Towards an urban mereology: A generic framework for urban part-whole relationships

Abstract

Part-whole relationships pervade urban morphology and the design disciplines, as they are manifest in both analyses of existing form and as ‘building blocks’ for creating future urban form. Yet these part–whole relations are often left implicit, or else if explicit, they may be inconsistent or not necessarily compatible with each other. Different traditions have grown up for both urban morphology and urban design. This paper sets out to scrutinise the nature of part-whole relations across different urban cases and contexts, to create a generic framework for application to urban morphology and urban design. After an introduction and discussion of the topic of mereology – the study of part-whole and part-part relations – the paper develops a generic framework for mereological relations suitable for application to the urban domain, illustrated with examples. Conclusions are drawn on the prospect for an urban mereology that would support both urban morphology and urban design.