Suq Khan-E-Zeit, Jerusalem. The Roman Cardo, constructed in 136 AD

Jerusalem. The Roman Cardo, constructed in 136 AD.

Morphological (Form)
COMPARISON
B L O C K
D E N D R I T I C

Morphological (Form)
COMPARISON
B L O C K D E N D R I T I C

Mesopotamia
UR c. 2600 BCE
Land Use
Religious
Shops and markets (retail)
School
Residential
UR: The numbers represent how many rooms distant from the street

Mesopotamia
Assur: c. 1300 BCE

Streets in Sana’a

Sana’a: Tertiary Street Fes: Tertiary Street. Source, National Geographic

The houses of the gods were transferred or diagramed into a regularized map of four primary divisions. Each primary division had another four divisions, making a total of sixteen. The Pars
Postica (Posteriori (literally)
“behind me”), corresponded to the unseen gods of the infernal regions, and of the sky. Iuppiter,
Juno, and Minerva belonged to the eastern or “oriental” division of this region. ”. The pars antica
(Anteriori: (literally): the parts in
“front of me”) related to the gods of the earth, the harvest, the fields, and the forest.
The East – West division corresponds to the Decumanus.
The North-South Division corresponds to the Cardo.

Templum of the Sky
Templum of the Earth

Pomerium
"...this ground the ancient Etruscan used to consecrate with augural ceremonies when a new town was to be founded. It was a narrow strip, precisely defined in width and following the course which the town wall would follow when it was built; its purpose was to keep the wall, on their inner side, clear of all buildings...and at the same time to leave, on the outer side of the walls, an area unpolluted by the use of man. The whole strip, then, which it was felt to be impious to build over, on the one side, or to cultivate on the other, was called
'pomerious' by the
Romans...Whenever, with the growth of the city, it was proposed to increase the area enclosed within the walls, this strip of consecrated ground was pushed outward accordingly."
(Livy….trans. A. de Selincourt,
Penguin edition).

Templum: The four divisions of the sky are now united with the earth, oriented to the east, west (Decumanus) and to the north-south
(Cardo)
Formation of the Pomerium (red line, boundary wall of the city); the two principal streets (Cardo and Decumanus); the Forum at their intersection (blue); the Capitolium to the north of the Forum (red rectangle), and subsequent public buildings around the edges (Basilica, Curia, other temples, and public buildings) The blocks formed by the streets are called Insula
Timgad, North Africa

View looking west on Decumanus. To the right is the theater. The two columns on the immediate right were originally associated with one of two nymphaeae, or fountains that flanked the theater. This one was converted to a Christian oratory in the early 4 th century AD. St. Augustine of Hippo was awaiting passage to his native Numidia (Algeria) with his mother St. Monica. When she died in the early fourth century, AD.

Towns of Roman Origin
York
Provincial capital
Eburacum.
Stonegate Street, York, England Decumanus Inferiore: Herculaneum

In Architectural terms:
A= PROPERTY LINE, WALL & Gate , STREET
,MONUMENT
PUBLIC PLACE. Each is carved out of the bounded world and normally would contain a
MONUMENT OR OTHER PUBLIC BUILDING the purpose of which is to secure the future welfare of the group.
Really
Important Thing
(that insures our well-being)
.
In its own collective
(public) space

In Architectural terms:
A= PROPERTY LINE, WALL & Gate , STREET
,MONUMENT
PUBLIC PLACE. Each is carved out of the bounded world and normally would contain a
MONUMENT OR OTHER PUBLIC BUILDING the purpose of which is to secure the future welfare of the group.
B = Mine, yours, hers, his, theirs. This could be any part of the domestic or economic order. It represents each such activity within the Constitutional Frame
Mine
Theirs
Yours
Theirs
His Hers
Theirs Theirs
O U R S
Really
Important Thing
(that insures our well-being)
.
In its own collective
(public) space
Theirs Theirs

The Constitutional Order brings a collective structure into being. It is political in nature. It organizes society, separates us from one another and joins us in a collective structure. It is prior to individual building.
Every city has a Constitutional Order.
Boundaries : The Boundary is the fundamental tectonic unit of the
City. It separates and joins discrete identities into a collective whole.
Streets: Streets are the primary structural unit of the City. They allow us to communicate and to move about. They constitute the order within the collective whole. Streets are complex “institutions” with great social, political, and economic depth. Giving them over to single functions depletes them of their historical role.
Public Places: Places where the public gathers, outside of their appropriation by the Oikos, where one is aware of their identity as a citizen.
(An ambiguity has arisen where the market (private) has appropriated the forms of public spaces as surrogates for true public space. The giant plaza in front of the office building and the shopping mall are two common examples: the first driven by zoning incentives and a desire to be polite, the second as an ersatz street. These are social spaces and they have their relative value, but are not part of the political frame.)
Monuments : Though representational in nature, the monument and the memorial belong to the Politikos not to the Oikos. The purpose of the monument or the public building is to forge a bond between the past and the future, Monuments never look to the past, but to the future as they are intended to last, if not forever, for a very long time.
In the United States today, the first three of these are controlled by Subdivision Regulations
The representational order animates the constitutional frame and gives it meaning. The representational order is economic in nature.
The Representational Order changes more rapidly over time than the constitutional order. It is fluid and subject to variations in exchange value. Its shape and nature, however, respond to the presence of the Political frame. It consists of:
Houses ( all types, including farms and Industrial production)
Markets (Commercial and Office)
The vast majority of architectural production falls within this category. Individual acts of building over time animate, to a large or small degree, the political framework.
In the United States today, these are controlled by zoning ordinances .

A STANDARD ZONING ENABLING ACT
1924
A STANDARD CITY PANNING ENABLING ACT
1928
In the United States today, the Economic
Order is controlled by Zoning Ordinances .
In the United States today, the
Constitutional Order is controlled by
Subdivision Regulations

A STANDARD CITY PLANNING ENABLING STATUTE
SUMMARY

Conforms to AASHTO Standards

Georgia 400 at Haynes Bridge Road:
To the right is the pattern of land use, roads, and buildings in 1976. The same area in 2010 is on the left

Georgia 400 at Haynes Bridge Road: Public Streets and Roads forming blocks

Georgia 400 at Haynes Bridge Road: Public Streets and Roads forming blocks

Georgia 400 at Haynes Bridge Road: Preserved public open space.

Georgia 400 at Haynes Bridge Road: Public Streets and Roads forming blocks and public space

Georgia 400 at Haynes Bridge Road: Public Streets and Roads forming blocks and public space, combined with private streets, drives, used as public streets (yellow and light blue

Georgia 400 at Haynes Bridge Road: Characterized by a street hierarchy based on capacity of traffic and horizontal differentiation of land use, combined with wetland and stream protection.

7
8
9
10
3
4
5
6
1
2
Atlanta, GA
Boston, MA
Baltimore, Md
Charleston, S.C.
Chicago, Illinois
Los Angeles, CA
New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)
Omaha, Nebraska
Portland, Oregon
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2.60
4.34
1.92
3.07
avg. acres
3.70
3.09
3.29
4.12
3.51
4.41
3.67
8.26
3.72
6.33
max acres
8.26
4.13
5.78
6.07
4.96
7.89
7
8
9
10
3
4
5
6
1
2
Atlanta, GA
Boston, MA
Baltimore, Md
Charleston, S.C.
Chicago, Illinois
Los Angeles, CA
New York, N.Y.
(Outside Manhattan)
Omaha, Nebraska
Portland, Oregon
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania max acres
44.49
14.46
22.72
25.25
19.10
16.08
13.31
13.42
4.24
5.88
7.72
8.27
2.69
5.03
avg acres
22.87
9.45
14.93
16.89
14.74
8.01
Average
Median
Std. Dev
3.41
3.40
0.79
5.93
1.80
11.06
8.86
6.14
15.27
11.42
Using Google Earth measuring tool, ten blocks known to have been constructed prior to 1928 were selected for each of ten cities; and ten blocks known to have been constructed after 1928 were selected for each of ten cities. Anomalies (airports, high schools, etc. ) were thrown out.

.79
6.14
7
8
9
10
3
4
5
6
1
2
Atlanta, GA
Boston, MA
Baltimore, Md
Charleston, S.C.
Chicago, Illinois
Los Angeles, CA
New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)
Omaha, Nebraska
Portland, Oregon
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2.60
4.34
1.92
3.07
avg. acres
3.70
3.09
3.29
4.12
3.51
4.41
3.67
8.26
3.72
6.33
max acres
8.26
4.13
5.78
6.07
4.96
7.89
7
8
9
10
3
4
5
6
1
2
Atlanta, GA
Boston, MA
Baltimore, Md
Charleston, S.C.
Chicago, Illinois
Los Angeles, CA
New York, N.Y.
(Outside Manhattan)
Omaha, Nebraska
Portland, Oregon
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7.72
8.27
2.69
5.03
avg acres
22.87
9.45
14.93
16.89
14.74
8.01
max acres
44.49
14.46
22.72
25.25
19.10
16.08
13.31
13.42
4.24
5.88
Average
Median
Std. Dev
3.41
3.40
0.79
5.91
5.93
1.80
11.06
8.86
6.14
17.90
15.27
11.42

Map of North Fulton County,
GA. Red Lines are blocks as defined by Fulton County
Subdivision Regulations

North Fulton County,
Alpharetta, GA
Map of Blocks
A block is here defined by a street that closes on itself, forming connections with other streets in a network. In some cases, the blocks of North Fulton
County are larger than one mile per side.
5280 feet
160 acres
40 acres
0
Scale in Miles
1 2
One square = 330 x 330 ft.

Philadelphia: Penn-Holme Plan of 1682

Philadelphia, 1794

Philadelphia, 1794
Penn envisioned four public squares and a square of ten acres at the intersection of the two main streets. But the city developed according to market forces, with the economic center shifting to the intersection of the river and the primary street. The public squares and civic buildings would be made visible only later through their animation by individual acts of private building.
It was not until the last decades of the 19 th century that the present city hall was erected on the
“public square”. If we think about this in a certain way, it becomes clear that the diagram of the city, that is its plan, is itself a kind of building and as with the case of the Theater of Pompey, this
“building” conditions the formation of the city as it is augmented by individual architectural acts over time.
Put another way, the plan of the streets, the formation of blocks, the subdivision of blocks into lots, and the designation of unprogrammed public gathering places allows for the maximum articulation of individual architectural expression and responsiveness to the economics of use, while stabilizing the whole as an indexical system.

Philadelphia, 1794
Penn envisioned four public squares and a square of ten acres at the intersection of the two main streets. But the city developed according to market forces, with the economic center shifting to the intersection of the river and the primary street. The public squares and civic buildings would be made visible only later through their animation by individual acts of private building.
It was not until the last decades of the 19 th century that the present city hall was erected on the
“public square”. If we think about this in a certain way, it becomes clear that the diagram of the city, that is its plan, is itself a kind of building and as with the case of the Theater of Pompey, this
“building” conditions the formation of the city as its is augmented by individual architectural acts over time.
Put another way, the plan of the streets, the formation of blocks, the subdivision of blocks into lots, and the designation of unprogrammed public gathering places allows for the maximum articulation of individual architectural expression and responsiveness to the economics of use, while stabilizing the whole as an indexical system.

Philadelphia, 1794-1849
1794 1830
1849

Philadelphia, 1862-1930
1862 1885 1927

Philadelphia, 2005
View down
Broad Street from Locust toward the
“Public Square of Ten Acres”

Philadelphia 1855

Philadelphia 2009
Plan for Philadelphia. The original Plan is still visible in the urban structure of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia 2009
Plan for Philadelphia. The original Plan is still visible in the urban structure of Philadelphia.

Savannah, Georgia 1734: This engraving by John Gordon was made in 1734, one year after the founding of the Colony. Note that the “squares” are the residual condition of the lot arrangement, not “objects” as they are perceived today.

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
Dimensions
LOTS:
A.
B.
Tithing: 60 x 90 ft.
Trust 60 by variable within the range of
120 to 180 ft..
STREETS:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
East-West and North-South Internal: 75 ft.
North South Through Streets: 60 to 120 ft.
East West through Streets 60 ft.
Internal Through Streets 37’-6”*
Alleys: 22’-6”
LOT 60'/90'
60'
BLOCK 300'/202'-6"
60' 60'
300'
60' 60' 60'
WARD 675'/675'
300'
* Streets normally 37’-6” and lots 60 ft.
675'
75' 300'

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
WARDS as Cellular Units
The wards form cellular units, repeated in serial fashion. The result is a complex grid comprised of streets internal to the wards and external streets between the wards. The external streets parallel to the river became major retail and commercial streets and planted avenues, while those running perpendicular to the river emerged as one-way arterial streets connecting the historic core of the city to the suburbs beyond.

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
WARDS as Cellular Units
The wards form cellular units, repeated in serial fashion. The result is a complex grid comprised of streets internal to the wards and external streets between the wards. The external streets parallel to the river became major retail and commercial streets and planted avenues, while those running perpendicular to the river emerged as one-way arterial streets connecting the historic core of the city to the suburbs beyond.

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
WARDS as Cellular Units
The wards form cellular units, repeated in serial fashion. The result is a complex grid comprised of streets internal to the wards and external streets between the wards. The external streets parallel to the river became major retail and commercial streets and planted avenues, while those running perpendicular to the river emerged as one-way arterial streets connecting the historic core of the city to the suburbs beyond.

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
Squares Objectified:
When the wards are repeated, the squares become objects, connected visually across the wards. The streets internal to the wards are interrupted by squares, perhaps the best known contemporary feature of the plan. Originally the residual area remaining from the subdivision of the lots, the squares took on a variety of memorial and civic functions over time. The perception of the city today is of the repetitive squares, each with a different programmatic or memorial representation associated with it.

SAVANNAH

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
Directional Bias: Lots
The lot configurations are NOT directionally neutral, but are biased, directionally. This produces a reinforcement of the squares as objectified civic space for both the tithing and trust lots that :face” the squares. The streets at the north and south edges of the wards face outward. As additional wards are added, these lots bind their face to the lots across the street.
Over time, this animation of facades along the streets parallel to the river (east-west below), creates streets with an architectural character and land use pattern quite different from the inward facing lots.

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
Streets Type A:
Streets formed by the ward
(internal to the ward) connect the outside to the inside.

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
Streets Type B:
Streets formed along the seams of the wards. These become through streets connecting the center of the city
(River) to the fields (and suburbs) beyond. Streets between
Wards became alternating one-way pairs of higher speed arterial streets connecting the historic core of the city with the suburbs

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
Streets Type C:
Streets formed along the seams of the wards (East
West). These become Avenues, connecting the east side of the city to the west side of the city.

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
Directional Bias: Lots
As additional wards are added, these lots bind their face to the lots across the street. Over time, this animation of facades along the streets parallel to the river (east-west below), creates streets with an architectural character and land use pattern quite different from the inward facing lots.

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
Alleys
The bias in lot direction is derived form the alleys that split the tithing blocks into two sections. The alleys are 22’6” in width (varying slightly over time to between 21 and 24 feet)

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
Streets Type C₁
Streets formed along the seams of the wards (East
West). These become Avenues, connecting the east side of the city to the west side of the city.
Liberty Street: A 200 ft. right-of-way with planted median forms a broad avenue stretching form side to side.

SAVANNAH, GA.
1733 Plan
Bull Street
View from
Johnson Square to City Hall 2004
The Obelisk is a monument to Nathaniel Greene, Hero of the
Revolution. It is in Dialogue with City Hall.
The location of City Hall outside the field of wards, aligned with one file of squares, charges that file as a civic spine, allowing the squares aligned with it to function as sites for memorials while leaving the other squares free to assume other “duties”.

The location of City Hall outside the field of wards, aligned with one file of squares, charges that file as a civic spine, allowing the squares aligned with it to function as sites for memorials while leaving the other squares free to assume other “duties”.

The location of City Hall outside the field of wards, aligned with one file of squares, charges that file as a civic spine, allowing the squares aligned with it to function as sites for memorials while leaving the other squares free to assume other “duties”. The red square will become city market, taking on an economic rather than a civic function.

SAVANNAH
Bull Street
Wright Square/
Johnson Square
1875
Old City Hall is on axis with the square in the background. Note the Obelisk, a monument to Gen.
Nathaniel Greene. The lot at the bottom is an original Tything lot with 60 ft. frontage onto the
Square.

SAVANNAH
Bull Street
View from
Wright Square to
City Hall 1924

SAVANNAH
Bull Street
View from
Wright Square to City Hall
2004
The Obelisk is a monument to
Nathaniel Greene, Hero of the Revolution

John Randel Jr., the secretary, surveyor and chief engineer for New York City’s street commissioners, was hardly the most popular public servant of his day. Beginning in 1808,
21 year old Randel and his colleagues were pelted with artichokes and cabbages; arrested by the sheriff for trespassing (and often bailed out by Richard Varick, a former mayor); sued for damages after pruning trees; and attacked by dogs sent by property owners who were irate at the prospect of streets’ being plowed through their properties (“many of whose descendants have been made rich thereby,”
Randel noted later). Randel had quite a commute. Nearly every morning beginning in
1808, he would walk north from downtown, navigating a wooden plank over the ditch that cut through Lispenard’s salt meadow. He would hike past Aaron Burr’s former country home at Richmond Hill, acknowledge Thomas
Paine, reading at the first-floor window of his house on what became Bleecker Street, and finally arrive at his office on Christopher Street in the village of Greenwich.
The surveyors fought their way though forests, shrubs and briars “impassible without the aid of an ax.” Randel spent the next 10 years staking out and marking the intersections from First Street to 155th Street with 1,549 three-foot-high marble monuments and, when the ground was too rocky, with 98 iron bolts secured by lead. (He had to resurvey 30 miles after vandals or disgruntled property owners removed the markers.) He also charted the terrain to the northern tip of Manhattan to produce his “farm map,” of 92 sheets filling four volumes that together would measure 11 by 50 feet.
Taking precise measurements with instruments he invented (a 50-foot iron ruler expands 0.0003585 feet with each degree of temperature, he concluded), he filled more than 40 leather books with field notes
John Randel’s map showing Midtown Manhattan. The area labeled Bloomingdale Square would be built over, but from 5 th
59 th north would become Central Park. and
The New York Times has published an interactive map that allows you to alternate between the 1811 plan and the present. See: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/21/nyregion/map-of-how-manhattangrid-grew.html?ref=nyregion

View of Second Avenue looking north from 42nd Street by Egbert L. Viele, 1861. (Museum of the City of New York.)

View of Second Avenue looking north from 42nd Street 2011. (Google Earth Image)

SAVANNAH
Johnson Square 1872
Real history is not made by preserving old buildings or freezing the present into an ossified version of the past. Real history is made when each successive generation, subject to their own condition, can write their own story into a place. The stability of the public frame
(constitutional order) allows the representation of the present to fluctuate according to its own needs, while assuring continuity between past and future.
The photograph on the right is of a rally for
General Ulysses S.
Grant during the
Presidential Campaign of 1872. The Doric church on the right
(Trust Lot) is now a parking deck. The Doric church on the left remains as it was 132 years ago.
The monument to
Nathaniel Greene is just out of the photograph on the left.