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History & Theories of Urban planning Book

Three civilized areas flourished in this era:

• Sumerian civilization in the south.
• Akkadian and Babylonian civilization in the central region.
• Assyrian civilization in the north.

Mesopotamia Civilization Cities:
• Temples in the center of the city
• Grid seen as pattern of planning to fit military structure of society

Babel City (A city from Mesopotamian Civilization)

Zigurat:
• It is a pyramid-shaped building (for stability against flooding) and a
staircase consisting of several steps, and the number of these steps increases
as the number of planets discovered and secured in them increases.

Ishtar Gate:
• It was named after the god of love at the Babylonians. It is one of the main
gates and is located at the northern end of the city. It is a huge gate carried
on two columns and its walls were decorated with blue colored glass with
the shapes of animals (the most important deities of the Babylonians).

Hanging Gardens of Babylon:
• One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was built during the
reign of Nebuchadnezzar I and he gave it to his wife. It was called the
Hanging Gardens because it was built on balconies suspended on columns,
the length of the column is 75 feet.

3- Greek Civilization

• This civilization appeared on the Greek peninsula and extended to neighboring
regions (such as the island of Sicily, southern Italy and Asia Minor).

• The location affected the prosperity of villages, cities, coastal commercial ports
and fishing activity, and the presence of mountains and highlands helped divide
the regions from the interior and compete between them.

• As a result of the mild climate, active daily life and celebrations outside led to
interest in public buildings and temples.

Athena city (A city from Greek Civilization)

• Acropolis in the middle of the city on Mt
• The wall takes the shape of a city
• Its planning is not "grid" because it was built over the ages. It is not like the

planning of colonies. Its planning was "automatic" and not "random", where the
elements are distributed as a result of the needs of the community and there are
means to link these elements together.
• The agora is not bordered by buildings on all sides

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Dr. Sherein El-Shahat