How city planning has roots in ancient Greece

 Hippodamus was an instrumental figure in the development of

what is now known as Classical Ancient Greek society. His urban
planning abilities ushered in a golden age of Greek civic
development and would inspire many generations of architects and
civil engineers.

Urban planning – first conceived by the ancient Greek polymath

called Hippodamus of Miletus, Hippodamus helped to design the
new harbor town of Piraeus, which served as a commercial port for
Athens further inland.
His urban planning focussed mainly on:
straight roads and orderly streets
gridded roads - the most elementary of plans, the so-called '
gridiron ' or ' chess-board ', with straight streets crossing at right
angles.
arranged the buildings and the streets of Miletus around 450 BC
such that the winds from the mountains and the sea close to Miletus
could flow optimal through the city and provide a cooling
during the hot summer.

– criticised by Aristole for 2 reasons

1. Invention of catapult – rival civilizations like Persia can easily invade and dissimate urban
populations without sending the troops in
2. Aristole’s belief that chaotic outlays of older cities would act as natural bulwarks against
invaders.
 the influence of Hippodamus’ well-ordered and geometrically-
aligned street planning can be spot in major cities like
Manhattan in New York etc.

Basic principles of City planning:

Greeks built small towns appropriate for human scale
Natural borders for the town – many isolated valleys and islands, ---
 preventing floods
Parts of the town planned according to geometrical patterns and
defensive measures
Abundant and diverse resources – fish, grain, grapes, olives,
chestnuts, figs
house blocks (rectangular)
important roads parallel to sea- shore (straight & wide)
outline of town – not necessarily rectangular.
Democracy – buildings for poor and rich, public baths.
Isolation meant greater security, so power took a less aggressive
form both internally and externally
The Greeks were the first to use solar architecture They oriented
their houses to make use of the sun during winter, while obscuring
its rays during summer.
The evolution of Greek settlements and planning styles can be
divided into two rather unequal time units.
The Archaioteros tropos of city planning runs from ca. 1200 – 500
BC- (older style) and;
Neoteros tropos was applied from 494-330 BC (newer style), the
cities of this period cover the classical period of the Greek cultural
history with its pinnacle in the age of Pericles.
The civil grid became a major element in city design, without
specific military implications.
Necessary elements included Agora, Agropolis, walls, stoas,
bouleuterion, gymnasium etc.
Aimed at unification with cohesive design elements like colonnades
resulting in an asymmetrical balance

Major elements of cities – Agora & Acropolis

Agora:
Gathering place and market
Place for public event
Placed on the road from the harbour, in the center and includes :
Assembly hall
Council hall
Chamber hall
Bordered by temples, workshops, vendor’s stalls, statues

Acropolis:
Elevated temple district
Contained various temples
Architectural “vocabulary” used well into the 20th century for banks,
courthouses, town halls etc
Periodic possessions to Acropolis conducted
Separation of church and state indicated by distance between the
Agora and the Acropolis

Major cities :
The city of Hippodamus was composed of 10,000 citizens divided
into three parts—one of artisans, one of husbandmen, and a third of
armed defenders of the state. He also divided the land into three
parts, one sacred, one public, the third private: the first was set apart
to maintain the customary worship of the Gods, the second was to
support the warriors, the third was the property of the husbandmen.

The Greek Polis:

A self-governing city-state.
Initially was supposed to have 5000 citizens as per plato, but Athens
at its peak had a bit over 10,000 citizens.
Source of Greek creativity
Each citizen was expected to participate in polis in regard to its :
Political life
Economic relations
Spiritual worship
Social events (Eg. Dramatic performances )

City Priene : 400 dwellings with 4000 population

Agora surrounded by public buildings and residentioal blocks
Each residential block – 4/5 houses
Broad road – 23 Ft. wide (approx.)
Short road – 10 Ft. wide (approx.)