History of city planning

City planning began with the first cities – about 3500 B.C. Ancient people set aside areas for housing, worship, meetings, trade, and recreation. Groups of public buildings and monuments are among the major examples of city planning in ancient times. Athens and Rome were especially famous for their public buildings and monuments. Historians believe that Hippodamus, the ancient Greek architect, developed the first systematic theories about city planning. His work included plans for the use of land and the location of streets and buildings in the cities of Miletus and Piraeus.

Many peoples built protective walls around their cities during the Middle Ages. Population growth caused a number of cities to become overcrowded. Many have become dirty, noisy, and run-down. Some cities solved this problem by knocking down the walls. Other cities let the walls stand and built new cities nearby.

During the Renaissance and for many years after it, city planners designed parts of cities on a grand scale. Several leading artists of the Renaissance, including Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo, helped beautify cities. They created open spaces to overcome the overcrowding of earlier days. Examples of this trend include the huge plazas in front of the Cathedral of Saint Mark in Venice, and Saint Peter’s Church in Vatican city. Another is the beautiful palace and gardens at Versailles, near Paris.

The Industrial Revolution of the 1700’s and early 1800’s marked the beginning of the factory system of manufacturing in Europe and North America. The population of many cities increased rapidly as thousands of workers left farms to take manufacturing jobs in cities. Many people lived in crowded, run down, unsanitary housing near the factories.

Social reformers began calling on governments to improve city life. They proposed new housing areas with gardens and open spaces and new communities with industry and housing in separate areas. Governments took some steps to regulate the quality of housing and to otherwise improve cities. But the cities continued to grow, and city planning failed to keep pace.