Morfologia urbana e fringe belts, Urban morphology and fringe belts

In 1960 Michael R.G. Conzen published a study on Alnwick, a small town in Northumberland. Located near the eastern coast, between the Vallum of Hadrian ( 122 AD) and the Antonine wall (142 AD), this area was inhabited by rebels tribes later federated with the empire. Here Romanization lasted 142-410 A.D. leaving some traces. Using morphological analysis Conzen identified the triangular urban core of Anglian period, four centuries before the Norman castle. For Conzen “each period leaves its distinctive material residues in the landscape and for the purpose of geographical analysis can be viewed as morphological period.