A methodological framework for defining ‘typological process’: the transformation of the residential environment in Ankara, Turkey

This paper investigates ‘typological process’, a key term in urban morphology due to its benefit to culturally-responsive urban design and place-making. The empirical identification of typological process is problematic because of researchers’ subjectivity in identifying changes, and the randomness of their selection of spatial characteristics in defining types. The paper demonstrates a method for defining and analyzing typological process in the transformation process of the residential environment in Ankara since the late nineteenth century. Three degrees of transformation are identified: continuity, partial continuity and mutation. The proposed method improves consistency and objectivity in the empirical validation of typological process.