Hydromorphic analysis of urban area transformation: the case study of the Matera city

The paper analyzes the urban context of Matera city, adopting an approach based on the concept of watershed, interpreted in its dynamic meaning. This approach exceeds the classical urban planning analysis by focusing on the interaction between the morphological characteristics of the territory, the land uses and their human-made changes and the consequent hydrological response and surface runoff. The morphological description combined with the classic urban representation that looks at the types of intervention implemented (permeable, impervious, green, land uses) drive into the understanding of the urban and territorial transformation processes responses. Furthermore the urban evolution analysis for different time period can provide a time-based interpretation of the transformations impacts providing useful information for future planning of the entire area of Matera.