Principles of Urban Design

LECTURE 4

Abhishek K. Venkitaraman Iyer

Assistant Professor
Faculty of Architecture, MIT

Primary Reference

Planning: Historical Overview and

Influences
A history of urban and regional planning from its early
development up to the present.
PL 511 | Urban & Regional Planning
Slideshow developed by:
Arch. Edeliza V. Macalandag, UAP
Bohol Island State University | College of Architecture & Engineering

THE BEGINNINGS
SETTLEMENT DESIGN
Agricultural Societies
Rectilinear Plotting
LAYOUT
1. Grid (or Rectilinear) product of the farmer
2. Circular (Fencing)

product of the herdsman

defensive role

3. Radiocentric when circular settlements enlarge

fortress cities (i.e. Paris)
**

And when we saw all those cities and villages built in

the water and other great towns on dry land, and that
straight and level causeway leading to Tenochtitlan, we
were amazedIndeed, some of our soldiers asked if it
was not all a dream (Spanish chronicler, Bernal Diaz
del Castillo) describing Aztec Chinampa agriculture

Circular Layout

Radio-centric Layout

Radio-centric Layout

ANCIENT GREECE
LANDSCAPE
HIGH PLACES

powerfully assertive
fortified hilltop
sacred precinct
TOWN DESIGN = SENSE OF THE FINITE
Aristotles ideal size of city = 10,000 20,000 people
Never attempted to overwhelm nature
Buildings give a sense of human measure to landscape
THE STREET
not a principal element but as a leftover space
for circulation
PLACE OF ASSEMBLY market (agora)

Acropolis

Acropolis

The agora was a central spot in ancient Greek city-states. The literal meaning of the word is "gathering place" or
"assembly". The agora was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the city.

Ancient Athens

ANCIENT ROME
URBAN DESIGN
Greek : sense of the finite
Romans : political power and organization
USE OF SCALE
Greek use of scale is based on human
measurements
Romans used proportions that would relate parts
of building instead of human measure

**

ANCIENT ROME
MODULE
Greek use of house as module for town planning
Roman use of street pattern as module
to achieve a sense of overpowering grandeur
made for military government

THE STREET
Greeks : as a leftover space for circulation
Romans: street are built first; buildings came later
PLACE OF ASSEMBLY
Greeks: market (agora)
Romans: market, theater, and arena
**

Roman Forum

Imperial fora overlapping other sites

Trajan Forum

MEDIEVAL ERA
DECLINE OF ROME
Dark Ages, but not for urban design
URBAN SETTINGS
Military strongholds, castles, monasteries, towns
MILITARY STRONGHOLDS
Acropolis and Capitoline Hill
CASTLES
Built atop hills, enclosed by circular walls
Radiocentric growth
**

MEDIEVAL ERA
MONASTERIES
Citadels of learning
Laid out in rectilinear pattern
MEDIEVAL TOWNS
Like Greek towns, small and finite in size
Lacks geometry
Became parts of larger territorial states
Growth and population created the need
for marketplaces
**

MEDIEVAL ERA TOWN DESIGN

VISIBLE EXTERIORS
Suit the viewing conditions of small
spaces
VISTA considerations and HUMAN SCALE
Fine accents in landscape
STREET LAYOUT
Functional
But with no logical form

**

MEDIEVAL ERA TOWN DESIGN

MEDIEVAL ERA sets the stage for RENAISSANCE
Skill of builders
Wealth of bourgeoisie and nobility
Organization of the military and new force in
gunpowder
Development of political powers and expertise
New organizations
Scholarly knowledge of the church

**

MEDIEVAL ERA TOWN DESIGN

3 MAJOR EVENTS MARKING TRANSITION
FROM MEDIEVAL TIMES
Dawn of science
Fall of Constantinople
Discovery of the New World

**

Lucca, Tuscany

Carcassonne, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

Medieval Design

An urban square is an
open public space commonly
found in the heart of a city used
for community gatherings.

a forum for exchange, both

social and economic ideas

Their significance and intensity

of meaning is expressed through
harder intensively used
landscaping.

They tend to be formal and

urban in nature in contrast to
parks and open space, which are
typically soft landscaped, larger
and less intensively used.

Piazza Grande - Roman

Piazza del Campo,Siena, Italy

Structure of a Square

Structure of a Square

Approach

Arrival

Approach
5

Arrival

Basic Design Structure

Todi

Perugia

Basic Design Structure

Florence

Venice

FROM MEDIEVAL ERA TO RENAISSANCE ERA

MEDIEVAL URBAN DESIGN were to be discarded
Sense of scale
Intimate relation between house and street
MEDIEVAL SYSTEM OF TOWN DESIGN
Truly livable
Humanist basis
RENAISSANCE SYSTEM OF TOWN DESIGN
Role of the individual as builder of his town
was lost
**

RENAISSANCE EARLY DEVELOPMENTS

REBUILDING FERRARA
Palazzo Diamanti
Most famous structure

Biaggio Rossetti
Architect and town planner
Regarded as one of the worlds earliest modern urban designers

Rossettis plan
Street widening, new buildings, wall improvement
Enlarge the town
Carry on with the plan o build upon
**

RENAISSANCE EARLY DEVELOPMENTS

LESSONS FROM ROSSETTIS EFFORT
Repair an existing city
Plan for enlargement
Decide which to concentrate effort
Lay down a plan that is logical and realizable
Provide framework for others to build upon

**

RENAISSANCE REBUILDING ROME

PROBLEMS

Circulation
Defense
Water supply
Sanitation

SOLUTION
Popes have to undertake civic improvement projects

PILGRIMAGE
St. Peters Cathedral improved
Campidoglio (Romes city hall) improved
**

RENAISSANCE REBUILDING ROME

DOMENICO FONTANA
Architect commissioned by Pope Sixtus V

FONTANAS PLAN
Streets were visually accented using OBELISKS

OBELISKS
As stakes, as GUIDEPOSTS for the whole city
as SCALE REFERENCE POINTS for successive designers

DESIGN PRINCIPLE
Architecture of ancient Rome
New design of early Renaissance
**

Renaissance Rome

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)

Renaissance Rome

RENAISSANCE THE CAMPIDOGLIO

Piazza del Campidoglio
One of MICHELANGELOs finest works

Seen at a distance as a whole composition

EQUESTRIAN STATUE of Marcus Aurelius
Serves as Centerpiece or Guidepost

ENTRANCE RAMPS
widen toward the top
perspective effect and stairs appear shorter
similarly, SIDE BUILDINGS are not parallel

Significance of a REMODELLING JOB

**

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

Campidoglio

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

RENAISSANCE URBAN PLAZAS: FRANCE & ENGLAND

JACQUES ANDROUET DU CERCEAU (520 -1586)
French architect who visited Rome
Brought plaza idea to Paris, France
INIGO JONES
First significant English architect, brought the
Renaissance plaza to London
Bedford Square started in 1631
Covent Garden modeled after Livorno

**

RENAISSANCE URBAN PLAZAS: FRANCE & ENGLAND

OTHER PLAZAS IN LONDON
Leicester Square started in 1635
Bloomsbury Square 1665
Six more plazas were built before 1700
RENAISSANCE PLAZA
one of the elements of urban design par
excellence
but did not tie whole city together
Rossettis Ferrara (street system); Fontanas Rome
(guidepost system)
**

Louis 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.

Versailles, France

RENAISSANCE REBUILDING LONDON

The GREAT PLAGUE (16641666) was the last major

epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in the
Kingdom of England (modern day United Kingdom). It
happened within the centuries-long time period of the
Second Pandemic, an extended period of intermittent
bubonic plague epidemics which began in Europe in
1347, the first year of the "Black Death" and lasted
until 1750.

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London

Th Great Plague of London 1664-1666

Th Great Plague of London 1664-1666

THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON was a major conflagration that

swept through the central parts of the English city of London,
from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The
fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City
Wall. It threatened, but did not reach, the aristocratic district of
Westminster, Charles II's Palace of Whitehall, and most of the
suburban slums.[2] It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish
churches, St. Paul's Cathedral and most of the buildings of the
City authorities. It is estimated to have destroyed the homes of
70,000 of the City's 80,000 inhabitants.

**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London

Th Great Plague of London 1966

Th Great Fire of London 1666

RENAISSANCE REBUILDING LONDON

SEVERAL DESIGNERS PROPOSED PLANS
Christopher Wren > Robert Hooke > John Evelyn > Valentine Knight

1707-1709
laws banning use of combustible materials, led to extensive use of bricks

JOHN GWYNN
produced plan for London 1766 London & Westminster Improved
heralded the Golden Age of building
key figure in the introduction of the Building Act 1774 which improved
standards of materials and workmanship

**

John Gwynn believed that the Great Fire of the previous century had created a great opportunity to
plan and improve London. This volume includes four engraved and hand-colored maps showing the
proposed improvements to Westminster and London.

Gwynn wanted a scenic London, with boulevards pointing to noble buildings. Looking at
congested bottlenecks like Charing Cross and Temple Bar, the refuse piling up at street
corners, and open sewers like the Fleet, Gwynn asked: 'Where is the taste and elegance?'

One of his achievements came in with the Building Act of 1774, which graded houses both in
measurements and materials. The first triumph was Bedford Square, with 'first-rate'
materials being used. It thus became desirable quarters for lawyers and other professionals.

Bedford Square is a square in the Bloomsbury district of the Borough of Camden in London,
England. Built between 1775 and 1783 as an upper middle class residential area, the square
has had many distinguished residents, including Lord Eldon, one of Britain's longest serving
and most celebrated Lord Chancellors, who lived in the largest house in the square for many
years. The square takes its name from the main title of the Russell family, the Dukes of
Bedford, who were the main landlords in Bloomsbury.

RENAISSANCE REBUILDING LONDON

GOLDEN AGE : encompassed a 30-year period
ADELPHI TERRACE
work of the Adam brothers; built along the River Thames

BATH

created by architects John Wood, Sr. and Jr.

1702, discovered by the aristocrats
1727, rectangular plaza (Queens Square)
1754, great circle (Kings Circus)
1767, Royal Crescent
EDINBURGH 1767, Scottish architect James Craig

END OF LONDON PLAZA ERA : coming of industrial era

**

Adelphi is a district of London, England in the City of Westminster. The small district includes the streets
of Adelphi Terrace, Robert Street and John Adam Street. Picture shows the main terrace of Aldelphi
Terrace raised high above the noise and smell of the river on an arcade of warehouses.

RENAISSANCE REBUILDING LONDON

GOLDEN AGE : encompassed a 30-year period
ADELPHI TERRACE
work of the Adam brothers; built along the River Thames

BATH

created by architects John Wood, Sr. and Jr.

1702, discovered by the aristocrats
1727, rectangular plaza (Queens Square)
1754, great circle (Kings Circus)
1767, Royal Crescent
EDINBURGH 1767, Scottish architect James Craig

END OF LONDON PLAZA ERA : coming of industrial era

**

Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset in the south west of England.The City of Bath was
inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

The city was first established as a spa with the Latin name, Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis") by the
Romans sometime in the AD 60s about 20 years after they had arrived in Britain (AD43), although verbal
tradition suggests that Bath was known before then.

Much later, it became popular as a spa town during the Georgian era, which led to a major expansion that left
a heritage of exemplary Georgian architecture crafted from Bath Stone. The Circus is a perfect circle of
Georgian houses constructed out of the startlingly white Somerset stone that cloaks the entire city.

The Royal Crescent is a residential road of 30 houses laid out in a crescent in the city of Bath, England.
Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the
greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom.

The Royal Crescent, Bath, Somerset, England.

The Circus and the Royal Crescent, Bath, Somerset, England.

BAROQUE

Design over Time Piazza Del Popolo

Plaza del Popolo

References

**

LeGates, Richard and Stout, Frederic. Modernism and Early Urban

Planning, 1870-1940.
Knox, Paul. Urbanization.
Cullingworth, Barry. Planning in the USA .
Various online sources.