Michael Robert Günter Conzen (Berlin, 21 January 1907 – Newcastle upon Tyne, 4 February 2000)University of Birmingham
"M.R.G. Conzen CV"
retrieved 8 May 2014 was a geographer, founder of the Anglo-German school of

urban morphology Urban morphology is the study of the formation of human settlements and the process of their formation and transformation. The study seeks to understand the spatial structure and character of a metropolitan area, city, town or village by examining ...

.Moudon, Anne Vernez (1997)
"Urban morphology as an emerging interdisciplinary field"
in ''Urban Morphology'', vol.1, pg.3-10 Conzen's most influential work is a detailed morphological study of the English market town of

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bo ...

. His work is noted among others for the micro-scale study of the evolution of

plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the story of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 Other * ''Plot ...

s.Whitehand, J.W.R. (2001)
"British Urban Morphology: the Conzenian tradition"
in ''Urban Morphology'', vol.5, nr.2, pg.103-109

Biography

M.R.G. Conzen studied geography, history and philosophy at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick Will ...

between 1926–1932. One of his mentors was geographer

Herbert Louis Herbert Johnson "Tim" Louis (April 22, 1928 – February 16, 2016) was an American orthopedic surgeon and billionaire heir. Early life Herbert Johnson Louis was born on April 22, 1928, in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Henrietta Johnson Louis a ...

, who in turn was a disciple of the Austrian geographer

Norbert Krebs Norbert is a Germanic given name, from ''nord'' "north" and ''berht'' "bright". Norbert is also occasionally found as a surname. People with the given name Academia * Norbert Angermann (born 1936), German historian * Norbert A’Campo (born 1941) ...

(Krebs was a prominent pupil of

Albrecht Penck Albrecht Penck (25 September 1858 – 7 March 1945) was a German geographer and geologist and the father of Walther Penck. Biography Born in Reudnitz near Leipzig, Penck became a university professor in Vienna, Austria, from 1885 to 1906, ...

and influenced

Carl O. Sauer Carl Ortwin Sauer (December 24, 1889 – July 18, 1975) was an American geographer. Sauer was a professor of geography at the University of California at Berkeley from 1923 until becoming professor emeritus in 1957. He has been called "the de ...

in his writings on the morphology of landscape). In 1933 Conzen emigrated to the UK, where he studied at the

Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...

first obtaining a diploma in town and country planning in 1936 and a master's degree in historical geography in 1942.

Publications

*1960 Conzen, M.R.G. "Alnwick, Northumberland: A Study in Town Plan Analysis", Institute of British Geographers, Publication no.27, London, (2nd revised edition, 1969.) *1981 Whitehand, J.W.R. (ed.) "The Urban Landscape: Historical Development and Management. Papers by M. R. G. Conzen.", Institute of British Geographers Special Publication no.13, Academic Press, London *2004 Conzen, Michael P. (ed.) ''Thinking about urban form : papers on urban morphology, 1932-1998 / M.R.G. Conzen'', Peter Lang Publishing,

Biography

Publications

References

Further reading