Greek and Roman Town Planning

• The Greek and Roman empires significantly impacted town planning, with distinct approaches.

The Greek World

• Greek civilization flourished in the Mediterranean Basin, giving rise to the Greek Polis, a self-governing city-state.
• Each citizen was expected to participate in the polis' political life, economic relations, spiritual worship, and social events.
• Greek cities were small, designed for a human scale; Plato suggested an ideal city size of 5,000 citizens.
• Athens, at its peak, had just over 100,000 citizens.
• Site and culture played crucial roles; absence of floods, diverse resources (fish, grain, grapes, olives, etc.), isolated valleys & islands contributed to their development.
• Isolation provided security, and power was exerted in a less aggressive manner.
• Greek towns featured natural borders; parts were planned geometrically, others for defense.
• They valued democracy and included buildings for both the poor and the rich, as well as public baths.

Agora and Acropolis

• The agora served as a gathering place, market, and venue for public events.
• It was located near the harbor, in the center of the city, and included assembly, council, and chamber halls.
• Temples, workshops, vendors' stalls, and statues bordered the agora.
• The Acropolis was an elevated temple district containing various temples.
• Its architectural vocabulary influenced buildings like banks and town halls well into the 20th century.
• Processions to the Acropolis celebrated the polis.
• The distance between the agora and the acropolis indicated a separation of church and state.

Hippodamus

• Hippodamus was the first Greek architect.
• He designed Piraeus with gridded roads and rectangular house blocks.
• Main roads ran parallel to the shore, and the town outline wasn't necessarily rectangular.
• The city of Priene housed 400 dwellings for a population of 4,000.
• Its agora was surrounded by public buildings and residential blocks containing 4-5 houses each.
• Roads varied in width, with broad roads approximately 23 ft wide, and narrow roads 10 ft wide.

Roman Empire

• Romans had an inclination towards violence, exploitation, and excessive consumption.
• Their achievements display both excess and considerable engineering skill.
• Rome was supported by forced tribute and taxes.
• After conquering Greece by 133 BC, they adopted many Greek urban design concepts.
• Theaters, amphitheaters, and temples (built on the Greek model) with colonnades became prominent.
• The agora was appropriated and transformed into the forum.
• Cities became instruments of empire; Romans expanded beyond the Italian peninsula by 133 BC.
• They planted colonial cities to administer conquered lands, with the "castra" or army camp, a walled grid plan, as a model.
• The empire reached its maximum extent by 211 AD, collapsing after 250 AD.

Roman Cities

• Roman cities were established in invaded areas, which helped maintain agriculture.
• Agricultural land was divided into rectangular parcels.
• A grid pattern was used for most Roman cities, dividing the city into neighborhoods with their own centers.
• Two major intersected roads were the Cardo (North-South) and Decumanus (East-West).
• The Forum, the central public space, was located at their intersection.
• Romans maintained mystical views of the city, practicing augury to determine good locations using animal entrails for signs.
• A priest would plow the city's outline to ritually mark it off from the wilderness.
• The grid plan served practical purposes as it was easy to lay out, administer, defend, and allowed for natural ventilation.
• Pompeii demonstrates that the grid plan was an ideal rather than a strict rule.

Roman Forum

• The Roman Forum was their version of the agora.
• (This example is from Pompeii, preserved by volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius in the 1st century BC.)
• It was bordered by temples, offices, jails, and butcher shops.
• Public processions and ceremonies occurred there.
• The surrounding colonnade was a key urban design feature for pedestrians.

Roman Amenities

• Amphitheaters and Baths were important "furnishings" for a Roman city.
• Artifacts found in Pompeii suggest attention & care given to handicrafts demonstrating the importance of food storage. were important.
• When it came to roads, the Romans excelled in highway construction over urban street design.
• The intersection of the Cardo and Decumanus caused traffic congestion.
• Julius Caesar banned wheeled traffic during daylight hours due to noise.

Roman Civilization

• The "Pax Romana" (Roman peace) was a form of civilization, despite the aggressive, exploitative nature.
• Roman "insula" (apartment buildings) were prone to fire and collapse, lacking air conditioning, plumbing, or heating.
• Sewers were often open-air and not connected to upper floors.
• Colosseum held 60,000-90,000 spectators dwarfing the Circus Maximus.
• Over a mile of plumbing pipes supplied public drinking fountains and lavatories.
• It was used for naval & gladiatorial competitions, and later as living and grazing space, and even a fortress in the Middle Ages.
• Mass slaughter was a form of entertainment, with thousands of human and animal lives taken in one "game" day.
• "Performers" included Christians, lions, gladiators, exotic wild animals, captives and prisoners, and their bodies were dumped in pits outside the city.
• By the empire's end, there were 175 game days per year.
• People exited the Colosseum through the "vomitorium."
• The subterranean level held persons and animals prior to use in "contests" and spectacles.

Roman Practicality

• The Roman aqueducts may remind us of our own reservoirs and pipelines.
• Carefully designed streets and road networks remind us of paved roads, freeways and sidewalks.
• the use of street grids may remind us of our own urban landscapes

Roman Shortcomings

• A passion for size and excess led to unsustainable consumption and territorial expansion.
• Aqueducts demonstrated imperial power as much as they provided access to water.
• The city of Rome had 1352 fountains and 967 free baths.
• Romans indulged in public bathing: hot, cold, and lukewarm pools, massage, exercise, and reading rooms.
• A courtyard surrounded by a colonnade or portico (peristyle) was common.
• Life outside Rome was better as the empire's unsustainable and unjust behavior was less visible.