Author(s)

A. Gospodini

Abstract

This paper examines urban landscape transformations in the era of economic and cultural globalisation, intercity competition, and informational societies. It attempts to describe and interpret major landscape changes in the postmodern inner city in terms of land use patterns and morphology. It describes how new post-industrial urban economies, and in particular technology-intensive and knowledge based economic activities, and cultural and consumption urban economies, along with the development of new urban governance strategies tend to rearrange the landscapes of cities towards particular favourable choices: In terms of land use patterns, urban landscapes tend to be dominated by a kind of eclectic clustering of (a) high level financial services and technology-intensive firms, and (b) cultural activities and consumption spaces generating ‘creative’ urban islands and edges. From the point of view of urban morphology, these creative clusters represent ‘signifying epicentres’ introducing a kind of ‘glocalised’ morphology since two contrasting morphological extremities of urban space - built heritage and innovative design of buildings and open spaces - are predominantly used as key themes and competitive edges of cities. Keywords: urban landscape transformations, urban morphology, creative clusters, high level financial activities, technology-intensive firms, culture and consumption spaces, post-modern city.

Keywords

urban landscape transformations, urban morphology, creative clusters, high level financial activities, technology-intensive firms, culture and consumption spaces, post-modern city.