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UNIT-2: HISTORIC URBAN FORM
• Morphology of Early Cities:
Goethe (1749-1832) is credited with the popularization of the
term Morphology. Although a man of letters, he was a polymath who explored scientific
philosophy and biology whose work on transmutation and variation was closely bound up
with the study of patterns and processes that give rise to form: in terms of internal and
external relations that generate structure: i.e. ‘morphology’.
Urban Form is defined as the physical characteristics that make up built-up areas,
including the shape, size, density and configuration of settlements. It can be considered at
different scales: regional, urban, neighbourhood, block and street. Urban form evolves
constantly in response to social, environmental, economic and technological developments;
planning, housing and urban policies; and health, transport and economic policies. Our story
of Urban-Form begins up to 12,000 years ago during a period called the Neolithic
Revolution. This period saw the earliest experiments with agriculture. Agriculture allowed
people to stay in one place throughout the year and build permanent structures.
As people settled down, they developed the first urban societies. We assume that most
of these arose organically, but it did not take people long to develop planned urban centers.
The first true cities developed in the Middle East between 4500 and 3500 BCE and were very
carefully organized. Many cities were enclosed within walls, with formal entrances and
defined places for markets, temples, and royal homes.

GREEK AGORA:
The word Agora is Greek means
'open place of assembly’ and, early in the
history of Greece, designated the area in
the city where free-born citizens could
gather to hear civic announcements,
muster for military campaigns or discuss
politics. Later the Agora defined the open-
air, often tented, marketplace of a city
where merchants had their shops and
where craftsmen made and sold their
wares.

Acropolis was the sacred, religious locale – walled and closed off, but agora was an open and
accessible space – symbol of the “polis”.

ROMAN FORUM
A forum - Latin word "public place
outdoors", plural fora; English plural either
fora or forums. A Forum was the main
center of a Roman city. Usually located near
the physical center of a Roman town, it
served as a public area in which
commercial, religious, economic, political,
legal, and social activities occurred. Fora
were common in allRoman cities, but none
were as grand as the fora of Rome itself.
The Agora symbolized democracy in
ancient Greek city states, the Roman Forum

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stood for power. The Roman cities main-streets crossed Forum. The most important
institutions and buildings were on this central site (especially ‘basilica’, court of justice, and
market hall). The Roman model of urban form emphasized the creation of a central space –
limited in size to give it more meaning.

MEDIVAL TOWNS:
Middle Ages or Medieval Times - in
Europe was a long period of history from
500 AD to 1500 AD. It is Economics and
Society! The medieval towns occupied, to
some extent, the sites of previous Roman
colonies and municipals, while new ones
emerged in the vicinity of a castle or a
monastery. The medieval towns usually grew
up around a castle or monastery, or followed
the contour of a hillside, or a river-bank. As
a result, they had steep, meandering streets,
with irregular width. As the land, available
within the walls of the medieval towns was limited, the streets were narrow. The main streets
ran to the city gates, which were the only points of access in and out of town. The medieval
towns could be self-governing and could have a court of their own. As a result, they had their
own customs, their own set of penalties for offences, their particular methods of court
procedure, and their local legislation and ordinances. The medieval street was functionally
inadequate, aesthetically ill-considered, and lacking in unifying qualities. Such a condition
contributed to the multi-centric quality of the medieval city. Its major focal points often
floated in a tangled web of disjointed, unplanned streets.

RENAISSANCE PLACE MAKING:

The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century,
regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. Rome played a
vital role in development of monumental street architecture. It is the Dawn of Modern Era –
Florence was the birth place of revolution. Circulation, Defence, Water Supply, Sanitation,
and Popes – are urban elements. Modernization of warfare and rise of the nation-state with
colonial exploration, exploitation, and expanding networks of trade – gave rise to this new
urbanization.
Increasing wealth provided the financial support for a growing number of
commissions of large public and private art projects, while the trade routes upon which it was
based assisted the spread of ideas and thus contributed to the growth of the movement across
the continent. The weak position of the Christian Church gave added momentum to the
renaissance. It prompted later Popes to spend extravagantly on architecture, sculpture and
painting in Rome and in the Vatican in order to recapture their lost influence. The rise of
middle class in Europe gave rise to self-focus – self-improvement, tourism/luxury and
education. ‘Primary Straight Street’ was the basis of Renaissance urbanism, and the new,
direct routes to facilitate carriage travel were laid. Allocation of urban spaces started evolving
– traffic space, residential space, pedestrian space, etc. This period evolved new Architecture
Parks and Gardens to tie the city together connecting the palace and the town, with Villas and
gardens, palace and plazas. Florence is the city where the Renaissance began, and where it
reached its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries under the patronage of the powerful Medici
family. Some of the greatest names in Renaissance art are associated with the city, including
Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo.

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Renaissance Cities Pattern↑

IDEAL CITIES:
In ideal cities, abstract ideas about societal
organization are embodied in the urban design. These
cities are often laid out in geometric forms such as
rectangles, circles, and hexagons. However, ideal
cities do not automatically lead to the creation of an
ideal urban society. The "ideal" nature of such a city
may encompass
the moral, spiritual and juridical qualities
of citizenship as well as the ways in which these are Mexico City AD1521-Grid City ↑
realised through urban structures including buildings,
street layout, etc. The ground plans of ideal cities are often based on grids (in imitation
of Roman town planning) or other geometrical patterns. The ideal city is often an attempt to
deploy Utopian ideals at the local level of urban configuration and living space and amenity

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rather than at the culture. And also, late nineteenth-century examples of the ideal city include
the Garden city movement of Sir Ebenezer Howard.

INDUSTRIALISATION AND CITY GROWTH:

Industrialization leads to urbanization by creating economic growth and job
opportunities that draw people to cities. The urbanization process typically begins when a
factory or multiple factories are
established within a region, thus
creating a high demand for factory
labour. In the late 19th century,
industry invaded the cities.
Previously, cities had served as
commercial centres for rural
hinterlands and were frequently
located on rivers, lakes, or oceans.
Population changes also transformed
the city. Urban growth reflected the geographic mobility of the industrial age; people moved
from city to city as well as within them. The new transience led to diverse populations.
Migrants from rural areas and newcomers from abroad mingled with wealthy long-time
residents and the middle class. Immigrants constituted the fastest growing populations in big
cities, where industry offered work. As city populations grew, the need for safe water,
sanitation, fire control, and crime control also grew. These needs led to new urban services—
water reservoirs, sewer systems, fire and police departments.

GARNIER’S INDUSTRIAL CITY:

The industrial revolution had the effect of bringing more and more people from the
countryside into the heart of the city looking for work. Such dramatic overpopulation and
unrestricted urban growth led to slum housing, dirty, disease and a lack of communal green
spaces within the city landscape. Tony Garnier was an French architect and city planner. He
was most active in his hometown of Lyon. On the other hand, he studied on sociological and
architectural problems. His basic idea included the separation of spaces by function through
zoning into several categories. Tony Garnier first produced plan for the ideal industrial town
in 1904. In industrial city of Tony Garnier, he determined general standards of city and with
these standards. He developed some designs that supplied people’s materially and morally
needs.
Garnier ‘s proposal was an
industrial city for approx 35.000
inhabitants situated on a area in
southeast France on a plateau
with high land and a lake to the
north, a valley and river to the
south. He envisaged a town of
segregated uses with a residential
area, a train station quarter and an
industrial zone. Concept of
zoning was strongly similar
with Ebenezer Howard Garden
Cities of To-morrow because he
divided the city into three parts as
well like Garnier. Garnier tries to take into account all aspects of the city including

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governmental, residential, manufacturing and agricultural practices. The various function of
the city were clearly related, but separated from each from by location and patterns. The city
of labor divided into Four Main Functions: Work, housing, health and leisure. The public
area at the heart of the city was grouped into three sections: Administrative services and
assembly halls, museum collections and sport facilities.
The residential area is made up of rectangular blocks running east-west which gives
the city its characteristic elongated form. This is the location of the houses and the houses
was situated into the large green areas to benefit from sun and fresh air. The residential
districts are the first attempt towards passive solar architecture. Garnier had energy efficiently
in mind as the city was to be powered by a hydroelectric station with a dam which was
located in the mountains along with the hospital.
Tony Garnier was the one of the pioneers of the modern architecture in terms of
material. The materials used are concrete for the foundations and walls, and reinforced
concrete for floors and ceilings. All-important buildings are constructed of reinforced
concrete. Another innovation that reflect on the city plan is equality between people. When
asked why his city contained no law courts, police stations, jail or church, he is said to have
replied that the new society governed by socialist law. All of them brings about socialism
theory. Tony Garnier was the socialist person. Tony’ s industrial city is one of the most
comprehensive idea plans of all time. Garnier’ s industrial city was never built, but he
contributed to the further planners such as Le Corbusier.

AMERICAN GRID PLANNING

The grid has been used continuously throughout the world as a development pattern
since Hippodamus first used it at Piraeus, Greece in the 5th century BC. A lot happened over
the next 2,000 years after that, but in 1682 William Penn used the grid as the physical
foundation for Philadelphia. With that, the grid began its new life in the new America. Penn’s
use of the grid may have been influenced by Richard Newcourt’s plan for London following
the fire of 1666.

However, Penn may have utilized the grid for its indexical qualities. Philadelphia was
the first city to use the indexical system of numbers for north-south streets and tree names for
east-west streets. Because of this coordinate system, the intersection at 12th/Walnut has no
more or less social or political meaning than that at 18th/Cherry. Every plot of land is
essentially equal to every other. As we know now Manhattan did grow and it grew well
beyond all expectations within only a single century. The grid was there to accommodate that
growth.

ANTI URBANISM:
An intellectual current and strand of social science writing which is critical of the city
as a social form. Negative attitudes to urbanization—and the 'pastoral myth' of the
countryside—predate the industrial revolution. A term popularized by the sociologist, Emile
Durkheim in his 1897 book Suicide, and used to describe a condition in individuals

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characterized by an absence or diminution of standards or values. Despite
massive urbanization and concentration of nearly half the world's population in cities, the
anti-urban vision remains relevant. The city is perceived as a site of frustration.

PICTURESQUE:
Picturesque means of a place or building- visually attractive, especially in a quaint or
charming way. Picturesque, artistic concept and
style of the late 18th and early 19th centuries
characterized by a preoccupation with the pictorial
values of architecture and landscape in
combination with each other. Enthusiasm for the
picturesque evolved partly as a reaction against the
earlier 18th-century trend of Neoclassicism, with
its emphasis on formality, proportion, order, and
exactitude. The term “picturesque” needs to be
understood in relationship to two other aesthetic ideals: the beautiful and the sublime. By the
last third of the 18th century, Enlightenment and rationalist ideas about aesthetics were being
challenged by looking at the experiences of beauty and sublimity as being non-rational.
Aesthetic experience was not just a rational decision – one did not look at a pleasing curved
form and decide it was beautiful; rather it came naturally as a matter of basic human instinct.
The Picturesque Style of the Century Romantic landscape gardening had features of
both irregularity and variety. These features were applied to Century urbanism, which was
called 'Urban Picturesque'. Architect Thomas Gordon Cullen was an influential
English architect and urban designer who was a key motivator in the Townscape and
Picturesque movement.

CITE INDUSTRIELLE
Cité Industrielle, urban plan designed by Tony Garnier and published in 1917 under
the title of Une Cité Industrielle. It represents the culmination of several philosophies
of urbanism that were the outgrowth of the Industrial Revolution in 19th-century Europe.
The Cité Industrielle was
to be situated on a plateau
in south-eastern France,
with hills and a lake to the
north and a river and
valley to the south. The
plan takes into
consideration all the
aspects necessary to
running a Socialist city. It
provides separate zones
for separate functions, a
concept later found in
major new towns—
residential, industrial,
public, and agricultural —
Tony Garnier, railway station from Cite Industrielle, 1917 are linked by location and
circulation patterns, both vehicular and pedestrian. The public zone, set on the plateau much
in the manner of the Hellenistic Acropolis, is composed of the governmental buildings,
museums, and exhibition halls and large structures for sports and theatre. Residential areas

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are located to take best advantage of the sun and wind, and the industrial district is accessible
to natural power sources and transportation. The “old town” is near the railroad station to
accommodate sightseers and tourists. A health centre and a park are located on the heights
north of the city, and the cemetery to the southwest. The surrounding area is devoted to
agriculture. The plan itself is clearly in the Beaux-Arts tradition. The plan lacked jails,
courthouses, and hospitals, as Garnier believed that they would not be necessary under
Socialism. The most important connection of Garnier with later planners is definitely through
Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier was the first well-known architect to discuss Garnier's work and
possibly the reason why Garnier became known as a pioneer of modern architecture and
urban planning.

CITTE NUOVO:
As a model for the ideal human environment, Ar. Antonio
Sant’Elia envisions a city that prioritizes function;
Aesthetics and spiritual experiences come as a result. A
striking aspect of Sant’Elia’s design is his deemphasis on
the autonomy of buildings. That is, his design choices for
the Citta Nuova implicitly reflect on the futurist philosophy
of beauty in motion, and correspondingly seek to promote
the unfettered circulation of objects – people, automobiles,
trains, etc. – through what Banham calls a “knot”-like
design in city planning. Each structure is connected to its
neighbors by a “network of multi-level circulation at their
feet.” Sant’Elia envisioned each appartment as well- Antonio Sant’Elia, Part of the series La
Città Nuova, 1914
ventilated and well-lit. In the apartment wings, he brings
the vertical circulation outside of the building to create more space for the apartments. Each
level is set back to create opportunities for balconies and outside spaces. Even though the city
appears closed off, Sant’Elia has created moments for residents to experience nature: the
outside walkways from elevators to floors, as well as the large open spaces, looking inward,
on the buttom levels.

RADIANT CITY:
The Radiant City (Ville Radieuse) is an unrealized urban masterplan by Le Corbusier,
first presented in 1924 and published in a book of the same name in 1933. Designed to
contain effective means of transportation, as well as an abundance of green space and
sunlight, Le Corbusier’s city of the future would not only provide residents with a better
lifestyle, but would contribute to creating a better society. Though radical, strict and nearly
totalitarian in its order, symmetry and standardization, Le Corbusier’s proposed principles
had an extensive influence on modern urban planning and led to the development of new
high-density housing typologies.
“The cities will be part of the country; I shall live 30 miles from my office in one
direction, under a pine tree; my secretary will live 30 miles away from it too, in the other
direction, under another pine tree. We shall both have our own car. We shall use up tires,
wear out road surfaces and gears, and consume oil and gasoline. All of which will
necessitate a great deal of work… enough for all. ” -- Le Corbusier, The Radiant City 1967
In accordance with modernist ideals of progress (which encouraged the annihilation
of tradition), The Radiant City was to emerge from a tabula rasa: it was to be built on nothing
less than the grounds of demolished vernacular European cities. The new city would contain
prefabricated and identical high-density skyscrapers, spread across a vast green area and
arranged in a Cartesian grid, allowing the city to function as a “living machine.” Le Corbusier

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explains: “The city of today is a dying thing because its planning is not in the proportion of
geometrical one fourth. The result of a true geometrical lay-out is repetition, the result of
repetition is a standard. The perfect form.”
At the core of Le Corbusier’s plan stood the notion of zoning: a strict division of the
city into segregated commercial, business, entertainment and residential areas. The business
district was located in the centre, and contained monolithic mega-skyscrapers, each reaching
a height of 200 meters and accommodating five to eight hundred thousand people. Located in
the centre of this civic district was the main transportation deck, from which a vast
underground system of trains would transport citizens to and from the surrounding housing
districts.

New Urbanists criticised the Ville Radieuse concept for its lack of human scale and
connection to its surroundings. A phrase, "buildings in a parking lot. The space between the
high-rises floating in a superblock became instant wastelands, shunned by the public”. "La
Cité Radieuse" by Le Corbusier, in Marseille, France is the project which is often credited
with (or blamed for, depending on your point of view) popularizing both brutalism and high
density social housing. Most of the copies around the world became crime-ridden tenements,
and many have since been labelled as errors in social engineering, and have been demolished.
But the original still stands proudly, inhabited today by mostly upper-middle class, educated
residents who are proud of their building and what it stands for. I finally had a chance to visit
and understand what it was all about, first-hand.

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