Abstract
This research on the morphogenesis of the city uses conjointly morphodynamic semiotic theory and structural theory of the urban form to elaborate the existence of a non-trivial topology, stemming from a process of stratification. The basic thesis of this work is the following: On the one hand, the form of a city emerges from the choice of its physical site; on the other hand, it modifies itself through geo-historical actualization. The theory of urban form proposes a global theory of the engendering of forms and their relationships to spatial positions. Morphodynamic semiotics adopts a dynamic conception of the modal phenomenon. These theoretical influences offer our study a morphogenetic conception of meaning that is reconstituted through spatial stratification. This model thus proposed enables us to reconstitute the form of the city in general.
About the author
Isabel Marcos (1964) is a senior research fellow at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa 〈isamar@fcsh.unl.pt〉. Her research interests include dynamic semiotics of urban systems, visual semiotics as a strategy for decision processes, semiotics applied to technological innovations, and transdisciplinary research. Her publications include Dynamiques de la ville. Essais de sémiotique de l'espace (ed., 2007); and As marcas da cultura mundializada na forma de Lisboa (2009).
©[2012] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
