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Meaning and Experience: Urban History from Antiquity to the Early Modern PeriodAuthor(s): Diane FavroSource: The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 58, No. 3, ArchitecturalHistory 1999/2000 (Sep., 1999), pp. 364-373Published by: Society of Architectural HistoriansStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/991530Accessed: 20/12/2009 10:33

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Topogray as a determinant f urban

61 Riiveine settleent

63 Natural harbor

64 Defensive site

6 Linear ridge

66 Hiltop town

67 Sloped terrain

41ff::B

:;?.'... '::,~ :

Figure 1 Analytical drawings representing topography as a determinant of urban orm; figures 62-67 in Spiro Kostof, The City Shaped (Boston,

1991), courtesy Richard Tobias

tian medieval motivations or subsequent distortions. Thefocus on process and reception, rather han the often ideal-ized moment of creation, has percolated to architectural

history from other disciplines, including art history andurban geography. The conception of cities as nonstatic is

hardly new; Plutarch early n our millennium described he

city as "a living thing" Moralia 59). What sets these books

apart s the clear, unifying message hat cities transcend his-

tory, constantly redefining themselves and only rarelybecoming obsolete. Kostof ends the last volume with thewords, "urban ruth s in the flow."

Concern with the broad low of urban history compelsthe inclusion of cities from diverse cultures, as evident inKostof's books. In many other urban-history urveys, how-

ever, multicultural estures remain nadequate. The expan-sive Cities and Civilizations (thirty chapters and over 1,000

pages) by Peter Hall (1998) ncludes only one chapter ocus-

ing on a non-Western example. No comparable xtensive

surveys of non-Western cities stand as counterpoints. Simi-

larly, a preference for privileged periods also remains

strongly n evidence. Hall conventionally ocuses on "golden

urban ages," with little discussion of less popular or liminal

periods hat do not comfortably it within period categories.During the last fifteen years, hree clear paradigm hifts

have emerged in books concentrating on cities before thetwentieth century. First is the acknowledgment hat thebelief in a unilinear march oward modernization has com-

promised interpretation. Second is the inclusion of smalland relatively unfamiliar ities. Third is a growing dissatis-faction with the confining restrictions of periodicity and an

acknowledgment of the permeability of temporal bound-aries. Christopher R. Friedrichs aptly represents these

realignments in The Early Modern City 1450-1750 (1995).4He convincingly argues hat historians' preconception of asystematic, unrelenting evolution rom premodern o mod-ern conditions has minimized consideration of some local-ized events and developments ff the prescribed rogressivepath, and also fostered a distorted view of progress tself.Friedrichs examines cities ranging in size from 1,000 to500,000 and includes numerous examples rom outside thestandard canon (e.g., Zell am Harmersbach, Germany).With equally expansive chronological parameters, e con-

MEANING AND EXPERIENCE 365

p, 41

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siders he longue uree.Moving beyond ndividual ase stud-ies in specific periods, Friedrichs dentifies an "urban har-acter" shared by European cities over three centuries,though cautiously cknowledging he methodological prob-lems of synthetic comparison. n the first chapter, readers

accompany a woman on a meticulously researched walk

through Munich in 1574; in the last they trace the docu-

mented wanderings of a young girl through London in1631. By focusing on urban experience, these narrative"bookends" eveal he enduring commonalties exhibited byearly modern European cities, in contradistinction o moreobvious stylistic and formal dissimilarities. hus Friedrichs,like Kostof, directs attention o the flow, inding meaning nthe life of cities.5

In the 1980s, a perceived ack of meaning in contem-

porary cityscapes was heightened by the inability of post-modernism o fill this gap despite ts historical pretensions.Reacting to this situation, architectural historians joined

urban designers n a search o understand ow cultural on-tent was embedded n urban orm. This path of inquiry hasnow become a superhighway approached rom on rampsoriginating n semiotics, critical theory, cultural geography,patronage tudies, and narratology. Urban forms, especiallyin diagrammatic ayouts, are obvious conveyors of mean-

ing, a topic explored by Kostof, among others. Recentresearch has expanded the quest for abstract meaning to

encompass n-depth analysis of urban representations ndthe sense of a place.

Depictions of urban environments n maps, art, texts,and exhibitions distill contemporary deas about cities. Dur-

ing the periods before expanded communications these

images frequently reached larger audiences than did the

place-bound physical nvironments hemselves. Undeterred

by Baxandall's econd thoughts about transgressing the

boundary between "art" and "society," rchitectural isto-rians n recent years have undertaken fresh combination fart and cultural, social, and intellectual history when con-

sidering urban images. This interdisciplinary pproach s

leading researchers down new paths of inquiry, each with

unique research advantages nd liabilities.Like the universalizing pproach of Kostof, considera-

tion of two-dimensional maps and veduti ocuses attentionon cities as a whole, rather han on components. Such rep-resentations, however, offer far more than the opportunityto glimpse the city as a whole. Filtered through the eye andmind of the image-maker, patron, and viewer, they reveal

contemporary nterpretations s well as ideological biases.

Planning historianJohn W. Reps has championed he use of

topographic urban views and city plans for understandingearly American ities. Displaying minute detail, hese urban

Figure 2 Representation of a great city by Inigo Jones, in M. Chris-

tine Boyer, The City of Collective Memory (Cambridge, Mass., 1994),

p. 89, courtesy MIT Press

images providevaluable data on

buildingsof

everysize and

stature, yet initially researchers used them primarily to

study urban pattern making and technical aspects of urbanobservation. More recently, Reps and others have moved

beyond the seductiveness f the prints o explore he potentconnections among urban form, culture, and image.6 In

Bird's-Eye Views 1998), Reps considers he authorial pose,background, nd commercial aspirations f the printmakersand clients, as well as the impact of the views on the residentsof the cities depicted. M. Christine Boyer analyzes broader

range of images in The City of Collective Memory (1994). Tak-

ing Halbwachs's presentist nterpretation f collective mem-

ory, she investigates how different eras conveyedcontemporary deologies hrough urban images, rom ItalianRenaissance rban ableaux o eighteenth-century istas (Fig-ure 2). These premodern xamples upport Boyer's engthyexamination f panoramas, hotographs, ravel iterature, ndmuseum villages from the nineteenth and twentieth cen-turies. Conversely, he investigation f modern urban viewsdiscloses ssues and methodologies applicable o the study ofearlier imagery. Boyer considers how the pictorialization fcities reveals he biases of the commissioning patrons, mostof whom preferred ontrived historical narratives nd sani-

tized urban iews undefiled by the dirtiness f political, ocial,and economic realities. The popularity of city views pro-moted the commodification f the city as an object of massentertainment. Boyer traces how this phenomenon resultedon the one hand n orderly, aestheticized isions of the cityprogrammed with purified historical content, and on theother, n contrived heme-park-like nvironments.

A counterpoise o authorial ntention s found n books

examining mages of urban ife and nonmonumental build-

366 JSAH / 58:3, SEPTEMBER, 1999

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ings in order to present history from the bottom up. As an

outgrowth of the "new" ocial history of the 1980s, anthro-

pologists, sociologists, social historians, and especially geo-graphers econceptualized iews of urban space n terms ofsocial relations.7 Again, he best examples deal with the earlymodern city. Thus, in Silver Cities (1984) Peter B. Hales

explores how urban photographs imultaneously advanced

prevailing ocial and architectural alues as n the idealizingimages by C. D. Arnold of the World's Columbian Exposi-tion in Chicago), and presented ontrasting ritiques as withthe gritty realist photographs by social activist acob Riis).

For earlier centuries, dissection of textual and pictorialurban representations as not yet attained he sophisticationor sheer quantity f those centered on the modem city. Mostwork in this area remains entrenched n other disciplines,with limited successful interdisciplinary rossover. n A Dis-tant City 1991), art historian Chiara Frugoni considers whyand how literary and pictorial representations rom the Ital-

ian Middle Ages reflected contemporary attitudes towardthe secular city. She champions he familiar belief in a pro-gression from conventions (medieval) to realism (Renais-sance) in both verbal and pictorial representations, yetbroadens he discourse o evaluate urban experience as wellas built form in such works as the Sienese pictorial cycle ofcities by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Unfortunately the maxim"She who practices nterdisciplinarity leases no one" still

rings true. Navigating the disputed territory between tex-tual dissection, art analyses, and examinations f the physi-cal realm, Frugoni found many land mines, especially

regarding her interpretation of the masterwork by Loren-zetti.8 Hilary Ballon's The Paris ofHenri IV(1991) is a moresuccessful xample of integration. Drawing upon various dis-

ciplines o conduct a careful analysis f Parisian maps, views,and panegyrics, she demonstrates how the graphic ayout,rendering conventions, and text of cartographic epresenta-tions conveyed both the monarchical deals of Henry IV andhis growing awareness f the city as a comprehensive wholethat could be submitted o a unified design. As a result, thereader comes to understand both the human aspirationsbehind city making, and the advantages o the architecturalhistorian of

exploitingcultural

history.In contrast o the interdisciplinarity f Frugoni and Bal-lon stand persistent examples of scholarly erritoriality. hewell-researched works by classicists Catherine Edwards andMaryJaeger ably consider he structure and meaning of lit-erary exts referring o the ancient city, yet display a discipli-nary myopia regarding he built realm see Edwards, WritingRome: Textual Approaches o the City [Cambridge, 1996], andJaeger, Livy' Written Rome Ann Arbor, 1997]). The authorsrarely consider he physical orm, to which the ancient texts

refer, eaving he reader with ittle understanding f the actualenvironments.9 urthermore, hey do not incorporate meth-ods or issues from other disciplines, ncluding architecture,where the influence of narratology and critical theory hasresulted n the interpretation f urban environments s legi-ble texts. Early semiotic readings of modem urban environ-ments in the 1970s have been followed by analyses of

premodern cities.10 n From Signs o Design 1990), CharlesBurroughs reveals the readable ext embedded n the builtenvironment of Early Renaissance Rome, articulating amodel of cultural mediation and production distinct rom thestandard otion of patronage as a unilateral ransaction.1I

Distinctly different from pictorial and literary depic-tions, three-dimensional often temporary) e-creations ofhistoric urban environments ffer the appeal and immediacyof tangibility. In addition, even more than conventional,durable buildings, hey were generally reated specifically odisseminate ultural deas. The full-scale environments re-

ated or early modem international xpositions ave garneredthe attention of researchers n the last two decades. Out-

standing among these is Zeynep Qelik's Displaying he Orient(1992). Basing her analysis upon rich photographic andarchival ources, he shows how the "oriental" villages reatedat expositions onveyed not only the exoticism of "the other"but also the self-crafted identity fashioned by Muslim spon-sors. Significantly, he atavistic environments presented atfairs attempted o replicate not only the actual buildings and

composites of architectural orms in the sponsoring coun-tries, but also the full-bodied experience of visiting foreign

cities, replete with natives at work, ndigenous animals, andevocative sounds and smells. Such explorations of three-dimensional urban re-creations n the moder period havestimulated enewed nterest n premodern urban examples.12A number of researchers are exploring city models from

antiquity, emphasizing the urban simulacra displayed inRoman triumphs and the famous re-creations of cities dis-

played in Nero's Domus Aurea.13 Others are analyzingRenaissance temporary displays o determine heir contem-

porary meaning and subsequent mpact on urban design.'4Study of the intensified perception of three-dimen-

sional urban re-creations has refocused attention on thesensorial and social experience of past cities. Anthropolo-gists and cultural geographers first pioneered research nthis area, eeking, as Clifford Geertz advocates, he "author-ity of being there."15 nable to conduct nterviews with theoriginal users of historical environments, architectural is-torians have favored vision over sensory, emotive, or socialexperiential receptors. In The Architecture of the Roman

Empire. II: An Urban Appraisal (1986), William L. Mac-Donald examines buildings within the visual context of the


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?-?Oo D00..

BO"o,oo oi a

I DI o o P000"Doo (Iact, D.0.0D O O

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Figure 3 Axonometric view of

Palmyra's urban armature; igure17 in William L. MacDonald,The Architecture of the Roman

Empire, vol. 2 (New Haven,

1986), courtesy Yale UniversityPress

, I \ \ \, II II I I II I~~~ ~ ~ ~~

I~~I IIe_9/ , , , '

0^_~~~l_ v X~~~~~~~~~~~~,r - --

0 50 100m.~.--~~--L

ancientcity. Eschewing

achronological

orstylistic analysisof building types or urban plans, he considers the nuances

of visual perception and ts impact on cognition. Such a for-malistic approach eveals pan-Empire urban commonaltiesin the choreography f major treets, characterized y Mac-Donald as "urban armatures" (Figure 3). By allowing thearchitecture o speak or itself, apart rom the cacophony ofvoices imposed by users, patrons, and regional traditions,MacDonald is able to emphasize the visual, theatricalframework of flowing spaces and moving surfaces thatenlivened and epitomized the Roman city.'6 Marvin Trach-

tenberg takes the art, or rather the science, of visual per-ception as the starting point for the urban analysis of a latemedieval city in his award-winning Dominion of the Eye(1997). He convincingly argues that trecento Italian urban

designers, along with artists and sculptors, were familiarwith optical theory. They created irregular piazzas notbecause they lacked training in Euclidean geometry, butbecause they sought to privilege certain views by manipu-lating the spectators' isual field (Figure 4).17Expanding his

argument beyond the formalistic approach of MacDonald,Trachtenberg xplores he intellectual, artistic, ocial, polit-ical, and economic underpinnings or such visual manipu-lation. He undertakes what one reviewer has labeled "aneo-Marxist-Foucauldian" reading to argue that the publicpiazza served as an acknowledged apparatus or the spatio-visual production of power.'8 Yet, despite the broad inte-

gration of sociopolitical ssues into the discourse on visual

perception, the diachronic experience of the originalobservers and shapers of optimum urban views remains elu-sive. The reader longs to know how urban planners and

patrons mplemented heir optically based designs over sev-

eral decades and how reactions differedamong spectatorsfrom different classes.

Throughout current tudies of the premodern city, thevoices of lower-class residents, women, and children aremuted. While art historians have extensively examined he

impact of social stratifications n art, architectural istori-ans dealing with early cities have only just begun to con-sider the complex nterplay of urban orm and diverse ocialclasses. In part this lacuna is the result of limited sourcematerial documenting the perceptions of these groups.Scholars are now critically reexamining archives, pictorialsources, diaries, and archaeological data o give voice to theunheard.19 Initial investigations into the reactions ofnonelite residents end to consider proscribed ubjects uchas specific building types; however, panurban studies are

beginning to appear, as seen with the narratives f females

walking through the city presented by Friedrichs.20

Optical studies of urban experiences, coupled withrecent developments n reception heory and cultural nthro-

pology, have renewed nterest n both daily and exceptionalrituals n the premodern ity. In Roman Pompeii 1994), RayLaurence xplores how the quotidian processions f elite res-idents and their clients impacted the distribution of resi-

dences and civic buildings hroughout he city.21 esearch nRenaissance nd Baroque ivic festivals eveals how complexsocial factors shape architectural development and imbueurban spaces with historical meanings. The expansive docu-mentation and exhibition program of the Centro di Studisulla Cultura l'Immagine i Roma has greatly boosted studyin this field, as represented by the interpretive atalogue onRenaissance estivals edited by Marcello Fagiolo.22 n this

anthology, he authors consider how festivals ntegrated he


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A B C

Figure 4 Analysis of viewing angles of Piazza della Signoria, Florence,crafted in the trecento; figure 94 in Marvin Trachtenberg, Dominion of

the Eye (Cambridge, 1997)

popular piritof Rome

(represented yboth the audience nd

the spaces of daily activity) with the aims of the wealthy sec-ular and pious patrons of the events.23 Overwhelmed y hun-dreds of festivities staged each year, Rome's piazzas becameelite battlegrounds or the affection of the urban populaceand of history tself addressed n highly exaggerated written

descriptions. The events also impacted urban design.Ephemeral pectacle rchitecture "redesigned" nvironmentsfor a prescribed, leeting moment, while festival ssues of vis-

ibility and theatricality nfluenced the design of buildings,spaces, and cities themselves. In Turin 1564-1680 (1991),Martha Pollock analyzes how the urban ceremonies in anorth Italian city served as interactive political metaphors ofthe absolutist government, while simultaneously xploitingand celebrating he city's military orm. In all these recentstudies, the close connections among events, meaning, andthe physical ocale set them apart rom earlier esearch ocus-ing on the social and cultural mplications f rituals. As withexperiential nalyses, he next step is to expand he examina-tion of daily and exceptional ituals o include nonelite inputand reactions.

The site-specific associations of meaning are also fea-tured n the burgeoning nterdisciplinary ield of place stud-ies, which distinguishes "place" as the setting in which

society and space are mutually constituted.24 n individual'ssense of place is composed of both cultural mpositions andsensorial, biological responses to physical environments; tis this potent connection that imbues "place" with power as

a receptacle of memory. In a multivolume publication onFrench constructions of memory, Pierre Nora underscoresthe ability of physical sites and constructions, as well asmoments and ideas, to establish themselves as lieux dememoire.25 rchitectural istorians are now joining cultural

geographers n considering he memory of a city's ife to bea manipulable construct closely tied to physical ocales. InThe Antiquarian and the Myth of Antiquity (1993), PhilipJacks traces how humanists crafted a revisionist history ofRome's ancient foundation based on polemics and the

power of the place. The retextualized ife story of Rome was

grounded n past events, civic nstitutions, and, especially, nthe potent power emitted by the genius ociassociated withclassical sites. Patricia Fortini Brown also explores the

potent nexus between place and history n Venice nd Antiq-uity (1997). She reveals how the Venetians, acking a classi-cal past, were unable to build on ancient geniuses of place;instead they exploited architectural tyles and motifs, rein-

terpreting extant Byzantine buildings and elements, and

commissioning classical-style projects o impose an appro-priate heritage onto their city.

The introspective posture of contemporary fin-de-siecle

research has prompted nterest not only in how pastcultures recontextualized urban places in history, but alsoin how contemporary esearchers an use the past to influ-ence the design of today's cities. Current debates over theconstruction of memory and the recentering of space inpublic discourse have resulted n the envisioning of a historydriven by human agency to nurture social life and inspirecollective change. In The Power of Place (1995), Dolores

Hayden takes an activist position; she calls for the rein-

scription of urban sites with more inclusive histories

empowering contemporary urban nhabitants through thearticulation f a

pantemporal ultural-politicaloice. Identi-

fying a need in Los Angeles for spaces counter o traditionalpublic centers and memorials, she established a nonprofitorganization that sought ways to commemorate the pastactivities of women and other marginalized roups and theirplaces of action within the city (Figure 5). The bookdescribes how the organization nvolved the community nthe consensual econtextualization f sites by creating maps,walking tours, and community art projects. Hayden's pub-lic history projects could stand as the realization he "new


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Figure 5 Map locating historic sites in downtown Los Angeles tar-

geted for memorials by the Power of Place Project; igure 5.1 in

Dolores Hayden, The Power of Place (Cambridge, Mass., 1995),

courtesy MIT Press

memory walks through the city" attuned to the chaos andsocial complexity of real life called for in Boyer's The City ofCollective Memory. Like Hayden, Boyer emphasizes the needto recontextualize memory images from the past as a meansto improve the future.26 The exploitation of urban historiesfor the betterment of urban design and society at large is

laudable, yet readers must be aware that in activist urbanhistories polemics may subsume inclusiveness and subjec-tivity. Caveats aside, the reengagement of history in the dis-course on the practice of architecture is encouraging,especially after the negative reactions to the superficial his-toricism of postmodernism over the last decade.27

Developments in the profession itself are now also

offering improved tools for the study and presentation of

architectural history.28 Urban histories, especially those by

historians based in architecture chools, reveal experimen-tation with presentation media. For example, n his two vol-umes on urban history, Kostof made a leap forward in

conveying visual information about the city by commis-

sioning new types of analytical plans and drawings o pres-ent ideas about urban context, views, skylines, legallimitations, and evolution (see Figure 1). As we enter a new

millennium, computer technologies offer urban historiansexciting new research and pedagogical tools. Historicalinformation can now be firmly inked to the context of pastcities using compact disks, videos, and Web sites. An excel-lent example s Princeton's Nolli Project under he directionof architectural istorian John Pinto, a sophisticated nter-net application hat uses the famous eighteenth-century mapof Rome to organize research nd iterary, ibliographic, ndvisual information about the city's physical environment.29

Especially promising are developments n the four-dimen-sional modeling of historic cities. Virtual reality VR) mod-

els allow researchers o move through past environments nreal time and literally to experience urban evolution. VRmodels also support diverse oftware applications, ncludinglighting and structural analyses. Few comprehensive VRmodels of entire historic cityscapes are yet available, andthose for mass markets are often overly simplified; never-theless the great potential of these tools is evident n several

pilot projects Figure 6).30 n this pioneering phase cautionis necessary. The seductiveness of the computer models

(much ike the visual attraction of historic urban prints) can

easily override research considerations. Models should

alwaysbe created o serve

specifichistorical

goals,and not to

provide what the computer field characterizes as "eye-candy." n particular, VR modeling offers three distinctive

advantages or the field of architectural history. First, thecreation of the models generates new findings by requiringdata and interpretations distinctly different rom those forwritten histories, ncluding extensive tructural nd contex-tual information. Second, the modeling itself compelsresearchers o view the city through a different ens, espe-cially relating o the kinetic aspects of historic environments.

Third, in contrast o books, electronic databases nd mod-els are not static, and can be continually pdated and refined.

Equally exciting is the gradual dissemination of archi-tectural history into precollege education. Inspired bychanging curricular goals and by the enormous popularityof David Macaulay's 974 book City, publishers f children'sbooks have issued a number of works exploring historicenvironments and urban evolution.31 n addition, interac-tive games such as Caesar I are teaching he next generationabout the creation and four-dimensional xperience of pastenvironments. The Internet has encouraged an explosion


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Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

Encyclopedia Articles:

Antoninus and Faustina, RichardsonAntoninus and Faustina, LTUR

Images

Plan, Section, Elevation

Bibliography

Figure 6 Rome Reborn Web site

with links to virtual-reality models as

well as verbal, visual, and carto-

graphic source materials;www. humnet. ucla. du/rome-reborn

Ancient Sources

Map

VR Models:

2.5MB

ii1 Links

VRoma

Educational Materials

Videos

Rome Explore Online Photo EducationReborn Rome Library Archive Department

of material targeting K-12 students. For example, the Website "AncientSites Cities" provides historical information,

sightseeing tours of environments, an interactive game(S.PQ.R.), and a real-time community for those interestedin classical cities; "HistoryCity" encourages children to"make history" by creating interactive dioramas in Singa-pore in the 1870s.32 Inaccuracies are endemic to new under-

takings, yet they should be quickly rectified. Many Websites and educational products present misleading or inac-curate information; professional architectural historians

must assume a leadership role in the creation and monitor-

ing of such data. Reaching a broad audience at an early age,the interactive educational delivery systems are a positiveaddition to the discipline. Trained in seeing by MTV andnurtured on the Web, the upcoming generation of urbanresearchers is developing significantly different perceptualskills from those of the current generation and will have

decidedly different expectations for the field of urban his-

tory. They promise an exciting future.

NotesMy charge for this essay was to consider rends n architectural istories

dealing with the premodern ity. Rather han attempt a superficial ssess-ment of works from each period organized chronologically, took a the-matic approach, drawing my examples rom works published during thelast fifteen years. I would like to thank Hilary Ballon, Zeynep Celik,Christopher Mead, and Fikret Yegiil for their helpful critiques of this

manuscript.1. This distinction s often clouded by terminological roblems, ince his-

torians, rchitectural istorians, nd planning istorians, mong others, laimto practice "urban history." Attempts o establish clarifying ategories suchas

"urban-design istory"or "environmental

history")have not been suc-

cessful. For an overview f recent trends and proposed uture directions orurban history as practiced by historians, ee Charles Tilly, "What Good isUrban History?" ournal f Urban History 2/6 (September 1996): 702-719.2. Statement made by urban historian M. J. Daunton n a review of Don-ald J. Olsen's The City as a Work of Art in The English Historical ReviewCIV/412 (July 1989): 754. A year later, another urban historian expressedadmiration or the works of two architectural istorians who, in "a brave

act," attempted urban history, hough he asserted hat such nvasive, nter-

disciplinary acts "will not (and should not) transform [urban history]";Joseph L. Arnold, "Architectural History and Urban History. A Difficult


Table ofContents

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Marriage," ournal of Urban History 17/1 (November 1990): 77. Of course,

territoriality s also evident in our own field as voiced by Cho Padamse:"The tendency of historians o ignore the planning and building of cities infavour of social, economic, institutional and political modes of analysis s

deplorable." Mimar 12/42 (1992): 85.3. See the articles by Nancy Stieber on modem urban history and ZeynepCelik on non-Western urban histories n this issue.4. Friedrichs's ook inaugurates new series from Longman Publishing: A

Historyof Urban

Societyin

Europe,under Robert Tittler as

generaledi-

tor. The series aims to synthesize he present state of scholarship on cities

by historians, yet, if the first example s indicative, t promises ample cov-

erage on the physical aspects of cities for architectural istorians.5. Friedrichs describes the urban environment encountered by these

observers, ut does not re-create heir sensorial eactions. Such an approachis distinctly different from both Michael Baxandall's "period eye" associ-ated with an era's particular isual taste, and from the optical and hapticexperiential eactions analyzed by architectural istorians. For an exampleof the latter, see the re-created walks n Diane Favro, The Urban Image ofAugustan Rome (Cambridge, 1996).6. For example, Reps pairs urban images with contemporary writtenaccounts of the cityscapes n Cities of the Mississippi: ineteenth-CenturyImages f Urban Development Columbia, Mo., and London, 1994).7. Current nterpretations f the modern city have been significantly nflu-enced by Henri Lefebvre who stressed historical specificity n his descrip-tion of space as a social product; his theory has less frequently been appliedto premodern urban analyses: Production of Space, ranslated by DonaldNicholson-Smith Oxford, 1991); Writings n Cities, dited and ranslated byEleonore Kofman and Elizabeth Lebas (Oxford, 1996). For a geographer'sinterpretation f social space, see the collected essays of Doreen Massey n

Space, Place and Gender (Minneapolis, 1994).8. Detractors centered n literary criticism contend that Frugoni does not

fully consider he intended audience. Those from art history ind fault withher definition of realism. For example, Randolph Starn argues hat Loren-zetti's images should be read n terms of Roland Barthes's "reality ffect,"rather than considered o represent, as Frugoni proposes, a realistic por-

trait of a medieval city state, or the passive llustration of ideas about gov-ernment written down by ancient authorities: Randolph Starn, AmbrogioLorenzetti, he Palazzo Publico, iena New York, 1994), 8, 30-31.9. In contrast, Ann Vasaly n her perceptive analysis of Ciceronian oratoryportrays ancient spaces and buildings as vital components both of Rome's

physical environment and of the metaphysical rban topography reated nthe minds of contemporary bservers: Representations. mages fthe World nCiceronian Oratory Berkeley, 1993).10. Beginning n the 1970s, researchers applied emiotics o the analysis f

moder architecture nd cities: Raymond Ledrut, Les images e a ville Paris,1973); Geoffrey Broadbent, "A Plain Man's Guide to the Theory of Signsin Architecture," rchitectural Design 47:7-8 (uly/August 1978): 474-482.For a more recent interpretation, ee Mario Gandelsonas, d., The Urban

Text, with essays by Joan Copjec, Catherine Ingraham, and John White-man (Cambridge, Mass., 1991).11. Michael Koortbojian pplies a similar methodology n his analysis of anancient city of the dead: "In commemorationem ortuorum: ext and imagealong the 'street of tombs,' " n Ja Elsner, ed., Art and Text n Roman Cul-ture (Cambridge, 1996), 210-233.12. The interest n premodern urban models was further timulated by the

scholarly and popular uccess of exhibitions presenting historical models of

buildings: Henry Millon and Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, eds., TheRenaissancerom Brunelleschi oMichelangelo: heRepresentation fArchitecture(New York, 1994).

13. Peter Holliday, "Roman Triumphal Painting; Its Function, Develop-ment, and Reception," rt Bulletin 9 (March 1997): 130-147; Diane Favro,"Rome. The Street Triumphant: he Urban Impact of Roman TriumphalParades," n Zeynep Celik, Diane Favro, Richard ngersoll, eds., Streets fthe World, Critical Perspectives n Public Space Berkeley, 1994), 151-164;Maura Medri, "Suet., Nero 31.1: elementi e proposte per a ricostruzione el

progetto della Domus Aurea," n Clementina Panella, Un'area acra nPalatino la valle del Colosseo rima e dopoNerone forthcoming).14. See the

essaysn Barbara Wisch and Susan Scott Munshower, ds., "All

the World's a Stage," Papers n Art History rom the Pennsylvania tate Uni-

versity (1990).15. In the last two decades, practitioners f the "new" cultural geographyhave begun to move away rom artifactual tudies of material ulture, cham-

pioned by the inspirational Carl Sauer and the Berkeley School, toward amore socially constructed iew as represented y such works asJames Dun-can and David Ley, eds., place/culture/ epresentation London, 1993). For anoverview of current rends n cultural geography, ee V Chouinard, "Rein-

venting Radical Geography: Is All That's Left Right?" Environment nd

Planning D: Society nd Space 12 (1994): 2-6.16. MacDonald also includes provocative ssays about broad ssues of clas-sicism and Baroque design. Sadly, uch a nonlinear, ighly original approachstill elicits complaints rom reviewers who cannot easily ncorporate over-

arching urban deas nto concretized historical rameworks.17. In her perceptive analysis of the Place Dauphine, Ballon similarlydemonstrates ow the urban designers acrificed purity of form to optimizethe experiential iewing of the urban square.18. Reviewed by Michelle M. Fontaine, Sixteenth Century ournal 29/4

(1998): 1118.19. For example, Penelope M. Allison has reevaluated he early excavationnotes from Pompeii to determine site distributions of everyday objects.From this data she re-created activity patterns for urban residents of all

classes, which in several nstances contradict traditional nterpretations:"Artefact assemblages: not the 'Pompeii premise,' " in E. Herring, R.

Whitehouse, and J. Wilkins, eds., Papers of the 4th Conference f Italian

Archaeology ii/1 (London, 1992): 49-56.

20. J. C. Edmondson, "Dynamic Arenas: Gladiatorial Presentations n theCity of Rome and the Construction of Roman Society during the EarlyEmpire," n William J. Slater, ed., Roman Theater nd Society Ann Arbor,1996): 69-112.21. Though somewhat disjointed in presentation, Laurence's work isnotable for the application of approaches drawn from urban geography,anthropology, nd architecture (including he spatial heories of B. Hillierand J. Hanson) to the study of the ancient city.22. Among the volumes on festivals published by the Centro are: Maurizio

Fagiolo dell'Arco, La Festa Barocca, orpus elleFeste a Roma, ol. 1 (Rome,1997); Marcello Fagiolo, II Settecento l'Ottocento, orpus elleFeste a Roma,vol. 2 (Rome, 1997).23. Many works on urban rituals and events take the form of anthologies n

order o reflect he inclusive nature of spectacles hemselves, and to presenta broad typological and methodological ange; e.g., Alexandra E Johnstonand Wim Hiisken, eds., CivicRitual and Drama Amsterdam, 997); Bettina

Bergmann nd Christine Kondoleon, ds., The Art ofAncient pectacleWash-ington, D.C., 1999). Book-length tudies of how a single ritual impacted heform of an ancient city are rare; or a comprehensive xample, see G. M.

Rogers, The Sacred Identity f Ephesos: heFoundation Myths ofa Roman City(London, 1991). For a perceptive discussion of methods for analyzing pre-modem urban rituals, ee Glen W Bowersock, "Commentary," n AnthonyMolho, Kurt Raaflaub, ndJulia Emlen, eds., City States n ClassicalAntiquityand Medieval Italy Ann Arbor, 1991), 549-553.


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24. An insightful overview of contemporary lace studies n cultural geog-raphy s by John Agnew, "Representing pace. Space, Scale and Culture nSocial Science," n Duncan and Ley, 261-271 (see n. 15). Edward S. Caseygives an expansive philosophical overview of place studies, ncluding muchon physical environments, n Getting Back nto Place: Toward Renewed

Understanding f the Place World (Bloomington, Ind.,1993).25. Of particular nterest for architectural historians s the third volume

dealing with physical sites and urban symbolism: Realms of Memory. TheConstruction

ofthe French ast. Vol. III:

Symbols,ierre

Nora, ed.,Lawrence

D. Kritzman, English-language ditor, trans. Arthur Goldhammer NewYork, 1998).26. Hayden and Boyer carefully distinguish between memories based on

experience and intellectualized histories. As early as 1972, urban plannerKevin Lynch had proposed he selection of a past to construct a future ormodern cities: What Time s This Place? (Cambridge, Mass., 1972), 64.27. Previously, modern architects often minimized he role of history and

memory in urban design. In contrast, today's practitioners have incorpo-rated history within the architectural iscourse; authors specifically argetarchitects n books emphasizing ormal ssues over historical context; see,for example, Allan Jacobs, Great Streets (Cambridge, Mass., 1993).28. The availability f new tools should not minimize the importance oftraditional urban history publications. Especially notable are recent large-scale documentation and research projects such as the monumental ive-volume Lexicon Topographicum omae, d. Eva Margareta Steinby (Rome,1993-) which presents current nformation on all the known buildings nancient Rome.29. Www.princeton.edu:80/almagest/nollimap.html. Representativeof larger Web applications is the Perseus project, including expansiveinformation on texts, sites, and art from the ancient world:

www.perseus.tufts.edu.30. For examples, see the Web sites for the Rome Reborn Project(www.humnet.ucla.edu/rome-reborn); bacus (www.strath.ac.uk/Depart-ments/Architecture/abacus/3d.htm); and LearningSites (www.learn-ingsites.com).31. David Macaulay, City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction

(Boston, 1974). Notable children's books dealing with urban history areAnne Millard, A Street Through Time, A 12,000-Year Walk Through History(New York, 1998), and the Sightseers eries, which ncludes Rachel Wright,Paris: 1789 (London, 1999), and Sally Tagholm, Ancient Egypt London,1999).32. Www.ancientsites.com; ww.historycity.org.sg. While the flexibility ofWeb sites allows for constant updating, this impermanence often meanssites do not endure as well as books.

Selected TextsBallon, Hilary. The Paris of Henri IV Architecture nd Urbanism. ew York

and Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1991.

Boyer, M. Christine. The City of Collective emory: ts Historical Imagery ndArchitectural ntertainments. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994.

Brown, Patricia Fortini. Venice nd Antiquity: The Venetian ense of the Past.New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.

Burroughs, Charles. From Signs oDesign. Environmental rocess nd Reformin

EarlyRenaissance ome.

Cambridge,Mass.: MIT

Press,1990.

Celik, Zeynep. Displaying he Orient: Architecture ofIslam t Nineteenth-Cen-

tury World's airs. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California

Press, 1992.

Fagiolo, Marcello, ed. La Festa a Roma dal Rinascimento l 1870. 2 vols.Turin: U. Allemandi orJ. Sands, Rome, 1997.

Friedrichs, Christopher R. The Early Modern City 1450-1750. London:

Longman, 1995.

Frugoni, Chiara. A Distant City: mages f Urban Experience n the MedievalWorld. Translated by William McCuaig. Princeton, NJ.: Princeton

University Press, 1991.

Girouard, Mark. Cities and People:A Social and Architectural History. NewHaven: Yale University Press, 1985.

Hales, Peter B. Silver Cities: The Photography f American Urbanization,1839-1915. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984.

Hall, Peter. Cities n Civilization. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998.

Hayden, Dolores. The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes s Public History.Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1995.

Jacks, Philip. The Antiquarian nd he Myth ofAntiquity. The Origins fRomein Renaissance Thought. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge Univer-

sity Press, 1993).Kostof, Spiro. The City Shaped: rban Patterns nd Meanings Throughout is-

tory. London and Boston: Bulfinch Press, 1991.. The CityAssembled: heElements of Urban Form Throughout istory.

London and Boston: Bulfinch Press, 1992.

Laurence, Ray. Roman Pompeii: pace nd Society. ondon: Routledge, 1994.

MacDonald, William L. The Architecture of the Roman Empire. I:An Urban

Appraisal. ew Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.Pollock, Martha D. Turin 1564-1680. Urban Design, Military Culture, nd

Creation of the Absolutist Capital. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1991.

Reps, John W Bird's-Eye iews:Historic Lithographs fNorth American Cities.

Princeton, NJ.: Princeton University Press, 1998.

Trachtenberg, Marvin. Dominion of the Eye: Urbanism, Art, and Power n

Early Modern Florence.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.


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