SEMINAR
TOWN PLANNING
IN
ROMAN CIVILIZATION
PRESENTED BY: HIMANSHU ARYAJITENDRA PRATAPLOVLESH SHARMA
NEHA KIRANNISHI CHAUHANPRIYANKA GUPTA
Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a city-state founded on
the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire
straddling the Mediterranean Sea. In its twelve-century existence,
Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy, to a republic based on a
combination of oligarchy and democracy, to an autocratic empire.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Roman people acquired characteristics of nationhood individuality.
Had the spirit of co-operation rather than competition
administrative ability and respect for law and-order.
They copied and adapted Greek architectural styles but perfected
the arch and the vault.
They adapted sites to buildings in preference to the Greek practice
of adapting buildings to sites.
Their techniques of road making and public health engineering
were vastly superior to the Greeks.
Ruthless exploitation of slave labour embarked massive-projects
of engineering and construction.
E.g.. Aqueducts of,
the Pont du Gard
Dougga : theatre, c. A.D.166-9, partially hollowed from
hillside
Aries: theatre and amphitheatre, c. second century A.D.
amphitheatre accommodated some 26,000
spectators
FETURES OF TOWNS IN GENERAL
Roman Towns seemed to be modified as necessary to suit the
climatic conditions.
At the heart of the town, was the Forum, a formal open
gathering space.
It used to be flanked by the Basilica, The Curia, temples,
municipal offices, tax collector and, sometimes, shops.
Next to the forum the Thermae, were important socially.
All but the smallest towns had a theatre and large ones had an
amphitheatre as well.
Roman houses, though resembling Greek houses in plan, were
more lavishly built in stone and marble.
Roman streets, were straight stone paved and mostly sewered.
ANALYSIS ON THE BASIS OF TOWN PLANNING
Rome itself obeyed no rules of Town Planning.
Chief factors that mitigated against systematic planning and
development :a difficult site topography
ever increasing population
Elegant though, buildings were islands in a copious confusion
of residential and industrial slums.
No clear pattern of communication.
No development plan.
The city spread and sprawled, without a plan.
It was Augustus, followed by Nero, who improved the
conditions.
His building regulations required that permanent materials be
used for all new work; that no new building should be of greater
height than twice the width of the street along which it stood;
and that streets should be widened and straightened.
By II century, city was at its peak of prosperity population in
excess of a million.
Multi-storey blocks fulfilled the city demand of houses.
Generous wedges of open space, were available to public.
Roman citizens, preferred country side to the crowded city.
All elegant public buildings produced a dignified and mature
urban scene.
Houses were sited to comply, with street, building lines and
arranged in suites of rooms facing internal courtyards.
Singularly efficient public health ,engineering enabled water to
be piped to houses, streets to be drained and sewered, public
and private lavatories to be connected to a waterborne sewerage
system.
Formal geometrical planning.
New towns were set out on a rectangular framework of straight
streets, with carriageways cambered and surfaced in stone and
footways paved and occasionally colonnaded.
Axial streets cardo and decumanus, used to be made at the
intersection of Forum which was kept free of wheeled traffic.
Plan of the residential extension of Olynthus, built at the
end of the fifth century B.C. The insulae blocks of
houses measure 99 by 44 yards
Plan of Priene as it was
rebuilt at the end of the fourth
century B C. The geometrical
chessboard pattern is
drastically
imposed upon a steep
hillside in this classic example
of Hellenistic town-planning
Plan of Paestum , a Greek
colony taken over by the
Romansc.273 B.C.The temples
known as the 'Basilica' (a),
the 'Temple of Neptune' (b),
and the 'Temple of Ceres'(c),
date from Greek times.
The forum
(d) and amphitheatre (e)
areRoman
Plan of Ostia, the
port of Rome. The
original castrum or fort
is shown as a
stippled rectangle.
Other features marked
are the decumanus
maximus (aa),the
cardo (bb),the
barracks of the vigiles
(c), a bath-building (d),
the theatre (e), the
forum (f), the present
(g) and ancient (h)
course of the Tiber
and the surrounding
defensive walls built c.
80 BC (j)
Plan of Pompeii,
buried by the
eruption of
Vesuvius in AD79.
The oldest
part of the town is
indicated by
shading. Also
marked on the plan
are the forum
(a), market (b), Temple
of the Lares (c), a
basilica (d) and a
temple to Apollo (e)
Aerial view of
The decumanus maximus of Ostia the sheltered, hexagonal
harbour built
at Ostia by Trajan
Aerial view
of Verona
Aerial view of
Paris
(Lutetia))
showing the
definitely identified
Roman streets
and buildings: the
forum (a), Forum
Baths (b), baths
beneath the
College de
France (c), Cluny
Baths (d) and
amphitheatre (e)
Plan of Timgad (Thamugadi) built in AD100 on a regular chessboard pattern.
Indicated on the plan are two main gates (a), a north gate (b), two posterns (c),
the forum (d), town-hall (e), curia (f), temple (g), public lavatory (h), theatre (j),
bath-buildings (k), library (1),Donatist cathedral (m) and fourth-century Christian
churches (n)
Caerwent:
A.D.75; forum,
town hall and
temple at centre;
baths opposite;
narrow-fronted
shops
along main street
Caerwent:
reconstructi
on by Alan
Sorrel; fully
developed,
the town
would have
accommodat
ed about 45
persons per
gross acre.
Town of Caervent
Vitruvius, author of treatises on architecture and town
planning written about A.D.20, offered this advice as to
siting of the Forum and some of its components.
The lanes and streets of the city being set out, the choice of sites for
the convenience and use of the state remains to be decided on; for
sacred edifices, for the forum, and for other public buildings.
If the place adjoin the sea , the forum should be placed close to the
harbour: if inland, it should be in the center of the town.
The temples of the gods, protectors of the city, also those of jupiter,
juno and Minerva, should be on some eminence which commands a
view of the greater part of the city.
The temple of Mercury should be either in the forum or, as also the
temple of Isis and Serapis, in the great public square.
Those of Apollo and Father Bacchusnear the theatre. If there be
neither amphitheatre nor gymnasium, the temple of
Hercules should be near the circus.
