ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the extent to which we may reconstruct socially defined settlement patterns within the Republican city. It examines ancient archaeological and documentary evidence and the social complexion of Romes' vici at end of the Republic. In accepting the theory that urban form serves as an imprint of cultural practices and at the same time defines social behavior. The chapter suggests that Rome's residential trans-urban heterogeneity may have contributed to stability and relative security of urban life within the caput mundi up until final decades of the Republic. The sort of social zoning promoted by industrial and post-industrial models does not apply to the patterning of the pre-modern megalopolis. Some aspects of modern urban models nevertheless remain helpful for those theorizing Republican Rome's urban social arrangements. The persistent centrality of the Forum as focal point for commerce, politics, and religion in Roman city supports models in which a 'Central Business District' (CBD) plays defining role in structuring urban patterns.
