Town Planning During: Renaissance

TOWN PLANNING
DURING
RENAISSANCE
RENAISSANCE
The revival of art and literature under the influence of classical models in the 14th–16th
centuries.
The culture and style of art and architecture developed during this era.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Rome fell in the sixth century CE, and the entire Roman Mediterranean network began
to collapse within a hundred years in the face of Islamic expansion. Old Roman
centers across Europe stagnated, but several recovered beginning in the twelfth
century, with new settlements built around the old burg (walled fortress) of Roman
times. Increased trade supported the rise of small merchants and traders not
dependent on feudal lords, as well as new classes of elites not directly tied to the
Catholic Church.
These changes were especially pronounced in Northern Italy, where flourishing
innovation and entrepreneurial activity supported the rise of autonomous mercantile
centers such as Venice. Residents of commercial centers came to be called burghers
The ensuing mix of cultural, artistic, and scientific changes that began in the
fourteenth century -- the mix that eventually came to be grouped under the single
label of “renaissance” -- owes much of its origins to the wealthy merchant families of
the city-states of Venice, Florence, and other Mediterranean ports. Merchant families
aggressively and competitively funded art, education, and science in order to maintain
power and prestige. More and more of these investments came to have direct and
lasting imprints on urban design and urban planning.
FACTORS SHAPING RENAISSANCE CITIES:
1. Colonial exploration, exploitation, and expanding networks of trade.

Intensified and expanded networks of trade shaped the course of urbanization, and
created new opportunities for aggressive entrepreneurs. At the regional scale, expanding
networks of maritime trade strengthened the links between European cities and their
surrounding hinterlands.
2. Dangers of rapid urbanization.

the rapid urbanization of European society created densely-packed cities vulnerable to
fire and plagues, dangers that crossed all lines of class and privilege and thus justified public
intervention in sanitation, construction, and other aspects of city life
3. Political and geographical divisions within Christianity.

City growth and patterns varied with the particular mix of trends in Christianity and
political control
THE TOWN PLANNING
•The Baroque town planning was prevalent in the 17th century A.D.
•The Baroque city plan appeared simultaneously with the emergence of strong states.
•The strength and importance of the state dictates the need for walls around baroque
cities to protect them from other strong enemies.
•These cities had various spaces pre-allocated for different purposes.
•This seminar would touch upon the following topics :

1. ZONING
2. PLANNING
3. STUDY OF VENICE
ZONING
•Strict zoning
•Land use is divided into several functions.
•Public versus private and residential versus industrial are common trends in the spatial
layout.
•The purpose of a baroque layout is to display the city’s power and strength, resulting in
the construction of monuments.
•It was also designed to put people in their place utilizing hierarchy of space and
separation of the classes.
•The center, usually public and commercial, is the largest and most important section.
•A radial street network extends from the center and as a section of the city’s distance
from the focus increases, its importance decreases.
•This decrease in importance is illustrated by the decreasing accessibility to the center
and its important functions.
•The government district is usually in the center square or attached to it; elite
neighborhoods spring up along the wide avenues, while the poorest residential sections
are forced to the edge of the city.
•Green space and open
space are found
throughout the city and
each section is built around
its own square.
•Squares and parks also

display a hierarchy of
space: as sections are
pushed farther from the
center, the size of the
public space decreases.
PLANNING
•The physical Urban Planning of Venice remains very similar to the layout it acquired in
the Imperial Age.
•The city sprouted with creating public space in the Piazza San Marco.
•It is from this focal point that the city began to radiate (in a winding fashion), in a
Baroque city model.
•Venice can be compared to a Baroque city model as long as the scale is kept in
perspective.
•The measured hierarchy of space and the impressive symbols of state power were
confined to limited space.
•Open space, though not abundant because of the city’s small size, was set aside as the
six sesteri developed around squares.
•Gardens are also present along the outskirts of the city.
•Land separation is present in the layout – the Arsenale, home of the ship building that
was once Venice’s primary industry, is located on the farthest edge of the island, away
from the administrative and residential districts.
•The zoning becomes fuzzy as the city
converts many areas to tourist functions.
•The focus of the Baroque city can be found
in the role of San Marco and its Piazza,
which housed the administrative functions
(Doge’s Palace) of the Baroque era and
several impressive monuments and
buildings.
•Although this focus was not in the exact
center of the city, but on the southern edge,
hierarchy of space still revolved around it.
•For example, the Ghetto was placed in
Cannaregio, the northern most district of
Venice, signifying the inferior status of the
Jews in relation to the ruling class.
•If thought of as a wide avenue with direct
access to the center, the Canal Grande
reflects both the hierarchy of space and the
separation of classes.
SAN MARCO,
Venice
•A relatively small clearing, the Piazza San Marco
dominates less than 1,000 square meters of
Venice’s surface.
•Still, it is the largest public open space in Venice.
•Laid out in Doge Sebastiano Ziani’s 12th century
urban renewal plan, the Piazza has always been
the active focus of the city.
•The square has bustled with merchants and
natives since its creation.
•Its accessible location on the Canal Grande and
the waterfront made it a strategic site for
administrative and trade transactions.
•Grandiose buildings and monuments define the
boundaries of the Piazza.
• Destined to be the social, administrative, religious
and commercial hub from the time of its
construction, the square boasts the headquarters
of these Venetian institutions.
•The Historic Center of Venice is divided
into six sesteri or districts, three on each
side of the Canal Grande : Dorsoduro,
Santa Croce, San Polo on the East Bank and
THE SESTERI Cannaregio, Castello, and San Marco on
the West.
• These districts fulfill mainly residential
and commercial functions.
•Most of the residential districts are found
in the Eastern section of Venice.
•Wealthy and poor zones are scattered
throughout these neighborhoods.
•Each district has its own campi or square,
which serves as the local center of each
sesteri.
•San Marco itself is the focal point of the
city and therefore the most crowded and
successful.Traveling away from San Marco,
the sesteri become quieter, more
residential, and poorer.
JAIPUR CITY.
• Jaipur is an example of a medieval city in India. The plan follows the gridiron pattern,
so popular everywhere in the early days.
• Jaipur was planned in a grid system with wide straight avenues, roads, streets and
lanes and uniform rows of shops on either side of the main roads.
• All arranged in nine rectangular city sectors (chokdis), representing the ancient Hindu
map of the universe.
• The city was surrounded by a crenellated masonry wall, measuring 20 feet in height
and 9 feet in thickness with seven imposing gateways - Dhruvapol (Zorawar Singh
Gate) on the north, Gangapol and Surajpol on the east, Rampol (Ghat Gate), Shivpol
(Sanganeri Gate) and Kishanpol (Ajmeri Gate) on the south, and Chandpol on the
west.
• The walls were built for protection from invading armies and wild animals that lurked
just outside in the jungles that surrounded the city.
Jai Singh's planned city has withstood all the pressures and the changes.
THIS PLAN SHOWCASE ARRANGEMENT OF NINE RECTANGULAR CITY SECTORS &
PLANNING IS BASED ON GRID SYSTEM WITH WIDE STREET AVENUES, ROADS, STREETS & LANES .
THANK YOU

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TOWN PLANNING

1. Colonial exploration, exploitation, and expanding networks of trade.

2. Dangers of rapid urbanization.

3. Political and geographical divisions within Christianity.

•These cities had various spaces pre-allocated for different purposes.

•This seminar would touch upon the following topics :

•Squares and parks also

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