain, usually referred to as a `flat’ within a `block of flats’ (which may be high-rise). SEE: block housing

Apartment block/house – building type

SEE: block housing

Applicant – agent of change

The individual or corporation applying for planning permission or building regulations approval. For research purposes, more usually known as the initiator of a planning proposal.

Arcade – architectural term – building type

(1)Series of arches carried by columns, pilasters or similar. May be free-standing; if attached to a wall as a decoration, known as a blind arcade.

(2)Covered avenue with shops on one or both sides: this use dating from 1731 (Curl, 1986) and most commonly known with reference to Victorian shopping arcades.

Architect – agent of change

This is a complex category. Names obtained from various sources may, on closer examination, prove not to be architects in the strict professional sense of the term, usually denoted in Britain by membership of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA; ARIBA, FRIBA etc.) (note, however, that the proportion of architects who are members of the Institute varies over time). Associated design professions, including chartered surveyors or `design agencies’, may draw up plans; and non-qualified but trained persons may do so, often calling themselves `architectural/building technician/ adviser/consultant’ and so on. For various minor works, plans may be prepared by builders, shopfitters, or even by the manufacturers of shop signs and prefabricated buildings. For some planning applications, for example outline applications and applications for material change of use, an architectural drawing is not required and a block plan alone suffices. In the C19th especially, but persisting into the C20th, many new buildings were constructed by builders with reference to pattern- or copy-books and publications such as the Illustrated Carpenter and Builder, without the employment of architect as such (see Trowell, 1985 for the example of Leeds suburbs). This was noticeable in the speculative sector after 1920 when, due to a change in the RIBA Code of Professional Conduct, architects withdrew from that sector (Edwards, 1981, pp. 132ff). Sometimes, especially in America, standard plans could even be purchased by mail order (Harvey, 1981). Recently, large housebuilders have tended to develop a suite of standardised house types for use throughout the country on all types of site, thus eliminating the requirement for each development to be individually architect-designed. The definition of `architect’ is thus open to question and has varied between studies. Some (Whitehand and Whitehand, 1983, p. 198, 1984; Whitehand, 1983b; Freeman, 1983, 1986a) attempt to separate the true, professional architects from others by reference to professional lists and similar sources. Others record as `architects’ all who appear on the appropriate register (Collier, 1981, p. 5; MacGregor, 1984, p. 20). Larkham (1986a, 1986b, 1986c) classifies all who draw plans as `architects’, but notes professions where available, so that some distinctions may be drawn. Architects may vary in types of practice, from individual to partnership(s) over even a short study period. It is possible to divide individual from joint practices with a reasonable degree of accuracy; changes in local professional structures may thus be deduced (Larkham, 1986b). Likewise, independent architectural practices may be separated from organisations that have their own, in-house, architectural departments.

Architectural incongruence – Conzenian terminology

“The juxtaposition, commonly within the same street front, of buildings belonging to different morphological periods (Conzen, 1969, p. 123). This is particularly evident in areas that have experienced large-scale redevelopment during one morphological period; or have a mix of revivalist or Modern styles introduced into an otherwise mature streetscape. Tugnutt and Robinson (1987, chapter 5) give good illustrations.

Architectural style

A term used to define the predominant, usually exterior, appearance of a building. Architectural styles or designs usually follow fashions in art and literature and are, at any time, limited by the constructional methods and materials available to society. They usually derive their names from periods in history (for example Classical, Gothic, Regency, Victorian). Buildings may combine more than one style because they transcend design periods, different phases of construction or alteration are evident, or because the current fashion was for revivalist styles, such as neo-Georgian or neo-Tudor.

Architecture

The art and science of building. The form of structures that result are the outcome of the function for which they are to be used, the architect’s or client’s preferences and the structural method adopted.

Art Deco – architectural style

A style that became popular following the Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs of 1925 and applied particularly to retail and commercial buildings, cinemas and theatres. It is not a characteristic of residential development. It was the expansion of cinema and retail chains (particularly Odeon and Montague Burton) in the 1930s that stimulated the widespread dissemination of Art Deco in Britain -a move away from the traditional neo-Classical style exhibited earlier. In the 1920s and 1930s, commercial buildings in Britain adopted a fusion of Art Deco and neo-Classical styles (Larkham and Freeman, 1988). See Robinson and Bletter (1975) for a discussion of American Art Deco architecture, particularly of skyscrapers. Art Deco is too limited in extent, and fashionable over too short a period, to be referred to as a morphological period.

Arterial ribbon – Conzenian terminology

SEE: ribbon development

Art Nouveau – architectural style

Largely a reaction to Victorian classicism and eclecticism. It affected Europe and North America between c. 1890 and 1910, taking many titles following national traditions. For example, in Britain it was then known as the `Modern style’, in Germany as Jugendstil and in Poland as Secesja, where two variants, indigenous Polish and Viennese, are important. It is “often referred to as the style 1900, Art Nouveau expresses an essentially decorative trend that aims to highlight the ornamental value of the curved line, which may be floral in origin [as in Belgium, France or Polish Vienna Secesja] or geometric [Scotland and Austria]” (Lampugnani, 1986, p. 19).

Arts and Crafts – architectural style

A movement in art and architecture founded by William Morris and others towards the end of the C19th. It was a reaction against standardisation and machine-made products that occurred as a result of the industrial revolution. Its manifestation in architecture led to a revival of vernacular and rural features, especially those of the English cottage (high pitched roofs, projecting porches and intricate design forms). Owing to its very domestic nature, the Arts and Crafts movement found favour in residential development (Service, 1978, pp. 226-228).

Assessments – U.S. planning terminology

A North American term: public charges levied on landowners in return for public improvements or services; also known as `user fees’, or as `dedications’ if the charge is in kind (eg dedication of land as a park site) rather than in cash. Perjoratively referred to as `exactions’ where the charge is required as a precondition to a public permission but is unrelated to any benefit received by the landowner.

Atrium – architectural term

Originally a colonnaded court, roofed but with a large central opening to admit light and rain, found in Roman domestic architecture. The current use refers to large glassed areas, often public or semi-public space, within major office or retail developments. The ostensible function is to admit light; actually an atrium signifies the expensiveness and quality of a development to potential tenants and customers.

Augmentative redevelopment – Conzenian terminology

A form of redevelopment that adds to the street system within the pre-existing morphological frame.

Avenue – street type

From Lat. adventis, `to come to’. A wide, straight street lined with buildings and/or trees, often leading to a terminal building (cf boulevard, mall). May be a tree-lined approach to a large mansion. Has become debased during the period of suburban expansion, when it was used as an alternative to `street’ or `road’.

Back lane/access – street type

A minor element in the street system. Originally functioning as occupation roads to gain access to the rear of strip plots, in many towns the back lanes have been widened either for the modern requirements of the motor car, owing to the creation of tail end plots. In the residential townscape, the occurrence or introduction of a back lane has provided access to tandem development in rear gardens of existing houses (Jones et al., 1988). In American usage, alley.

Back-to-back – building type

A terraced house with access and windows only on the front faade and with a party wall to a similar building at the rear. House type common in northern British industrial towns, notably Leeds (Beresford, 1971). This house type was banned by most locally-adopted and model bye-laws by the 1880s.

Baroque – architectural style

The last phase of Renaissance architecture. Originated in Italy c. 1600; characterised by energetic, often theatrical, flowing lines. A morphological period.

Basic type – Caniggian terminology

In Caniggia’s analysis, dwellings form the basic type of any urban tissue (Samuels, 1982, p. 3). All other building types are special types.

Bastide

Fr. `fortification’, also in Northern Fr. bastille. A fortified smaller town, usually on hill-top site. Most common in France; some British fortified towns, particularly those planted to pacify newly-conquered regions (eg Wales) have also been referred to as bastides. See Beresford (1967); Tout (1917); Walker (1978).

Baudeputation – Ger. planning terminology

`Building Committee’, set up in the early C19th to oversee aspects of physical urban form, including street-paving, drainage, etc. (Sutcliffe, 1981, p. 12). Equivalent of British Public Works Committees with some of the functions of Planning Committees.

Bauordnungen – Ger. planning terminology

German equivalent of British building regulations, most particularly from the mid-C19th. A significant development was their modification from the later 1880s to abgestufte Bauordnungen or Staffelbauordnungen (stepped, or differential, regulations). Full heights and intensive use of sites should be allowed in central areas with high land values; but in the outer areas, lower buildings, covering a smaller proportion of the plot, were required (Sutcliffe, 1981, p. 32).

Bay – architectural term

(1)A subdivision of a building, especially meaning the space between two columns, piers or windows.

(2)A projecting window.

Bespoke

A tailoring analogy employed by Bowley (1966), adopted by Whitehand (1984), Whitehand and Whitehand (1983, pp. 496-7), Freeman (1986a, 1986b, 1988) and Larkham (1986a, 1988a) to denote a building designed specifically for the needs of a named owner. No speculative building can be bespoke. Not all bespoke buildings are owner-occupied (as the owner may lease to the occupier for whom the building was designed, as is now common with major retail developments). This term is of greatest use in discussing the influences of architects and other agents of change on architectural styles (Whitehand, 1984; Freeman, 1986b; Larkham, 1988b; Larkham and Freeman, 1988).

Bid-rent

Strictly, `bid-rent curve’. A line on a graph showing variations in the willingness of a land user to pay for a unit of land at varying distances from the city centre (Whitehand, 1987c, pp. 42- 44).

Blind-back – building type

A dwelling, usually a terraced house, that lacks rear windows or access. Its rear wall is usually along a plot boundary. It was a characteristic form of burgage repletion in England during the pre- and early-industrial periods and during the C19th was constructed in manufacturing cities, often intermixed with back-to-backs.

Block housing – building type

‘It is one of the attractions of the nexus of concepts, ideas and approaches that occupy the field of urban morphology that they are capable of being appropriated for use by different professions in different contexts who seek to use them for their own purposes. Choay and Merlin (1986) … complain about this. Everyone seemed to be discussing something different and there was very little common ground or methodological base, quite apart from language problems. This, however, is one of the strengths of morphology. It is open to approach by various disciplines with their own methods and any attempts to restrict or strait-jacket the discourse could stifle it’ (pp. 433-434).

Any comments, suggestions, new terms and definitions are very welcome please e-mail peter.larkham at uce.ac.uk

Absolutist period

Accretion – Conzenian terminology

Adaptive redevelopment – Conzenian terminology

A redevelopment of a plot, or series of plots, within the existing street system without the introduction of new streets (Conzen, 1960, pp. 69, 95, 123).

Addition – fabric change

SEE: building adaptation. The addition of floorspace to an existing building; extension.

Additive processes – Conzenian terminology

A sequence of activities whereby new forms are created at the outer edges of an urban area (Whitehand [Ed.], 1981, pp. 114-121). Contrast with transformative processes.

Aesthetic control – planning terminology

Agent – agent of change

Agent of change

Term used to denote all those active in the process of built-fabric change (eg Whitehand and Whitehand, 1984). This term is translated in Catalan as agent de canvi (Vilagrasa, 1990).

Agricultural residual – Conzenian terminology

Alley – street type

Small lane; SEE: back lane/access

Almshouse – building type

Altstadt

Ger. `old town’; SEE: kernel Usually the established medieval extent of a town when it received full legal status (see Schlesinger, 1969, p. 14).

Amenity group – agent of change

Anglo-Scandinavian – architectural style

Apartment

A dwelling within a block of similar dwellings. Common in North American use; in Britain, usually referred to as a `flat’ within a `block of flats’ (which may be high-rise). SEE: block housing

Apartment block/house – building type

SEE: block housing

Applicant – agent of change

The individual or corporation applying for planning permission or building regulations approval. For research purposes, more usually known as the initiator of a planning proposal.

Arcade – architectural term – building type

(1)Series of arches carried by columns, pilasters or similar. May be free-standing; if attached to a wall as a decoration, known as a blind arcade.

(2)Covered avenue with shops on one or both sides: this use dating from 1731 (Curl, 1986) and most commonly known with reference to Victorian shopping arcades.

Architect – agent of change

Architectural incongruence – Conzenian terminology

Architectural style

Architecture

Art Deco – architectural style

Arterial ribbon – Conzenian terminology

SEE: ribbon development

Art Nouveau – architectural style

Arts and Crafts – architectural style

Assessments – U.S. planning terminology

Atrium – architectural term

Augmentative redevelopment – Conzenian terminology

A form of redevelopment that adds to the street system within the pre-existing morphological frame.

Avenue – street type

Back lane/access – street type

Back-to-back – building type

Baroque – architectural style

The last phase of Renaissance architecture. Originated in Italy c. 1600; characterised by energetic, often theatrical, flowing lines. A morphological period.

Basic type – Caniggian terminology

In Caniggia’s analysis, dwellings form the basic type of any urban tissue (Samuels, 1982, p. 3). All other building types are special types.

Bastide

Baudeputation – Ger. planning terminology

Bauordnungen – Ger. planning terminology

Bay – architectural term

(1)A subdivision of a building, especially meaning the space between two columns, piers or windows.

(2)A projecting window.

Bespoke

Bid-rent

Blind-back – building type

Block housing – building type

Housing, usually built by municipal authorities, constructed as blocks of flats (also known as apartments in North America). Such blocks characteristically have common entrances and services, such as heating, lighting, etc. Blocks are usually tall, known in general as high-rise blocks; if significantly taller than their width, they may be known as tower blocks or point blocks. A British sub-type, commonly under 10 storeys, had access to individual dwellings along open galleries or decks, and these were known as deck-access blocks.

Block plan of a building – Conzenian terminology

“The area occupied by a building and defined on the ground by the lines of its containing walls. Loosely defined as the `building’ in town-plan analysis. It is a plan element” (Conzen, 1969, p. 123). This should not be confused with the building plan.

; if significantly taller than their width, they may be known as tower blocks or point blocks. A British sub-type, commonly under 10 storeys, had access to individual dwellings along open galleries or decks, and these were known as deck-access blocks.

Block plan of a building – Conzenian terminology

Borough

(1)settlement type A town with a corporation and special privileges granted by a Royal charter; a town that, especially from the C14th onwards, sends representatives to Parliament (idea originating from Fr. bonne ville: Petit-Dutaillis and Lefebvre, 1930, p. 68). Legal independence is another significant criterion (Bateson, 1904). In the early medieval period, there was no general or legal distinction to borough (SEE: burh(Petit-Dutaillis and Lefebvre, 1930, Ch. VIII). There is a tacit assumption that borough (or Scottish burgh) can be equated with `town’, but little discussion has taken place on this point despite the acknowledged deficiencies of legally-based definitions (Graham, 1988, p. 40; Clarke and Simms, 1985); See the discussion of town status (town, para. 2).

(2)An English administrative district. County Boroughs were designated from 1888 as those urban boroughs with populations over 50,000; or over 75,000 from 1926. Following the London Government Act, 1963, Greater London was divided into 32 London Boroughs (plus the City of London Corporation); and as a result of the Local Government Act, 1972, Metropolitan Boroughs were created within the six new metropolitan counties of England when county boroughs were abolished. Borough corresponds to the Scottish burgh.

Boulevard

(1)Originally the broad, horizontal surface of the rampart of a town wall.

(2)street type A broad, handsome avenue, often for ceremonial use (cf mall). Applied first to the wide thoroughfares that replaced the city walls of Paris: the first such was opened in 1670, extending from Port Saint-Denis to the Bastille.

Break-through street – Conzenian terminology – street type

A street constructed to link two or more existing streets. These were particularly common in the early-C19th: the era of transport innovations. A break-through street may involve the demolition of building fabric and dissection of a plan-unit.

Brick

A block made of clay (sun-dried or burnt), sand and lime, or concrete. Of regular size, although these have changed through time with, for example, depth increasing from Roman to modern bricks. Bricks may be moulded or cut for decorative effect; use of differing clays and firing processes results in a variety of colours and textures.

Brick bonding

The pattern in which bricks are fitted together, normally in rows or courses. This varies by age, region and material. Early and inferior bricks were of irregular shape and showed no recognisable bond, or pattern. Bonding not only affects the strength of the wall but also its aesthetic characteristics. It is described in terms of a pattern of headers (end face) and stretchers (side). See Brian (1973, pp. 11-13); Brunskill (1978). English bond comprises alternating courses of headers and stretchers. Used primarily in a belt from the Severn to the Thames and nationwide for educational, railway and institutional buildings. Flemish bond contains alternate headers and stretchers in each course. This type of bonding is expensive in its use of brick and, therefore, is most commonly found on main rather streets than side streets. An importation from the Low Countries, in Britain its geographical centre is in Essex and the Thames Valley. Hybrid bonds combine the diagnostic features of both English- and Flemish-type bonding, and may be found throughout southern England. In the northern and upland areas of the country, stone tends to be the favoured building material. The use of bricks is usually confined to institutional buildings, or strengthening courses for rubble stonework. Stretcher bonds are most common in modern buildings, since most recent building regulations in Britain stipulate the need for cavity walls. The outer brick layer acts only as a `skin’.

Builder – agent of change

Most recent British studies of C20th urban form, and Baerwald (1981, p. 342), use this category. Most have essentially the same meaning, although Whitehand and Whitehand (1983, p. 503) include civil engineering contractors for some purposes; Baerwald states that builders may also be involved in the sale of property, and Collier (1981, p. 5) obtains his classification from the Building Registers. Implicit in all these is the idea that the `builder’ is the major agent of change involved in all stages of the construction or alteration of a building.

Building

“A house or stationary structure with walls and a roof” (OED). The absolute requirement for a roof may be questioned. `Building’ is the abbreviated usage in town-plan analysis for the block plan of a building. Generally, in urban morphological usage, all three dimensions of the building are considered.

Building adaptation – fabric change

This is a particularly wide-ranging category, much subdivided, covering all changes to the building fabric other than new building/major rebuilding/redevelopment. To denote an addition of floorspace to a building, the term addition is used by Whitehand (1983b, p. 323), Whitehand and Whitehand (1983, p. 490), Freeman (1983, p. 2, 1986a) and Larkham (1986a) to include all extensions and free-standing auxiliary buildings. Pain (1980) uses this term, but does not define it. Extension is used by Pain (1980, p. 44), Luffrum (1979, p. 120) and Sim (1976, p. 65, 1982). Pain (1980) and Cooper (1984) both provide a sizeable list of other changes, not defined, which are more or less those that the original data source (building plans and planning applications respectively) give. As these are undefined they are of little use, particularly such vague groupings as `alterations to form’, `conversion’ and `structural external alteration and extensions’. Some comparison with other studies may be made if all such categories are amalgamated. Luffrum (1979, p. 120) and Sim (1976, p. 65, 1982) identify changes in plots – amalgamations and subdivisions – that would have some effect upon the interior structure of buildings. Larkham (1986a) identified `interior alterations’, and Whitehand’s general survey of the field (1983a) mentions these, but they do not necessarily involve plot changes, and are usually ignored since they do not affect the exterior of buildings. Larkham (1986a) also identified refurbishment as a distinct category, although this is a specific type of adaptation recognised for the purpose of studying conservation-related changes. As such, it is unlikely to be found in most other studies of built fabric change.

Building Code – U.S. planning terminology

U.S. equivalent of British building regulations. Most large U.S. towns/cities did not draw up building codes until the 1880s/1890s and even then, fire remained the prime consideration: other factors such as building height were neglected (Lubove, 1962, p. 142).

Building control – planning terminology

A function carried out by the building surveyors department of the local authority, guided by the building regulations. This function is not a planning function (for which SEE: development control: it is concerned with the structural integrity and habitability of buildings.

Building coverage – Conzenian terminology

“The amount of plot area covered by buildings, expressed as a percentage of the total plot area” (Conzen, 1969, p. 123). This is also known as the plot ratio by local planning authorities, who use the measure to control density in new developments.

Building cycle

Periodic fluctuation in the rate of building construction dependent upon the changing socio- economic conditions (Parry Lewis, 1965; Whitehand, 1987c, chap. 2).

Building fabric/built fabric

The building material and architectural style in which a structure or group of structures is constructed. Incompatible building fabric combinations may be seen as one element of architectural incongruence and, therefore, the consequences for townscape management of ill-considered fabric combinations are immense.

Building line – Conzenian terminology – planning terminology

A line, usually roughly parallel to the street-line, which follows the alignment of building front walls. In central areas the building line is often the street line. In most residential areas the building line is set behind front gardens. The Conzenian building line is an “irregular geographical … line” (1969, p. 123) and is distinct from the line introduced by town planners to control the siting of new buildings (Conzen, 1960, p. 32). The French equivalent is known as alignement, controlled since an edict of Henri IV in 1607, and codified by Napoleonic legislation in 1807 (Sutcliffe, 1981, p. 128).

Building pattern – Conzenian terminology

In town-plan analysis, this is “the arrangement of existing buildings, ie their block-plans in a built- up area viewed as a separate element complex of the town plan” (Conzen, 1969, p. 123).

Building plans – planning terminology – data source

Colloquial term for the applications submitted to local authority Building Control departments, in some districts from as early as the mid C19th. Their large-scale use for urban form analysis was pioneered by Aspinall and Whitehand (1980). They contain technical, structural and architectural material including drawings and calculations, and are a useful basis for determining the age of buildings.

Building registers – data source

A record, usually in chronological order, of applications made under the building regulations. May be combined with the planning register.

Building regulations

System of control over the structural integrity and habitability of new buildings. Administered by the local authority building control or building surveyor’s departments. Formal application for consent under the building regulations entails the submission of building plans. This process is separate from applications for planning permission. Similar to the U.S. building code; Ger. Bauordnungen. The French adoption of building regulations was driven by particular concern for public health, following the decree- law of 1852 (Sutcliffe, 1981, p. 136).

Building replacement – fabric changes

Defined by Conzen (1969, p. 129) as the “substitution of existing with new building”. Usually used to indicate small-scale change, since large-scale change deals with amalgamations of plots and is termed redevelopment. SEE: new building

Building surveyor

Usual term for officers of a local authority administering the building control system.

Built fabric

Term used interchangeably with building fabric.

Built-up area – planning terminology

An area predominantly occupied by buildings where a system of street lighting is required. Colloquially, broadly synonymous with `urban’.

Bungalow – building type

A house type with a wide spatial and cultural distribution, rendering exact definition difficult. Earliest use is C17th banggolo (various spellings): a peasant’s hut in rural Bengal. Introduced to England, and thence to British colonies; distinguished by function rather than form, as a purpose-built leisure or holiday house. In colonial use, `a tropical house for occupation by Europeans’. In Europe and North America, used for a separate detached dwelling for single-family occupation, often with a verandah. Only from the early C20th, and outside Asia and Africa, has it become restricted to dwellings with one principal storey (King, 1984, pp. 1-2).

Burgage

From Lat. burgagium. “The urban strip-plot held by a burgess in a medieval borough and charged with a fixed annual rent as a contribution to the borough farm (firma burgi) or a communal borough tax of the town” (Conzen, 1969, p. 123). “Defined in legal terms as a property unencumbered with manorial services which could be bought, sold or bequeathed freely without reference to any manorial authority” (Bond, 1990).

Burgage analysis – method of analysis

In form, burgages are long and narrow. Conzen (1969, pp. 31-33) suggests from empirical evidence a `normal’ English burgage width as some 28-32ft. Burgages may be analysed using both geometric and metrological means. Recent metrological analysis suggests that burgages were regularly planned and laid out according to statute measures (rods, poles, perches) (Slater, 1981, 1988, 1990c). Various types of burgage can be distinguished (SEE: morphometric analysis.

Burgage plot

Tautology – SEE: burgage despite its common usage (eg Scrase, 1989).

Burgage series

Series, usually a row, of similar burgages. A convenient unit for burgage analysis; may be a plan- unit. See the example of Lower Broad Street, Ludlow in Slater (1990c, pp. 71-72).

Burgage tenure – interest in land

A form of tenure found in boroughs (legally defined) by which all forms of service were commuted to a fixed money rent. This tenure was probably of French, not Anglo-Saxon, origin. Free burgage tenure paid a fixed annual rent, and rendered no services (Adams, 1976, p. 15).

Burgerhaus – Ger. building type

(1)Literally `the house of a burgher’; more specifically a merchant’s medieval town house in central and northern Europe. The regional variability of these principal urban houses has been extensively studied in Germany. The vast majority are built gable-end to the street, of at least 3 storeys, and have extensive storage in roofs and cellars (Griep, 1985).

(2)Also used to describe the 2- and 3-storey buildings constructed in the mid C19th in Germany to house 4, 6 or more families in separate apartments (Sutcliffe, 1981, p. 15; Eberstadt, 1909, pp. 57-58).

Burgh – settlement type

Scottish term corresponding with the English Borough: see Pryde (1965).

Burh – settlement type

The term originally referred to any fortification, but is customarily reserved for large forts built by kings. They were thus defensive strongholds, many acted as centres of Royal administration, and during the period of fortification there was also an urbanising process, not always centered upon the burh sites themselves (Dyer, 1988, pp. 72-76). Thus, Old English word for a town, used especially of the fortified towns of Alfred’s time (871-899) and later. The legal difference between town, burh and borough is problematic (Petit-Dutaillis and Lefebvre, 1930). In Europe, the similar word burgum was often used for the burgesses’ part of a town (Brooke and Kier, 1975, p. ix).

Bye-law also spelled `by-law’

Local legal system for building control. Many local bye-laws originated with the Public Health Act, 1848 and Local Government Act, 1858. “The need to make provision for fresh air, light and space in the urban environment gradually established primacy of concern. Increasing attention was given to the layout of land and housing development to achieve these objectives” (Cherry, 1988, p. 40). Model bye-laws were issued by the Local Government Board in 1877 after consultation with local authorities and the RIBA. See Gaskell (1983). Generally superseded by national building regulations in 1966. Equivalent to the U.S. housing or building codes; Ger. Bauordnung. SEE: building control

Bye-law cycle

A dynamic, reciprocal relationship between building practices and housing legislation, described in four stages for Kingston-upon-Hull: (1)the free-enterprise stage: absence of effective regulations controlling new building: ends when standards of poorest housing provoke demands for effective new legislation;

(2)the new legislation stage: restrictive bye-laws come into force, but minimum standards rarely exceed those of the better housing of the first stage;

(3)the stage of controlled building: minimum standards are rarely exceeded, little variety in housing;

(4)the stage of divergence from minimum standards: increasing numbers of houses are of higher standards than the minimum; minimum standards are now outdated and a second cycle follows (Forster, 1972).

Bye-law housing – building type

General term given to housing designs and layouts following building control by local bye-laws, particularly following the 1875 Public Health Act (Forster, 1972; Burnett, 1978).

Bye-law street – street type

Bye-laws laid down street widths. Speculative builders, seeking optimum return from land, built straight, grid-pattern street layouts to standard dimensions, lined with virtually identical houses, which became known as `bye-law houses’. This monotony leads to the pejorative use of the term to describe typical street layouts from the late Victorian period onwards (Edwards, 1981, p. 70).

Cadastre

Public register of the lands of a country for fiscal purposes; applied also to a survey on a large scale (Chambers Dictionary).

Cadastral developments/processes

Land-parcel and building-pattern transformations (particularly U.S. use) (M.P. Conzen, 1990).

Cadastral practices

Modes of land subdivision (particularly in U.S. context) (M.P. Conzen, 1990, p. 145).

Caniggian

Pertaining to, or characteristic of, an adherent of the doctrines of Gianfranco Caniggia (see Kropf, 1986; Samuels, 1982, 1990)

Car-park – building type – land use

An increasingly common land use in the post-WWII period. Often found first on bombed sites; currently on cleared sites prior to redevelopment. Purpose-built car-parks are often multi-storey. As free- standing structures they are usually in the inner fringe-belt. Otherwise they are often parts of major retail developments in the central urban area.

Castle – building type

Free-standing fortification. In British urban contexts, many are Norman motte-and-bailey castles; first constructed of wood and later replaced by stone, forming the pre-urban nucleus of many colonial towns. The motte is the artificial earthen mound upon which the castle stands. The bailey, also known as a ward (a courtyard enclosed by an outer defensive wall), is often subject to encroachment followed by extra-mural development, or accretion. Devizes, Wiltshire, is an example of a semi-circular plan developing outside the bailey wall with a subsequent phase of colonisation within the bailey (Aston and Bond, 1976, p. 87). When such fortifications were imposed upon existing settlements, large areas of plots and their buildings were often cleared to make way for them. Edwardian castles are very highly-developed fortifications, learning from the military experience of the Crusades. They were planted during the colonisation of Wales (late-C13th) and often have attached, walled, towns such as Caernarfon. On the Continent, urban castles are a significant feature in many regions, particularly of planted and colonial towns such as those founded by the Polish King Kazimierz (C14th) (Slater, 1989b, p. 243). In many cases the castle has remained in use to the present, the military function becoming usurped by that of Royal or aristocratic residence, possibly with some administrative functions; the building form being altered from military to palace (Residenz).

Central business district (CBD)

The CBD was identified as a distict region following the formulation of general theories of city structure in the early C20th. Murphy and Vance (1954) advanced a number of indices by which the CBD could be physically delimited, despite the comment that the CBD “is a somewhat vague area with no definite boundaries” (Bartholomew, 1932, p. 37). Recent detailed studies have used a land-use approach to CBD delimitation, for example by working outwards from the centres of commercial cores until a commercial plot was succeeded by three successive sites accommodating non-commercial functions. The commercial site was then used to delimit the outer edge of the CBD (Freeman, 1986a, p. 35); same method used but not described by Whitehand and Whitehand (1983, 1984).

Change of use

Luffrum (1979, p. 20) used simple inspection of property type in an attempt to determine whether function had changed from residential to commercial use or vice versa. This proved unreliable. Sim (1976, p. 55, 1982) used the category as defined by Planning Committee minutes; Pain (1980, p. 44) as defined by the building register; and Larkham (1986a) and Cooper (1984, p. 13) used the indication of a planning application for consent to a change of use. These definitions are not compatible. Planning applications note only `material change of use’, and Heap (Ed., vol. 2, section 2-815) states that “the application of the formula [to determine change of use] in individual cases contains often a significant element of subjective judgement, and is regarded by the courts as being primarily a matter of fact and degree for the Secretary of State”. A geographer probably has an instinct to classify change of use as being change of function, but this is clearly not the same as the planner’s view (and, after all, these data sources were designed for planning use): “The precise meaning of `material’ … is not altogether clear … it appears from some decisions of the Minister [now Secretary of State], and also from the courts, [thay they] have at some times felt that between one use and another of broadly similar character there will be development [ie a change of use] if, and only if, change to the other use will have a substantial effect on the amenities of the neighbourhood …” (Heap, Ed., vol. 4, section 6-085). There are few guidelines to define `material’, thus what is deemed `material’ and will therefore appear on the planning register is an individual decision by each local planning authority’s planning officers, guided by the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Orders, which themselves change. (See Heap, 1987, pp. 121-135.) Some measure of inconsistency may thus arise. Changes of use per se do not require an application under the building regulations: only those where the new use entails structural changes are found when using building plans as a data source. Both data sources nevertheless provide more reliable and internally consistent data than Luffrum’s field survey technique.

Checkerboard/Chequer plan

U.S. term for grid plan.

City Beautiful movement – U.S. planning terminology

U.S. movement to `beautify’ cities, which has pre-Civil War origins. Term usually applied to the movement and period post-1902, following the report of a Senate commission on planning proposals for Washington D.C. (Reps, 1967, pp. 70-138). These proposals generated a new wave of interest in `civic beautification’ (Sutcliffe, 1981, pp. 97-99; Reps, 1965, pp. 497-525).

Classical – architectural style

The influence of Greek and Roman architecture was revived during the Italian Renaissance. During the C18th and first two-thirds of the C19th, classical design elements were used widely, especially for public buildings. Major characteristics included the use of classical elements: columns, pilasters, pediments and shallow roofs concealed by parapets. Classical buildings rely on symmetry about a focal point and restraint in the use of materials. Elements of this style are found in post-Modern classical.

Closed building development – Conzenian terminology

“The arrangement of plot dominants in rows or terraces of more than eight houses” (Conzen, 1969, p. 124).

Cocktail belt

A term used by Whitehand (1967) to describe the belt of middle-class residential areas in the urban-rural fringe of major cities, and specifically London. See Whitehand (1988a).

Colonial town – settlement type

A town established by colonial powers to act as a focus for the transfer of colonial wealth back to the homeland, to consolidate the conquest of the country, and to impose a culture or religion upon the colony. Usually used of European colonisation of Africa and the Americas (Reps, 1965), but there are other examples of colonial town plantation, such as those of the Normans in medieval England and Ireland (Marshall, 1968; Graham, 1988) and by the Germans in many parts of medieval Europe (Clarke and Simms [Eds], 1985, Section III). Characteristically, they are strongly defended settlements and are linked by a good transportation network, or are coastal settlements. They are carefully planned, often with a grid-plan layout, often centred upon an administrative functional area, with ceremonial features such as malls. They have little in common with the form of native settlements. See King (1976).

Company suburb/town – settlement type

Mining, industrial or manufacturing suburbs or entire towns developed by a company to house workers adjacent to their workplace. Allen (1966) discusses 191 U.S. company towns. The employer had greater control over the workers and their families – in the workplace (as employer), in the town (as shopowner, educator and administrator) and in the home (as landlord). For example, control was often exercised by payment in Company credit or token rather than cash. A number of these settlements were run on idealistic lines, such as New Lanark, the idealist there being Robert Owen, who attempted to create a socialist settlement. As cities grew in the mid-C19th to early C20th, many companies moved to the peripheries of existing settlements and established company suburbs: eg in Berlin, the Siemens company developed Siemensstadt (Ribbe, 1985), and in/L ?d_, a small number of paternalistic industrialists developed the `hydro-industrial’ area with factories, shops, houses and a fire station (Koter, 1969). The employer frequently provided cheaper and a higher standard of housing and community facilities than were available in the rest of the city, with the aim of attracting the best workers to their factory. It was common for there to be a religious basis to the philanthropy of these industrialists: Titus Salt, an evangelist Christian, established Saltaire (Bradford) in 1850 with the aim of improving housing conditions for wool mill workers; and the Cadbury family developed Bournville (Birmingham), a suburb to be run on Quaker principles, in 1879.

Complementary building development – Conzenian terminology

“Retarded building development taking place on parcels of unbuilt land within an otherwise built- up area and completing the plan-unit of that area. It often results in architectural incongruence” (Conzen, 1969, p. 124). These parcels of unbuilt land may include agricultural residuals, plots that have been previously unattractive for development, or open spaces within the urban fabric. This is a sub-set of new building.

Composite town-plans

A town plan consisting of a number of discrete plan-units that reflect the particular circumstance of their creative phase. It is becoming apparent that the majority of English towns are composite in character (Slater, 1990c): compare the analysis of Lichfield by Bassett (1982) with that by Slater (1986b).

Comprehensive redevelopment – planning terminology

A fashion prevalent in post-WWII British planning for the wholesale clearance and redevelopment of sizeable urban areas, particularly in inner cities (see Esher, 1981). A sub-set of new building.

Compulsory purchase – planning terminology

Power of the State or local authority to compel landowners to sell sites. Often used in the assembly of large sites for comprehensive redevelopment. In Germany, this practice is controlled by the Enteignungsgesetz (Expropriation Law) of 1874.

Concretion

The formalisation of structures when permanent buildings replace temporary forms within an established plan-unit. Market concretions are the most common examples. SEE: encroachment

Conservation

SEE: urban conservation

Conservation area – planning terminology

Areas established initially under the Civic Amenities Act, 1967, as amended by the Town and Country Planning Act, 1971. They are “areas of architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance” (1971 Act, Section 277). There are in excess of 6,300 areas in Great Britain, the majority of which are in town centres, but residential and industrial areas, and village centres, are also included. Over and above the normal planning controls, the local planning authority has the ability to refuse planning applications for development on the grounds of design and construction where the proposals would be detrimental to the aesthetic character of the conservation area. This is one of the few types of area where the exercise of aesthetic control is currently found acceptable (Punter, 1986a). These areas have parallels in U.S. `historic districts’ and `heritage sites’, and French secteurs sauvegardes.

Conservation Area Consent – planning terminology

Since the Town and Country Amenities Act, 1974, Listed Building Consent has been required for the demolition of any building in a designated conservation area. Conservation area consent was introduced to resolve the anomaly of Listed Building Consent applications being made for unlisted buildings in a conservation area (Department of the Environment, 1987).

Consultant – agent of change

Some studies have identified consultants (Whitehand and Whitehand, 1983, p. 501; Freeman, 1983, 1986a), although often without defining them. It has been noted that they are usually `consulting engineers’ and may, for example, make structural calculations for use by architects and builders. However, some practices of architects have their own structural engineers, and some consulted practices have titles such as `Architects and Consulting Engineers’, so care must be taken to ascertain in which capacity a practice is being consulted.

Consequent streets – Conzenian terminology – street type

“An annular street or set of streets developing along an antecedent fixation line as the site successor of a previous topographical feature of linear extent such as a line of fortification” (Conzen, 1969, p. 124).

Contextualism – planning – architectural terminology

Term coming into use in Britain in the mid- to late-1980s to describe the increased concern of both planners and architects with the influence of the immediate environment, or context, on a building. This roughly parallels the rise of the post-Modern architectural style (Tugnutt and Robinson, 1987).

Conzenian

Pertaining to, or characteristic of, an adherent of the doctrines of M.R.G. Conzen (see Whitehand [Ed.], 1981, chaps. 1,6, 1987a especially Fig. 1, 1987b).

Copyhold – interest in land

A form of tenure in which title was substantiated by the tenant’s ability to produce a copy of the legal document (eg entry in court roll) noting acquisition of the property. It developed from later medieval villein tenures, and was widespread by the Tudor period (Adams, 1976, p. 15).

Copyhold – interest in land

Court housing – building type

Industrial working-class housing, consisting of two parallel, facing rows of houses with a wide pathway between them, laid out at right-angles to a thoroughfare to form a self-contained unit, usually of between 12 and 22 houses (Forster, 1972, p. 1).

Cul-de-sac – street type

A street closed at one end. Also known as `close’, `blind alley’ or `dead end’. Widely used in residential planning from the mid-C20th, especially in attempts to segregate pedestrians and local traffic from through traffic.

Curtilage – planning terminology

An area attached to a building (usually a dwelling-house) as part of its enclosure. In most cases, the plot is coterminous with the curtilage.

Customary tenure – interest in land

“Customary tenantes are those that hold theyr land by copye of court role, after the custom of the manor”: SEE: copyhold(Adams, 1976, p. 15).

Defences

SEE: urban fortifications

Demolition – fabric change

Few studies have demolition as a separate category of built-fabric change. Cooper (1984, p. 13) wished to differentiate “demolition with no subsequent rebuilding”, and Larkham (1986a) recorded demolitions for a specific conservation-related reason. Other than this, demolition does not seem to require separate classification, since it is inherent in the concept of redevelopment/rebuilding.

Density – planning terminology

SEE: residential gross density although ‘density’ is the usual term used.

Department store – building type

Large building for retail use; operated by one firm but containing a number of specialised retail departments (eg mens clothing; ladies clothing; food; toys; kitchen goods etc.). Became common in late C19th, the archetypal example being Harrods.

Depositor – agent of change

For both building plans and planning applications, agents usually act on behalf of initiators [applicants], and liaise between them and the local planning authority. They may be recorded as a separate agent of change, although analysis (Larkham, 1986a; Freeman, 1986a) suggests that, as such, their influence is limited since the great majority of agents are the architects of the application, or another agent of change involved in the fabric change, acting in a dual role. To avoid confusion between `agent’ and the widely used term agent of change, the term depositor is frequently used for this category.

Derivative plot – Conzenian terminology

“A secondary plot carved from a parent plot by partition” (Conzen, 1969, p. 124). This division may be by truncation, medial division or other form of partition: Examples of derived plots in the modern residential townscape are given by Jones et al. (1988, pp. 13-17).

Design – planning terminology

A term used to describe the form of a layout or architectural style.

Design control – planning terminology

SEE: aesthetic control

Design guide – planning terminology

A publication by local planning authorities in which they recommend to developers their policies of design. In general, it is “a set of design principles and standards required by the local planning authority and applying to a wide area and not just a particular site” (Llewelyn-Davies et al., 1976). The first of these, A design guide for residential areas, was published by Essex County Council in 1973. The aim was to provide a stimulus to architects and designers for more imaginitive design and to provide informal specialist advice before a scheme becomes too advanced. It stimulated much debate (Smales and Goodey, 1985), led to replication and adaptation by a number of other authorities, and to the application to other design problems such as the use of trees and landscaping, provision of open space and the treatment of development in aesthetically sensitive sites, such as those in conservation areas or listed buildings.

Detached house – building type

A dwelling not physically attached to any other, and most often set in its own grounds. These characteristics ensure that this is a housing type for upper socio-economic groups; however, a vogue for detached housing in Britain during the 1970s and 1980s has seen a more general application of this type. `Cottage’ or `villa’ in North American usage (cf Holdsworth, 1986).

Detailed planning application – planning terminology

SEE: planning application

Developer – agent of change

Used by many studies. A nebulous term, since the developer may not be the builder (actual construction may be sub-contracted), may not be the initiator, and is rarely the occupier of the building. Some organisations develop for speculative sale (eg housebuilders); some for commercial lease (for example, the Prudential Assurance Co. from the 1930s; and many `property companies’ in the post-WWII period); some develop for specific clients, who are the initiator and occupier of the resulting development (for British superstores, see Larkham, 1988c) – they may thus produce bespoke developments.

Development

(1)planning terminology “Any building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land” (Town and Country Planning Act, 1962, Section 12). All development is subject to planning permission save minor changes for which de facto permission is given in the General Development Order.

(2)colloquial planning terminology Any building; particularly during the period when construction is planned or taking place; often used in property advertisements (“an exciting new retail development …”). ]

(3)colloquial Gradual unfolding or growth; [in the non-biological sense] evolution (Chambers Dictionary); make progress, become fuller or bigger or more elaborate or systematic (OED).

Development agent – agent of change

Term coined by Healey et al. (1982) and McNamara (1986) to describe the increasing involvement of multi-functional estate agents in the development process.

Development control – planning terminology

The formal administrative process through which applications for permission to develop land are considered (McNamara, 1985). It is usually operated separately from other sections of planning departments that have responsibility for strategic planning, policy and local plan formation.

Development control data – data source

SEE: planning application This term is used to encompass planning applications, decision notices, officers’ resports and correspondence. They can be used with considerable accuracy to measure the volume and nature of change to the built fabric (Larkham, 1988d). It is difficult to use these data for policy evaluation (McNamara, 1985, p. 461). Many studies (eg Brotherton, 1982) use summaries of development control data that are usually regarded as being unsuitable (McNamara and Healey, 1984). Hebbert (Ed.) (1989) gives a useful summary of this data source and its potential applications.

Development pressure – planning terminology

Colloquial term, inadequately defined, to describe demand for development. Usually measured using some form of analysis of actual or aggregate development control data. This concept and its measurement are discussed in Larkham (1990b).

Developmental method – method of analysis

A research procedure in which development (here = urban growth) is investigated in a chronological sequence (Whitehand [Ed.], 1981, p. 13).

Dispersed urban development – Conzenian terminology

Large plots of land situated in the countryside, often Green Belt, in proximity to an urban area and occupied by land uses that are urban in character and depend upon the nearby settlement. Conzen (1960, p. 61) suggests that these may form the distal or outer advance zone of a fringe belt. They may also form a detached part of an arterial ribbon.

Division

SEE: plot division

Doppelstadt – settlement type

Ger. `double town’, see von der Dollen (1990). Two medieval towns founded side-by-side, usually by different lords, sometimes in different periods. The two may thus have morphologically distinct plans and/or separate administrations.

Edwardian – architectural style

Architectural style characteristic of the reign of Edward VII (1901-1910). In practice, the period lasts from the end of the C19th to the end of WWI (Whitehand, 1984). The influences of the Edwardian period were the experimental work of the Arts and Crafts architects, the Art Nouveau movement in Europe, and the separate revival of English Baroque, which came to prominence as British Gothic architects were nearing the end of their careers enabling such practitioners as Voysey, Blomfield and Lethaby to exert influence (Service, 1977).

Element complex – Conzenian terminology

“The totality of plan elements of one particular kind in a town plan viewed separately from others. There are three element complexes, ie the street system, the plot pattern and the building pattern” (Conzen, 1969, p. 125). These three elements are central to the Conzenian analysis and the delineation of regions for the purposes of townscape management (Conzen, 1975, p. 95 et seq., 1988).

Elevation

Vertical dimension of a building; eg architectural drawing of a faade.

Encroachment

Buildings taking up land formerly part of a street or market place (concretion). “On the subject of encroachments on streets and lanes, there is Oxford evidence for cellars partly underlying lanes and suggesting that house-fronts had actually been pushed back at some later date. At Winchester, certainly, lanes were indeed kept open by municipal fiat. However, although fines for encroachments were common enough in medieval borough records, there is little to establish either that the fines were paid or that the encroachments were successful. Evidence was cited of successful and extensive encroachments at Lincoln, Stamford and York” (Platt, 1976b, p. 56). For examples in London, see Brooke and Kier (1975).

Environment, Department of

English government department responsible for all aspects of planning and development policy. Formed in 1970; functions were previously part of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. Issues periodic Advice Notes and Circulars; administers the planning appeal process. Headded by the Secretary of State for the Environment. Note: in Scotland and Wales these functions are administered by the Scottish Office and the Welsh Office.

Estate

(1)Area of land under control of single landholder; eg the urban estates of the landed aristocracy.

(2)Area of land with single land use and usually layout; common examples are the housing estate and industrial estate.

Estate agent – agent of change

Intermediary in the process of land sale or acquisition, becoming increasingly active in aspects of the development process (McNamara, 1984; Larkham, 1986c) to a point where they may be termed development agents (Healey et al., 1982; McNamara, 1986). In U.S. terms, `real estate agent’ or `realtor’.

Extension – fabric changes

See paragraph 1 of building adaptation. The term addition is generally preferred.

Extra-mural

Outside the town walls: hence extra-mural suburb; extra-mural street. Such development may occur because pressure on land within the walls is too great, or because further development is not permitted there. Contrast with intra-mural.

Extension planning – Ger. planning terminology

Period c. 1875-1890s when industrialising towns in Germany were rapidly expanding out of their traditional fortified inner areas. See Sutcliffe (1981, pp. 19ff.). For the major mechanism of extension planning, SEE: Fluchtliniengesetz

Exultantenstdte – settlement type

German towns founded principally to house religious refugees, often with a strong mercantile influence and thus supported by the local ruler (Stoob, 1970, vol. 1).

Facade – architectural term

Usually the exterior front wall of a building (from Ital. facciata) – although some buildings, such as those on corner sites, may have more than one faade.

Facade changes – fabric changes

Many studies of C20th urban form have been of commercial districts, where building facade changes are sufficiently frequent and distinct to form a separately identifiable group, usually shopfront changes (eg Blacker, 1987). Faade changes do not always form an identifiable grouping in residential areas. Luffrum (1979, p. 120) points out that these changes are actually a sub-set of building adaptations. Earlier studies used field inspection to determine changes, Whitehand (1979, p. 563) seeking the oldest identifiable external ground floor feature and its relation to building age, and Luffrum (1979, pp. 121-122; 1980; 1981, p. 164) using a subjective impression as Whitehand’s method “can on occasions be unrepresentative of the shopfront as a whole” (idem, 1979, p. 121). Later studies (Whitehand and Whitehand, 1983, p. 490; Freeman, 1983, p. 2, 1986a; Whitehand, 1983a; Larkham, 1986a; Jones, 1987; Sim, 1976, p. 44, 1982) have identified faade changes from planning and building records. Cooper (1984, p. 13), Bastian (1978), Mattson (1983), Pain (1980, p. 44) and Blacker (1987) refer specifically to shopfronts, excluding – not specifically, but by implication – all other faades. Pain also makes a distinction between new and altered shopfronts, a distinction of scales that others (eg Sim, 1976, p. 44) do not use, partly owing to the difficulty of stating when an alteration becomes a whole new front. Pain (1980) does not resolve this problem. Larkham (1986a), working with both commercial and residential areas, includes some residential façade changes, particularly window replacements. Other changes such as extensions, which may also affect the façade, are not included; this is an inconsistency. A distinction is also made between faade alterations and those applications dealing solely with the placement of signs, whether they be nameboards or projecting signs on a shop facade, or others such as free-standing pub signs. This is owing to the number of applications for specific consent to display advertisements (Town and Country Planning [Control of Advertising] Regulations; latest edition 1984; see Heap, 1987, chapter 12). These would otherwise distort an all-encompassing facade category.

Fascia – architectural term

(1)A broad band, sometimes projecting, used in Classical architecture, eg in architraves.

(2)The name-board above a shop-front; being derived from Classical prototypes employing fasciae.

Fenestration – architectural term

The arrangement of windows on the faade of a building.

Fire insurance records – data source

(1)Detailed registers of property insured by specific fire insurance companies (C18th-C19th) (Beresford, 1983).

(2)Systematic block plans of urban areas produced by or for fire insurance companies to assess risks (construction materials and land uses etc. are specified) and to prevent an over- concentration of a company’s risks in any given area (Aspinall, 1975). The main such company in Britain is Chas. E. Goad Ltd (Rowley, 1984); in the U.S. the equivalent is Sanborn. Both types of record are invaluable data sources for urban form.

First-cycle development

Initial development on green-field sites most frequently on the urban-rural fringe (Pompa, 1988). Later intensification of development or redevelopment on these sites is termed second-cycle development.

Fixation line – Conzenian terminology

The site of a linear feature that has, at some time, provided a barrier to development. Fortifications, such as a town wall, mark the traditional stationary fringe of an ancient town. During subsequent growth of the settlement it forms a line between the intra-mural and proximal extra-mural inner fringe belt. Fixation lines may also take the form of physical features such as rivers; man-made features such as railways; or even intangible features, eg local authority planning area boundaries, parish boundaries or the pattern of land ownership. As economic, social, demographic and political pressures for urban development exceed the barrier of resistance formed by a fixation line, the town will expand beyond its confines. It is usual that this urban fringe is of a lower density and of more open form than that part of the town inside the fixation line. Even when the physical structure of resistance is removed, forms on the ground tend to reflect the line of the barrier (for example, annular streets follow the line of walls).

Flat – building type

British usage; SEE: apartment

Flatted terrace – building type

A terrace of houses comprising one flat on each floor. Access is obtained through separate front doors, either along the street or from a courtyard. A characteristic form of Tyneside and London (Muthesius, 1982, pp. 130-137).

Fluchtliniengesetz – Ger. planning terminology

Law on Street Lines (1875). This strengthened municipal powers to draw up urban extension planning schemes, and confirmed that it was a municipality’s duty to do so. Made automatic the compulsory purchase of land required for new streets, allowed costs of building, drainage and lighting along new streets to be transferred to the owners of street frontages (Sutcliffe, 1981, p. 19). A most significant stage in the late C19th expansion of German industrial towns.

Form complex – Conzenian terminology

SEE: element complex

Fringe belt – Conzenian terminology

Fringe belts, or Stadtrandzone, were first identified by Louis (1936) in a study of Berlin. The city walls, and latterly the line of the city walls, formed a barrier to the physical growth of urban areas (SEE: fixation line. The concept was refined by Conzen (1960) in his study of Alnwick, and by Whitehand (1967a, 1974, 1988b). Conzen describes the fringe belt as “a belt-like zone originating from the temporary stationary or very slowly advancing fringe of a town and composed of a characteristic mixture of land-use units initially seeking peripheral location. … In towns with a long history this geographical result emerging gradually from these dynamics is often a system of successive, broadly concentric fringe belts more or less separated by other, usually residential integuments” (Conzen, 1969, p. 125) (SEE: residential accretion) A typical pattern would be: a first or inner fringe-belt (Conzen, 1960, pp. 58 et seq.) surrounding the kernel of a town, about an antecedent fixation line; one or more intermediate or middle fringe-belts (Ibid., pp. 80 et seq.) which are not usually closed and are separated from the inner belt by other, generally residential, integuments; and the most recent or outer fringe-belt (Ibid., pp. 105 et seq.) along the current urban-rural fringe. Fringe belts constitute a major element in the internal structure of cities (Whitehand, 1988b, pp. 54-55) especially where a fixation line has had a powerful constraining influence. The implications for townscape management are considerable. A regulated scheme of management is difficult to formulate in these areas of irregular form and low-density land use. Changes in fringe belts are discussed by Conzen (1962) and later by Whitehand (1974, 1988b) and Barke (1976, 1990). “The absorbtion of a fringe-belt component by a functionally different, usually residential, integument” (Conzen, 1969, p. 125) is referred to as fringe-belt alienation. Fringe-belt reduction is “the loss of component plots on part of a fringe belt either by fringe-belt translation or by alienation” (Ibid., p. 125), where translation is the transfer of a land-use unit, or plot, from an older fringe belt to a more recent one (Ibid., p. 126). There are problems with the definition of fringe belts (von der Dollen, 1990, p. 321). “..[T]he urban fringe-belt is characterised by spontaneity, not planning, and is typified by the singular relocation of individual functions from the centre to the periphery”. Von der Dollen argues that where cities have expanded by administrative act, a fringe belt is not created, since “decisions on users, reasons for removal, and space requirements are here made at the lowest, individual, level, whereas city expansion requires a legal act”. He thus defines fringe belt as both form and process. There is also a problem of scale and quantity. “Disparate residential development along arterial routes remains a characteristic of the urban fringe-belt until it is systematically integrated into the urban entity – a process which only results from a substantial growth spurt brought about by, and steered by, planned decision-making” (Ibid.).

Freehold – interest in land

An absolute interest in land or property; ownership. The superior interest in such property, the notion of a paramount seignory essential to early feudal tenures, is little more than a subject of convention (Adams, 1976, p. 17).

Frontage – Conzenian terminology

The interface between main access street or waterway with the boundary of a plot. It is measured as the length of street line taken up by it (Conzen, 1960, p. 31). In the U.S., `front-feet’ are sometimes used an a measure for apportioning assessments. A metrological analysis of burgage frontages in medieval towns (Slater, 1981) demonstrates that this division of plots reveals much about town development and the stability of plot frontage widths within planned extensions.

Full planning application – planning terminology

SEE: planning application

Garden city – settlement type

A satellite town, “located at a distance from the parent city, surrounded by an agricultural belt, and developed on land held in common by the community” (Cherry, 1988, p. 65). The form and social and economic structures of garden cities follow (with some adaptations) the ideas of Ebenezer Howard (1902).

Garden city movement

Following Ebenezer Howard’s book Tomorrow: a peaceful path to real reform (1898) and its more popular reprint (Howard, 1902) the Garden City Movement grew as a pressure group advocating the planning of new settlements to cater for an expanding population (MacFadyen, 1933). These settlements were to have much open space; their economic and social structures were to be controlled. In Germany, the Deutsche Gartenstadtgesellschaft (Ger. `Garden City Society’) was founded in 1902: a pure expression of the semi-rural ideal, which was soon watered down. Only one German garden city approached economic independence: Hellerau, nr. Dresden (1908 onwards); most were merely high- standard housing areas adjoining existing urban areas (Sutcliffe, 1981, p. 41; Hartmann, 1977). The French Association des Cits-Jardins de France attracted influential support, but used a lax definition of garden city, being much concerned with the parks and gardens of existing cities (Sutcliffe, 1981, p. 145).

Garden suburb

A suburb, usually planned on the then urban-rural fringe, laid out in accordance with garden city ideals. Found more frequently in central Europe than Britain.

Genetic urban quarter

Those parts of a town that were planned as a unit at any time from the medieval period to the present day. Genetic urban quarters usually have particular functional, administrative or social characteristics represented within a plan-unit or layout. Examples may include planned medieval extensions; occupational quarters of early modern towns; factory suburbs; garden suburbs; villa districts; or building society estates. The term is found in the Germanic literature; this working definition was used during the Third Anglo-German Conference on Urban Historical Geography, 1988. The relationship between genetic urban quarters and morphological regions is, as yet, unresolved.

Genius loci – Conzenian usage

“The genius or guardian spirit of a place”, used by Conzen (eg 1975, p. 82) to indicate the character of a location. Apparently synonymous with the more popular term `spirit of place’ (eg Ford, 1974). Occasionally used by planners and architects (Esher, 1988).

Gentrification

A process of neighbourhood social change, having inevitable consequences for the built fabric. It involves gradual replacement of an existing, poorer, lower-class or deprived community by wealthier, higher-class occupants. They begin a process of building and area rehabilitation and renovation, for owner-occupation or as speculation. Dilapidated, often subdivided, houses are converted back to high- class single-family dwellings. The social characteristics of an area thus change. This is the reverse of the usual `downward filtering’ process. See Smith and Williams (1986).

Geometrical analysis – method of analysis

Analysis of plots, particularly medieval burgages, with especial reference to relative proportions of width and length (Slater, 1988, 1990c, pp. 74-77).

Georgian – architectural style

Blanket name given to styles popular in the reigns of George I – IV. Mose of these were developments of the classical style, using regular symmetrical fenestration, using columns, pilasters, pediments, cornices hiding shallow-pitched roofs, and so on. Red brick and stone were predominant building materials; the former sometimes covered by stucco. Plan elements characteristic of this morphological period include squares, crescents and circuses (Summerson, 1962). Regency is a later development of this style (early C19th).