Medieval Era

Theory of Urban Design

By:
Ananya Agarwal
Shreya Tayal
Soumya Gupta
Sourabh
Rishav
Muskan Bhansali
INTRODUCTION

● The eclipse in the European civilization between the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (4th and
5th centuries) and the re-emergence of activity in the Early Middle Ages (10th-12th centuries), is
known as the DARK AGES.
● Economy was rooted in agriculture and the feudal system was the new order.
● Merchants & craftsmen formed guilds to strengthen their social & economic position.
● Wars among the rival feudal lords were frequent.
CHARACTERISTICS
Location

● Medieval cities did establish in many and varied locations i.e. in plains, on hillsides, on hilltops, on
island, in valleys, on river crossings. Site selection would depend on a combination of traditional
needs such as protection, commercial advantage, suitable communications or fertile hinterland.
● City layouts, therefore, follow different planning styles depending on location and topography e.g.
the hill towns of southern France, southern Germany, and of central Italy.

Orientation

● Medieval Cities of Europe were orientated in relation to their topography. Intentional orientation is
not noticeable; layouts of towns and cities do not observe the four cardinal points as in Antiquity.
CHARACTERISTICS
Shape

● The shape or outline of town plans was delineated by the wall which would best protect the
city.
● A wall had to have the shortest circumference possible and take advantage of topographical
features.
● Obviously, this often limited the use of geometric shapes; yet simple, geometric plans were
adopted whenever possible, especially in flat country.
● However, the layout of medieval cities was not based on any symbolic geometric figure. The
choice of form or outline of a town was left to the engineer responsible for its fortifications (as
in Classical Greece).
 ELEMENTS OF MEDIEVAL CITIES
1. The Individual House House styles and their interior
arrangements varied from region to region:

● town houses of lower nobility and feudal lords are quite

different.
● houses often designed as fortresses and accommodate
several generations of one individual family
● In some towns, street blocks are organized in defensive
units with individual walls and defensive towers.
● The most common house type was: predominantly
one-family, several stories high; of human scale,
arranged thus:
■ ground floor - commerce, trade
■ upper floors - family residence The amphitheatre at Arles serving as fortification for urban housing since early medieval
period View of 1686
■ under roof - servants
● small occupying narrow frontages along narrow streets (to allow as many as possible to be accessible from street, as
craftsmen worked at home).
● Urban houses were derived from farm houses of the early medieval period. Traditionally, the (integral) relationship
between work and residence leads to strong population concentration and intensive land-use.
● The Late Medieval period sees an increased differentiation of dwelling houses as an attempt to create more private and
complex personal living space.
2. The Marketplace
● public, social life concentrated in city centres.
● represented political character of a city as well as citizens’ self-identification.
● communal centres (i.e. belonging to community, expressive of it). Emerge only during high middle ages (10th , 11th ,
12th centuries). In earlier times the fortress, abbey, or Bishops’ seat took up central positions.
● cover substantial area(s) of urban land; occur in multiple form depending on nature and magnitude of cities economy
(wool, textile, pig, fish etc. markets).

a) Street Markets
● earliest form and represent extension of the linear traffic artery on which many medieval plan types are based.

b) Central Markets
● preferred shape was that of a regular rectangle, often also a simple square shape e.g. market and commercial cities of
central and eastern Europe in 13th and 14th centuries.
● to maintain uninterrupted enclosing facades, streets do not enter space axially but at corners only. - note: polygonal -
circular market spaces are not typical of pragmatic planning approach of medieval builders
 3. Civic Buildings

Express pride and wealth of a town’s inhabitants and are concentrated around and near market
place(s).

a) Town Hall
● always reserved prime site on main market square where their scale and size provides striking
contrast to other buildings in the area.
● often positioned opposite town church (cathedral) or even secular ruler’s castle.
● symbol of autonomy, jurisdiction, wealth they range from proud and magnificent town halls of
Hanseatic Cities of northern Europe to small and poor town halls of Southern Germany and
Austria.
● seat of town councils i.e. local government. Councils had splendid seals: town corporation
could act in its own right and bind itself legally by letter and seal. Guild Hall
● besides church, the most important representative of corporate life Hospital - to care for old
and poor - set up by holy order
CITIES IN 9th & 10th Centuries

● accelerated urban growth begins and developments can be distinguished around that time within the
chaos of Dark Ages.
● coronation of Charles the Great in 800, who founded many towns - population growth accelerates
and living standards rise
● trade revives
● Charlemagne introduced gold currency to replace silver as less volatile adoption of advanced
techniques of bookkeeping based on arabic numerals
● new and completely transformed towns and cities begin to emerge in Western Europe.
● These grow out of a variety of urban nuclei, which over time, develop into a new urban fabric: the
medieval city.
CITIES IN 12th & 13th CENTURY
● The city of middle ages grew within the confines of the walls.
● While the population was small, there was space in the town, but when it increased the buildings
were packed more closely and the open spaces filled.
● Result was intolerable congestion, lack of hygiene and pestilence.

CITY OF NAARDEN CITY OF NAARDEN

PLANNING
● Early medieval town was dominated by church or monastery & castle
of lords and the church plaza became a market place.
● Roads generally radiated from church plaza & market plaza.
● Castle was surrounded by wall & moat as a protective elements.
Inside the walls, the streets were narrow and unpaved.
● Open spaces, streets, plazas developed as an integral part of site.
● For protective measures, towns were sited in irregular terrain,
occupying hill tops or islands. Towns assumed informal & irregular
character.
● Streets were used for pedestrian while wheels were restricted to main
roads.
● There was usually a square in the centre of the city. This square had
the most important public buildings: the cathedral, the town and the
marketplace. Monarchs and nobles sometimes built urban palaces in
these cities.
● Around the city centre were houses.
● There were also hospitals, schools and inns.
TOWN PLANNING TYPES
1 . SPONTANEOUS/ORGANIC TOWNS

Towns which grew by slow stages out of a village or group of villages under the protection of a monastery,
a church, or a castle - these would conform to topographical and geographical peculiarities, and change
from generation to generation.

Linear Plan:

Form of Growth-
● The principal axis invariably ensured the
formation of a street market settlement. Note
that this preceded the later, centralized market
square.
● Eg: in south-west Germany 12th most towns
were based on street market plans; in the 13th
century market squares become more common.
CARCASSONNE
● Plan of old Carcassonne,
France its Roman origin is
LOCATION only vaguely recognizable;
Carcassonne, a hilltop town in more usually, the ‘natural’
southern France’s area, is famous for or historic type tends to
its medieval citadel, La Cité, with have an ancient. ie
numerous watchtowers and
double-walled fortifications. ● Roman nucleus and a
radio-concentric
development around it.

● It contains market square,

castle & church of St.
Nazaire.
● Irregular pattern for
streets is seen.
NORDLINGEN
LOCATION
Nördlingen is a town in Bavaria, Germany. Its old town is
encircled by well-preserved medieval walls with towers
and covered parapet paths.

● is a most typical form of radial plan with a regular oval

to circular shape or outline.
● originally a Roman settlement but town structure
evolved in medieval times around a central growth
point: a Royal Frankish Court.
● town gradually formed successive rings of buildings
(rather protective of its precious centre) around
nucleus.
● It shows the radial & lateral pattern of irregular
roadways with the church plaza as the principal focal A. Cathedral
B. Moat
point of the town.
2. PLANNED OR GEOMETRIC TOWNS

● Building of new towns to accommodate growing

population numbers and economic expansion soon
became a major task because of:
● a) natural limitations of local food supply for older
towns,
● b) the needs of a constant extension of conquered
territory eastward across Europe.
● This category comprises the numerous planned new
foundations of the high middle ages: i.e. the colonial
towns, laid out on the grid-iron plan and commonly
referred to as Bastides. These represent a View of Villingen, a Zähringer New
Town in the eastern Black Forest,
significant aspect of medieval city development. Germany
Aigues-Mortes in France 1240
● founded by St. Louis (Louis IX) as base for his crusade to the holy land
(seventh Crusade) It remains a perfect example of a St. Louis IX bastide.
● for about 15,000 inhabitants
● built on flat meadow land west of Rhone delta and, at the time, only French
port on Mediterranean coast; it outlived its purpose and did not expand.
LOCATION ON WORLD MAP
● grid-iron plan measures about 650 x 300 yards and is somewhat distorted.
Nevertheless, it represents at carefully delineated and planned grid:
● 1 central street runs the length of the plan, past market
● further streets on either side
● 5 streets at right angles.
● massive fortifications: 35’ high with 15 towers built by son of the founder,
Philippe le Hardi in 1272 with help of Simon Boccanegra of Italy.
● a citadel or fortress is located in the north-west corner of the plan: it is
guarded by the tour de Constance immediately beyond the city wall.
● by the end of the 14th century the channel linking town to the sea silted up.
It is since separated by about 3 miles of salt marsh from the sea.
● Its role as a port disappeared.
Aigues-Mortes in France (Today)
● Aigues-Mortes is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie
region of southern France. The medieval city walls surrounding the
city are well preserved.
● The medieval heritage from the 13th and 14th centuries of the
commune and its proximity to the sea attract many tourists and
residents of France.
● The development of seaside tourism since the 1960s was marked by
the construction of new resorts (La Grande-Motte) and the extension
of existing facilities from Le Grau du Roi to Port-Camargue. To
facilitate access to tourists, a coastal road network has been
augmented and connected to the A9 motorway.
● Production of salt by the operation of the saltworks of the Salins
group has long been one of the main resources of the city.
● The Line Nîmes to Le Grau-du-Roi serves the towns and villages of
Costières and the coastline, with a terminus at Le Grau-du-Roi. It is
also used for the transport of salt produced by the saltworks of the
Salins Group
Monpazier in Guyenne 1284

● founded by Edward I, as one of several towns

which he established to protect his territory in
Gascony and consolidate his authority over it.
● a most perfect checkerboard layout 400 x 200
m based on a standard module: house plots
frontage 24’ , depth 72’.
● streets 20’ wide, lanes at rear of house plots 6’.
● 3 streets run length of plan, 4 run width, forming
total of 20 building blocks, one of which was
reserved for the market, 1/2 of another for the Plan of Monpazier
church and a small space associated with it.
● market square is arcaded, the streets running underneath the projecting first floors of the houses
enclosing square.
● layout was never as regimented as suggested in plan. Like many bastides, not all sites were developed
completely or at all.
Monpazier in Guyenne (today)
● Its medieval centre is preserved almost completely intact.The arcades around
the edge of the square are still present, as is the market hall.
● Monpazier was once entirely surrounded by thick defensive walls with six
large stone gateways through the walls. Of these you can still see two; one
in the north of the town and one in the south.
● The houses all have different styles though which makes the resulting
village very interesting but very harmonious too.
● Monpazier has three distinct types of architecture; medieval houses,
classical style houses and bourgeoise houses arcades around the edge of the square
● The diversity has allowed Monpazier to be classified as a ville-monument
(town monument) rather just for each house to be classified monuments.
● convent des Recollets began in 1644 and is now used as an exhibition
place for exhibitions about the history of Monpazier.
● Two particular highlights in the Monpazier calendar are the 'flower
festival', held each spring, and the medieval day in the summer - when the
town and its residents are dressed in their medieval finery and lots of
activities related to medieval times take place.
streets 20’ wide lanes at rear of
house plots 6’
Conclusion
● Medieval Cities of Europe were orientated in relation to their topography.
● It is divided in two time periods-
● Cities in 9th & 10th Centuries
● Cities in 12th & 13th Centuries
● In earlier period cities we not planned and grew organically with church or main administration in
center and then developing around it.
● In later periods the planning of cities was kept in mind according to the expansion of the territory
● They served as places for cursuades.
● The cities were generally planned in grid iron pattern with church in the central block and have
dedicated market spaces and administration buildings.
● Toady, we can see the cities are mostly well preserved with city walls and historical buildings and
serve as great tourist attractions.