Traditional Street Pattern Typology: Case of Korça

Abstract

The city is a very complex phenomenon that is formed under the effect of different actors and their relationships with each other. Urban design, as a discipline that tries to establish the most appropriate models (methods) of city building, is also acomplex field that is influenced by various factors. The main determinants that effect the urban design decisions can be summarized as: natural environment; socio-economical structure; technological innovations and the division of land ownership (plot pattern). Besides these elements, another very significant actor that should orientate the urban design decisions is the typology of existing (traditional) urban pattern and its spatial organization, since it is a manifestation of different local values (social, cultural, physical) and the identity of the city. Actually, this fact has been neglected by many urban design practices in nowadays. This paper is a part of a master thesis1 that tries to develop a methodology for analyzing (understanding) the characteristics of the traditional urban form and its elements. A traditional urban zone in the city of Korça in Albania was chosen as a case study for doing the morphological analyses and understanding the characteristics of this pattern. The paper is focused just on the analysis of the physical features of the street space.