Urban Planning: History of urban form — Ancient Cities and the Grid Plan
How the first cities took shape, from Mesopotamia and the Indus to Greece, Rome, Teotihuacan and Chang'an, and why the grid kept returning.
Try 3 questions
1. What development most directly made the first cities possible?
- Farming surpluses that could feed non-farmers
- Iron tools strong enough for large buildings
- The wheel, which made long-distance trade easy
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Answer: Farming surpluses that could feed non-farmers
Cities need people who don't grow their own food, such as priests, artisans and officials; agricultural surpluses first made that possible in places like Mesopotamia.
2. Why did nearly all early cities arise along major rivers?
- Rivers gave water, fertile soil and transport
- Rivers shielded them from every invader
- Rivers kept the summer climate cooler
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Answer: Rivers gave water, fertile soil and transport
Rivers such as the Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, Indus and Yellow River provided drinking and irrigation water, silt-rich farmland and an easy route for moving goods.
3. At Çatalhöyük in Anatolia, around 7000 BCE, how did residents usually get into their houses?
- By boat along canals between houses
- Through doors on narrow winding streets
- Across the rooftops, through openings above
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Answer: Across the rooftops, through openings above
Houses were packed wall to wall with no streets between them; people walked over the roofs and climbed down ladders through openings in the ceiling.
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