The document summarizes the history of city planning from ancient civilizations like Mesopotamia and Egypt around 4000 BC to the Baroque period in the 18th century. Early cities developed along rivers like the Nile and Tigris and focused on fortresses and marketplaces. Greek cities centered around agoras and acropolises. Roman cities had advanced infrastructure like sewers, aqueducts and roads. Medieval towns were walled and had religious buildings at the center. Renaissance cities revived classical Greek and Roman styles with symmetry and ordered plans. Baroque cities opened up with grand plazas and boulevards as populations grew.

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o CONTENTS
• History of planning

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• ‘History is a continuous process of interaction between the historian and
his facts, an unending dialogue between the past and the present’
(E.H.Carr)
• Changes of development and planning theories in different socio-
economic and temporal contexts
• ‘Thinking in time’: Continuous comparison between past, present &
future; What is known, unclear & presumed; Issue History

3. • 4,000 BC: Nile Valley & Tigris & Euphrates: building
cities as fortresses & marketplaces
• Civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea in the
Near East
• Mesopotamia: Tigris & Euphrates River; Egypt: Nile River
• Indus valley: Ganga River; Hwang-Ho delta: Hwang-Ho & Yangtze
River
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City life centered on 100-foot-high
buildings called ziggurats, which were
both temples & observation tower for
defense. Huge platform with series
platform on top.

4.  500 BC
 Acropolis ( High City)
 Acropolis of Athens
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5.  Greek settlements
centred on the
“Agora” ( a central
marketplace)
surrounded by main
public & commercial
buildings; distinct
from the “pnyx” – the
political assembly
area
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GREEK SETTLEMENTS

6.  Greek colonised once a city
hit~30,000
 Hippodamus (the first “
urban planner” ) inspired
by the Egyptian & Greek
cities & theorized the need
for a rectangular street
system ( gridiron pattern )
& used the design in
colonies
 Believed in “ homes of
equal quality” (
ventilation, sunlight, etc)
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7. 400 BC: Rome
 Rome: largest city > 1 million
 Underground sewer & water
 Roads: ancient system of
highways linking Rome with
its most distant provinces.
The roads often ran in a
straight line, regardless of
obstacles, and were
efficiently constructed
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 Forum: focal point,
marketplace
 Capitol, the principal
temple
 Basilica: a long aisled
building, the seat of local
& imperial legal
administration, hall of
justice

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 The theatre
 The Amphitheatre for
gladiatorial & animal
combats- elliptical shape
 Stadium for horse &
chariot racing

10.  Ancient cities: Mohenjodaro & Harappa
 Located in Indus Valley
 Residences: flat roofed / fired bricks / courtyards
 Houses had private wells and baths.
 Cities urban plan included the world’s first ever urban sanitation
system
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11.  Fall of Roman Empire
 Decline of trade
 Decline of cities
 “Feudal” system: fiefdoms
 Walled settlements for defence
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12.  Medieval Towns ( 11th – 14th Century): The rule of feudal lords over their
serfs. Spontaneous aggregation of buildings- walled settlements
 All Europe & the old world
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“ Each town grew out of
a unique situation,
presented a unique
constellation of forces,
& produced in its plan,
a unique solution”.

13.  Sited on irregular terrain occupying
hilltops and islands
 Fortified with heavier walls and provided
with gates, moat around
 Religious edifices dominant
 Roads radiate generally from church
plaza & market square to the town gate,
with secondary lateral roads connecting
them
 Building were packed together more
closely and lack of sufficient open spaces
, congestions, and lack of hygiene and
insufficient services leading to slum like
condition in cities
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 Renaissance ( 14th to 16th
century) – rebirth of Greek
& Roman culture- great
trading cities- wealth, art,
culture
 Symmetry, proportion,
columns, lintels, domes
 Creation of monumental
avenues

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17.  The awakening and growing metropolis
 The classical order provided a framework for a city plan.
Colossal (massive) order was most useful idea of classical
architecture
 Great buildings and monumental plazas became nodal
points.
 The important design element of the Renaissance was the
plaza. The early Italian examples were copied and adapted
in France by the architect Jacques Androuet du Cerceau
who visited Rome and brought the plaza concept to Paris.
 In England Indigo Jones brought the Renaissance plaza to
London.
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18.  Many plans were formulated after the plagues and fires of 1666 and 1667
 London's growth continued its outward expansion with the occasional
development of squares.
 In 1766 a very good plan by John Gwynn detailed proposals for London's
growth with streets, squares, bridges, housing, lighting, etc.
 London utilized plazas and open spaces
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 Renovation on a Grand Scale: City planning in Paris during this time period
showed influence of politics and power in city progress and development
 The plaza played an important role in the development of the city.
 Several significant plaza spaces were developed but did little to change the overall
city.
 Between 1638 and 1784 the city was enlarged and the old walls torn down, land was
used to build long fairly straight wide streets which were called “boulevards”
 A new plan was made in 1793. Instead of plazas, this plan provided for streets,
public improvements, sanitation, markets and other practical necessities.

19.  Barogue peroids( 17th to 18th
century): wealth, gunpowder, war
 Age of Revolution
 Cities open up- relieve
Overcrowding- new cities
 The movement, spatial invention,
drama and freedom of details
associated with the Baroque
 This Baroque style was a new
phase of Architectural
developments.
 Focus on law, order & uniformity
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20.  Before 19th Century: primarily concerned with the
physical arrangement of activities: “symbolized the
sacred order of the universe as each culture conceived
it” ( Alexander, 1992:6)
 To confirm with divine reasons interpreted by priests,
theologians, astrologers & royalties…
 Planners of classical cities are technicians, to fulfill the
ruling parties & leaders dreams, not their own
 Physical planning & design alone are not sufficient to
meet social needs
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