Urban Geomorphology

Landforms and Processes in Cities

Mary J Thornbush, Casey D. Allen

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780128119518
• eBook ISBN: 9780128119525
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geology & Earth Sciences

Urban Geomorphology: Landforms and Processes in Cities addresses the human impacts on landscapes through occupation (urbanization) and development as a contribution to anthropogenic geomorphology or "anthropogeomorphology." This includes a focus on land clearance, conservation issues, pollution, decay and erosion, urban climate, and anthropogenic climate change. These topics, as well as others, are considered to shed more light on the human transformation of natural landscapes and the environmental impacts and geomorphological hazards that environmental change can encompass. Its multidisciplinary approach is appropriate for audiences from a range of disciplines and professions, from geologists, conservationists, and land-use planners to architects and developers. Urban Geomorphology not only transcends disciplines, but also covers varied spatial-temporal frameworks and presents a diverse set of approaches and solutions to human impacts and geomorphological hazards within urban landscapes. - Features a cross-disciplinary perspective, highlighting the importance of the geosciences to environmental science, engineering, and public policy - Focuses on the built environment as the location of concentrated human impacts and change - Provides an international scope, including case studies from urban areas around the world

Chapter 1

Introduction

Casey D. Allen^*

Mary J. Thornbush^**
* The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados
^** University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Abstract

This chapter introduces the concept of “urban geomorphology” and how the term fits into the larger geomorphology arena as well as its applicability to the discipline’s many other subfields, including anthropogeomorphology. It also suggests including anthropogeomorphology as a complementary subfield to the more traditional focus on physical landscapes (and physical geomorphology), broadly speaking, that exists in the discipline of geomorphology. These important topics aside, this chapter also outlines subsequent chapters in the volume, giving the reader a roadmap of what to expect for the book’s remainder, informing research across disciplines, within diverse spatial-temporal frameworks, presenting several different approaches—and possible resolutions—to the impacts of people in urban settings.

Keywords

ancient and historical geomorphology

anthropogeomorphology

hazards

stone decay

urban expansion

urban flood

urban geomorphology

weathering

Outline

1. 1.1 Introduction
2. References

1.1. Introduction

Coined by Coates (1976) as “…the study of [humans] as a physical process of change whereby [s/he] metamorphoses a more natural terrain to an anthropogene cityscape,” and expanded upon later by the author (Coates, 1984), urban geomorphology as a specific concept has been around since at least the 1960s (Xizhi, 1988). Put another way, urban geomorphology centers on the pursuit of understanding the impacts that landforms—and the inherent processes that give rise to them—can have on urban areas, and vice versa (Coates, 1976; Cooke, 1976; Thornbush, 2015). Even before these earlier works, and continuing still today, different components of urban geomorphology (e.g., fluvial regimes, landslides and hazards, and seismic activity) have been researched extensively, including regional studies, such as Gupta’s (1987) review of Singapore. Still, while more research in geomorphology is being focused on examining human impacts on landscapes, this is often done in the context of attempting to understand human-environment interactions during the Anthropocene (e.g., Goudie and Viles, 2016). Recent attention has focused specifically on cities, where human activity has historically been concentrated.

This volume addresses similar themes tied to human impacts on landscapes through occupation (urbanization) and development, but more through the lens of anthropogenic geomorphology or “anthropogeomorphology” (i.e., the intersection of geomorphology, and what Coates, 1984 called anthropogene—the human-created landscape, or city). Although most of the research in this volume occurs during the perceived Anthropocene epoch, the focus centers on the built environment, and particularly as it applies to land clearance, conservation issues, pollution, decay and erosion, urban climate, and anthropogenic climate change, and more. These topics shed more light on the human transformation of natural landscapes and the environmental impacts and geomorphological hazards that landscape change can encompass for cities.

Although the topic of urban geomorphology occurs in numerous articles, it is not always noted as such, and no (known) focused compendium yet exists to address the topic specifically. This volume rectifies the gap in knowledge, bringing together specialists from around the world who conduct groundbreaking research in urban geomorphology, showcasing and highlighting current research trends and directions in this neglected, but important, area of study. Overall, the volume focuses on the built environment as the specific location of concentrated human impacts and change and not just in large cities, like metropolises or megalopolises, but smaller urbanized areas too. It takes a cross-disciplinary approach that is international in scope, highlighting case studies from around the globe. The volume further contributes to developing a “human geomorphology”—anthropogeomorphology—that Coates (1976) and Cooke (1976) envi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Section I: Paleogeomorphology and Archaeogeomorphology
• Section II: Anthropogeomorphology
• Section III: Landscape Influences on Urban Growth
• Section IV: Developing Geomorphological Hazards During the Anthropocene
• Section V: Urban Stone Decay: Cultural Stone and Its Sustainability in the Built Environment
• Author Index
• Subject Index