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Lecture 2: Early Urbanism: Classical, Medieval and Georgian Cities (Early…
Lecture 2: Early Urbanism: Classical, Medieval and Georgian Cities
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Early Urbanism
Defining Cities and Conditions for Urbanism
- The production of a surplus of storable food
- The development of writing
- Social organisation to maintain supplies to urban specialists
- Technological progress
- Modification in social and economic relations
- Classes start to develop as different people dedicate themselves to different jobs
Sumerian Cities
- One of the first urban civilisations Southern Mesopotamia
- 3 basic elements: old walled city, tenemos (sacred place and residences for officials and citizens
- Development influenced by flooding of Euphrates (but near enough to facilitate river trade).
- Allowing river trade
- Had to situate strategically in order to avoid flooding or urban catastrophe
- Residential areas influenced by climate, customs and urban mobility.
- How to get around and in and out of city
- House rooms were grouped around a courtyard
- Often to do with climate but also family structure
- Organic growth
- Protection from sun, dust and sand
- Urban streets needed to enable passage of pack animal traffic
- Some enforcement on who was allowed to do what within cities
- Some of present day features are visible from sumerian
Harappan Cities: first planned towns?
- city layout one of the first instances of urban planning
- Citadels raised on high platforms with high walls and separate from urban areas
- organic growth, unplanned but had basic gridiron system
Mohenjo-daro
- On the bank of the Indus
- contained buildings for religion, granaries, and a large public bath
- high quality sanitary arrangments
Mandala planning
-Ancient hindu system of planning based on how laws of nature affect human dwellings
- In planning, mandala allows any site to divide into squares (padas)
- buildings as an act of disordered existence into conformity
Classical cities: Greece
The Polis - Kitto
- the polis: city state or self governing community
- talking about whole-area incorporating non-urban population
- if there was irresponsible government there was no polis
- polis can afford to be small, inclusive and everybody had to be engaged as government
- emphasis on expenditure on public space, temples, markets etc
- polis as a social institution active in training minds and characters of citizens
- DEMOCRATIC
- for the first time, ideas on how humans should be
Classical cities: Greece
- urban centre with enclosed city walls surrounded by villages and agriculture land
- Acropolis - religious centre
- Agora - central zone of city
- Residential districts
- Leisure and cultural centre: theatre, stadium, gymnasium
Hipposamus of Miletus: Father of town planning?
- The organisation of all components of an entire new town to create an integrated and planned urban entity.
- A whole town can be planned
- Division of population into artisans, husbandmen and armed defenders of the state.
- Division of space into sacred, public and private space.
- Foundations of the ideas of planning
Greek achievments
- First used the gridiron system
- created architecture, philosophy, theatre, poetry and democracy
- focus on public communal spaces
- control of urban growth through formation of new colonies
- Liturgies (form of voluntary contribution) to address pauperism (poverty)
Limits of Greek Urbanism
- women and slaves not citizens and foreigners had limited rights
- Neglection of residences and public sanitary systems
- Regular plague, sickness and disease
- Greeks preferred to invest in public spaces rather than domestic
- high densities, little space for gardens
Classical cities: Rome
- chaotic organic growth of city where 'patching' was favoured over restructuring
- 3 classes: colonai, municpia and civitates: each had different citizenship rights
Urban form:
-hierarchy of streets determining importance of street
- itenera: pedestrian widths
- actas: one cart
- viae: two carts
- street system constant conflict due to business - ceaser had to ban carts during daytime
Rome achievment:
- democracy
- bureaucracy
- architectural achievments
- public works
- planning and building regulations
- no spatial segregation of rich/poor
Limits of Rome:
- extreme contrasts of rich/poor
- noise, dust, fire and disease
- crowding and deteriorating housing conditions
- feeding yet amusing the city
- little economic/industrial innovation
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