MEDIEVAL PERIOD

The Origins of Urbanization and The Characteristics of Cities

Urbanization After A.D. 1000
The Medieval Order and the Birth of Planning
Damascus
Cities first settled in the Fertile
Crescent a few thousand years after
the discovery of agriculture. With
technological improvement in
agriculture and transportation,
population was increased but with
famine and disease it was decreased.
With the industrial revolution,
urbanization increased dramatically.
When the population changed
agriculture to the manufacturing,
cities became the dominant for
human civilization.
URBANIZATION
Fertile
Crescent
Location of the Fertile Crescent
Cities arose in India (1000-400BC), China (700-400BC) and the
America (100BC). Than cities diffused from China to Korea
(108BC-313AD) and Japan (650-700AD) and from China and India
to Southwest Asia (700-800AD).
But most historians said that the cities that emerged around the
globe after A.D. 1000.
URBANIZATION
World Map between
1000AD to 1500AD
Medieval Ages, which is commonly
known as Middle Ages started from
A.D. 395 to A.D. 1453, when the
Istanbul was discovered by Turkish
people (some sources accepted A.D.
1492, when was Cristof Colomb
discovered America).
During the Middle Ages; important
development happened in agriculture
and trade. Most important
characteristics of Middle Ages were:
buildings designed with the Gothic
Style. Huge wide areas was designed
for trade, entertainment and bazaars
but streets are very narrow and used
as communication space.
MEDIEVAL AGES~ MIDDLE AGES
Example from Oxford with
Gothic style buildings.
Medieval cities catagorized in to two groups:
1. Organic cities
2. Inorganic cities
In general, there were three basic pattern of the medieval town;
1. Corresponded to their historic origin: Towns which were came from Roman
days usually kept their rectangular system . In the original center, they
designed monastry or a citadel.
2. Their geographic characteristics: Towns that developed out of a village or a
group of villages settled under a monastery or a castle. It designed more closely
to topography.
3. Their mode of development: Towns were designed for improve colonization:
central place left open for the market and public assembly.
Venice, Florance, Paris, Bruges, Londra, Milano, Damascus, Siena
were the most important towns in the Middle Ages.
MEDIEVAL CITIES
Photo from
Genova
Photo from Pisa Photo from Bruges
MEDIEVAL CITIES
Genova, Florence, Venice etc
were the most important
trade cities during the
medieval period.
Photo from Middle
Ages Florance Walls
Photo from Venice
MEDIEVAL CITIES
Photo from Florence
A street view from Siena
(Right side). The buildings
arranged according to the
topography.
MEDIEVAL CITIES
Plan of Siena (Left
Side). The square for
the public assembly.
Picture from Bologna. The city
kept their rectangular system.
MEDIEVAL CITIES
Picture from Amsterdam
medieval city on the slopy
area.
Towns of the Middle Ages disproved this ideas:
1. Organic plan is regular with meaningfulness,
2. Irregulrity with intellectual confusion.
And with their variety, they embody a universal pattern.
Each medieval town turn a unique situation. In its plan, presented a
harmony of forces and a unigue solution. The agrement was
complete and the purposes of town life and confirm the pattern.
MEDIEVAL CITIES
MEDIEVAL CITIES
Oxford High Street where the
building seen in harmony.
Plan of Noerdlingen
with organic shape.
Photo from Carcassonne.
The medieval city was a combination of little cities, each with
different degree of autonomy and self-sufficiency. Each of them
formed by social needs also each of them enriched and
supplemented with purposes.
The each quarter of the city had its own church or churches, often
had a local market, always had its own local water supply, a weel or
a fountain. Each city developed without disturbing the main city.
And it should be from six or less than six quarters.
MEDIEVAL CITIES
In the medieval city, open places in front of the big market places and
cathedral were in formal shape square. But sometimes the marketplace
would be an irregular figure, sometimes triangular, sometimes many-
sided or oval, to define the borders and define the shape of the open
space.
MEDIEVAL CITIES
Brussel in Belgium. Good example
for the formal shaped square, where
defined with formal shape buildings .
Plan of Siena. Good example for the
irregular shaped square and
irregular building form.
Most of the medieval plans were irregular or organic or informal.
Because usually areas had natural slope and during Middle Ages
there were no need any wheeled traffic and drainage system was not
important so they built their buildings according to the natural
contours. Usage of the natural contours more economic than the
digging area.
During the medieval planning all the trees cut down and old balks
defined the rural fields. Custom and property rights became a life,
and once established in the form of lots, boundaries, permanent
rights of way, are hard to change or remove.
Organic planning moved from need to need, from opportunity to
opportunity, and in a series of adaptations, finally it become in
harmony and purposeful, so that planning become a complex, and
hardly less unified than a pre-formed geometric pattern.
MEDIEVAL PLANNING
MEDIEVAL PLANNING
Siena is the best example of
the slopy city. It was locatede
on the slopy area and designed
according to the natural
conturs.
The organic curves in the medieval town was the emphasis on its
central core. In most towns, is a central quarter or core,
surrounded by a series of irregular rings, which have the effect of
enclosing and protecting the core.
MEDIEVAL PLANNING
Bergues, with its certain
geometric form in its central
core, only three streets come
together at the center.
Because of the limiting elements in the medieval plan kept both
for an old town on a Roman foundation, like Cologne, or for a new
town like Salisbury. The wall, the gates, and the civic nucleus
define the main lines of circulation. The wall, with its outside moat,
cannal or river, it made the town an island. Walls bounded the
economic classes and kept them in their boundaries.
When the town gates were locked at sunset, the city was isolated
from the outside world. Such enclosure helps to feeling unity and
also security.
MEDIEVAL PLANNING
Plan of
Noerdlingen.
City Wall
Moat
Bridge from
Noerdlingen.
The opening of the wall was a meeting place of the inside and outside. From
the door there was a customs house, a passport office, immigration control
point, and a triumphal arch.
Where the river or traffic slow down, gate were built there for traders left
their loads. Also storehouses built near the gate and the inns and taverns were
together, and in the intersection point of the streets, craftsmen and merchants
opened their shops.
In the medieval town to understand the plans or towns one building must be
taken as a focal point. It was especially the elements of nuclear components,
like the Castle, the Abbey, or Friary, the Cathedral, the Town Hall. But mostly
the Cathedral taken as a key.
The central point of the town is the Church. The church needed forecourt to
provide the entrance and exit of the worshippers. The theological orientation of
the church, is toward the East, but often the church set at a non-conforming
angle to a regular pattern of streets. Often the market settled close to the
church because it is there for people frequently come together.
MEDIEVAL PLANNING
MEDIEVAL PLANNING
Example of the medieval planning
Outer wall
Cathedral
Town Hall
Main square
First line of wall
In the medieval ages streets were different. Trade buildings or
institutional buildings were created a self-contained quarter which was
called as island and buildings were not use the public ways. Islands
formed with the castle, monasteries or colleges also in more advanced
towns with industrial section.
In medieval new towns, houses had a two street frontage, one loked to
the street with twenty-four feet wide and other one looked to the alley
with seven feet wide. Generally street was used as a communication place
by the pedestrians and secondly it used for wheeled transportation.
The streets were narrow and sometimes irregular but frequently it had
sharp turn points and closures. The streets were paving. When the
wheeled vehicles became life, the streets lost its natural underfooting.
MEDIEVAL STREETS
In some medieval cities very narrow streets became more confortable in
winter. Streets were covered with large overhangs and this was
protected pedestrians both from rain and from direct sun light. Small
varietions in height, in building material, the rooftop profile and
different window opennings and doorways gave the street its own
identity.
The medieval towns had a character of blank walls from a Classic Greek
thus had a character in its residential quarters also cities had another
important characteristic from ancient city. The street frequently edged
on each side with an arcade and this formed the open end of shop. This
also give better shelter then narrow street.
MEDIEVAL STREETS
MEDIEVAL STREETS
Example of the alley with
seven feet wide
Example of the streets.
In the Medieval period especially the building material was timber.
It was easy to constructed, quick and cheap. But timber had very
importanat disadvantages. One of them, it had to be protected
from climate factorsand the most important one is it burnt.
Because of that fire was the important enemy of the medieval
cities. From fires too many cities were re built again and again.
After the times, buildings were started to constructed with stone.
Also they try to calculated loads on the beams and columns and
constructed buildings timber framed buildings with masonry
foundations.
Also brick and tiles were became a popular building material in
Amsterdam, Lbeck and Gdansk.
MEDIEVAL PERIOD BUILDING MATERIAL
MEDIEVAL PERIOD BUILDING MATERIAL
View from Saxon, Romania.
Example of the tiber houses.
Example of the tiber houses.
MEDIEVAL PERIOD BUILDING MATERIAL
Amsterdam (Left side), Lbeck
(Right side) and Gdansk (middle)
example of the building with
brick material.
MEDIEVAL DWELLING
The medieval houses was designed for a individual living.
The buildings were two stories. The office, kitchen and storage
on the ground floor. Living & dining room also bedroom on the
first floor.
Masonry was the general construction material, but wood frame
with clay and roofed with thatch also preferable.
On the facades opennings had no glass and just protected with
shutters.
MEDIEVAL DWELLING
First Floor Plan
Ground Floor Plan
G
H
F
B
A
A: Office
B: Kitchen
C: Courtyard
D: Weel
E: Privy
F: Living Room
G: Sleeping Room
H: Courtyard
D
E
C
JAIPUR THE PINK CITY.
Jaipur is considered by many urbanisms to be one of the
best planned cities in India. the city was established in 1729
by Maharaja Jaisingh as the new capital of kachwaha dynasty.
In the 19
th
century the city grew rapidly and
became prosperous; by 1900 it had a population of
160,000.the citys wide boulevards were paved and lit with gas.
Jaipur was painted pink by Maharaja Man Singh when prince
of wales, later Edward VII, visited Jaipur in 1876. the royal
heritage of Jaipur lives in its architecture and culture.
Jaipur is the tenth largest city in India.
Capital city of Rajasthan is located amidst
the Aravali hill ranges at an altitude of
about 430 m above sea level.
Population - 30,73,350
Area 111.8 sq. km.
Walled city area 6.7 sq. km.
Wards 77
Latitude 26 55
Longitude 75 50
Population growth - 32.2%
Walled city is 2.32% of JMC.
Population density in walled city-
58,207persons/ sq. km.
Population density in JMC-8,054 persons/
sq. km.
Source : census 2011, JMC report 2012
JAIPUR CONNECTIVITY
MEDIEVAL CITIES IN INDIA
ORIGIN OF JAIPUR
Jai Singh And The Bengali Guru
Vidyadhar(who Was A Shaspati Hindu
Priest Architect), Planned The Whole
Town According To The Principles Of
Hindu Architectural Theory.
The Town Of Jaipur Is, In Fact, Built In
The Form Of A Eight-part Mandala Known
As The Pithapada.Nine Signifies The 9
Planets Of The Ancient Astrological
Zodiac.
It Is Also Known That Sawai Jai Singh
Was A Great Astronomer And A Town
Planner, And Hence The Pithapada.Also,
The Commercial Shops Are Designed In
Multiples Of Nine(27), Having One Cross
Street For A Planet.
PLAN OF JAIPUR
PLAN OF JAIPUR
Raja Jaisingh planned the city
keeping in mind vastu shastra.
City was divided into 9
squares. Occurrence of a hillside
changed. The placement of one of the
squares. The central square comprise
of the palace.
CITY PLAN OF JAIPUR
PLANNING OF JAIPUR CITY
SCHEMATIC MAP OF JAIPUR WALLED CITY
Residential neighborhood planning
concept was mohalla which act as module
for urban growth. Safe, secure, living
environment is created where individuals
have their own horizon to flourish and
grow.
SUN PATH , WIND DIRECTION GIVEN
UTMOST IMPORTANCE.
SUN PATH
FOLLOWING MAJOR FACTORS ARE ALSO
CONSIDERED.
1. CONTOUR AND TOPOGRAPHY
2. STORM WATER DRAINAGE
3. CLIMATE
4. HYRDOLOGY AND SOIL
5. CONTEXT
PHYSICAL PLANNING AND
DESIGN.
LARGER BUILDINGS ON THE PERIPHERY
AND SMALLER ONES IN THE INTERIORS.
REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES.
Only main roads, major public spaces
are controlled. Interior of sector offers
enough flexibility to individual with
freedom to express with moderate
control.
STRUCTURES ALWAYS BUILT
IN PROPORTION TO THE
ROADS WIDTHS.
First Order Street Defines The Sector
Size; Second Order Street Defines The
Neighborhood Or Block. Gridiron System Is
Used For Road Network For Procession
Paths, Which Is Relevant Today For
Vehicular Traffic.
Further In Present System Of Hierarchy
Of Roads Problems Related To Traffic Are
Minimum. Internal Road Network Have
Hierarchy In Terms Of Access And Privacy,
Hence At The Same Time Safe
Neighborhood Is Created. All The Streets
Have Certain Character That Creates Every
Street Identifiable.
Jaipurs road network follows a definite
hierarchy. The major east-west and north-
south road ,form the sector boundaries and
are called Raj Marg as they lead to the city
gates. These measure 33m. wide.
Next there is a network of 16.5m wide
which runs north-south in each sector
linking the internal areas of the sectors to
the major activity spine.
ROADS
Amenities Are Provided With
Respect To King And Upper Class
Instead Of Common Man.
Amenities Are Provided On Main
Road, Within 5 Minute Walking
Distance. Placement Of Amenities
Was Done With Respect To
Function, Use And Traffic.
Further Juxtaposition Has
Created Distinct Nodes And
Activity Landmarks, Which
Ultimately Has Created Defined
Path.Thus Socially Interactive
Spaces Are Created By Design, Built
Form Definition, Open Space
Pattern And Road Pattern.
INTERACTION SPACE
AMENITIES
BUILT FORM AND PLOT
Jaipur Is An Example Of Dictatorial Planning And
Design. Plots Are Always Kept In Proportion With
Respect To Hierarchy Of Roads. It Has Achieved A
Regular Size And Shape Of Plot Followed By
Uniform Built Form, Hence Plot Size And Shape,
Location Gives Coherence.
Subdivision Of Subplots With
Control On Size And Shape Is Required. The
Structure Of City Is Dense Yet Porous In Nature.
Compact Built Form With Plot Edge-to-edge
Construction With Courtyard Is Logical In Hot
Climate.
JAIPUR CITY
Pattern, Placement And
Juxtaposition Of Roads,
Amenities And Or Open
Space
Pattern Is Formed When All The
Sectors Come Together. Further There
Is Coherence Between Different
Sectors Having Enough Variety.
There Are Binding Elements
Like Road Pattern, Road Hierarchy, Built
Form And Open Space System. These
Strong Elements Create A Whole. Open
Spaces Are Distributed, Located,
Allocated As Per,
Hierarchy
User Group
Serving Area
Sense Of Enclosure
SECTION THROUGH RAM GANJ BAAZAR
Commercial Footpath
Road
Temple
Residential
Staircase
FACADES OF
BUILDINGS
TYPOLOGY OF TEMPLES
Each mohalla (cluster of houses) has its own temple presided over by the deity most appropriate for their
prosperity and protection. A relationship between temples and wells (both constituting ritual spaces) can
be observed inside the chowkries in the layout of the sectors.
TYPOLOGY OF HAVELIS
The havelis ofJaipur range from a single courtyard house form to an assemblage
of multiple courts, depending on the status of the owner and number of family
members.
Majority of the havelis have one or two courtyards.
TYPOLOGY OF WATER BODIES
The surface water bodies Talkatora, Jai Sagar,
Man Sagar (Jal Mahal Lake) and the Ramgarh
Lake were important features in the city plan. The
artificial lakes were created in response to the
natural topography
A unique water system of underground
canals was specially devised for the water
supply in the city and the square central tanks
were located in the Badi Chaupar and Chhoti
Chaupar.
REFERANCES
Kostof, S. (1991). The city Shped: Urban Patterns and meaning
through history. Boston: Little Brown
Mumford, L. (1989). The city in history: Ita origin, its
transformations and its prospects. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace
& Co.
Pounds, N. (2005). The medieval city. Westport, Conn:
Greenwood Press
www.wikipedia.com
jaipurmc.org/
HUP/USAID /WASH REPORT
Dr. Shikha Jain (INDIAN HERITAGE CITIES NETWORK
,Walking into the microcosm of Jaipur)