Urban History 05 Renaissance CounterReformation Alt

Urban Design History
Grigor Doytchinov
Renaissance | Counter-Reformation
Institute of Urbanism
Urban Design History | Renaissance_Counter-Reformation
Areas of urban design in the Renaissance period
- fortification systems
- regeneration of parts of cities by the creation of new public spaces
and related streets
- restructuring of existing cities by the construction of new main
streets which extended to the city’s limits and continued as
regional routes; these new streets frequently generated further
growth
- addition of extensive new districts, usually for residential purposes
- in some cases, completely new towns were designed
Components of urban design in the Renaissance period
- the straight main street

- the grid-iron district (history’s oldest
urban form regulator)
- enclosed space (squares)
Turin
Ideal cities of the Renaissance
- Vitruvius
- Alberti
- Filarete – “Trattato dell’Architettura”
- Leonardo
- Cataneo – 8 books “L’Architettura”
- Scamozzi – Palma Nuova (“L’idea dell’Architettura Universale”)
- Lorini
Vitruvius Cataneo Scamozzi Lorini

Ideal Cities of the Renaissance - Palmanova
Italian Renaissance
Florence
Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance- Firenze, Piazza della Santissima Annuziata
- Firenze
Giovanni Caccini, Philippo Bruneleschi, Antonio di Sangallo, 16th century
French Renaissance
In the 16th century Paris is the capital of an effectively united

nation and the location of its splendid royal court
- Place d’Auphine and Pont Neuf (1578)
- Place Royale (1605)
- Palais de Tuileries (1563)
French Renaissance
Paris in the 16th century:

- Place Royale (1605)
- prototype of a residential square
- bringing the aristocracy under the control of the king
- the construction of the Palais de Tuileries (1563) and
its Italian Renaissance Garden by Catharina de Medici
(arch. Philippe Delorme) set the course for a westward
development
Place Royale
Expansion of Paris
New Renaissance towns in France
Nancy
- Neuf-Brisach
- Nancy – medieval nucleus and Ville-Neuve
Nancy
Neuf-Brisach
Counter Reformation
The art-historical movement (1550-1780) dominating during the political

pe-riods of the Counter Reformation and the Absolutism, characterised by
hier-archy of ideological meanings and representative patterns
Counter Reformation period
• the reaction of the Catholic Church on the Reformation initiated by

Martin Lu-ther in the beginning of the 16th century (Protestantism)
• it is in general a reaction on the humanistic ideas of the Renaissance
• the Catholic Church dominates life
• the ideological attempts of the Counter Reformation are realised with
the means of the representative urban patterns
• goal: the urban design is defined by the central role of the church
Development tendencies from the Renaissance to the Baroque
- the bourgeois culture of the Renaissance creates a geometric urban shape and
expresses the idea of an unified urban form
- the elements of the urban shape are equal parts of one wholeness (primus inter
pares)
- the autonomy of the Renaissance City declines in the period of the Counter-
Reformation due to the power of the Church
- in the Baroque period the upper classes create urban ensembles to demonstrate
their high-ranking social status and stress their uniqueness
- the Baroque urban design ideas are enforced by the restriction of the individual
artistic freedom
- Baroque urbanism is an expression of spectacle and ceremony (the city as a
synthesis of the arts)
Renaissance versus Baroque
- The principals of Renaissance urban planning,

architectural design and aesthetic theory are directed
by identical ideas:
- discipline and order, in contrast to the relative
irregularity of medieval space
- compositional balance
- emphasis was placed on the horizontal instead
of the vertical
- permanence
- Baroque urban design is the result of the centralised
church and autocratic power
- hierarchy of meanings
- definite sense of spatial direction
Renaissance versus Baroque
Baroque in Rome
- Piazza del Popolo (1589)

- Scala di Spagna/Piazza di Spagna
(1721-1725), Sixtus V, Fontana
- The Capitol Piazza, Michelangelo
(1537)
- Piazza Navonna
Baroque in Rome
- Piazza del Popolo (1589)

- Scala di Spagna/Piazza di Spagna
(1721-1725), Sixtus V, Fontana
- The Capitol Piazza, Michelangelo
(1537)
- Piazza Navonna
Baroque in Rome
Piazza del Popolo
Giuseppe Valadier, around 1800
Baroque in Rome
Piazza San Pietro
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1667
Baroque in Rome
Piazza Navona
Girolamo Rainaldi, Francesco
Borromini, around 1650
Baroque in Rome
Scala di Spagna
Fountain by Pietro Bernini, 1629
Baroque in Rome
Capitolio
Michelangelo, 16th century
Colonial cities in America
Since the 16th century colonial cities in America

were based on the “Leyes de las Indias” of the
Spanish king Philipp II
Grid-cities according to the unified patterns of

the Renaissance:
- the planning instrument is an orthogonal
network of streets with relatively square
housing blocks; public spaces are formed
by reducing or leaving out blocks
- the grid can be extended unlimitedly;
the transition from city to nature is not
expressed as clearly as in Europe
- the grid makes it impossible to adapt the
city’s shape to the landscape; therefore
the city’s shape lacks character in
comparison with European cities
Savannah
The planned Colonial City
The rectangular street patern,
Habana 1519
The basic elements of the Colonial City
The Public Place
The representative Passeo
The City Garden
Colonial cities in America – Philadelphia
Colonial cities in America – New York
Colonial cities in America – Chicago
Late Renaissance - Amsterdam
Late Renaissance - Amsterdam
Amsterdam exrension plan –
a precursor of modernity
The Golden Age of the city was 1585-1672 when it developed to the world’s
most important financial centre and trade metropolis. The planned urban
extension took place in 1613 and 1663, following the principles of the
Renaissance.
The repetition of uniform rows of houses of similar shape represented the

upcoming bourgeois civilisation.
The establishing of monofunctional quarters for trade and economy was a
precursor of the capitalist city development.

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Urban Design History

- the straight main street

Vitruvius Cataneo Scamozzi Lorini

In the 16th century Paris is the capital of an effectively united

Paris in the 16th century:

The art-historical movement (1550-1780) dominating during the political

• the reaction of the Catholic Church on the Reformation initiated by

- The principals of Renaissance urban planning,

- Piazza del Popolo (1589)

- Piazza del Popolo (1589)

Since the 16th century colonial cities in America

Grid-cities according to the unified patterns of

The repetition of uniform rows of houses of similar shape represented the

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