Please note special directions regarding Lectures 9 + 10 which will be collected over the course of two blog posts.
Please post your comments here for Lecture 9 first on the appropriate blog post, and the the comments for Lecture 10 here.(Early comments earn give all students more traction for course participation, comments this Lecture are due on Friday, for Part II by Monday, see each post for specific details)
Study of Delos: Part 2
Question for Lecture 10
How do American cities resemble Hippodamus's?
(excerpted from Part 1)
...This question may at first seem as though it can be answered in a few short comparisons - but I challenge you to look deeper in the planning and the evolution of Delos in your comparisons!! Be explicit, use the language we have developed thus far through the semester and apply it to an american city of your choosing. Be diverse - if someone has already chosen a city move on to look at another - what can you tell by the shape, historical maps, and the way that it has grown and built over time?
Reference the planning, generation, extension or build out of a the history of a specific American city - why do you think this system was chosen?
Hint: (There are MANY potential candidates that have followed the the grid, or the axial road system)
Comments for Lecture 10 Part 2 are due by Monday March 7th
10 comments:
As earlier indicated in lecture 9, the city of Philadelphia used the Hippadamus’s rationale in planning the growth and development of the city through the organization of buildings in the spaces available. Some parts of the Philadelphia city, therefore, resemble the city of Delos in an outstanding way. First, the city of Delos separated the sacred spaces within the city from the profane voids by using imaginary lines that fixated on the exclusive relics of the land. This aspect is evident in Philadelphia since the sacred area (the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul Church) is also separated from the profane places. Philadelphia, however, has used buildings and street lanes rather than imaginary lines to produce this demarcation.
Apart from the delineation, the city of Delos had respect for nature and more so for the sacred spaces where most of the temples were located. They mostly used the holy places to keep the treasures dedicated to the gods as well as those artifacts that were believed to have some religious aspects or value. The same concept or mythology from the rationale is shared with the people in Philadelphia. The sacred places are mostly for religious practices, and the churches are used to keep treasures believed to have religious significance such as the cross.
Just like the city of Delos, Philadelphia also used a system of planning to construct the various buildings in the city. However, the two cities used different strategies for the implementation of the planning system. In Delos, the system was used to design the city in such a way that the space was in a non-Euclidean manner. The positioning of the different buildings and infrastructure, therefore, seemed chaotic. Nevertheless, in Philadelphia, the planning system was used to construct buildings and infrastructure in a proper manner that gives the location of various places in a straightforward way. Although the strategies applied were different, the two cities have similarity in their organization due to the same system of planning that was implemented.
Woojae H.
Hippodamus’s architectural rationale was to build a city on a grid system. It is implied in the lecture that Greeks in his time did not agree with his idea because they wanted their cities to be randomized. I chose to write about Philadelphia for the comment on lecture 9, so I would like to write about Philadelphia for this comment as well. I suppose that any other cities in any counties of the world would appear to be on a grid system and Philadelphia is surely one of them. Roads are constructed looking like a grid if one looks at the whole city from the top. Having built on a grid system, addresses are given to each buildings based on where the building is located making it very efficient for people to locate where they want to go.
Another rationale that Hippodamus came up with was to separate cities into different parts according to their functions and purposes. According to Hippodamus, spaces or buildings with same function or purpose are to be gathered together and to be separated with other types of spaces. Same types of buildings being gathered in one space makes it more efficient for the whole city. For example, public spaces and buildings are mostly altogether in the center of the city making it “downtown” and residential spaces are usually around the center. This system reminds me of what I have read in previous lectures about the sacred being segregated with the profane in the past.
Again, I chose Philadelphia as the city that I would like to write on for last comment, so I would like to keep writing about Philadelphia for this comment as well. Philadelphia certainly appears to have a lot of qualities that were introduced by Hippodamus. The city is certainly built on a grid system with roads being the grid lines. As one goes to the center city Philadelphia, one can observe clearly how it really is true. Another rationale introduced by Hippodamus was to gather same types of buildings and separate those with other types of buildings which can be related to the concept of the sacred being separated with the profane in previous lectures. Philadelphia, the city I chose, appears to have the quality introduced from the concept. Public buildings, buildings for big companies, historical monuments, are all gathered in the center city Philadelphia and residential areas are mostly around the center city.
Delos grew over time from a location with a strong sacred space to one with an overgrown profane space full of markets and ports. It held on to the sacred space over time, but as the profane section of the city grew it became harder and harder to differentiate and desperate measures were needed to retain it. In the same way, Pittsburgh has held on to the junction of the Three Rivers despite the growth of skyscrapers all around it.
The junction of the Three Rivers has a strong historic significance to the city of Pittsburgh, as well as American history. During the French and Indian War, the British army, including a young George Washington, needed the territory for strategic reasons. Fort Duquesne was located on the spot where the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio Rivers meet, and to this day the site is preserved with a small park overlooking the rivers. A large city has been built around this small crowded valley, but the merging of the rivers has been preserved through it all because of its sacred significance.
In the same way Delos divided the city into the profane and the sacred, each sacred building with its own significance, Pittsburgh surrounds the location of Fort Duquesne with other sacred items. PNC Park and Heinz Field surround the location, all serving sacred purposes for entertainment and historical reflection opposed to day-to-day work. Though the space could be very helpful for profane purposes, the city of Pittsburgh insists, just as Delos did, that a sacred space remains in an increasingly crowded city.
Wentao brings up some good points about how Delos compares to Philadelphia. They both put a big importance on the sacred and profane being separated, as seen by Fairmount Park which features St. Bascillica, the Art Museum and many museums all along the road between them. Additionally, the lot with Wells Fargo Center and Lincoln Financial Field is dedicated to sports entertainment and features no profane space. This can be put in to contrast with Staples Center in Los Angeles, which is placed in the middle of the profane surrounded by office buildings. The placement makes parking very difficult but also draws no visual significance to the building in the same way Philadelphia does for its stadiums.
Wentao also mentioned a similarity between the logical placement of buildings for both cities. Delos designed its city based on the logical significance of the buildings, which Philadelphia was originally designed for, but the effect has been muddled since. For example, City Hall was meant to be visible from all over the city and stand as the center of downtown. It has since been surrounded by skyscrapers and serves as a burden traffic-wise opposed to an ideal center. The buildings all around city hall serve no significance to government and therefore do not fit the system Delos had in place.
In the lecture, the Greek denied that the cities are planned by anyone specifically before a Greek planner called Hippodamus appeared. Instead, they built their cities based on their memory about how and why to place the each element of the city. They built everything based on the relationship between human beings and nature. So if we see the city in a micro way, the city is chaotic. Similarly, at the time that Boston is found, there were no city planners to help design the form of the city. Everything built there is based on how people are going to use the element. Along one of the main street in Boston at that time, people built the trading markets as profane places and churches as scared places. Because of the big three hills and growth population, the city is full of chaotic streets in a micro view.
However, after developing, even though there’s no planner at the beginning of the city, Delos is still following the grid system as we see it in the macro view. The city is separated by different functions of the areas, scared places are surrounding by profane places. As we look at the Google map of Boston, we can see Boston is separated into different neighborhood and areas by those big and main roads. Each area has its own scared places surrounded by profane areas for human activities. Scared place in each area can be different. It can be Boston City Hall, Boston public park, or churches. If you zoom in the map to see the road plan of each areas, it is clearly that the roads are followed the rectangle grid system. The way of built the city as grid system is easy for people to recognize the place they stand and the direction.
Hippodamus' views were practical and efficient with planning cities. The city of Ardmore, a location of Rittenhouse Square that is a main shopping and business district, seems to adopt the organized scientific rationale. Ardmore's streets are divided into a grid system that is easier to identify areas of the sacred and profane. Although Rittenhouse Square itself is small compared to other cities, the buildings are ordered and strategically placed, along with housing and apartments within the area. The delineation of the city makes it quite accessible, even to individuals new to the area. Rittenhouse Square is the agora of Ardmore, where people can share ideas and communicate with others, as well as visit growing businesses for new goods. It is also a space for people to go to for recreation and leisure, away from their homes, or sacred spaces.
According to the lecture and Hippodamus' principles as well, buildings utilized for similar intentions are grouped together and separated from other sacred spaces and housing. Rittenhouse Square embodies such concepts and continues to grow with the grid planning system.
Phil S.
Hippodamus believed that city building should be scientific, and that, instead of man creating his cities based on his relationship to nature and the gods that govern it, he should be creating his own environment through efficient city planning and architecture. While the idea of planning a city was at first scoffed at, it is now considered a norm for modern cities. While American cities like Philadelphia and New York City are known for their extensive street-grid system, Phoenix, Arizona is considered to be on of the most "perfect" gridded cities in the world.
Like many cities, Phoenix was founded based on its proximity to natural resources. In this case, it was the pre-existing canal system that was constructed nearly 2,000 years ago by Native Americans. It's clear that the planners of modern Phoenix where, like Hippodamus, scientifically inclined. Nearly every street adheres to the grid system, with the exception of one major road way that runs at a 45 degree angle which links to nearby Wickenburg. Every 8 numbered street equates to exactly 1 mile, while correcting for the Earth's curvature; a grand achievement for a city founded over 100 years ago. Whether or not they knew it, they were using Hippodamus's original concept for the gridded city.
Steffanie M.
Lecture 10
Continuing with Washington DC, it has an almost unique history as it is a city that didn’t come to pass through evolution or growth. Before its commission and construction, the land that would become Washington DC was swamp land, devoid of any construction or structure. Washington DC was envisioned, designed, and constructed in one swift stroke. First envisioned and designed by L’Enfant and then slightly modified and completed by Elliot, DC was to be an example to the fledgling nation.
L’Enfant started the design with a series of circles and parks connected by grand avenues laid out diagonally, these parks and their connecting avenues were envision and designed to serve as sacred spaces within the city. Overtop of this was laid a grid pattern of streets for everyday navigation and the profane needs of the city. We know Washington DC was a city that was to house the seat of power for the new nation, and as home to both Congress and the President other nations would be watching and their dignitaries would visit. It is documented that L’Enfant intended DC to be a model for future city planning. We see ideas of including the both the sacred and profane, while in ancient Greece these were separated, but in the new nation where the ideals of ‘all men are created equal’ were not just being talked about but had been fought over such a separation could not work. We can also see the rational mind working in laying out the street grid, having a formalized naming system so one could always know where they were within the city.
The question before us is why? We know that most cities simply grew out of villages and townships with little planning, and in ancient times the people relied on a type of muscle memory. Muscle memory is where an athlete, worker, etc performs a task so often that their muscles develop a memory of the task and the person no longer has to even think about the task in order to complete it. Many modern drivers develop muscle memory when it comes to driving, many of the tasks stop being thought about as you perform them. Navigating a city can/was/is reduced to muscle memory after you travel a route enough times. Have you ever been driving to a place that you’ve been to a hundred times before and not pay attention to how you get there? The turns are all automatic, you barely notice landmarks, and without thinking about how to get there you’ve arrived at your destination. How? Because your body/mind has remembered the route, landmarks, and turns so completely it’s become second nature. There is a danger to this memorization however, try to change your destination by even a little bit and you will find yourself constantly searching every detail as your routine has changed and your mind can no longer find its way without thinking about it. Another danger is the ability to miss your destination by falling into a travel pattern that requires a specific change and if you let your mind wander you body will miss that change and follow its programming. This form of navigation is extremely frustrating to anyone who doesn’t know the city, they haven’t had time to develop the muscle memory and without a good map and visual landmarks to orientate oneself off of it is easy for them to get lost. I got lost the 2nd day I moved to Philadelphia for this exact reason, now image ambassadors and foreign dignitaries visiting the city and getting lost worst yet newly elected members of congress not being able to find the Capital building, all because they don’t have the accumulated muscle memory to navigate the city. Since Washington DC was being design and constructed as a whole from nothing, there would be no one to ask directions of as everyone would be new to the city. So we are pointed at a very simple reason why DC was designed using a grid layout, which was so people wouldn’t get lost.
American Cities are obviously a lot like Hippodamus in the way where most cities use a grid system as their basic mapping and then place there more important and sacred buildings in a clustered placement usually somewhere around the center. One small relation is that most cities are locate along some kind body of water, and some goes as far as being located on a peninsula like the city San Francisco or New York City.
After looking more into the kind of planning Hippodamus did I was able to find out that his design was usually clustered together in the center of the city and these kinds of spaces were always predesigned before the cities were created. Philadelphia's grid created the foundation for the city along with the City Hall located in the center and the four main parks located on the corners of a box around the center. Not only were cities lined with these gridded rationale, but the majority of the Central U.S. also follows this system. When Jefferson executed the Louisiana Purchase he had to figure out a way to subdivide this new land into section and townships. This was called the Land Ordinance of 1785 and it organized all the land into a grid where wealthy people could simply pick a box on the grid and purchase it. By using Hippodamus's grid system Jefferson was able to organize and sell all this new land quick and easily.
When looking at the terms sacred and profane which were talked about in previous lectures we can see that Hippodamus would keep the profane along the grid system and then the sacred would sometimes break this grid. Washington D.C. uses this system in a different way where the grid system is organized along the sacred buildings. For instance the sacred spaces, like the white house, break these gridded system and organize them in a way that makes it easier to travel through all the different sacred buildings that are dispersed around one section of the city.
Response to Lecture 10
Most American cities follow a rationale similar to that of Hippodamus in many ways. The grid, which was first proposed by Hippodamus, dominates the central business districts of many major American cities and protrudes out into its residential areas, in many cases even extending through many suburbs. Just as his ideas were first implemented to merchant trade locations, American cities grew throughout history with the growing American economy, especially those west of the original thirteen colonies (the invention of the railroad in the 19th century spurred rapid economic growth and expansion of the built environment westward.)
Due to modernity and in many cases American culture as a whole, most cities are far too big to emulate the perfect, unbreakable grid that Hippodamus had originally envisioned. However, they follow their own rationale well enough, with the breaks in such rationales demonstrating changes throughout history in economics, infrastructure, and politics. For example, the city of Dallas has a rich plan that demonstrates rigidity as well as growth and change.
The interesting thing about Dallas is that unlike the majority of American cities, especially of its size, it is not located along any navigable body of water. What made Dallas the major hub that it became was the railroad, combined with the cattle industry. On an immediate scale, Dallas' downtown portrays the grid well. As one looks further, the residential neighborhoods are mostly rigid, but their orientations begin to shift the further one looks. One can presume that the more shift a neighborhood displays, the newer it may be, for they seem to follow the highways. The highways themselves form a series of rings around the city core, demonstrating the urban growth over the years. As a metro area, Dallas and Fort Worth, which is nearby, demonstrate similar qualities. They have grown together so much that they essentially form a giant cluster of seemingly never ending suburbs, with even the city of Arlington between them as a substantial municipality in its own right now.
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