Renaissance Towns

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Renaissance Towns

Town Planning

January 2013


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Renaissance Movement

15th century to 19th century

Started in the Rome and spread to other parts ofEurope and US

Renaissance meaning rebirth- marked byrenewal of interest in classical art of Greece andRome

Early Renaissance (1420-1500)- LateRenaissance (1500- 1600)- Baroque (1600-1750)- Neoclassical (1750- 1900)


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Context

Rapid growth of urban population- migration from rural

Sizes of existing settlements, small and densely packed

presented few opportunities for redevelopment ofestablished centers- so Renaissance urbanism limited to

expansion of existing urban areas or their redevelopment

in part.

Late Renaissance period- Industry becomes a significant

generator of urban settlement


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Renaissance Urbanism

Contributions to urban planning Regeneration (of parts of cities by creating new public

spaces, including streets)

Restructuring (often by new main street systemswhich extended as regional routes, generating further

growth of the urban area)

Expansion (of existing by addition of new, usually

residential districts) New site layouts (limited numbers)


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In contrast to Gothic which preceded,

Expressions of a strong desire for discipline

Rejected asymmetrical informality for aclassical sense of balance and regularity

Emphasis on the horizontal instead of vertical

in composition


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General Attitudes preoccupation with symmetry- organisation of parts to

make a balanced composition about one or moreaxes

Importance to closing of vistas by placingmonumental buildings, obelisks and statues at theends of long straight lines of the streets

Integration of individual buildings in elevation, space

and volume extents Conformation to perspectivetheory

Common Features: primary street, grid iron layouts,enclosed spaces


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The primary street Access to building plots, and as urban extensions of

national highways

Main function to facilitate wheeled traffic (carriage)between parts of the city Eg. As in Karlsruhe,Versailles, St Petersburg, Washington cities

Definite laws and rules directed the containment ofbuildings along sides of streets, allowing straight

edges, emphasis on perspective and terminalfeatures

Building fronts on sides of street were maintainedplain


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The grid iron layout

Formed the basis of laying out residential districts that

were expansions of existing cities, new site layouts

and restructuring combined with primary streetsystems

Efficient plan and produced equality in land

subdivision

Confirmed to the renaissance ideal of aestheticuniformity

Even at the risk of being monotonous, had urban

quality of spaciousness at the urban scale


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Enclosed spaces

Also known as squares, piazzas and places

Depending on function categorised into traffic spaces,

residential spaces and pedestrian spaces Also served as forecourts of important buildings, or

setting for a feature (natural or monument/ statue etc.)

Space enclosure created by mainly

Civic or religious buildings Residential buildings

Market or related commercial buildings

Also by colonnades, screens, terraces and forms of tree/

shrub planting


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Traffic enclosed spaces formed part of main

urban route system and were used by

pedestrians and horsedrawn carriages

Earlier version of the traffic node/ main junction

till the mid 19th century


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Residential enclosed spaces had predominantlypedestrian recreational purpose and were accessed bylocal traffic only

Reduced scale of the square- accommodated wheeled

traffic serving individual dwellings only- planted centralarea- provided basis for urban family living which washeavily emphasised by mid 20th century planners-access to such open spaces restricted to a few houses.

Were characteristic of 17th and 18th century urban growth

in Britain

De-emphasised by the high and uncontrollable densitiesIndustrial revolution brought in


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Pedestrian enclosed spaces were excluded of

wheeled traffic

Served as forecourts or public assembly areas in

front of important civic, religious and royal

buildings

Documents

Renaissance Towns