the City Edge

ANUJA KANANI
1404
THE CITY ASSEMBLED:
by SPIRO KOSTOF
THE CITY EDGE

INTRODUCTION
“ cities are too particular as phenomena- specific to moments in time
and to the alterations of site and culture- to be pinned down by
absolute taxonomies”
“ urbanism as a process- the many ways in which a city‟s physical
frame is adjusted according to changing contingencies” – spiro
kostof.
this book looks at the factors affecting change and modification of
urban form, what elements constitute it, how they assemble together
to weave the pattern of urban fabric.
The review attempts to study the chapter on the City Edge. It takes
into account historical, topographical, political, socio-cultural factors
which brought about a change in the defined city edge over time.
THE CITY EDGE

The City Edge
This chapter looks at the following broad themes:
a) preliminaries- the birth of the edge, the ritualistic annotations attached to
the edge in history, and its meaning.
b) The walled edge- nature of physical boundary, its evolution in time and
place, factors that cause modifications, its consequent impact on the urban
fabric.
c) Meeting the water- the fluid edge, harbour towns, how do port cities differ
from in land cities, nature of such a geographical edge.
d) On the periphery-the changes in physical form of the edge, its political and
social repurcussions, formation of suburbs, industrial regions.
e) The open city- dissolution of the hard edge, the idea of a fuzzy boundary,
extensions to city, engulfing the surroundings.
f) The soft edge of suburbia- nature of suburbs, the growth pattern, new forms
of urbanization, formation of complete communities at the edge, called
“edge cities”.
THE CITY EDGE

The Walled Edge
the earliest cities had no need for walls.
Most of the time, the natural
topography of the land was defense
enough. Border cities had some sort of
fortifications but otherwise, walls were
more a matter of allegiance than
defense.
The walls were dispensed with when
the political power was strong and
wanted to show off its glory by their
removal, such as the Ottoman empire.
In absence of their own defenses,
settlements depended on a central
fortified zone, to escape to when in
danger. Other means were to build the
outermost houses in a tight ring of
walls with a windowless periphery.
The presence of a definite physical
boundary limited the city‟s expansion,
also it made it effective in protecting
market privileges.
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The Catal huyuk, Turkey.: note the tight
clustered formation of houses with one continuous
wall
The Chaco culture, New Mexico. Urban form as
measure of defense

WALL – its features
Walls need room. The base of earlier
walls meant for defense was as wide as
12- 16m across.
They were supplemented by a ditch ,
which becomes a more effective defense
mechanism if its filled with water and
becomes a moat.
Earth excavated is used in building the
rampart , the proportions of the two are
closely related.
THE CITY EDGE
Sketches of proportion
between ditch and
wall

Usually defense circuits are circular
:shortest defense line around a maximum
area required few defenders than right
angle or broken outlines.
Transition from circular to rectangular:
early walls were massive affairs, made
from compressed earth. Around the 14 th
century the walls were faced with brick or
stone. The use of modular units such as
bricks gave rise to rectangular circuits
from then onwards.
Primitive walls used wooden barriers in
the form of stockades : large pointed oaks
with intermittent embrasures. Later
additions included the towers for cannon
at the corners and at the gates as artillery
was invented.
The shortest defense line is circular:
hence the first circuits were designed
circular… morever, it was tracing the
land contours, around a hill.. Which
usually formed a circular path.

Athens : 18 th century depictions
A citadel was the only fortification in the 5 th century bc. The outer wall came in the 12 th century, which was
modified in the 17 th century ad.
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The Nature of the Wall – their evolution in time
The exact nature of the walls of a medieval town or city would depend on
the resources available for building them, the nature of the terrain and the
perceived threat.
The walls were modified to suit new tactics, weapons and siege techniques
Primitive edge: closely knit
fabric surrounded with fields
and wilderness.
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Simple single curtained wall

Masonry walls consist of a single or a double curtain, of varying thickness
and design. In medieval Europe, the idea of a double curtain comes around
14 th century. The sheltered belt was used by the besieged to gather and stage
unexpected sorties.
the wall will have had an internal and an external pomoerium. This was a
strip of clear ground immediately inside or outside the wall.
double curtained wall : in between space is called the “killing ground” where
the besieged get a clear target of their attackers
THE CITY EDGE

A star fort or trace italienne is a fortification in the style that evolved during
the age of black powder, when cannons came to dominate the battlefield,
and was first seen mid-15th century in Italy.
Star fortifications were further developed in the late fifteenth and early
sixteenth century in response, primarily, to the French invasion of the Italian
peninsula. The French army was equipped with new cannons and bombards
that were able to easily destroy traditional fortifications built in the Middle
Ages.
Towards the 17 th century, the bastioned wall with its associated features
such as pincers, ravelins etc became a must, more out of a political stunt of
show of power rather than need for defense. The city was completely,
cruelly cut off from the countryside. This thwarted the growth of European
cities to a large extent.
Fortification plan
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Bourtange fortification, restored to 1750 situation,
Groningen, Netherlands

Around the wall: the pomoerium
Fort walls in Carcassone, France. :
Ramps for troop movement.
Walls in Avila, Spain.
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In Constantinople, the invaders
had to first traverse a wide moat,
which was met by a terrace 15 m in
width which separated it from the
lower outer wall. Then came
another terrace (called peribolos )
and then the high inner circuit of
the walls.
The space outside the walls was
called the extramural zone, and the
space between the built form and
the inner most wall was the intra
mural zone.
This space usually used for taking
the troops to the top of the walls.
In Ancient Roman cities, the
ceremonial procession route
cutting through the heart of the
city, apart from ritual associations,
primarily served the purpose of
troop movement.

Change in the nature of walls : the intramural
zone.
As the power of cannons grew during the 16th and 17th century,
medieval walls became obsolete as they were too thin to offer any
realistic protection against prolonged bombardment. Most walls
were torn down, the material was used in building of towers.
The intramural zone was the least desirable area to build. This
gave opportunity for squatter settlements and makeshift shanties
come against the wall.
In China, the earlier walls that were built out of earth were
massive affairs. The poor built shelters attached to it, as well as
carved niches which were cave-like in nature.
Walls in Chang „an, china. Artillery platforms built in
between the towers- largely increased unbuilt space
between city and the walls. .
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City walls in Beijing, China: extremely massive.

The change within: Intramural
Even the rich were attracted to the intramural zone: There were multiple
functions that the bastioned wall served, if we take a look through the pages
of history, from formation of suburban districts to the building of pleasure
gardens and palaces on top of them. The Zwinger palace in the city of
Dresden in Germany is one such example.
In Paris, the development of boulevards was a consequence of the walls
being brought down, and availability of a large unbuilt space at the city‟s
edge.
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Berlin,
1720.
inside the
wall are a
school,
church,
garrison
area.
View of boulevards in Paris

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pleasure walkways and gardens built on top of the walls
and inside them, in the city of Lucca, Italy.

The change without: Extramural zone
the fringe belt
The unbuilt zone in between the curtain walls and outside it, was occupied by
lesser important urban functions and sects of society such as the artisans, the
tannery, the horse and cattle markets and so on. Also contained in it were
religious buildings which came up too late for the extremely dense core.
Geographers call this zone as the “urban fringe belt”. It stands for a collection
of mixed land uses, with large scale and low density built pattern which is
drastically different from the tightly knit urban fabric of the core.
As the city grows, new fringe belts are developed further out, in patterns which
are not necessarily concentric manner or sequential growth. The development
and growth pattern of fringe belts are irregular in most European city plans.
Stages of development of fringe belts: one leapfrogging the other- creating irregular pattern of growth
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Map of Siena,Italy : late 17 th century ad. The urban fringe outside the original city core is
obviously seen.
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above: Early map of Athens,
date unknown.
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above: Plan of Athens , 1848 Ad: dissolution of
the walls, use of the grid, planned extensions
are obvious. There are central streets
connecting to the suburban development.
Left: plan of Athens, before 1800 AD. Showing how the densely
urbanized section of the city reached to the north the area of the
current City Hall; to the northeast, Stadiou ave. (where the 18th
century wall was built). The streets of the city are the same
irregular thoroughfares used today in the historic center

The City Gates
Boubounistra Gate in
1819, Athens
Roman Agora Gate in 1762
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Gate of Roman Forum
in 1819,Athens
The Athens market ca.
1799
They funnelled the highway traffic
into the city. Markets occurred
near them.
Noble families who owned land on
both sides of the wall, used to
build fortified residences there.
The protection and maintainence
of the towers and gates adjacent to
them was entrusted to the nobles.
The gates were the entry point, the
landmark of a city. Thus they
received great architectural care.
The conflict between defense
(obstruction) and access had to be
taken care of meticulously. In
china, the gates were usually at a
“t” intersection with through
streets, not directly linked to the
street network.

Mural traces
First, the city edge had defined as a
hard physical wall, which got
modified to the development of
urban fringes, to dissolution of a
hard edge to a subtle , notional
edge. Traces of the wall always
remained in some form or other.
In European cities, ring strasses, or
outer ring roads occurred where
the walls once stood.
Sometimes this huge unbuilt space
was sold for construction. The land
was divided into lots and
converted to profitable
commodities.
In cities with “organic” plans, the
gates occur as a convergence point
of internal streets, with 2 or 3
external streets outside it. Irregular
constellations of streets suggest the
presence of a defensive circuit.
THE CITY EDGE

On the periphery
A prosperous and safe city will attract outsiders to
its periphery who want to use its advantages. Also,
sometimes, there is a spill out from the inner dense
core to the periphery. Thus are born the suburbs.
The phenomenon is as ancient as cities. In Assyria,
there existed Karum,a colony of merchants just
outside the city.
Passing tradesmen in time would permanently
plant themselves in the shadow of the city walls,
near the gates, and form a new life , and create a
new urban form.
There is another distinctive phenomenon of
suburban growth which begins as new satellite
centres around a city, but not directly attached to it.
There is also the case of ribbon development,
wherein the suburbs grow in a concentric fashion
outwards.
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Karum, trading colony at
Kanesh, Asyyria.

Planned extensions
Medieval cities in Europe who seem to have organic growth patterns,
sometimes have been planned in stages, according to the street patterns.
There were built outer ring of walls, and in cases such as Florence and Siena,
but took centuries to reach it. After the 17 th century, large planned estates,
with parks and monuments occurred outside the periphery.
In the industrial age, the privileged refused to move out of the historic core,
which resulted in the urban extensions becoming exile zones with workers
and industries girdling the city.
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Paris: 18 th century AD.
Outside the tight ring of the walls
the suburbs start, towards the
east. A ring road encircling the
space of the walls can be seen
clearly.

Plan of Friedrichstadt, Germany:
notice the grid formation in the first
one, showing the planned suburbs
immediately outside the star shaped
bastioned wall.
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Plan of Friedrichstadt: 1720 AD. Detail.
Strasbourg, Germany: the core is rectangular, wherein the
cathedral is built. A trading suburb grew outside the walls to
the southwest. centred on a major market street.

CONCLUSIONS
The walled edge was not just a physical entity, but a
definition of the city‟s existence, the extent of its
power, the meaning of its friendship with other
cities. This edge later continued to get redefined in
other forms; traces of it always remained in the
footprint of a city, in its roads, layout, cultural
associations to the edge. The boundary whether
concrete or notional, always made a city, a city.
THE CITY EDGE