**5. Sorting practical concepts: from macro-concepts to indicators**

#### **5.1 Procedure**

In this section, the findings of the previous section are used to develop a practical checklist of the most important aspects required for the assessment of urban

Regarding visual permeability, Bentley [12] stresses the need for front and rear sides for blocks. The front side faces public spaces for more public functions, and the rear side includes activities that have the highest degree of privacy. In this

*Some possible block arrangements for 40 acre tracts. According to Hoyt's analysis (1933, 431), "A" made sense (i.e., would yield the most aggregate value) where "each square foot is of equal importance." "C" the most common arrangement made sense for residential or apartment use; "1" made sense for commercial use since it has the most street frontage, but it is unrealistic because no subdivision would be composed entirely of*

*commercial lots (Hoyt did not comment on the value of arrangements "B" and "E") [10].*

**Figure 2.**

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

**Figure 3.**

**190**

*The urban process of the community block [23, p. 71].*

blocks. Efforts have been made to extract all these findings in the form of factors without prejudgment and valuation. Since these factors do not have the same semantic and scale levels, the checklist is developed in two main steps:


**5.2 Definition of concepts**

open space and the density of buildings [5].

*The first step: classifying similar factors into three groups.*

*Toward Practical Criteria for Analyzing and Designing Urban Blocks*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90504*

According to Rowe and Koetter and Krier, spatial balance can be considered as a lasting interaction between mass and space, in which there is a balance between

*The second step: hierarchical relationships among the factors of each category in each of the three conceptual*

*5.2.1 Spatial balance*

**Figure 6.**

*groups.*

**193**

**Figure 5.**

**Figure 4.** *The first step: identifying similar factors and their interconnections.*
