Back to Practice: Integrating Morphological and Computational Approaches Towards a Paradigm Shift in Urban Design

This paper argues for the premise that the current moment calls for an urban design paradigm that integrates morphological and computational approaches, in line with practice. It posits that this integration could constitute a paradigm shift in urban design practice. Although some indicators of this integration appear in practice, its reflection in the urban design literature, particularly in efforts to derive theory from practice, appears to remain limited. A critical literature review was conducted, comprising a bibliographic review, a contextual literature review, and content analysis. The findings indicate that many urban design publications on urban form demonstrate strong, partial, or indirect engagement with morphological and computational approaches. The review included 59 publications (1984–2026): 19 books, edited volumes, and book chapters, and 40 peer-reviewed journal articles. We reviewed the 40 journal articles to develop a conceptual framework for computational approaches to urban form. Of these 40 articles, we selected 27 representative articles for conceptual clustering and analysis. Finally, 20 of the 27 articles that directly addressed both morphological and computational approaches were selected for the Kuhnian assessment. This assessment adds value by using Kuhnian characteristics to clarify the emerging relationship between morphological and computational approaches in the urban design literature. Research on the reorganization associated with the Kuhnian characteristics of a paradigm shift remains limited. The paper’s contribution is threefold: (i) it proposes morpho-computational urban design to understand the relationship between morphological and computational approaches; (ii) it develops a five-step procedure and six conceptual propositions that guide the integration of these two approaches; and (iii) it provides a theoretical basis, practical applications, and evaluation criteria for researchers and planning-oriented implementation.