During the Renaissance, architects began to systematically study urban space, treating the city as a piece of architecture to be ordered aesthetically and functionally.
Many great public spaces in Rome and other Italian cities originated during this era.
Old city parts were rebuilt, creating elegant squares, long street vistas, and symmetrical building arrangements.
New city walls were designed with large earthworks to deflect artillery and star-shaped points for sweeping lines of fire. These star shapes were due to ideas dominant in the age.
Spanish colonial cities in the New World followed the Laws of the Indies (1573), featuring an orderly grid of streets with a central plaza, defensive wall, and uniform building style.
Rome's Transformation
Rome was in decay, and the Church aimed to restore faith by remodeling the city from the 1470s.
The goals were to glorify the Church and papacy and facilitate pilgrim movement.
Plans included straight axial streets terminating in vistas marked by columns, obelisks, fountains, and grand buildings.
Central districts of Rome were redeveloped as popes, cardinals, and pilgrims spent lavishly.
Streets were straightened, bridges were built across the Tiber, and dignitaries constructed palaces and gardens.
Renaissance City-States
During the Renaissance (15th century), city-states dominated by powerful rulers emerged in Italy, including the papacy in Rome and Florence.
The colonnade of Bernini’s St Peter’s basilica, with sculptures, reached out towards the Tiber river as a classic example of Baroque planning.
Baroque Urban Design (1600-1750)
Ambitious monarchs constructed new palaces, courts, and bureaucratic offices.
Urban public spaces emphasized grand scale, with long avenues, radial street networks, monumental squares, and geometric parks and gardens.
Baron Haussmann used Baroque principles in restructuring Paris (1853-1870), carving broad thoroughfares through old streets and linking major subcenters.
Sixtus V's Plan for Rome
Pope Sixtus V (1585–90) aimed to cover Rome with a network of straight streets marked by obelisks.
Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72) redesigned Rome’s water supply, making it the best in Europe by 1600.
The Baroque remodeling of Rome culminated in Bernini’s colonnade for St Peter’s Basilica.
Florence's Remodeling
Giorgio Vasari (1511–74) remodeled Central Florence, creating a dramatic vista towards the Uffizi Palace and placing statues at the end of axial streets.
London's Post-Fire Plans
Baroque Rome inspired John Evelyn and Christopher Wren in their plans for London after the Great Fire in 1666.
Versailles and Washington D.C.
Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles (1668–74), with gardens by André le Notre, had bisecting land and water axes that created impressive vistas.
Versailles inspired Pierre L’Enfant in designing Washington DC in 1791.
Paris's Transformation
Baron Haussmann also looked to Versailles for inspiration when reordering Paris (1853-1869).
By 1870, Paris was the ‘wonder of the world’ with boulevards, public squares, vistas, and public parks.
Paris's radial planning is evident, with the boulevards radiating from the Arc de Triomphe.
Key Figures and Concepts
Leone Alberti, who wrote the book “New Ideas,” translated from Vitrovious’ “The Seven Pillars of Architecture,” adopted the idea of star-shaped and radial planning.
Renaissance Planning Elements
Large fortresses and bastions were built for defense due to gunpowder technology.
Fortresses and bastions took a star shape based on dominant ideas of the age.
Ideal City Concepts
Ideal city concepts included:
Ideal city - Vitruvius, 1st century B.C.
4 to 12-cornered towns with orthogonal street-systems - Pietro Cataneo, 16th century
Fortification of a sea-harbor with a citadel - Pietro Cataneo, 1554
Palmanova - ideal Baroque city, 1593-95
Ideal fortification city with a separate citadel - Anonymous, about 1600
Mannheim, plan of 1622
Utopian/Ideal Cities
Regular Ring Radial Planning Elements included:
Grid planning
Piazza in the center with streets directed towards it
Open spaces
Attention to aesthetics & proportions
Factors Affecting Renaissance City Planning
Natural environment surrounding the city
Radial streets
Street proportions – Piazzas
Aesthetic rules
Star-shaped cities
Examples of Urban Development
The transcript references Haussmannian Cairo, including developments such as the Qasr al-Nil Bridge, Ismailiyah Canal, and new planned arteries.
Industrial Revolution and the City (1760-1850)
The Industrial Revolution started in England in the eighteenth century and spread across Europe and North America.
New technology transformed agriculture and commerce into a modern industrial society.
Changes revolutionized families and lifestyles as the factory system drew workers to urban areas.
Transformations of the Industrial Revolution
Key aspects of the Industrial Revolution included:
Invention of machines to do the work of hand tools.
Use of steam and other power sources in place of human and animal muscles.
Adoption of the factory system.
Wool and cotton production increased, as did the yield of food crops.
Commercial Expansion
By 1800, faster processes were in use in manufacturing and transportation.
By 1750, large quantities of goods were exchanged among European nations, creating a demand for more production.
England was the leading commercial nation, with cloth manufacturing as its leading industry.