Urban form has never developed independently of the physical landscape beneath it. Relief, hydrology, coastal position, climate, and geology set the boundary conditions within which every subsequent planning decision — street layout, building height, land use, and infrastructure routing — must operate. This article examines the interaction between natural geography and urban planning through three lenses: topographic constraint and ventilation, hydrological exposure and flood risk, and climate-responsive bioclimatic design. Drawing on quantitative data from developed-country research institutions and international case studies — including Rotterdam's water-sensitive urban design programme, Stuttgart's topography-based ventilation-corridor policy, and global assessments of coastal flood exposure — the article argues that cities which formally embed physical-geographic analysis into statutory planning instruments achieve measurably better resilience outcomes than cities that treat geography as a site constraint to be engineered around after the fact.
Natural Geography as a Determinant of Urban Form: Topography, Hydrology, and Climate in Contemporary City Planning
DOI:
Abstract
References
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