The urban form of Brussels from the street perspective: The role of vegetation in the definition of the urban fabric

Abstract In the context of rising interest in the impact of the urban environment on human well-being, appropriate modeling of the urban landscape needs to be developed. Traditional analyses from the aerial point of view are not suitable; it has become essential to consider the pedestrian perspective. The Multiple Fabric Assessment (MFA) is a recent protocol that provides morphological clusters of urban fabric by incorporating a street perspective into a Naif Bayesian clustering analysis. We apply the protocol to all street segments in Brussels. We first investigate the role of vegetation and areas devoted to pedestrians in the identification of urban fabric. We show that incorporation of these measurements into the MFA allows of better definition of the urban fabric in suburban areas, demonstrating how vegetation has become fundamental to the description of residential neighborhoods, while it has a less relevant role in defining the urban fabric in compact central areas. We then identify twelve meaningful clusters of urban fabric in Brussels and link them to the different urban development phases. Particular attention is paid to Brusselization in the city center and garden districts in the suburbs. The results provide clear definition and clustering of streetscapes in an urban environment, a stepping stone via which future research could cross-analyze the relationships between well-being and built forms.