Medieval Cities

• 5th C. A.D. the Roman empire crumbled under the pressure of luxury, pomp and
ceremony.
• The Roman capital was shifted to Byzantium (Constantinople).
• By 7th C. A.D. there was a rise of human culture under prophet Mohammed.
• Muslim religion started spreading all over Europe and Africa & it was challenging
Christianity by 10th C. A.D.
• Muslim towns coming up characterized by gardens, fountains and topiary.
• Independent cities started developing.
• Rivalry between the cities lead to fortification.
• Insecurity of life lead to the importance of religion.
• Feudal system of government developed and a new form of freedom emerged.
• Guilds were formed of merchants & craftsmen. Who established regulations to
control their production, maintain their prices and protect their tribe and were
having a new social order in making.
• A wealthy mercantile class were rising to challenge the power of the feudal lords.
• The city council and municipality emerged.
• Church became very powerful and undertook certain activities like making
schools, providing hospital facilities, etc.
CITY CHARACTERISTICS

• Social stratification and grouping developed.

• The nobles and rich merchants occupied near the entrance gates of the defense
wall of the city.
• The craftsmen and agricultural serfs in the rest of the walled city.
• The religious leadership was at the highest level of land near the center of the
settlement.
• The city council, as a symbol of the people, was near the geometrical center of
the settlement.
• The early towns were dominated by the church or monastery, or the castle of the
feudal lords.
• Civic spaces emerged. Church plaza, market plaza, town hall and guild halls were
an integral part of the town.
• The city was characterized by massive and heavy construction, elaborate and
magnificent buildings and colored marbles, formal gardens, fountains and
topiary.
CITY CHARACTERISTICS
• The cities were founded on irregular terrains for security.
• Irregular road patterns were consciously made to confuse the invaders.
• Buildings assumed a functional character in both form and location.
• Building were connected by narrow streets, which lead to the conservation of
privacy.
• Proportion was to enhance principal buildings, width was not less than twice
the height.
• Buildings were made of two floors.
• Ground floor for storage, workshops and kitchen.
• Upper floor for living and sleeping.
• Use of wood as roofing material was prohibited in some cities to avoid fire.
• Small windows covered with glass and parchment papers were used.
• Art was introduced in city planning like the paving of squares and streets.
• A ‘Human Scale’ pervaded in the informal environment of the city.
MEDIEVAL CITIES
NEO- CLASSIC OR RENAISSANCE PERIOD

• Renaissance started in mid 14th C. A.D. and lasted upto 17th C. A.D.
• Medieval cities disintegrated into smaller parts and reduced the contact between
one country and another.
• The physical size of the towns were restricted by girth of fortification.
• Towns were built within the ready reach of one another in a day’s walking distance
i.e. 20-30miles.
• There were no system of sewage disposal and the streets were used to dispose off
the wastes.
• Traders brought the concentration of the people to towns situated of the main
roads.
• Ownership of the lands shifted to the merchants and the power of the feudal lords
diminished.
• Printing press was invented and ways were devised to improve simple hand
machines.
• Gun powder was invented in the 15th C. A.D. and new techniques of warfare were
introduced.
• Military engineering became a science.
• The contrast between rich merchants and poor increased and hence, the insecurity
of life of the poor also increased.
• As a result religion became very important.
• Rulers manifested in the construction of formal and monumental buildings, drawing
upon the classical heritage of Rome.

• Two types of manifestations are noticed in this period –

• New towns were found in which the central and the most dominating buildings
were those of the nobles i.e. the courts of the king.

• Old medieval existed towns, development was done in the designing of the
public congregation places like the squares, piazzas (plazas) – in and around
religious buildings and developing wide avenues curving out of wide cramp
areas and leveling spaces of old defense walls. Examples-
Piazza of St. marks, Venice
Piazza of St. Peters, Rome
Piazza del Popolo, Rome
Place des Victores, Paris
• In the Renaissance period, the design shifted from the enclosed architectural to an
extension and expansion of open spaces.
• Several existing squares were connected by tree lined avenues.
New plans were made and executes
for squares in which open space
was almost completely replaced.

In France, large garden around the

king’s palace continued to large
open spaces accommodating the
secretariat buildings, further
continued to grand boulevards and
still further to the banks of the river
which further exemplified the
continuity of space. Thus, continuity
replaced the enclosure of open
space as a new direction of civic
design.
St. Marks Piazza and its development