ABSTRACT
In this chapter I will reflect upon how historical town planning has been shaped by beliefs about how the world ought to be. Such beliefs, especially in the need to separate the sacred from the profane (Eliade, 1959), have been reflected in the layout of historical cities, sometimes in the creation of religious buildings and spaces, but also in spatial divisions between male/ female, public/private, elite/ masses for a variety of more prosaic reasons. The creation of urban form is all about imagination (and suspending disbelief). The planners act as ‘imagineers’, as the designers of Euro Disney are called, (Sky TV, 12 April 1992, News feature), the creation of reality being a function of religions (Eliade, 1959). In passing, although some see Euro Disney as a cultural Chernobyl, it is one of the few new towns in Europe designed with the imagined needs of families with children in mind, but where, I’m told, people are not allowed to take in their own sandwiches. First, I will reflect upon how the subject of the history of planning has been used to create a patriarchal image of the past to legitimate women’s place in the city today. Then I will consider the different historical periods. But, my purpose is not to give an (in)complete historical account, as one can easily be drawn into a broad-brush discussion of the creation of civilization which, by definition, is essentially urban (cf. Clark, 1969). Rather, I will draw out selected examples which illustrate my themes of belief, zoning according to perceived dichotomies, and the role of women as zone zappers transcending and transforming such divisions. However the sequence is broadly chronological.
