Lecture – 2

THE CITY IN HISTORY - I

Contents
Why study the city?
Deciding What is „Urban‟
Urban Transformation
Urbanism as a way of life Part 1

Various Perspectives: Urban sociology, geography, spatial, politics of space, social psychology, city and culture

Urban Origins – Digging the early cities

City-states and urban empires: The first urban revolution
Glance eastward Part 2
Glance westward

Crete and Greece

Rome
Decline: The Middle Ages
Revival: Renaissance and Neo-Classical

The Modern Era Part 3

Industrial Revolution
Utopian Ideas
North American Cities: Urban-Rural/ North-South tensions

Part 4
Post Industrial city: Deterioration and Regeneration
Today‟s cities and Suburbs – Sprawl, Transit oriented approaches, Gated communities, mixed-use etc.
Why study the city?

Dynamism
City is setting or human drama
Collision of opposites
Indicators of hope and innovation
Economic, political and artistic lifeblood of civilizations
Deciding what is urban Factors

Population

Occupation

Economy

Density
Urban transformation

1800 – only one city had population above 1 million

2011 – 130 cities have population more than 1 million

Urbanization is increasing rapidly – alteration in social organization, urban

form, environmental changes, economic activities, land use changes
Growth of sub-cultures, complex division of labour
Complexity of a city: Various Perspectives

Cities – a recent phenomenon in history of 100000 years of humans

Emergence of sociology – transformation of villages was an important factor

Shift of focus from pessimistic towards realistic

Spatial perspective – need for security, natural fortification was a natural

reaction

Do cities change people in one way or another?

How and why do cities stimulate us so much?

Geographical assets were important – water, access to transportation

routes, ability to produce goods to meet needs

Behavioural adaptations are another perspective – social psychology

City and governance – capitalism, socialism, communism

Comparative Urbanism – city and culture

To related areas
Urban Geography – focuses on significance of city‟s location and resources City as a system
Urban Ecology – analyses how people are spread out within an urban area
Urban Origins: Digging the early cities

Jericho

Catal Huyuk
ANCIENT EGYPT

• Flourished around 300 B.C.

• Erected upon the Pharaoh's order – housed slaves and artisans engaged in building the
pyramids
• Resembled huge barracks

Typical features

• Narrow lanes and open drainage sewers

• Towns were surrounded by walls – mainly for protection from floods
• Cells made up of sun-dried brick about common courtyards
• Monumental avenues, colossal temple plazas, rock-cut tombs
• Gradually many temple towns built around 200 B.C.
• Examples – Memphis, Thebes, Tel-el-Amarna
Luxor
MESOPOTAMIA

Typical features

• Cities built as a result of rise of a series of empires along the valley of Tigris and Euphrates
• Heavy fortification – done for protection from enemies
• Dominance of stately palaces and temples
• Slavery and superstition persistent – resulted in increase in slums

• Around 1800 B.C., town planning codes were written by Hammurabi

• Examples – Ur, Nineveh, Persepolis
Ur

• City itself was the built form

• Partly planned and partly organic
• Typical city divided space into residential, mixed use, commercial, and civic spaces
• The core of the city was a high temple complex
• Network of roads and canals connected the city to this land
• 10% of the city area was streets and 90% buildings
• Canals were more important than roads for transportation
• Street hierarchy
Nineveh
• Founded by King Sennacherib to replace Khorsabad as capital of Assyria – 1700 B.C.
• Grid – iron pattern
• 12km rampart
• Limestone blocks and mud bricks
• Elaborate channel of 18 canals for water supply
• Aquaduct
• Emphasis on luxury – public squares, parks, botanical gardens, zoo, library
• Approx. 1850 acres
• Monumental gates, processional avenues
CRETE AND GREECE
GREEK TOWNS

Knossos
Aegean cities

• Capital city of Crete – foundation of the Minoan civilization – 1000 B.C.

• One of the oldest towns in the ancient world – population of around 100000
• Palaces were the center of the town – most influence
• Natural protection offered by its site – hence not surrounded by walls
• Free access to the seas as well as free trade with other islands
• Examples – Knossos
GREEK TOWNS

• City-state(Polis) emerged as the basis of Greek society – development of language

and literacy
• Cities existed in independence – lack of political unity
• Several forms of government – oligarchic, tyrannical and democratic
• Supremacy of Athens – jealousy among other settlements
• Prolonged wars – final decline of Athens – defeat of democratic spirit

Organic growth
Evolution of agora as a public space
ACROPOLIS

• “Upper city” – citadel or highest part of the city – nucleus of the city
• Principal temple, subsidiary temples, treasuries, stoas (colonnaded shelters), altars, statues, exedrae (semi circular seats or walled recesses) and sacred groves of trees
Tiryns

• 1300 B.C.
• Hill fort
• Notable features – palaces, tunnels and especially mighty walls
• Due to the height, it acted as a place of refuge for the city‟s
inhabitants at the time of war.
Priene

• Agora – occupies the geographical center. Around it are the temple

shrines, public buildings and shops
• Emphasis on orientation of the dwelling units
• Main streets connected the gate
• Agora was generally placed such that „beasts of burden‟ and „carts‟
could traverse easily
• Grid-iron pattern superimposed within a hill
• Excellent example of hill-side terracing
Miletus

• Grid-iron pattern roads

• Agora was towards the harbour to facilitate trade
• City wall – for protection
• Streets were very steep – steps were regularly used in the streets
• Plan was reconstructed in 170 B.C. – was an exercise in modular coercion
ROME
ROME

• Official Rome was a collection of stupendous exercise in conspicuous wealth and

whimsical individuality
• Public open spaces – totally ignored
• Roads were not designed
• Lack of design order
ROME
State-show of power through distribution of dominant and sub-dominant themes

Imperial Fora

Constant shift of axes

No real organization, but show of individualistic approach to planning
TIMGAD
Grid-iron pattern – emphasis on military movement
 MEDIEVAL TOWNS

• Started around the 5th century A.D.

• Urban –to-rural migration due to shrinking of cities(fall of
economy)
• Social and economic confusion – STAGNATION
• Commencement of feudal system – slaves and barbaric
rulers
• Agricultural based economy
• Wars among feudal lords
• Church strengthened Carcassonne

• Heavy fortifications – for protection from enemies

• 11th cent. – marked revival of trade – urbanization – renewal of Roman towns
• City grew within the confines of the walls
• Rise of the mercantile class – a new social order

• Gradually the plan changed to more geometrical

• Church plaza became market place
• Citizenship + trade + town hall - unity

Noerdlingen
EARLY MEDIEVAL TOWNS

Carcassonne
EARLY MEDIEVAL TOWNS

Noerdlingen
LATE MEDIEVAL TOWNS • 1262 A.D.
• Formed due to rebellion due to unbearable taxation – forceful
Montpazier abandonment of original town

• Roads radiated generally from the church plaza and market

square to the gates – secondary lateral roads connecting them
• Streets were used for pedestrian circulation
• No emphasis on making the town „picturesque‟

New Carcassonne
EARLY MEDIEVAL TOWNS

Development of city-square

Piazza del Campo

RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE

• Rise of mercantilism and concentration of population

• No sewage disposal system – problems increased with increase in population
• Power of the feudal lords declined – ownership of land shifted to wealthy
merchants
• Church also gained a vast domain – resulting in development of two
privileged classes – the nobles and clergy
• Congestion and formation of slums – increase in building heights
• Wheeled traffic increased
• Fire hazards
• Invention of Gun powder
• Development of piazzas

Rome
Vienna
Florence Venice

Perugia

Todi
NEO-CLASSICAL

• Expensive investments in towns by rulers

• More open plazas
• More experimental
• Focus on the royal palaces
• More emphasis and design of gardens
• Continuity of open spaces

Washington D.C Karlsruhe

 Perugia
Venice – Dominant and Sub dominant open spaces - CONTINUITY
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

PHASE 1 – URBAN CONCENTRATION • Railroad tracks penetrated the town

PHASE 2 – URBAN SPRAWL • Factory was the nerve center of the city
PHASE 3 – IMPACT OF LOCOMOTIVE • Life revolved around requirement of industrial production
PHASE 4 – BYE-LAW HOUSING • Crowding of dwellings – high density
PHASE 5 – SOCIAL REFORMS, UTOPIAN IDEAS

17th century city 19th century city

the picturesque slum the mechanical slum
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION – Impact on cities

Mid-19th cent. Back-to-back housing

Development of Bern over the period 1300 to 1800
UTOPIAN IDEAS

Illustration of Thomas More‟s Utopian city - 1516 - Proposed in1849 by J.S.Buckingham

- Utopian Plan
- Recommended that industries using steam engines be
situated one-half mile away from town.
- Sites would be reserved for sub-urban villas in the
agricultural land and land surrounding the towns.
CONTEMPORARY EXPRESSIONS

Manhatten

- Ignored all topographical features and aesthetic-recreational values of a continuous waterfront

CONTEMPORARY EXPRESSIONS

Brasilia
Chandigarh
MODERN IDEAS

Diagram illustrating correct principles of city growth- Open country even near
Garden City – Ebenezer Howard
at hand and rapid communication between off-shoots
MODERN IDEAS
Garden City – Ebenezer Howard
- Started in 1898 by Ebenezer Howard in England
- Reaction to severe overcrowding and deterioration of cities
- Combination of life of town as well as country
MODERN IDEAS
Letchworth, England

- First Garden city – built by Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker

– 1905
- Focus on inexpensive housing, each household contributing
to agricultural production, first green-belt around the town
- Major social experiment – also subject to criticism
MODERN IDEAS
Welwyn, England
- Second Garden city – founded in 1920
- Whole land in pubic ownership/trust for the community
- Focus on green belts along the roads as well as agricultural
lands surrounding the residential and industrial areas
MODERN IDEAS
Welwyn, England
MODERN IDEAS
Satellite Towns

London Washington D.C.

Linear Towns – Soria Y Mata
MODERN IDEAS
Une Cite Industrielle – Tony Garnier

- Basic idea – zoning into several categores – industrial,

civic, residential, health related and entertainment.
- Published in 1918
MODERN IDEAS
Corbusier’s Plan for Paris, 1922-25
MODERN IDEAS
Broadacre City, Wright, 1932