ROMANTOWN PLANNING

SUBMITTED TO:AR.SHWETA BANSAL

SUBMITTED TO:NITIN SHIVHARE

ROMAN TOWN PLANNINGEARLY TOWN PLANSIN ITALY THE EARLIEST ETRUSCAN TOWNS GREW WITH LITTLE OR NO PLANNING, AND MANY OF THE ITALIAN TOWNS AND CITIES, INCLUDING ROME ITSELF, WERE ALSO UNPLANNED AND GREW WITHOUT RESTRICTIONESPECIALLY WHERE THE GROUND WAS UNEVEN, THEIR STREETS HAD NO CLEAR PATTERN AND WERE OFTEN VERY NARROW, LINED BY TALL BUILDINGS, WITH SCALAE (FLIGHTS OF STEPS) ON THE SLOPES. THE FOUNDATION CEREMONY OF NEW ROMAN TOWNS ORIGINATED IN ETRUSCAN TIMES GREEK & ETRUSCAN TOWN PLANS WERE INFLUENTIAL IN EVOLUTION OF ROMAN TOWN PLANS.THIS TYPE OF TOWN PLAN INFLUENCED THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROMAN TOWN PLANNING, WHICH USED A SIMILAR GRID PATTERN OF STREETS BUT HAD TWO MAJOR STREETS INTERSECTING AT RIGHT ANGLES TO PROVIDE A CROSSROADS AS A FOCAL POINT IN THE TOWN CENTER.

Plan of the Roman town c. AD 75-150

EARLY TOWN PLANS

THE DEFENSIVE CIRCUIT OF THE FORTRESS MARKED THE EDGES OF THE NEW TOWN A NEW FORUM WAS LAID OUT TO ONE SIDE OF THE CENTRAL AXIS OF THE TOWN AND ITS BASILICA WAS CONSTRUCTED ON TOP OF THE REMAINS OF THE LEGIONARY BATHHOUSE. THE TOWNS PUBLIC BATHS WERE PLACED ON THE SLOPING GROUND. ON THE SURROUNDING INSULAE (ISLANDS OF LAND) TIMBER BUILDINGS GREW UP, SOME OF WHICH WERE EVIDENTLY SHOPS. OUTSIDE THE FORTRESS DEFENCES WERE SOME OF THE INDUSTRIES SET UP TO SUPPLY THE FORTRESS CONTINUED INTO THE EARLY CIVIL PERIOD

Plan of the Roman town c. AD 150-400

BY THE LATE 2ND CENTURY THE TOWN HAD GROWN BEYOND THE AREA OF THE OLD FORTRESS AROUND THE YEAR AD 180 A CONSIDERABLY LARGER DEFENSIVE CIRCUIT WAS LAID OUT, FOLLOWING THE NATURAL DEFENCES OF THE SITE AND THEREFORE IRREGULAR IN PLAN. WITHIN THIS AREA STONE BUILDINGS REPLACED THE OLDER TIMBER ONES SOME OF THE STREETS WERE EXTENDED OR CHANGED TO SERVE THIS LARGER AREA, BUT IT IS FAR FROM CERTAIN THAT A REGULAR GRID OF STREETS COVERED THE ENTIRE WALLED AREA.

View of Roman town in the early 4th century

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF A ROMAN TOWNROMAN COLONIAL OR CAMP PLANS WERE ESPECIALLY DEVELOPED FOR THE MILLITARY ENGINEERS.SUCH PLANS HAD NECESSARILY TO BE SIMPLE TO SET OUT & THE BUILDING BLOCKS EASY TO MEASURE.IN THIS CASE THE GRID IRON PLAN PROVED TO BE SUCCESSFUL.THE ROMAN DISPLAYED CRUDE SYMMETRY & ARTISTIC RIGIDITY IN PRACTISE OF LEVELLING A HILL TO MAKE THE SITE CONFIRM TO THE PLAN.ROMAN PLANNING WAS LIKE THE CHESS BOARD SYSTEM HAVING THE PRINCIPAL STREETS ROUNDING ACROSS THE LENGTH & BREADTH OF TOWN & THE MIDDLE ONES SLIGHTLY SHIFTED.

THE FORUM: •THE FOCAL POINT OF THE CITY WAS ITS FORUM.•AN OPEN AREA BORDERED BY COLONNADES WITH SHOPS.• FUNCTIONED AS THE CHIEF MEETING PLACE OF THE TOWN. USUALLY SITUATED IN THE CENTRE OF THE CITY AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE CARDO AND THE DECUMANUS.

THE BASILICA:•A ROOFED HALL WITH A WIDE CENTRAL AREA—THE NAVE—FLANKED BY SIDE AISLES, AND IT OFTEN HAD TWO OR MORE STOREYS.• IN ROMAN TIMES BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS TOOK PLACE IN THE BASILICA, BUT THE BUILDING TYPE WAS ADAPTED IN CHRISTIAN TIMES AS THE STANDARD FORM OF WESTERN CHURCH.•THE FIRST BASILICAS WERE ERECTED IN THE EARLY 2ND CENTURY BC IN ROME'S OWN FORUM, BUT THE EARLIEST WELL-PRESERVED EXAMPLE OF A BASILICA (C. 120 BC) IS FOUND AT POMPEII.

Pompeii, basilica

Pompeii, basilica

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THE PUBLIC BATH OCCUPIED AN IMPORTANT PLACE IN SOCIAL LIFE OF ROMANS.SOME OF THE HOUSES WERE EQUIPPED WITH BATHING FACILITIES.CONSTRUCTION WAS OF STONE, BRICK, WOOD & WINDOW GLASS.

Baths of Caracalla, Rome

ROMANS DEVELOPED WATER SUPPLY & DISTRIBUTION, DRAINAGE SYSTEM & METHOD OF HEATING WHICH ARE DIRECTLY RELATED TO MANS HEALTH.THEY CONSTRUCTED GREAT AQUEDUCTS FOR TRANSPORTATION THROUGH WATER & UNDERGROUND SEVERS.

Aqueduct: Pont du Gare

IF THE AREA IS GOING TO BE UNMANAGABLE THEN A NEW FORUM IS DEVELOPED FOR A NEW STALITE TOWN.AN AUGUR MARKED OUT THE AXES OF THE TOWN, THE CARDO MAXIMUS AND THE DECUMANUS MAXIMUS, BASED ON ASTRONOMICAL SIGHTINGS. THE CARDO ON A NORTH-SOUTH AXIS AND THE DECUMANUS ON AN EAST-WEST AXIS—AND A GRID OF SMALLER STREETS DIVIDING THE TOWN INTO BLOCKS, AND WAS SURROUNDED BY A WALL WITH GATES.

STREETS PARALLEL TO THESE AXES FORMED A GRID PATTERN THAT DIVIDED THE AREA INTO BLOCKS OF LAND (INSULAE) FOR BUILDING.

THE SHAPE OF THE INSULAE (SING. INSULA) WAS USUALLY SQUARE OR RECTANGULAR AND OF EQUAL SIZE. PLANNED TOWNS USUALLY HAD A UNIFIED COMPLEX OF FORUM AND BASILICA, AND EVENTUALLY ACQUIRED PUBLIC BUILDINGS SUCH AS A THEATER, AMPHITHEATER, BATHS AND VARIOUS TEMPLES.

MANY OF THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THE FORUM WERE OFTEN SITED IN THE TOWN CENTER, ALTHOUGH AMPHITHEATERS AND THEATERS WERE MORE USUALLY SITUATED TOWARD THE PERIMETER.

TYPICAL ROMAN CITY

Theater, Orange

Amphitheater Arles

ROMAN COLLONIESCOLONIAE : SETTLEMENTS OR COLONIES ESTABLISHED BY THE STATE TO FORM A SELF-ADMINISTERING COMMUNITY, OFTEN WITH A STRATEGIC DEFENSIVE FUNCTION.THE CREATION OF COLONIAE ALLOWED ROME TO EXTEND ITS PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTROL OVER THE HOSTILE, FOREIGN OR DESIRED TERRITORIES.ESSENTIALLY, A COLONY CAME INTO BEING WHEN A GROUP OF ROMAN CITIZENS, BE THEY VETERANS OR CIVILIANS, RECEIVED FROM THE STATE A GRANT OF LAND IN A PROVINCE (OR IN ITALY). THE AMOUNT ALLOTTED TO EACH COLONIST FOLLOWED THE REGULAR PLOTTING USED AS THE STANDARD THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE (CENTURIATION). ONCE MEASURED, ALL THE COLONISTS' LAND RECEIVED THE PRIZED STATUS OF IUS ITALICUM, IN WHICH NO TRIBUTE WAS DEMANDED BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL CITIZENS.THE ADVANTAGES WERE OBVIOUS, AND IN AN EMPIRE WHERE COMMERCIAL, SOCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE COMPETITION WAS FIERCE, IT HELPED TO HAVE EVERY CONCEIVABLE EDGE.

TOWN FORTIFICATION THE FOUNDING OF COLONIES REACHED A PEAK IN THE REIGN OF

AUGUSTUS. MOST NEWLY FOUNDED COLONIES WERE PROVIDED WITH DEFENSES, USUALLY CONSISTING OF A WALL WITH DEFENDABLE GATEWAYS.

ONE PURPOSE OF THESE COLONIES WAS TO DOMINATE THEIR SURROUNDING AREAS AND IMPLANT THE ROMAN WAY OF LIFE, BUT NOT ALL AREAS WERE HOSTILE AND SO TOWN WALLS MAY NOT ALWAYS HAVE BEEN NEEDED FOR DEFENSES.

HOWEVER, IMPRESSIVE MASONRY WALLS PROVIDED THE COLONY WITH ENHANCED STATUS, REPRESENTING THE POWER OF ROME.

WALLS VARIED IN PLAN AND CONSTRUCTION FROM TOWN TO TOWN BUT WERE USUALLY BUILT AS FREE-STANDING MASONRY WALLS WITH A CAREFULLY FINISHED FACING OF SMALL BLOCKWORK.

GATEWAYS WERE KEPT TO A MINIMUM (USUALLY ONE PER SIDE IF THE TOWN WAS PLANNED AS A RECTANGLE), AND WERE USUALLY FLANKED BY TOWERS RISING HIGHER THAN THE WALLS.

THERE MIGHT ALSO BE INTERVAL TOWERS ON THE PERIMETER WALL ITSELF.

GATEWAYS USUALLY HAD SINGLE OR DOUBLE PASSAGEWAYS FOR VEHICLES, FLANKED BY NARROWER PASSAGEWAYS FOR PEDESTRIANS.

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