Accident and Predictability:

An Analytical Methodology for Persistent Forces in the American City

Abstract

American cities are a curious blend of strongly predictable and profoundly accidental relationships, built consequences of persistent forces, the presence of which may be either visible or hidden. Observed urban form and space can be understood as resulting from decisions taken within a specific, but evolving, spatial and temporal context. The contextual elements which remain the same for the longest time are defined as being the most persistent forces of urban form-giving. I propose a methodology which seeks to identify instances of persistent forces, to discern their collisions in space and over time, and to understand observable built form and space as evidence of those forces. Results consist of completed case studies of the freeway system and instances of accidental urban relationships within Minneapolis, Minnesota.