Eight city types and their interactions: the “eight-fold” model

A model for understanding the city in terms of eight characteristic “city types” is proposed. The most human cities consist of adaptive city types that act in a congruent manner. Any city can be analyzed as a particular mixture of these eight types. Competing city types combine and interact in different ways, and users feel the result as an essential quality of the environment. Some types either add to, or cancel and destroy each other, whereas others can juxtapose without interacting. This eight-fold model of city types helps us to predict the success or failure of distinct urban regions in promoting urban life. It also suggests how to repair declining or non-existent pedestrian activity, and how architectural projects could affect the city adversely or positively. One section of this paper is devoted to techniques for designing urban spaces that invite human engagement, and another to designing a campus.