The concepts ‘typological process’ and ‘morphological period’ have received surprisingly little empirical substantiation despite their familiarity to many urban morphologists. They are examined here in two contrasting cultural areas—England and the Shanghai area, China—over the period from the mid-19th century to the late-20th century. Sequences of ordinary residential building types are recognized in the two areas: for example, historical series of terraced house types in England and historical variations on the lilong development unit in the Shanghai area. Periods characterized by different types and connections between those types are identified. The areas are different in both their building types and their periodizations but commonalities in their processes of change, including those related to the spread of Western fashions, are found. The difficulty of uncovering the mechanism of the typological process whereby one form type is succeeded by another reflects major problems of assembling the requisite data. Many more comparative studies, including between contrasting cultural areas, are needed.

Analysis of bank correspondent linkages reveals that the urban system of the United States achieved maturity between 1880 and 1910. The shift from a primate financial flow system to a modified four-level hierarchy with highlevel interdependencies was based on initial advantage, cumulative concentration, inertia, regional specialization, and hinterland competition among rising regional centers. Extension of the banking fields of individual cities was related to the changing efficiency of the correspondent system, reserve city status, urban specialization in wholesaling or manufacturing, and changing comparative advantage. Hierarchical nesting of bank hinterlands under New York's general influence developed simultaneously with nonhierarchical linkages that tied subsystems laterally to each other. This banking integration of the urban network paralleled the more general economic reorientation of the late nineteenth century.RBAN growth in North America has often U been approached from two extremes. On the one hand, the process can be studied in the context of individual towns and cities with an emphasis on the particular factors that lead them to grow or stagnate.l Often this viewpoint is extended to include several settlements, either as a group of proximal places or as dispersed cities drawn together for specific comparison or contrast.2 Growth factors range from local con- 60637. Dr. Conzen is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Chicago in Chicago, IL

Studies of urban fringe belts have multiplied in recent years, demonstrating the validity of this morphological concept in a variety of regions around the world. Yet there have been few direct attempts at a comparative assessment of the concept’s performance in the different cultural settings in which it has been applied. This paper seeks to contribute to this goal, by examining the fringe-belt structure of several cities drawn from contrasting urban cultural traditions in Europe and the New World. Not surprisingly, certain commonalities emerge, but there are also large differences in the number, scale, complexity, and even basic geometry of fringe belts apparent in this eclectic examination. These differences go well beyond simple explanations of site circumstances, size, and function of the city within the urban hierarchy, and result from essential contrasts in urban social values, property rules, and planning traditions. The analysis leads to speculations about the efficacy and limits of the fringe-belt concept to identify and account for variations in the texture of urban form across urban areas in diverse cultural contexts.

Urban growth and transformation across the world are presenting great challenges for the comprehension and management of urban landscape change. Comparative urban morphology makes it possible to identify urban forms common to different geographical regions, while helping to distinguish unique historical characteristics and developments important for towns and cities in the hunt for place identity and prestige. The fringe-belt concept provides a frame of reference for depicting, explaining, and comparing the physical structure and historical development of urban landscapes. The walled cities of Pingyao, China and Como, Italy possess well-preserved historical urban environments that reflect the urban development traditions of their respective cultures. Newly available cartographic evidence and field work reveal critical differences between the embedded fringe belts of the two cities resulting from different historico-geographical dynamics. Pingyao's single composite fringe belt and Como's three distinct belts challenge current understanding of urban structural processes and argue for more focused urban landscape management.