A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Today, the borders of classical studies are being broadened. Archaeology should be amplified and extended by other disciplines and the knowledge and methods of urban studies of later periods should be adapted. Researchers must discard misleading assumptions such as the belief that all Roman design is based on Greek precedent, or that Vitruvius helps us to understand fully characterized Roman architecture. Roman architects and planners created the first coherent western urban system; in doing so, they formulated certain basic truths of architecture. Historians as well as architects still grapple with the fundamental question: Why has classicism persisted irrespective of political and cultural rupture, geography, or technology, and what are its inherent qualities which have fed this persistence? Perhaps urban studies can show the way.
Today, the borders of classical studies are being broadened. Archaeology should be amplified and extended by other disciplines and the knowledge and methods of urban studies of later periods should be adapted. Researchers must discard misleading assumptions such as the belief that all Roman design is based on Greek precedent, or that Vitruvius helps us to understand fully characterized Roman architecture. Roman architects and planners created the first coherent western urban system; in doing so, they formulated certain basic truths of architecture. Historians as well as architects still grapple with the fundamental question: Why has classicism persisted irrespective of political and cultural rupture, geography, or technology, and what are its inherent qualities which have fed this persistence? Perhaps urban studies can show the way.
Roman Urbanism
MacDonald, William L. (author)
Journal of Architectural Education ; 41 ; 29-32
1988-04-01
4 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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