ABSTRACT

In urban studies it is usual to emphasise as primary the difference between planned and unplanned towns. The creators and designers of towns show a predilection for certain forms of lay-out and types of construction. The chequer-board or grid lay-out is so widespread a feature of the great phases of town building that it has come to be regarded as the norm for the planned town, but this association may easily be exaggerated. The streets of the mediaeval town might present a continuous succession of narrow buildings, forming a closed frontage, but plots of open ground extended deeply behind, and elsewhere within the town walls a number of buildings, notably those occupied by religious orders and the wealthy families, stood detached in spacious grounds. Functional specialisation, social segregation, and historical development each provide a basis for the recognition of urban regions, and all contribute to differences in the townscape.