Street networks and street- blocks in the city centre of Tripoli

Abstract

The results of an analysis of the urban form of central Tripoli, Libya are presented. Three cases from different morphological periods are compared: the Old Town (pre- modern), the Italian Quarter (colonial) and the Garden Suburb (early- Modernist). Two sets of descriptive indices that relate to street network and street- block structure are applied to measure quantitatively the urban fabric of the three selected cases and explore their distinct characteristics as well as common traits. The Old Town combines good privacy at the very local level due to the large number of culs- de- sac in the service street network: there is high interconnectedness both within the area and between it and its immediate surroundings. This appears to be related to the Old Town’s high street density. Despite visible dissimilarities at the service street and plot level, the Old Town and the Italian Quarter share the same higher level structure, which the Garden Suburb does not. The Garden Suburb is a major departure from the morphological characteristics of the two earlier periods, and, arguably, their Ancient Roman precursors.