Block analysis of West End

I have chosen West End as my analysis topic. I have selected this as the area appeals to me in terms of use, vistas and connectivity (See Figure1). There are (+-)86 blocks located in West End with another 33 blocks located over the river bringing the total to 119. The block size runs from around 425sqm (Small lot) to larger parcels of land at around 4.25ha. The amount of intersections is a surprising 184 with only 54 across the river totalling 238. There is a main road that runs parallel to the river, and one that goes East geographically centred in the middle.




















Figure 1




















Figure 2

In Figure 2, the overall appearance of the street layout appears to either be running along the River or it forms a setback. Also, the lot sizes are larger along the river and the streets fall back roughly from the river instead of being relative to a more traditional North-South/East-West relationship.



















Figure 3

There is a predominantly smaller block size in Figure 3 compared to the areas in Figure 2. These follow the cardinal directions with main streets/roads following these as well but a main road that leads from the Northern part to the South Western corner runs parallel to the river. The Yellow section has roads that run in opposite to the other streets. This area is dominated by the river that curves to the right of the site. Florence Italy. When I overlay the map of West End I was surprised by the similarities in the street block sizes and the use of blocks further away from the river. The distances between major roads is also similar.


















Madrid Spain.

The regular pattern blocks are common to West End. Long wide roads that cross to open areas. Brisbane 1884 Historical.Showing this map of 1884 shows why the layout of West End has arrived to it's current destination. You can see that some land use has been allocated to being to a storage area, and the density increases along the other side of roads.In 1895, you can see a further development of the previously regulated area, with downsizing of lots which would indicate an increase of population density.















Brisbane 1895.

Conclusion.
There are many reasons to know about the layouts of cities and their footprints. It gives a feel for the urban fabric in terms variety of what might work if you have some of the pieces of the puzzle scattered all over the world, and, it's a matter of transferring these to create a matrix of styles and design layouts.One thing that I can't digest is the fact that this type of analysis only is a slice from the ground foot prints down. It doesn't show use, character, diversity or any other indicators. But, in understanding variety of civil street layout and what we can perceive as being a form of structure and it's historical uses.

References:
Jacob, A. 1993. Great streets. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Google Map of West End Area: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=west+end&sll=-27.936181,153.017578&sspn=13.836006,28.54248&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=West+End+Queensland&ll=-27.480482,153.017793&spn=0.027184,0.072098&t=p&z=15 (Date accessed 16/04/10)

McKellar, A. R. McKellar's official map of Brisbane & suburbs [cartographic material] 1895. MAP RM 3036. http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview?pi=nla.map-rm3036-c2-e (Date Accessed 18/04/10)

[Moreton 20 chains to an inch : sheet 1B [cartographic material]by Queensland. Surveyor General's Office Brisbane : Surveyor Generals Office, 1884. http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview?pi=nla.map-rm3046-e (Date Accessed 18/04/10)