Morphological permanency and change in contemporary American Cities.
The urban form of American cities can be read as a text revealing many central features of national history, cultural values, and the distinguishing character of American urbanism in general. The struggle for cities to adjust their urban layout and built forms against the backdrop of changing environmental and social conditions can be conceptualized as a perpetual but shifting tension between those physical features that are easy to change and those that represent profound resistance. Structures are simpler to change than the spatial layout of city space. Eight fundamental categories by which American urban form may be measured are examined here, and discussed in a sequence moving from extreme resistance to relative ease in transformation. The shifting balances among these features and forces are coming under unprecedented pressure resulting from the long-term climate change that centuries of world (and American) industrialization have produce.
Keywords: Location, Topograhic Site, Cadaster, Political Segmentation, Building Technology, Mobility, Climate Change.
