Theoretical Study Of Urban Morphology Town Plaza Design

In this study, theories of urban morphology were applied to analyze changes of urban plaza forms in the context of urban evolution and development. Detailed analysis of two paradigms, Plaza St. Marco and Tian'anmen Square, were carried out. The analysis revealed how plazas developed as an organism in evolution, with modification and adaptation occurring in response to changing requirements.Based on the analysis, quite a few primary elements, which participate in the evolution of a city over time in a permanent way, were identified. These elements, including vitality, convenience, elegance, character, order, fit, efficiency, popularity, connotation, and adaptation, always play an effective role in the dynamic of the city, thus could be regarded as standards for assessing urban plazas designs. They covered four urban plaza design aspects: relationships between the plaza and the user, the plaza and the city; the efficiency of the plaza, and the adaptation of the plaza. The relationship between the plaza and the user is essential for urban plaza designs, as it could directly affect the function of urban plazas. The relationship between the plaza and the city is also important since it could influence the overall vision quality of urban landscape. From this point, the application of above ten standards in urban plaza designs was discussed in order to show how to determine distribution, size, and pattern of urban plazas, and to handle the relationship between urban plazas and city history appropriately.The research outputs provide useful information for solving problems including inappropriate construction sites, scale mismatch, mono-pattern, mono-function, character ambiguity, lack of facilities, and inefficient maintenance and management, etc. in urban plaza designing and constructing processes.