Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome early planningThe first cityCities began to emerge in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) around 4500 years ago. Ur, the capital of ancient Sumeria, was the worlds first city. It supported a complex and sophisticated society.Organic yet idealThe ancient ideal city typified by Athens in the 5th century BC and imperial Rome (c100 BC c400 AD) was not planned. Athens grew from its focal point, the acropolis, which became the ceremonial centre of the city-state, decked with temples including the Parthenon. These temples, and other civic buildings of the ancient Greek world, defined the architectural style known as classical. Below the acropolis was the agora or central market and community space for the citizens of Athens.While Athens was organic, there were some planned towns in the ancient world. Priene, in Asia Minor, was a town planned to fit a hilltop site.Ancient Rome grew from a settlement founded around 700 BC on seven hills near the Tiber river. Its Capitol had a similar function to the Athenian acropolis. And its forums, with temples, baths, basilicas and colonnades were places for business and recreation. Many of these buildings were in the classical style copied from Greece.Unlike Rome itself, many cities and towns of the Roman Empire were planned, but mainly as military camps. They featured a grid with a forum at the centre, and baths, basilicas, amphitheatres and markets.Classical revival through the agesAncient Athens and Rome have inspired waves of classical revival: the Renaissance (15th century) the Baroque style (17th century) the Georgian style (18th century) the City Beautiful movement (19th and 20th centuries)Much civic architecture in the Western world is in the classical style. The National Library of Australia is a modern version of the Parthenon in Athens.

Priene, Asia Minor a planned city from the 4th century BC. The grid street plan was laid out across a hill, and all buildings were aligned accordingly. (John Sulman, Introduction to Town Planning in Australia, 1921, p3)

MEDIEVAL TOWN PLANNING

INTRODUCTION

The time span between fall of the Roman empire till the start of renaissance is termed as DARK AGES as no great construction or development was carried out during this period.Economy was rooted in agriculture and the feudal system was the new order.Merchants & craftsmen formed guilds to strengthen their social & economic position.Wars among the rival feudal lords were frequent.

PLANNING

1.Early medieval town was dominated by church or monastry & castle of lords.2.For protective measures, towns were sited in irregular terrain, occupying hill tops or islands. Towns assumed informal & irregular character.3.Church plaza became a market place.4.Roads generally radiated from church plaza& market plaza to gates with secondary lateral roadways connecting them.5.Castle was surrounded by wall & moat as a protective elements.Irregular pattern in planning was devised to confuse enemies; as enemies unfamiliar with town.Open spaces, streets, plazas developed as an integral part of site.Streets were used for pedestrian while wheels were restricted to main roads.

CITIES IN TWELTH & THERTINTH CENTURYThe city of middle ages grew within the confines of the walls.While the population was small, there was space in the town, but when it increased the buildings were packed more closely and the open spaces filled.

Result was intolerable congestion, lack of hygiene and pestilence.

CITY OF NAARDEN

1.CARCASSONNE

It contains market square, castle & church of St.Nazzair.Irregular pattern for streets is seen.

2. NOERDLINGEN

A CathedralB Moat

It shows the radial & lateral pattern of irregular road ways with the church plaza as the principal focal point of the town.

3.CITY MOUNT ST. MICHEL

It was the picturesque town.It was church larger than the palace that dominated the medieval town of St. Michel .The town was enclosed within a protective wall . The artisan were sensitiveto the form & material of the building erected. Under their guidanceand care was exercised in the placement of, and relation between , structure of the town which gave the picturesque town.

4.MONTPAZIER

During the 13th & 14th centauries colonial cities were founded by young empires to protect their trade and provide military security.They were platted for allocation of sites to shelters and the regular plan is a distinct contrast to the informal.

The Medieval dwelling

The medieval dwelling was conceived as an individualfortress.The average dwelling was two stories in height. The work- room and storageWere on the first or basement. Sometimes kitchen was also located here. Living , dining& sleeping took place on the second floor. Masonry was the usual construction , although wood frame filled withWattle & clay & roofed with thatch for comparison, a small manor house is shown.

It contains a hall & cooking were perforated on this floor. A dormitory or solar was located in the tower above the chapel.A drain pipe was imbedded in the wall for disposal of waste. The window had no glass and were protected with shutters.Manor houses were extended in size and formed the nucleus of villages in many cases.

An artists view of how the small ancient city of Priene in Asia Minor occupied its hilltop site. (John Sulman, Introduction to Town Planning in Australia, 1921, p3)

Renaissance and Baroque stylesDuring the Renaissance (broadly, the 15th century), city-states dominated by powerful rulers emerged in Italy. The papacy based in Rome in the Vatican City was one of these. Florence was another.RomeRome had fallen into decay, and the Church needed to restore the faith of the people in its mission. From the 1470s, several popes began to remodel Rome. They aimed to glorify the Church and the papacy, and enable pilgrims to move more easily within the city. They adopted straight axial streets terminating in vistas marked by columns, obelisks, fountains, and views of grand buildings.The most ambitious pope was Sixtus V (158590). His plan was to cover Rome with a network of straight streets and mark their intersections by obelisks. His legacy to Rome is a classic example of Baroque planning.The architect Leon Battista Alberti (140472) redesigned Romes water supply. By 1600 it was the best of any city in Europe. The Baroque remodelling of Rome culminated in the colonnade for St Peters Basilica by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (15981680).FlorenceThe architect Giorgio Vasari (151174) remodelled Central Florence. He created a dramatic vista towards the Uffizi Palace, and placed statues at the end of axial streets.LondonBaroque Rome inspired John Evelyn and Christopher Wren in their plans for a new urban form for London after the Great Fire in 1666.VersaillesLouis XIVs Palace of Versailles (built 166874), with its famous gardens by Andr le Notre, had bisecting land and water axes that created impressive vistas. It inspired Pierre LEnfant when he designed Washington DC as the new capital of the United States of America in 1791.ParisWhen Baron Haussmann reordered Paris between 1853 and 1869, he also looked back to Versailles for inspiration. By 1870, Paris was the wonder of the world. Haussmann drove a network of boulevards through the city, straightened other roads, created public squares, vistas and sites for important public buildings, and also made the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes into public parks.

In a classic example of Baroque planning, the encircling arms of the colonnade of Berninis St Peters basilica, crowned with sculptures by the same artist, reach out into the wider vista towards the Tiber river. (Thomas Mawson, Civic Art, 1911, p107)

In 1870, after significant redevelopment, Paris was the wonder of the world. Here, its radial planning is evident, with the boulevards radiating from the Arc de Triomphe. (Roslyn Russell Collection)

City Beautiful and Garden City movementsWhite Citys beautyAn event rather than a city plan helped give rise to the City Beautiful movement one of the most influential town planning models of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Architect Daniel Burnham led a team of leading American designers, including Frederick Law Olmsted, to create the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The temporary buildings and monuments of the White City were constructed in neo-classical style, and flanked water features and other grand public spaces. The coordinated design of the Exposition inspired Walter Burley Griffin in his planning for Canberra.Revamping the metropolisMajor redevelopment schemes for big cities were another factor in the rise of modern town planning. Daniel Burnham (18461912) was involved in two American projects. The Senate Park Commissions 1902 plan to revitalise LEnfants plan for Washington DC attracted world-wide interest. And the 1909 plan for Chicago showed how artistic vision could fuse with pragmatic ideas about efficient cities at a metropolitan scale.Gardens in the cityBelief in a new form of community with all the advantages but none of the disadvantages of town and country evident in an industrialising England in the 19th century, led Ebenezer Howard to develop his Garden City ideas. He published his influential book, Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to Reform, in 1898. It was reissued as Garden Cities of Tomorrow in 1902.Howard had many influences, and called his work a unique combination of proposals. His design ideas were influenced by both dignified Georgian towns like Bath and moden park and community plans, including Frederick Law Olmsteds model suburb of Riverside (1869), near Chicago. Australia also inspired Howard. He included in his book a sketch of the plan of Adelaide, designed in the 1830s by Colonel William Light. Splitting the city into smaller sections surrounded by parklands was a major influence on the idea of the green belt.Howards Garden City ideas inspired the development of Letchworth in 1903. Located in Hertfordshire, outside London, it was Britains first planned garden city. Its designers, Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker, also planned Hampstead Garden Suburb in London in 1907.