URBAN DESIGN HISTORY

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS GREEK-

ROMAN & MEDIVAL AGE URBAN
PLANNING

PRESENTED BY : ANUJ DHUPPAD

(M.ARCH - URBAN DESIGN)
SEMESTER I
DEPT.OF ARCHITECTURE,MIT
 URBAN DESIGN HISTORY

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
GREEK- ROMAN & MEDIVAL AGE, URBAN
PLANNING

PRESENTED BY : ANUJ DHUPPAD

(M.ARCH - URBAN DESIGN)
SEMESTER I
DEPT.OF ARCHITECTURE,MIT
 ROMAN URBAN SETTLEMENTS :
EARLY TOWNS THE FORUM
•IN ITALY THE EARLIEST ETRUSCAN TOWNS GREW WITH LITTLE OR •THE FOCAL POINT OF THE CITY WAS ITS
NO PLANNING, AND MANY OF THE ITALIAN TOWNS AND CITIES, FORUM.
INCLUDING ROME ITSELF, WERE ALSO UNPLANNED AD GREW •AN OPEN AREA BORDERED BY COLONNADES
WITHOUT RESTRICTION WITH SHOPS.
•GREEK & ETRUSCAN TOWN PLANS WERE INFLUENTIAL IN •FUNCTIONED AS THE CHIEF MEETING PLACE OF
EVOLUTION OF ROMAN TOWN PLANS. THE TOWN
•USUALLY SITUATED IN THE CENTRE OF THE CITY
AT THE INTERSECTION
• OF THE CARDO AND THE DECUMANUS
POMPELI, BASILICA
•A ROOFED HALL WITH A WIDE CENTRAL AREA
—THE NAVE—FLANKED BY SIDE AISLES, AND IT
OFTEN HAD TWO OR MORE STOREYS. • IN
ROMAN TIMES BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS AND
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS TOOK PLACE IN THE
BASILICA, BUT THE BUILDING TYPE WAS
ADAPTED IN CHRISTIAN TIMES AS THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMAN FEATURES STANDARD FORM OF WESTERN CHURCH. •THE
FIRST BASILICAS WERE ERECTED IN THE EARLY
•ROMAN PLANNING WAS LIKE THE CHESS BOARD 2ND CENTURY BC IN ROME'S OWN FORUM,
SYSTEM HAVING THE PRINCIPAL STREETS ROUNDING BUT THE EARLIEST WELL-PRESERVED
ACROSS THE LENGTH
•ROMAN COLONIAL OR CAMP PLANS WERE
ESPECIALLY DEVELOPED FOR THE MILLITARY
ENGINEERS.
•SUCH PLANS HAD NECESSARILY TO BE SIMPLE TO
SET OUT & THE BUILDING BLOCKS EASY TO
MEASURE.
 GREEK URBAN SETTLEMENTS :
OLD TOWNS
CITY PRIENE
•Greeks built small towns appropriate for human
scale • Natural borders for the town • Parts of the •Priene was a little town in Ancient Greece on the east
town were planned according to geometrical coast of the Aegean, in ancient Ionia .
patterns and others according to defensive •It is generally considered to be one of the first examples
measures • Democracy, • Buildings of poor and of city planning on a sophisiticated grid, as well as a prime
rich, • public baths. example of passive solar orientation
•The old Acropolis was given up. Instead, a broad sloping
terrace, or more exactly a series of terraces, nearer the
foot of the hill, was laid out with public buildings —Agora,
Theatre, Stoa, Gymnasium, Temples, and so forth—and
with private houses.
• The whole covered an area of about 750 yds. in length
PLAN and 500 yds. in width. Priene was, therefore, about half
the size of Pompei

•A, B, C. -Gates. D, E, F,
AGORA ACROPOLIS H, M, P. - Temples I -
Council House
•Gathering place and • 400 dwellings with
market •Elevated temple 4000 population
•Place for public event district • Agora surrounded by
• Agora on the road • Contained various public buildings and
temples residential blocks
from the harbor, in
• Architectural • Each Resi. Block -4/5
the center and houses .
includes : “vocabulary” used well •Broad road aprox 23 ft
•Assembly hall into the 20th c. for wide
• Council hall banks, courthouses, • Short road ‘T’ – 10 ft
• Chamber hall town halls, etc. wide
• Bordered by • Periodic processions •L, Q. Gymnasium.
to Acropolis also •N. Theatre,
temples, workshops,
vendors’ stalls, celebrated the polis •O. Water reservoir, PLAN
•R. Race-course
statues
 MEDIVAL URBAN SETTLEMENTS :
•MEDIVAL CIVILIZATION
CITY CARCASSONNE
The eclipse in the European civilization between the fall of the
•Carcassonne is a fortified medeival walled city in southern
Roman Empire in the West ( 4th and 5th centuries) and the france
reemergence of activity in the Early Middle Ages (10th-12th •The city Carcassonne double row of fortified wall run
centuries), is known as the DARK AGES. almost two miles long and accentyated by 56 imposing
watch towers.
•ORIGIN OF MEDIVAL CITIES •The city of carcassonne follwed a irregular pattern of
planning composing of market square and church.
The Medieval city developed out of a variety of nuclei. It is possible •The fortification was protected by the construction of a
to distinguish the following important original growth points or defensive wall some 1200 m long
take-off points on which the development of the medieval city is •It consist of two of two lines of wall and castle.
based: •Irregular pattern of streets are seen
•The market square has narrow streets.
•The walled town of carcassone is roughly rectangular in
shape upto 525 m long.

•MEDIVAL TOWN

The Medieval Age was the greatest town founding period in

history. It began with Charlemagne who laid foundations of many
new towns (800-814 AD). It was also a period in history when
ordinary people began to take an acknowledged place in society.
Birth, wealth, and power began to give way to personal merit