Urban Morphology

URBAN MORPHOLOGY

COMPARISON OF CHICAGO LAGOS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

LITERATURE REVIEW

RESEARCH DESIGN

HISTORIC TENETS OF THE URBAN PLANNING

CHICAGO AND LAGOS : TWO CITIES IN CONTRAST

CONCLUSION

REFERENCE

ABSTRACT

Urban morphology reflects different aspects of a city and its people . It also shows a city past and present landscape , its economic outlook , the way of living and its emerging issues . The study focuses on a comparative analysis of Chicago and Lagos (Nigeria . The purpose of this assignment is to understand the difference in urban

morphologies of these two cities

The study explores the basic questions , such as history , land , economic conditions , living styles , education , government and trade and commerce of Chicago and Lagos , which has shaped its morphology constantly . Both cities had humble beginning as small towns developing into mega- cities in the 20th century in their own ways . While Chicago was able to achieve its dream of ideal city , Lagos is groping in the dark , finding its way in the chaos of urbanization . After comparison and analysis of data , the researcher has come to the conclusion that urban morphology shapes the development of the city enormously

LITERATURE REVIEW

The World Bank recorded in 1990 that the growth rate of the urban settlements is raising at rate of 4 .5 percent a year , but majority of this growth is occurring in the developing countries who are people with low income . This momentous increase in population is changing the urban structure of these cities as the process of urbanization is not only related to population growth , but it also includes the socio-economic conditions of a city and its impact upon the people who are living in it (Douglas , 1992

The pattern of urbanization in third world cities is different from developed world , as majority of them have become agglomeration of millions of people squeezed in narrow space . For example Mexico City has twenty million people with a growth rate of 10 percent per year (between 1980s and 1990s , and Tanzania growth is above 10 percent . Yet there are examples like Colombo (Sri Lanka , where it is only two percent Examples like this depict that the process of urbanization is not uniform and each city has its own trends and reasons for expansion (Jenks , 2000 It is variations like these which makes the comparison of these cities difficult with the developed world cities . The reason is that the process of urbanization in third world cities is not uniform like the cities in the West , which are accurately planned and have definite boundaries . A typical third world city resembles a giant creature , whose tentacles are spread in different direction . For example many cities in China include even the rural areas in its boundaries to tap into the urban resources which otherwise , these rural areas find hard to get still these rural villages and towns live at the edge of deprivation and poverty as they little touched with vital urban necessities . Shanghai is one such example , which has large agricultural land reaching 6000...