Back to the Future

21 Feb 23

An essential factor in planning and managing residential areas in Roman settlements was the ‘servitude of light’. One could not modify a property if this would reduce light and detrimentally influence nearby dwellings.

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Although cities may seem solid and static, they are dynamic and represent one of the most complex creations of humankind. Cities of the past are often identified through shared characteristics (e. g. irrigation and land management, public spaces). The archaeological record reveals that humans live together in diverse ways, finding different solution to different challenges.

Looking at common processes helps us explain and explore the mosaic of urban diversity; this process is constant, creative, persistent, generating new possibilities across scales. Urbanism enables us to better understand and sustainably support the transformation of our planet and its inhabitants.

The strategic planning of historic cities set a great example on how we can secure good quality, dynamic, well designed, and sustainable places. If we look at Roman town-planning legislation, it can help us to understand the use of natural light in the neighbourhood structural relationship.

An essential factor in planning and managing residential areas in Roman settlements was the ‘servitude of light’. One could not modify a property if this would reduce light and detrimentally influence nearby dwellings.

The Roman city of Aquileia shows us an example of a layout designed to meet the multiple needs of a growing settlement. The city was a major trading centre connecting the Mediterranean to Central Europe. Its layout shows a regular plan based on the main commercial Roman route in north-eastern Italy. All the entertainment facilities, such as the circus, were located in the outskirt of the city, close to major roads, whilst political public buildings were set at the very centre, with residential areas all around, divided in modular units.

The identification of such properties helps to define cities as areas that capture networks of social interaction embedded in time and space. It shows that ancient settlement systems and contemporary metropolitan systems scale up in similar ways across time, geography, and culture, and provides a unified framework for understanding and predicting these regularities across time.

The social, environment and economic longevity of human settlements has been proactive actively considered for more than 2,000 years. Urbanism and town planning, when viewed through the lens of landscape archaeology, can bring a new, dynamic insight into creating sustainable communities and places. Rethinking how we address future cities’ questions, such as neighbourhood models, public health, and crowd-control in the context of the answers devised in Antiquity.

Giulia Rossi Senior Archaeologist,Archaeology