Colonial Urbanism, Public Parks, and Early American Identity

Vocabulary flashcards covering urban design concepts, colonial wars, and tax-era events discussed in the lecture notes.

Great London Fire (1666)

Massive fire in London caused by wooden buildings; led to a Royal Commission and urban redesign proposals by Christopher Wren, including grand, radial city ideas.

Christopher Wren

Renowned English architect who redesigned parts of London after the Great Fire and proposed radial, hub-and-spoke city plans; influenced colonial urban design and built in Williamsburg.

Radial city

Urban form with central hubs, broad boulevards radiating outward, and pie-shaped districts; blends hub-and-spoke with a surrounding gridiron to enable movement and density.

Gridiron

Rectilinear street network (grid) used in many colonial cities; simple, scalable, and enables dense, walkable layouts.

Public parks

Green spaces integrated into urban design; Versailles-inspired parks; Penn’s plan included protected public parks in each quadrant.

Versailles (parks concept)

French royal gardens' concept used to inform public park ideas in urban design and the transplantation of grand green spaces into cities.

William Penn

Founder of Pennsylvania who grafted gridiron planning from river to river (Delaware to Schuylkill) and embedded four public parks in quadrants for civic respite.

Walking city

Colonial American cities with dense, mixed-use districts where most needs are within a one‑mile radius; fosters interaction and public life.

Sam Bass Moore

Historian who coined the term 'walking cities' to describe colonial urban centrality and compactness.

King Philip’s War

1675–1676 conflict in Massachusetts between colonists and the Wampanoag (led by Metacom/King Philip); heavy casualties and acts of reprisal; head-on-pike of King Philip became a symbol in local memory.

Seven Years’ War

Global 1756–1763 conflict; Britain and colonists fought France; debt increased; ended with British dominance in North America and new frontier tensions.

Proclamation Line 1763

British decree after the Seven Years’ War forbidding westward colonial settlement beyond the Appalachians, fueling resentment.

Navigation Act (1651)

Mercantile law requiring imports to be carried on British ships, with taxes on ships flying other flags, to regulate trade.

Sugar Act

Tax enacted to raise revenue on sugar and molasses; part of debt repayment after wars, angering colonists.

Stamp Act (1765)

Direct tax on printed materials; sparked widespread protests and political cartoons; symbolized 'taxation without representation'.

Quartering Act (1765)

Requirement for colonists to house and provision British troops, provoking resentment over private home intrusion.

Tar and feathering

Protest tactic used against tax collectors; coating with tar and feathers to humiliate and punish offenders.

Beribon Hausman

Paris prefect associated with adopting radial-city concepts; widened boulevards and used as a model for urban reform during rioting in 1848.