Axis 1 — Function

What is the city for?

Finance — Moves and allocates capital. New York, London, Zurich.
Trade — Moves physical goods. Rotterdam, Singapore, Antwerp.
Industry — Makes things. Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Osaka.
Government — Houses political power. Washington D.C., Brasília, Canberra.
Knowledge — Generates and commercializes ideas. Boston, San Francisco, Munich.
Culture — Produces art, meaning, and taste, including sacred meaning. Paris, Vienna, Kyoto, Varanasi, Fez.
Experience — Sells itself as the product. Las Vegas, Orlando, Cancún.

Axis 2 — Reach

How far does the city’s influence extend?

Global — Shapes decisions and culture worldwide. New York, London, Tokyo.
Multinational — Dominates a large region. São Paulo, Dubai, Mumbai, Lagos.
National — Undisputed center of its country. Cairo, Bangkok, Buenos Aires.
Regional — Serves its surrounding area. Lyon, Seville, Chiang Mai.
Local — Serves itself and not much further. Bruges, Oaxaca, Hoi An.

Axis 3 — Economic Structure

How is wealth produced and distributed, and who participates?

Concentrated Formal — One dominant industry or employer; regulated but narrow economy. Aberdeen, Baku, Detroit (historical).
Diversified Formal — Multiple industries of comparable weight; most activity governed by formal institutions. Chicago, Munich, Sydney.
Dual Economy — Formal and informal sectors coexist with limited integration; different populations operate in separate systems. Mumbai, Nairobi, Cairo.
Predominantly Informal — Most activity outside formal regulation, taxation, and legal protection. Lagos, Kinshasa, Dhaka, Manila.
Rentier — Wealth flows from control of a resource or chokepoint rather than productive activity. Riyadh, Kuwait City, pre-diversification Dubai.
Command — Economic activity directed primarily by the state; largely historical. East Berlin (pre-1989), Magnitogorsk, Pyongyang.

Axis 4 — Genesis

How did the city come into being?

4a — How it was built

Organic — Grew without a plan over centuries. London, Fez, Naples.
Planned — Designed before construction. Brasília, Canberra, Astana.
Hybrid — Organic core with major planned extensions. Paris, Barcelona, Berlin.

4b — Why it was built

Political — To house or project power. Washington D.C., New Delhi, Abuja.
Commercial — To enable trade or production. Rotterdam, Chicago, Hong Kong.
Colonial — To control a subject territory. Mumbai, Nairobi, Lima.
Resource — To extract from the ground. Johannesburg, Baku, Manaus.
Frontier — Grew at the edge of expanding settlement. San Francisco, Melbourne, Almaty.

Axis 5 — Morphology

How is the city laid out?

Centered — One dominant core. Paris, Prague, Lima.
Polycentric — Several nodes of similar weight. Tokyo, Los Angeles, Berlin.
Linear — Stretched along a coast, valley, or road. Algiers, Istanbul, Valparaíso.
Sprawl — Car-dependent, no clear center. Houston, Phoenix, Riyadh.
Cellular — Distinct neighborhoods or former villages not fully absorbed. Mumbai, Naples, Athens, Johannesburg.

Axis 6 — Relationship to the State

How does the city sit within national power?

Fused — City and national government effectively the same. Paris, Bangkok, Cairo, Addis Ababa.
Economically Contested — National center whose wealth creates friction with the government. London, New York, Jakarta.
Politically Contested — Cultural or historical identity conflicts with the national government. Barcelona, Hong Kong, Edinburgh.
Autonomous — Governs itself with meaningful independence. Singapore, Zurich, Hamburg.
Suppressed — State limits what the city can do or become. Karachi, Khartoum.
Abandoned — State provides minimal and unreliable basic functions. Lagos, Kinshasa, Dhaka.

Axis 7 — Demographic Character

Who lives there and why did they come?

Rooted — Mostly multigenerational residents; identity is local and inherited. Kyoto, Naples, Kraków.
Voluntary Migrant — Built by people who chose to come for opportunity. New York, Toronto, Sydney.
Forced Migrant — Built significantly by people fleeing violence or expulsion. Amman, Peshawar.
Exile — Defined by political rupture and orientation toward a lost homeland. Miami, Taipei.
Transient — Large share of residents there temporarily. Dubai, Doha, Geneva.
Revolving — Cycles of students, officials, and professionals; institutions outlast individuals. Washington D.C., Brussels, Oxford.

Axis 8 — Tempo

What is the city’s internal rhythm?

Fast-Stable — Quick and consistent. New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong.
Fast-Volatile — Intense and unpredictable. Kinshasa, Beirut, Karachi.
Slow-Stable — Unhurried. Kyoto, Vienna, Florence.
Slow-Volatile — Neither fast nor settled. Havana, Yangon.

Axis 9 — Social Register

How do people relate to public life?

Convivial — Organized around pleasure and time together; street and café central. Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Beirut.
Purposive — Public life oriented toward tasks and efficiency. Tokyo, Singapore, Copenhagen.
Transactional — Mostly commercial; thin shared civic culture. Dubai, Houston, Las Vegas.
Civic — Organized around politics and institutions. Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Bogotá.
Stratified — Distinct social worlds coexist with little contact. Mumbai, Karachi, Johannesburg.

Axis 10 — Depth

How much does the past constrain the present?

Saturated — History is physically and institutionally load-bearing. Rome, Istanbul, Cairo, Kyoto.
Layered — Past visible but reshaped after major ruptures. Berlin, Warsaw, Beirut, Barcelona, Medellín.
Open — Little accumulated form constraining the future. Dubai, Shenzhen, Astana, Houston.

Axis 11 — Physical Setting

What does geography demand or enable?

Water-Built — Built into water; water shapes movement and limits. Venice, Amsterdam, Dhaka.
River-Spine — Major river defines axis and social divide. Paris, Cairo, Cologne, Yangon.
Harbor-Founded — Built around a natural harbor; sea central to trade and identity. Sydney, Lisbon, Valparaíso, Beirut.
Elevated — Altitude defines climate and bodily experience. La Paz, Addis Ababa, Quito, Kathmandu.
Constrained — Enclosed by island, peninsula, or mountains; must intensify rather than spread. Singapore, Hong Kong, Istanbul, San Francisco.
Open Plain — No natural limits; form determined by choice. Houston, Chicago, Astana, Johannesburg.

Axis 12 — Housing Character

How do people live, and what does the built fabric reveal?

Haussmannian — Mid-rise stone blocks with uniform cornice lines; dense but comfortable. Paris, Brussels, Buenos Aires.
Courtyard Block — Buildings around internal courtyards; life oriented inward. Madrid, Cairo, Tunis, Casablanca.
Historic Townhouse — Dense rows of narrow vertical dwellings; street as social unit. Amsterdam, Porto, Bruges.
Soviet Block — Prefabricated towers in superblocks, state-built. Warsaw, Almaty, Bucharest.
Tower and Podium — High-rise residential towers over retail base. Hong Kong, Singapore, Shenzhen.
Informal Settlement — Self-built, dense, incrementally constructed housing. Lagos, Karachi, Dar es Salaam.
Single-Family Suburb — Detached houses on individual lots; car-dependent. Houston, Phoenix, Melbourne.
Mixed Vernacular — No dominant type; accumulated across eras. Tbilisi, Thessaloniki, Kolkata.