(Hopner and Schwandner 1994) and Ai Khanum (Guillaume 1983), had orthogonal grid road patterns with an agora or acropolis. Ancient Roman colonial cities,
such as Timgad (Haverfield 1913), were also wall-enclosed square-shaped cities
with intersecting main streets, a style associated with the ancient Greek urban
planner Hippodamos (Funo and Ramon 2013), who devised an ideal city. This
style later appeared in military towns, called castra, in the Roman colonies, even
as far from Rome as northern Europe. Thus, the trend in this era was toward the
geometric planned urban form. There are some exceptions: some large cities such
as Hatra, Athens, and Rome, and others in the Mediterranean and in West Asia,
have irregular shapes and organically developed road patterns.
Geometrically planned cities were also built in South and East Asia. In South
Asia, the square-shaped city layout was ideal for Hindus based on their cosmology and state religion, as expressed in the Hindu Manasara text and the ancient
Indian Arthaśāstra (Oji 2011). In addition, most Chinese cities were squareshaped according to the “Record of Trades” section of the Rites of Zhou, an
ancient Chinese text that discusses architecture and that described square
enclosed cities as ideal for China (Otagi 1991). In Latin America, the cities of
the Olmec civilization around 1000 BCE had pyramidal shrines in square grid
patterns, but without enclosing walls.
This second phase of urban design, from 1000 BCE to 300 CE, is called the
late ancient era. During this era, new urban design tended to favor regular
geometric shapes and roads in grid patterns. Based on Hippodamos, a geometrical
city was the ideal city. In the case of Hindu and Chinese cities, the city shape was
based on their religion or sovereignty. Thus, in summary, ideal city shapes of this
era might be determined by the prevalent beliefs regarding cosmology, especially
the relevant state power and religion. Not only the old religion of polytheism was
relevant but also new religions, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism,
and monotheistic religions such as Judaism.
In the third century CE, the powerful ancient states of the Iron Age, including
the Roman Empire and China’s Han Empire, reorganized their regimes and their
conceptions of statehood in the face of crises. New religions for ordinary people,
including Taoism, Hinduism, Manichaeism, and Christianity, spread through the
masses. Corresponding changes in urban planning occurred around 300 CE
simultaneously with these religious changes.
3. The early medieval era: The next era represents the transition from ancient
dictatorships to medieval theocracies, which commenced around 300 CE. This
is called the early medieval era. As new religions designed to appeal to ordinary
people came to the fore, Christianity was superseded by Islam in the periphery of
the Mediterranean and West Asia, Brahminism by Hinduism in South Asia, and
Confucianism by Buddhism and Taoism in East Asia.
The main cities associated with religions in the Mediterranean and West Asia
did not consciously adopt set shapes. Constantinople was selected as the capital
of the Byzantine Empire for its unusual combination of hills and waterfront, with
planned procession roads (Downey 1960). Even Baghdad, which inherited the
tradition of a Sasanian circular city and was constructed as the capital of the new
5 Regional Diversity and Sustainability of Megacities in Global Historical. . .
71
such as Timgad (Haverfield 1913), were also wall-enclosed square-shaped cities
with intersecting main streets, a style associated with the ancient Greek urban
planner Hippodamos (Funo and Ramon 2013), who devised an ideal city. This
style later appeared in military towns, called castra, in the Roman colonies, even
as far from Rome as northern Europe. Thus, the trend in this era was toward the
geometric planned urban form. There are some exceptions: some large cities such
as Hatra, Athens, and Rome, and others in the Mediterranean and in West Asia,
have irregular shapes and organically developed road patterns.
Geometrically planned cities were also built in South and East Asia. In South
Asia, the square-shaped city layout was ideal for Hindus based on their cosmology and state religion, as expressed in the Hindu Manasara text and the ancient
Indian Arthaśāstra (Oji 2011). In addition, most Chinese cities were squareshaped according to the “Record of Trades” section of the Rites of Zhou, an
ancient Chinese text that discusses architecture and that described square
enclosed cities as ideal for China (Otagi 1991). In Latin America, the cities of
the Olmec civilization around 1000 BCE had pyramidal shrines in square grid
patterns, but without enclosing walls.
This second phase of urban design, from 1000 BCE to 300 CE, is called the
late ancient era. During this era, new urban design tended to favor regular
geometric shapes and roads in grid patterns. Based on Hippodamos, a geometrical
city was the ideal city. In the case of Hindu and Chinese cities, the city shape was
based on their religion or sovereignty. Thus, in summary, ideal city shapes of this
era might be determined by the prevalent beliefs regarding cosmology, especially
the relevant state power and religion. Not only the old religion of polytheism was
relevant but also new religions, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism,
and monotheistic religions such as Judaism.
In the third century CE, the powerful ancient states of the Iron Age, including
the Roman Empire and China’s Han Empire, reorganized their regimes and their
conceptions of statehood in the face of crises. New religions for ordinary people,
including Taoism, Hinduism, Manichaeism, and Christianity, spread through the
masses. Corresponding changes in urban planning occurred around 300 CE
simultaneously with these religious changes.
3. The early medieval era: The next era represents the transition from ancient
dictatorships to medieval theocracies, which commenced around 300 CE. This
is called the early medieval era. As new religions designed to appeal to ordinary
people came to the fore, Christianity was superseded by Islam in the periphery of
the Mediterranean and West Asia, Brahminism by Hinduism in South Asia, and
Confucianism by Buddhism and Taoism in East Asia.
The main cities associated with religions in the Mediterranean and West Asia
did not consciously adopt set shapes. Constantinople was selected as the capital
of the Byzantine Empire for its unusual combination of hills and waterfront, with
planned procession roads (Downey 1960). Even Baghdad, which inherited the
tradition of a Sasanian circular city and was constructed as the capital of the new
5 Regional Diversity and Sustainability of Megacities in Global Historical. . .
71