Four Dimensional Approach to Center City Transformation: A case study of Knoxville, TN: 1884—1950

Urban morphological models were created to enhance our understanding of urban growth and form. Prior to Geographical Information Systems (GIS), these models were supplementary products of ideas and concepts that set out to explain the spatial configuration of the urban landscape. While these models are of great importance to the field, they are mostly two-dimensional (2D) and static. Three-dimensional (3D) modeling has strengths in landscape visualization, manipulation, and planning, where analyses of historical urban landscapes may be carried out efficiently and thoroughly. A method that utilizes 3D modeling through time or four-dimensional (4D) modeling will enhance our understanding of transformation of a city’s center. Consequently, the primary objective of this study is to demonstrate how 4d modeling may enhance our understanding of the changes in urban structure and form, i.e., morphology, of Knoxville, Tennessee from 1884 to 1950. This period from 1884 to 1950 captures Knoxville’s early metropolitan era, in which technological innovations such as the steel frame building and the automobile arrived, dramatically influencing Knoxville’s urban landscape. A time series of five Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from between 1884 to 1950 of Knoxville’s central business district (CBD) were digitized into five 3D models. Through the results and discussion of this thesis, I found that the general forces that influence center city transformation in most American cites between 1884 and 1950 are definitely prevalent in Knoxville’s urban morphological story. With this in mind, it is safe to assume that this method could be utilized for observing the vertical change of all American CBD’s.