Innovations in urban transport and the influence on urban form. An historical review: Fid-Bau Portal

Innovations in urban transport and the influence on urban form. An historical review

Giannopoulos, G. A. / Curdes, G.

This paper draws on work of the international collaborative programme URBINNO on innovation and urban development. It is based on analysis of data from eight urban areas in Europe. After presenting the theoretical aspects of the interrelation between transport innovation and other factors characterizing an urban area, the paper examines the evidence in practice. In the case studies all transport innovations during the last 100 years were related to corresponding changes in the urban form. Certain conclusions are drawn. It appears that, although interrelation between transport innovation and urban form does exist, towns and cities are socio‐physical systems with a high stability and resistance against ‘short‐term’ transformation. In general, transport innovations have short life cycles in relation to the permanence of an urban morphology. Therefore, it can be said that transport innovation and urban development build the synthesis between new needs and technologies in a form which is comparable to the specific (and different) urban scales. Transport innovations have left significant marks on the form of towns. None formed a town in total. There is always a mixture of influences from different fields. However, from the towns in different stages of development that were examined, it can be seen that the influence of innovations on urban form is high in an early stage of development and lower in a dense and built up town.