URBAN PLANNING

PLANNING EFFORTS AND IMPACTS ON HISTORICAL CITIES-CLASSICAL CITY

ROMAN CIVILIZATION

CONTENTS: LOCATION:
1.INTRODUCTION The term Ancient Rome refers to the city of Rome, which was located in
HISTORY central Italy and also to the empire it came to rule, which covered the entire
Mediterranean basin and much of western Europe. At its greatest extent in
ECONOMY AND SOCIETY stretched from present-day northern England to southern Egypt, and from
AGRICULTURE the Atlantic coast to the shores of the Persian Gulf.

TRADE AND INDUSTRIES Rome’s location in central Italy placed it squarely within the Mediterranean
cluster of civilizations.
ROMAN CITY

ROMAN HOUSES
HISTORY:
2.DEVELOPMENT OF CITY
The Roman civilization is called the CLASSICAL ERA in the world history.
3.CITY OF POMPEI
Dated from 500BC to 500AD.
It started from 1700-1500BC -The early beginning , when the Indo Europeans
migrated and invaded the place due its agriculture land and sea route. The
people were known as latins . They founded the city of Rome. The language
of Romans were named after them.
From 800-509BC-The Etruscans dominated the Italian peninsula .These
people were highly ,migrated from Asia. They produced advanced
metallurgy and art.
The first city states along the west coast of Italy started.
From 700’s-The Greeks arrived to Italy.They established
colonies.Permanent communities started forming , harbours to carry trade
. The Etruscans influenced the palce with their architecture,art and
literature.

Depicts how the

development of city
happened.
 ECONOMY AND Ancient Roman society originated as a society of small farmers. However, as
it grew more powerful and more extensive, it became one of the most
SOCIETY
urbanized societies in the pre-industrial world.
At the height of its empire, it was the largest city on the planet, with more than
a million inhabitants. The empire had a handful of other cities with several
hundred thousand inhabitants, and many other large and wealthy urban
settlements.
These cities had some features which would have looked very familiar to us:
high rise apartment blocks, overcrowded slums, busy streets, plazas, imposing
public administrative buildings, and so on.

AGRICULTURE Roman economy was based primarily on agriculture. For the Romans, this was
then typical Mediterranean farming of the ancient world, cultivating grains,
vines and olives, and keeping sheep, goat and cattle.
Landholdings were very small by modern standards, the majority no more than
a few acres in size. An estate of 100 acres was considered large. In the late
Republic, however, many wealthy Romans developed huge slave-run
plantations.
As the city of Rome grew into a huge imperial capital, its population was fed by
grain imported from overseas. However, there was still a great demand for
vegetables, olives, wine and other farm produce. As a result, the countryside
near Rome was given over to intensive farming and market gardening. Manuals
on agriculture were written to spread efficient methods of food production.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY Economically, the “Pax Romana” which the Romans established around the
Mediterranean was very favorable to trade. Long-distance maritime trade
was more extensive at the time of the empire than at any time before the
nineteenth century.
This expansion in trade encouraged the development of farms and estates
growing crops for export, of craftsmen specializing in export goods, and the
growth of highly organized trading operations spanning the empire.
One fact which had a major impact on trade was the system of grain fleets
which carried grain from Egypt and North Africa to Rome, to feed the
population of the capital. This was set up by the emperor Augustus, so that
the Roman poor – hundreds of thousands of them – could get free bread each
day
 ROMAN CITIES Roman cities
The Roman Empire contained around 2000 “cities”. For the Romans, cities
were communities which ran their own affairs, and constituted the main
building-blocks of the empire. Every free person in the empire belonged to a
city – which may not necessarily have been where he or she was living at any
given time, but was his or her “home town”.
The Roman city was built around a forum. This was an open space surrounded
by colonnades and public buildings. It functioned as a market place, political
meeting point and social center. The public buildings surrounding it would
include the main temple, the basilica (the main government building where
the town council met and town administration was carried on), the law courts
(if separate from the Basilica), and the main public baths of the city.

ROMAN HOUSES The earliest Roman houses were essentially small wattle-and-daub
cottages with thatched roofs. This is hardly surprising as Rome
originated as a collection of rural villages. By the time of the end of
the monarchy, however, houses designed along Etruscan lines were
being built.
Early Roman dwellings were one-story buildings erected around a
courtyard. The main reception room (the atrium) gave out onto
smaller rooms – dining room (triclinium), office (tablinum), bedrooms,
kitchens and other domestic areas. Many of the family rooms had
painted walls. Later, under Greek influence, the courtyards of larger
houses became small colonnaded (peristyle) gardens, complete with
fountains and ponds.

HOW TOWN
Initially Rome was unplanned, the ground was uneven the streets had no clear
PLANNING INITIALLY pattern ,very narrow ,linted by tall buildings with scale on slopes.
STARTED
The foundation was originated in Etrscan times. . The Greek and Etruscans town
plans influenced in evolution of roman town plans.

INFLUENCE :Development of
Roman town planning ,a grid
pattern of streets had two
major streets intersecting at
right angles to provide a
focal point in the two center.

The two main axial roads

called

Cardius north south

Decumanius: East-West
PLANNING OF
ROME

PLAN OF ROME

AD75-150

• The defensive circuit of fortress mark the edges of the new town
• forum was laid out to one side of the central axis
• .basilica was constructed on top of the remains of a legionary
bathhouse
• Towns public baths were placed on the sloping ground
• On surrounding islands timber buildings grew up
• Outside fortress defences were some of the industries set u

PLAN OF THE ROMAN TOWN

AD150-404

•
• By 2nd century town grew beyond old fotress
• Defensive circuit was laid out
• Due to natural defences-irregular in plan
• Within the area stone buildings replaced the older timber ones
• streets were extended