The City in Space and Time

1
The City in Space and Time

• The Human Mosaic
• Chapter 10

2
Introduction

• Imagine humankinds sojourn on Earth as a 24-hour
  day
• Settlements of more than a hundred people are
  only about a half-hour old
• Towns and cities emerged only a few minutes ago
• Large-scale urbanization began less than 60
  seconds ago

3
Introduction

• Urbanization in the last 200 years has
  strengthened links between culture, society, and
  the city
• Urban explosion has gone hand in hand with the
  industrial revolution
• Estimates demonstrate the worlds urban
  population more than doubled since 1950
• Urban population doubled again by 2000
• Over 50 percent of Earths population live in
  cities

4
Urbanization Sao Paulo, Brazil
5
Urbanization Sao Paulo, Brazil

• Sao Paulo epitomizes the dynamics of
  urbanization, especially capitalism. Starting as
  a coffee exporting center, it had less than 32000
  inhabitants by 1872. Today metropolitan Sao
  Paulo is a primate city of more than 20 million.
  Economic development and flat land engendered
  population increase and sprawl, rising land costs
  in the center, and a boom in construction.

6
Urbanization Sao Paulo, Brazil

• Economic success is denoted by the high-rises
  which are a mix of industrial, commercial and
  professional office blocks, as well as apartment
  complexes. City planning is only a recent
  phenomenon. Rural to urban migration is a
  serious problem and the citys rapid growth has
  outstripped its ability to provide jobs, housing
  and adequate services.

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Culture regions

• Urban Culture Region
• Origin and Diffusion of the City
• Evolution of Urban Landscapes
• The Ecology of Urban Location
• Cultural Integration in Urban Geography

8
Problem of recognizing urban regions

• Urbanized populationpercentage of a nations
  population living in towns and cities
• Striking urbanization difference between
  countries
• Some close to 90 percent
• Others less than 20 percent
• Culture regions can be based on varying rates of
  urbanization
• We have a pattern of urban versus rural
  countries

9
Problem of recognizing urban regions

• Within each nation, we can delimit formal and
  functional culture regions separating urban and
  rural domains
• There is no agreed-upon international definition
  of what constitutes a city
• India defines an urban center as 5,000
  inhabitants, with adult males employed primarily
  in nonagricultural work
• The United States Census Bureau defines a city as
  a densely populated area of 2,500 people or more
• South Africa counts as a city any settlement of
  500 or more people

10
Problem of recognizing urban regions

• Some countries revise definitions of urban
  settlements to suit specific purposes
• China revised its census definitions with
  criteria that vary from province to province
  causing their urban population to swell by 13
  percent in 1983

11
Generalizations

• Generalizations made about the differences in the
  worlds urbanized population
• Highly industrialized countries have higher rates
  of urbanized population than do less-developed
  countries
• Developing countries are rapidly urbanizing
• Caused by massive migration away from the country
• People flock to the cities searching for a better
  life

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Generalizations

• Developing countries are rapidly urbanizing
• City migration is often driven by desperation, as
  rural supply systems collapse
• For newcomers to the cities, unemployment rates
  are often over 50 percent
• One of the worlds ongoing crises will be this
  radical restructuring of population and culture
  as people move into the cities

14
Generalizations

• Urban growth comes from two sources
• Migration of people to the cities
• Higher natural population growth rates for recent
  migrants
• Because employment is unreliable, large families
  construct a more extensive family support system
• Increases the chances of someone getting work
• Smaller families when a certain dimension of
  security is ensured
• Smaller families often occur when women enter the
  work force

15
World cities

• Cities over 5 million in population
• Over half of the worlds 20 largest cities are in
  the developing world
• Thirty years ago, the list of world cities was
  dominated by Western, industrialized cities
• Now the list is even more dominated by the
  developing world

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World cities

• Mexico Citys growth is linked to Mexicos oil
  industry
• Some countries are trying to regulate urban
  growth
• Problems with transportation, housing, and
  employment
• Failure or success of these policies will
  influence city size in the next ten to twenty
  years
• China closely regulates urban growth

17
World cities

• Accurate population projections are evasive
  because they depend on variables
• Primate city a settlement city that dominates
  the economic, political, and cultural life of a
  country
• The target for much urban migration
• Rapid growth expands its primacy, or dominance
• Example of Mexico City far exceeds Guadalajara,
  the second-largest city in Mexico, in size and
  importance
• Many developing countries are dominated by a
  primate city, which was often a former center of
  colonial power
• Primate cities are also found in developed
  countries London and Paris

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Culture regions

• Urban Culture Region
• Origin and Diffusion of the City
• Evolution of Urban Landscapes
• The Ecology of Urban Location
• Cultural Integration in Urban Geography

19
The first cities

• In seeking explanation for the origin of cities,
  we find a relationship between
• Areas of early agriculture
• Permanent village settlement
• The development of new social forms
• Urban life
• Early people were nomadic hunters and gatherers
  who constantly moved

20
The first cities

• As they became increasingly efficient in
  gathering resources, their campsites became
  semi-permanent
• As quantities of domesticated plants and animals
  increased settlement became more permanent
• The first cities appeared in the Middle East
• Developed about ten thousand years ago
• Farming villages modest in size, rarely with more
  than 200 people
• Probably organized on a kinship basis

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The first cities

• The first cities appeared in the Middle East
• Probably organized on a kinship basis
• Jarmo, one of the earliest villages
• Located in present-day Iraq
• Had 25 permanent dwellings clustered near grain
  storage facilities
• Lacked plows, but cultivated local grains wheat
  and barley
• Domestic dogs, goats, and sheep may have been
  used for meat
• Food supplies augmented by hunting and gathering

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The first cities

• In agricultural villages, all inhabitants were
  involved in some way in food procurement
• Cities were more removed, physically and
  psychologically, from everyday agricultural
  activities
• Food was supplied to the city
• Not all city dwellers were involved in actual
  farming
• Another class of city dwellers supplied services
  such as technical skills, and religious
  interpretation

23
The first cities

• Two elements were crucial to this social change
• Generation of agricultural surplus prerequisite
  for supporting nonfarmers
• Stratified social system
• Meaning the existence of distinct elite and lower
  classes
• Facilitates the collection, storage, and
  distribution of resources
• Well-defined channels of authority that exercise
  control over goods and people
• These two set the stage for urbanization

24
Models for the rise of cities

• Technical
• The hydraulic civilization model, developed by
  Karl Wittfogel
• Large-scale irrigation systems as prime mover
  behind urbanization
• Higher crop yields resulted
• Food surplus supported development of a large
  nonfarming population
• Strong, centralized government, backed by an
  urban-based military
• Farmers who resisted new authority were denied
  water

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Models for the rise of cities

• Technical
• The hydraulic civilization model, developed by
  Karl Wittfogel
• Power elite needed for organizational
  coordination to ensure continued operation of the
  irrigation system
• Labor specialization developed
• The hydraulic model cannot be applied to all
  urban hearths
• Urban civilization blossomed without irrigation
  in parts of Mesoamerica
• The question of how or why a culture might first
  develop irrigation

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Models for the rise of cities

• Religious
• Paul Wheatley suggests religion was the
  motivating factor behind urbanization
• Knowledge of meteorological and climatic
  conditions was considered to be within the domain
  of religion
• Religious leaders decided when and how to plant
  crops
• Successful harvests led to more support for this
  priestly class
• Priestly class exercised political and social
  control that held the city together
• In this scenario, cities are religious spaces
  functioning as ceremonial centers
• First urban clusters and fortification seen as
  defenses against spiritual demons or souls of the
  dead

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Models for the rise of cities

• Multiple factors
• Distinction between economic, religious, and
  political functions were not always clear
• A king may have functioned as priest, healer,
  astronomer, and scribe
• In some ways secular and spiritual power was
  fused
• Attempting to isolate one trigger to urbanization
  is difficult, if not impossible
• It would be wiser to accept the role of multiple
  factors behind the changes leading to urban life
• Technical, religious, and political forces were
  often interlinked

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Urban hearth areas

• Where the first cities appeared, for example
• Mesopotamia
• The Nile Valley
• Pakistans Indus River Valley
• The Yellow River valley (or Huang Ho) in China
• Mesoamerica
• Next slide gives general dates of urban life
  emergence for each region

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Urban hearth areas

• Generally agreed first cities arose in
  Mesopotamia
• River valley of the Tigris and Euphrates in what
  is now Iraq
• Cities, small by current standards, covered
  one-half to two square miles
• Populations rarely exceeded 30,000
• Densities could reach 10,000 per square mile
  comparable to todays cities
• Early cities, also called cosmomagical cities,
  exhibited three spatial characteristics

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Urban hearth areas

• Early cities, also called cosmomagical cities,
  exhibited three spatial characteristics
• Great importance accorded the symbolic center of
  the city, which was thought to be the center of
  the known world
• Often demarcated by a vertical structure of
  monumental scale representing the point on Earth
  closest to the heavens
• This symbolic center, or axis mundi, took
  different forms
• The ziggurat in Mesopotamia
• The palace or temple in China
• The pyramid in Egypt and Mesoamerica
• The Stupa in the Indus Valley

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Cosmomagical City Beijing, China
34
Cosmomagical City Beijing, China

• This is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the most
  important ceremonial building in Beijings
  Forbidden City. The hall is set upon an
  auspicious number of three tiers. From the Gate
  of Supreme Harmony, the emperor would be carried
  on his palanquin above the dragon pavement,
  carved with his dragon and other auspicious
  symbols such as waves, mountains and clouds.

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Cosmomagical City Beijing, China

• The Forbidden City marked the inner sanctum of
  the Imperial city, a model of harmony and moral
  order expressing the Will of Heaven.
• Ritual and cosmic correctness was imbued in city
  form through divination and orientation cardinal
  axiality and concentricity and, square
  configuration defined by walls and gates.

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Urban hearth areas

• Early cities, also called cosmomagical cities,
  exhibited three spatial characteristics
• In Mesopotamia, this area was known as the
  citadel and housed the elite who lived in
  relative luxury
• Streets were paved, drains and running water were
  provided
• Private sleeping quarters, bathtubs, and water
  closets were provided
• Privileges did not extend to the city as a whole

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Urban hearth areas

• Early cities, also called cosmomagical cities,
  exhibited three spatial characteristics
• The city was oriented toward the four cardinal
  directions
• Geometric form of city would reflect the order of
  the universe
• Walls around the city delimited the known and
  ordered world from the outside chaos
• Attempt to shape the form of the city according
  to the form of the universe
• Thought essential to maintain harmony between
  human and spiritual worlds
• Example of Ankor Thorn in India

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Urban hearth areas

• Life in Mesopotamias early cities from
  archaeological evidence
• Dense housing, located just outside the citadel,
  was one or two stories tall composed of clay
  brick, and contained three or four rooms
• Narrow unsurfaced streets had no drainage, and
  served as the community dump
• At Ur, excavations show that garbage levels rose
  so high, new entrances were cut into second
  stories of the houses
• Just inside the city wall, huts of mud and reed
  housed the lower classes

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Urban hearth areas

• Early cities of the Nile were not walled,
  suggesting a regional power structure kept cities
  from warring with each other
• In the Indus Valley, Mohenjo-Daro was laid out in
  a grid that consisted of 16 large blocks
• The most important variations in living
  conditions occurred in Mesoamerica
• Cities were less dense and covered large areas
• Cities arose without benefit of the wheel, plow,
  metallurgy, and draft animals
• Domestication of maize compensated for
  technological shortcomings
• Maize yields several crops a year without
  irrigation in tropical climates

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The diffusion of the city from hearth areas

• The two hypotheses of how cities spread in
  prehistoric times
• Cities evolved spontaneously as native peoples
  created new technologies and social institutions
• Preconditions for urban life are too specific for
  most cultures to invent without contact with
  other urban areas
• People must have learned these traits through
  contact with city dwellers
• This scenario emphasized the diffusion of ideas
  and techniques

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The diffusion of the city from hearth areas

• Diffusionists believe ideas and techniques from
  Mesopotamia were shared with people in the Nile
  and the Indus River valley
• Archaeological evidence documents trade ties
  between the three regions
• Soapstone objects made in Tepe Yahyã, 500 miles
  east of Mesopotamia, have been found in ruins of
  both Mesopotamia and Indus Valley cities
• Indus Valley writing and seals have been found in
  Mesopotamian urban sites
• An alternate view is that trading took place only
  after these cities were well established

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The diffusion of the city from hearth areas

• There is evidence of contacts across the oceans
  between early urban dwellers of the New World and
  those of Asia and Africa
• Unclear if this means urbanization was diffused
  to Mesoamerica
• Maybe some trade routes existed between these
  peoples

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The diffusion of the city from hearth areas

• Little doubt diffusion is responsible for the
  dispersal of the city in historical times
• City used as vehicle for imperial expansion
• Urban life is carried outward in waves of
  conquest as empires expand
• Initially, military controls newly won lands and
  sets up collection points for local resources
• As collection points lose some military
  atmosphere they begin to show the social
  diversity of a city
• Native people are slowly assimilated into the
  settlement as workers and may eventually control
  the city
• The process repeats itself as the empire pushes
  outward

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The diffusion of the city from hearth areas

• Imposition of a foreign civilization on native
  peoples was often met with resistance
• Examples of imperial city building dot history
• Alexander the Great established at least 70
  cities
• The Roman Empire built literally thousand of
  cities, changing the face of Europe, North
  Africa, and Asia minor
• The Persians, the Maurya Empire of India, the Han
  civilization of China, and the Greeks performed
  the same city-spreading task
• In more recent times, European empires have used
  city resources to expand and consolidate their
  power in colonies in the Americas, Africa, and
  Asia
• Expansion diffusion has been critical in
  dispersing urban life over the surface of the
  Earth

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Culture regions

• Urban Culture Region
• Origin and Diffusion of the City
• Evolution of Urban Landscapes
• The Ecology of Urban Location
• Cultural Integration in Urban Geography

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Introduction

• Patterns seen in the city today are a composite
  of past and present cultures
• Two concepts underlie our examination of urban
  landscapes
• Urban morphology physical form of the city,
  which consists of street patterns, building sizes
  and shapes, architecture, and density
• Functional zonation refers to the pattern of
  land uses within a city, or existence of areas
  with differing functions

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The Greek city

• Western civilization and Western cities trace
  their roots to ancient Greece
• By 600 B.C., over five hundred towns and cities
  existed on the Greek mainland and surrounding
  islands
• With expansion, cities spread throughout the
  Mediterranean to the north shore of Africa, to
  Spain, southern France, and Italy
• Cities rarely had more than 5,000 inhabitants
• Athens may have reached 300,000 in the fifth
  century B.C., including perhaps 100,000 slaves

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The Greek city

• Cities had two distinctive functional zones the
  acropolis and the agora
• The acropolis was similar in many ways to the
  citadel of Mesopotamian cities
• Had the temples of worship, storehouse of
  valuables, and seat of power
• Served as a place of retreat in time of siege

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The Greek city

• The agora was the province of the citizens
• A place for public meetings, education, social
  interaction, and judicial matters
• It was the civic center, the hub of democratic
  life for Greek men
• Later, after the classical period, it became the
  citys major marketplace without losing its
  atmosphere of a social club

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The Greek city

• Physical separation of religious from secular
  functions implies the religious domain was no
  longer the only source of authority
• Temples were located on sacred sites chosen to
  please the gods
• Temples were also sited and designed to please
  the human eye and harmonize with the natural
  landscape

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The Greek city

• Tension created between the religious and secular
  created what many consider to be one of the
  greatest achievements of Western architecture
• Earlier Greek cities probably grew spontaneously
  without formal guidelines
• Some think many ceremonial areas were designed to
  be seen according to prescribed lines of vision
• The human aesthetic was given a degree of
  authority not given in cosmomagical cities

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The Greek city

• In later Greek cities a more formalized city
  design and plan are apparent example of Miletus
  in Ioma (present-day Turkey)
• Laid out in a rigid grid system imposing its
  geometry on the physical site conditions
• Layout indicates an abstracted and highly
  rational notion of urban life
• Seems to fit well with the functional needs of a
  colonial city
• Grid system shows religious and aesthetic needs
  had taken a secondary role to pressing demands of
  controlling an empire

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Roman cities

• Romans adopted many urban traits from the Greeks
  and the Etruscans, whom the Romans had conquered
  and absorbed in northern Italy
• As the empire expanded, city life diffused into
  areas that had not previously experienced
  urbanization
• France, Germany, England, interior Spain, the
  Alpine countries, and parts of eastern Europe

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Roman cities

• As the empire expanded, city life diffused into
  areas that had not previously experienced
  urbanization
• Most cities were established as military (castra)
  and trading outposts
• Focal points for collection of local agricultural
  products
• Supply centers for the military
• Service centers for long-distance trading network
• In England, the trail of city building can be
  found by looking for the suffixes -caster and
  -chester indicating cities founded as Roman camps

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Roman cities

• Roman city landscapes
• Gridiron street pattern was used in later Greek
  cities example of Pavia, Italy
• The forum a zone combining elements of the
  Greek acropolis and agora
• Placed at the intersection of a citys two major
  thoroughfares
• Temples of worship, administrative buildings ,
  and warehouses
• Also libraries, schools, and marketplaces serving
  the common people

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Roman cities

• Roman city landscapes
• Clustered around the forum were the palaces of
  the power elite
• Sanitary, well heated in winter, and spacious
• Not until the twentieth century did such luxury
  again exist
• Roman masses lived in shoddy apartment houses
• Often four or five stories high, called insula
• System of aqueducts and underground sewers did
  not extend to the poor
• Garbage of perhaps a million Romans was thrown
  into open pits
• Even in its best days, Romes population was
  always at the mercy of plagues

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Roman cities

• Romes most important legacy was the Roman method
  for choosing city sites
• Remains applicable today
• Consistently chose sites with transportation in
  mind
• Empire held together by a complicated system of
  roads and highways
• In choosing a new site for settlement Romans
  first considered access while other cultures
  placed emphasis on defensive locations
• Numerous old Roman town sites were refounded
  centuries later Paris, London, and Vienna

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Roman cities

• The Roman Empire was in major decline by A.D. 400
• Cities and the highway system that linked them
  fell into disrepair
• The administrative structure collapsed
• Outposts were either actively destroyed or simply
  left to decay
• Within 200 years, many of the cities had withered
  away

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Roman cities

• Some Roman cities in the Mediterranean area
  managed to survive
• Established trade with the Byzantine Empire
• After the eighth century, cities in Spain were
  infused with new vigor by the Moorish Empire
• Cities in northern regions became small villages
• Urban decline occurred only in areas that had
  been under Roman rule

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The medieval city

• Medieval period lasted roughly from A.D. 1000 to
  1500
• Time of renewed urban expansion in Europe
• Urban life spread north and east in Europe
• Germanic and Slavic people expanded their empires
• In only four centuries, 2,500 new German cities
  were founded
• Most cities of present-day Europe were founded
  during this period

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The medieval city

• Revival of local and long-distance trade resulted
  from a combination of factors
• Population increase
• Political stability and unification
• Agricultural expansion through new land
  reclamations
• New Agricultural technologies
• Trading networks required protected markets and
  supply centers, functions that renewed life in
  cities
• Long-distance trading led to the development of a
  new class of people the merchant class

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Medieval Town Hirschhorn am Neckar, Germany
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Medieval Town Hirschhorn am Neckar, Germany

• This town reveals three important features of
  urban morphology castle, wall, and cathedral.
  Hirschhorn castle caps the summit of a fortified
  spur in the bend of the Neckar River, affording a
  clear view of the river and forested valley.

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Medieval Town Hirschhorn am Neckar, Germany

• Site factors have also limited expansion forcing
  people to build onto the walls.
• Half-timbering is evident in a number of
  buildings.

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The medieval city

• The major functions of the medieval city are
  depicted in five symbols
• The fortress
• Usually cities were clustered around a fortified
  place
• Reflected in place names German -burg, French
  -bourg, English
• -burgh all meaning a fortified castle
• The terms burgher and bourgeoisie, originally
  referred to a citizen of the medieval city

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The medieval city

• The major functions of the medieval city are
  depicted in five symbols
• The fortress
• Usually cities were clustered around a fortified
  place
• Reflected in place names German -burg, French
  -bourg, English
• -burgh all meaning a fortified castle
• The terms burgher and bourgeoisie, originally
  referred to a citizen of the medieval city

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The medieval city

• The major functions of the medieval city are
  depicted in five symbols
• The charter
• Governmental decree from a regional power
  granting political autonomy to the town
• Freed the population from feudal restrictions
• Made the city responsible for its own defense and
  government
• Allowed cities to coin their own money
• These freedoms contributed to development of
  urban social, economic, and intellectual life

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The medieval city

• The major functions of the medieval city are
  depicted in five symbols
• The wall
• Symbol of the sharp distinction between country
  and city
• Within the wall most inhabitants were free
  outside most were serfs
• People inside were able to move about with little
  restriction
• Goods entering the gates were inspected and taxed

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The medieval city

• The major functions of the medieval city are
  depicted in five symbols
• The wall
• Nonresidents were issued permits for entry, but
  often required to leave by sundown when the gates
  were shut
• Suburbs called faubourgs sprang up, and in time
  demanded to be included into the city
• If the suburbs were allowed to be part of the
  city, the wall was extended to include them

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The medieval city

• The major functions of the medieval city are
  depicted in five symbols
• The marketplace
• Symbolized role of economic activities in the
  city
• City depended on the countryside for food and
  produce was traded in the market
• Center for long-distance trade linking city to
  city

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The medieval city

• The major functions of the medieval city are
  depicted in five symbols
• The marketplace
• At one end stood the fairly tall town hail
• Meeting space for citys political leaders
• Market hail for storage and display of finer
  goods
• Brugge, Belgium, had two distinct complexes of
  buildings at it center
• Town hall and castle formed an enclosed square
• Next to this was the wasserho.lle, so named
  because the building straddled a canal where
  goods could be directly brought directly in from
  barges
• On adjacent edge of marketplace was the great
  ball that served as meeting spot for merchant
  class

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The medieval city

• The major functions of the medieval city are
  depicted in five symbols
• The cathedral
• Usually the towns crowning glory
• Symbol of the important role of the church
• Often close to the marketplace and town ball,
  indicating close ties between religion, commerce,
  and politics
• Church was often prevailing political force

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The medieval city

• Problems created for contemporary urban life by
  medieval city morphology and landscape
• Streets were narrow, wandering lanes, rarely more
  than 15 feet wide
• Today, in 141 German cities, 77 percent of
  streets are too narrow for two- way traffic

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The medieval city

• Functional zonation of medieval cities differed
  from that of modern cities
• Divided into small quarters, or districts, each
  containing its own cent that served as its focal
  point
• Within each district lived people engaged in
  similar occupations

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The medieval city

• Functional zonation of medieval cities differed
  from that of modern cities
• Example of coopers people who made and repaired
  wooden barrels
• Attended the same church, and belonged to the
  same guild
• Church and guildhall were in the small center
  area of their district
• Surrounding the center were their houses and
  workshops
• Many worked in the first story of their home and
  lived above the shop
• Apprentices lived above the shop owner
• More prestigious groups lived in occupational
  districts near the city center
• Those involved in noxious activities lived closer
  to city walls

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The medieval city

• Some districts were defined by ethnicity
• Jews were forced to live in their own district in
  most medieval cities
• In Frankfurt am Main, they lived on the
  Judengasse, a street formed from the dried-up
  moat that had run along the old wall to the city
• This area was enclosed by walls with only one
  guarded gate
• The area was not allowed to expand, leading by
  1610 to a population of 3,000 people and one of
  the densest districts in the city

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The Renaissance and baroque periods

• Form and function of the city changed
  significantly during the Renaissance (1500
  1600) and baroque (1600-1800) periods
• Absolute monarchs arose to preside over a unified
  nation-state
• Rising middle class slowly gave up their freedoms
  to join with the king in pursuit of economic gain
• City size grew rapidly because bureaucracies of
  regional power structures came to dominate them
• Trade patterns expanded with the beginning of
  European imperial conquest
• City planning and military technology acted to
  remold and constrain the physical form of the city

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The Renaissance and baroque periods

• A national capital city rose to prominence in
  most countries
• Provincial cities were subjected to its tastes
• Power was centralized in its precincts
• First office buildings were built to house a
  growing bureaucracy
• Most important, it was restructured to reflect
  the power of the central government and insure
  control over urban masses

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Capitalism in the Renaissance CityAmsterdam,
Netherlands
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Capitalism in the Renaissance CityAmsterdam,
Netherlands

• Amsterdam has always been a commercial city.
  Situated where dike crossed the Amstel, its
  harbor was easily accessed from the sea.
  Essentially at sea level, its quays and streets
  were flanked by canals.
• It flourished as a trading center and by the 17th
  century, had an extensive collection of
  warehouses and the largest public bank in
  northern Europe.

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Capitalism in the Renaissance CityAmsterdam,
Netherlands

• As the city prospered, the walls were expanded
  and new canals dug to line residential streets
  designated for a prestigious, residential
  neighborhood with 30 foot (9.1 meter) lots.
• These 17th century merchant homes are only 20
  feet (6.1 meters) wide because speculators
  purchased two 30 foot lots and sold them as three
  20 foot lots. The upper story was used for
  storage of goods.

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The Renaissance and baroque periods

• Height of baroque planning between 1600 and 1800
• During the 1800s, Napoleon III carried out a
  building plan in Paris
• Cobblestone streets carefully paved to prevent
  loose ammunition for rioting Parisians
• Streets were straightened and widened, and
  cul-de-sacs broken down to give army space to
  maneuver

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Baroque Planning Paris, France

• Parisians were always conscious of the beauty of
  the Seine and exploited it in the 16h and 17th
  centuries with bridges and promenades along its
  banks. These highlights aside, in 1840 the city
  remained a warren of narrow, filthy and crowded
  streets.
• But under the direction of Napoleon III and Baron
  Haussman, much of the city was transformed.

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Baroque Planning Paris, France

• Masses of people were displaced as boulevards and
  avenues, squares and parks, bazaars and arcades,
  and luxurious housing blocks were installed.
• The 19th century was also an era of exhibitions
  where nations showed off their art and technology
  to the world.
• In 1889, Paris displayed Gustave Eiffels tower,
  the worlds highest structure, testament to the
  age of iron and steel.
• The photo is taken from Ile de la Cite, Parish
  original island site in the Seine River.

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Baroque Planning Paris, France
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The Renaissance and baroque periods

• Thousands were displaced as apartment buildings
  were demolished
• Many ended up in congested working-class sections
  of east and north Paris
• The east and north sections are still crowded
  today
• In these developments, we see the coming modern
  city
• Washington, D.C., originally designed by a French
  planner

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