kindly help me with the methods and tools for the assessments of the urban form - existing as well as the forecast for the future form. what can be the different parameters for the assessment?
Urban form has 3 elements- i) Street system ii) Building system and iii) Land use pattern (Conzen). For the first one, 'Space Syntax' is the most widely used method for measuring street network configuration. The 'spacematrix' method contributes to co-present building density and building types at the same time. 'The mixed use index (MXI)' can be used to measure various degrees of multi-functionality of land use.
First, you must be conscious about the dimensions of urban form, second the measurement methods, third the available indicators for measurement, fourth determine you objectivities (why you want to apply certain measurement?), fifth, there two types of indicators for the measurement thus assessment, 1- subjective indicators 2- objective indicators. Your methodology must establish a way map for you to drive you from your input data to certain conclusion that you may get based on the indicators that you adopt.
As noted by Mashrur, the network can be analyzed by using Space Syntax, there are a couple of approaches to forecast urban land use, such as Cellular Automata and Agent-based Modeling.
Actually, these are forecasting methods. While you expect to assess the form, I assume the assessment may depend on your research goals. Urban climate researchers usually employ climate morphological indicators to assess the land use form or building form. Such as:
Adolphe, Luc. "A simplified model of urban morphology: application to an analysis of the environmental performance of cities." Environment and Planning B 28.2 (2001): 183-200.
Other researchers considering spatial features of land use and land cover may use scale sensitive indicators such as fractals, and is referred in:
Weng, Qihao, Dengsheng Lu, and Jacquelyn Schubring. "Estimation of land surface temperature–vegetation abundance relationship for urban heat island studies." Remote sensing of Environment 89.4 (2004): 467-483.
Hope these will help, if not, sorry for the irrelevant information.
@Mashrur- I had been through Spacematrix method by Pont & Haupt... and was checking Space Syntax... infact both have also been used by few researchers for the study... i will definitely look into MXI- is it some thing based on parametric study or what.... can you suggest me some books or article for the same. as I also came across one study regarding the 3D-parametric model/maps for performance based urban design where they have also talked about urban form , though not directly.
@Qaad- I understand the concept of Urban form a bit and it is a multi-variable entity and what ever you have suggested seems quiet relevant but can you send/ suggest me some literatures for the same.
@Jon- The first paper you have suggested is quiet relevant as I am also trying to study the environmental responsiveness and performance of Urban Form though at community and neighbourhood level not on the city as a whole.
I recommend you to check Stewart and Oke's Local Climate Zones (http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00019.1) which focuses on the classification of urban morphologies to support urban microclimate studies, especially aimed at local scales.
Also, review Dr. Matthias Irger PhD thesis: The effect of Urban form on Urban Microclimate' in which LCZs are applied through a GIS-based method for predicting the influence of urban form on Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI). (http://www.unsworks.unsw.edu.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=UNSWORKS&docId=unsworks_12428)
Finally, Dr. Paul Osmond's research has focused on understanding and studying different urban forms from various points of view. He has developed a broader framework for a qualitative and quantitative urban form analysis of a suburb in Sydney. I recommend you to contact him via researchgate.
(1)-(Osmond, P. (2008). An enquiry into new methodologies for evaluating sustainable urban form. doctoral thesis, University of New South Wales.)
(2)-(Osmond, P. (2010). "The urban structural unit: towards a descriptive framework to support urban analysis and planning." Urban Morphology 14(1): 5-20.)
(3)-Osmond, P. (2011). Application of the urban structural unit method to inform post-carbonplanning and design. International Seminar on Urban Form: Urban Morphology and thePost-Carbon City. Montreal, Canada.)