Renaissance Towns

Town Planning January 2013

Renaissance Movement
15th century to 19th century Started in the Rome and spread to other parts of Europe and US Renaissance meaning rebirth- marked by renewal of interest in classical art of Greece and Rome Early Renaissance (1420-1500)Late Renaissance (1500- 1600)- Baroque (16001750)- Neoclassical (1750- 1900)

Context
Rapid growth of urban population- migration from rural
Sizes of existing settlements, small and densely packed presented few opportunities for redevelopment of established centers- so Renaissance urbanism limited to expansion of existing urban areas or their redevelopment in part.

Late Renaissance period- Industry becomes a significant generator of urban settlement

Renaissance Urbanism
Contributions to urban planning
Regeneration (of parts of cities by creating new public spaces, including streets) Restructuring (often by new main street systems which extended as regional routes, generating further growth of the urban area) Expansion (of existing by addition of new, usually residential districts) New site layouts (limited numbers)

Renaissance Urbanism
In contrast to Gothic which preceded,
Expressions of a strong desire for discipline Rejected asymmetrical informality for a classical sense of balance and regularity Emphasis on the horizontal instead of vertical in composition

Renaissance Urbanism
General Attitudes
preoccupation with symmetry- organisation of parts to make a balanced composition about one or more axes Importance to closing of vistas by placing monumental buildings, obelisks and statues at the ends of long straight lines of the streets Integration of individual buildings in elevation, space and volume extents Conformation to perspective theory Common Features: primary street, grid iron layouts, enclosed spaces

Renaissance Urbanism
The primary street
Access to building plots, and as urban extensions of national highways Main function to facilitate wheeled traffic (carriage) between parts of the city Eg. As in Karlsruhe, Versailles, St Petersburg, Washington cities Definite laws and rules directed the containment of buildings along sides of streets, allowing straight edges, emphasis on perspective and terminal features Building fronts on sides of street were maintained plain

Renaissance Urbanism
The grid iron layout
Formed the basis of laying out residential districts that were expansions of existing cities, new site layouts and restructuring combined with primary street systems Efficient plan and produced equality in land subdivision Confirmed to the renaissance ideal of aesthetic uniformity Even at the risk of being monotonous, had urban quality of spaciousness at the urban scale

Renaissance Urbanism
Enclosed spaces
Also known as squares, piazzas and places Depending on function categorised into traffic spaces, residential spaces and pedestrian spaces Also served as forecourts of important buildings, or setting for a feature (natural or monument/ statue etc.) Space enclosure created by mainly
Civic or religious buildings Residential buildings Market or related commercial buildings Also by colonnades, screens, terraces and forms of tree/ shrub planting

Renaissance Urbanism
Traffic enclosed spaces formed part of main urban route system and were used by pedestrians and horsedrawn carriages
Earlier version of the traffic node/ main junction till the mid 19th century

Renaissance Urbanism
Residential enclosed spaces had predominantly pedestrian recreational purpose and were accessed by local traffic only Reduced scale of the square- accommodated wheeled traffic serving individual dwellings only- planted central area- provided basis for urban family living which was heavily emphasised by mid 20th century plannersaccess to such open spaces restricted to a few houses. Were characteristic of 17th and 18th century urban growth in Britain De-emphasised by the high and uncontrollable densities Industrial revolution brought in

Renaissance Urbanism
Pedestrian enclosed spaces were excluded of wheeled traffic
Served as forecourts or public assembly areas in front of important civic, religious and royal buildings