Comparison of City Building in Ancient History
City planning has been an important element for quite some time in the development of civilizations. By basic survival instinct, people move to be closer to natural resources, temperate climates, and more fertile grounds. Learning from ancestor's mistakes, in the more recent centuries, it has become much more common to choose a location where a population can flourish, and begin building a basis with the basic necessities of a city, and then gradually expand as the population grows. However, sometimes cities become overpopulated without the resources and without a carefully planned town or city. Occasionally, there is no structure, no basis, and a town will begin to sprawl unplanned and unannounced. This is generally due to a sudden change in a crucial environmental element, or occurrence. During the gold rush of 1949 in California, hoards of people flocked to the west coast and hastily constructed makeshift housing. No planning was involved and these cities were deserted shortly after the supplies of gold had been exhausted and are now ghost towns. It seems as though the cities that were not planned have a much more difficult time advancing and developing into successful entities. Therefore cities, like buildings, are muc
Another renovation he made to the city was the re-erecting of obelisks. These obelisks had been present previously, but had fallen over the years. He erected these obelisks at the site of four major shrines. The addition of these obelisks and the roads gave a backbone to the city. Key places of interest were no longer a struggle to find or get to. Pope Sixtus V made it clear in which ways he wanted the citizens of Rome to focus. These four obelisks enclose a fairly large space as is seen in the fresco of Rome Transformed by Sixtus V, in the Vatican Library. The viewer is immediately drawn now to the locations of the obelisks and the routes of the long, sweeping, diagonal thoroughfares. It is clear to the viewer of the painting, what is important in the city of Rome. Sixtus did this deliberately when rebuilding Rome; he wanted people to focus on elements of the city that would remind them of his reign. While almost bankrupting the papal treasury, Sixtus V also erected extravagant buildings, again an attempt to showoff his wealth and power, but at the same time make Rome more appealing to his people. Sixtus V was quite concerned with how he was portrayed in public and how he seemed in the public eye. At this time, wealth and power went hand in hand. Therefore, the exhibition of wealth was sought after. For those that were not familiar with the politics at the time, generally the lower classes, a detailed building or monument would exhibit the wealth of the area at that time. If a city appeared to be flourishing, this must have been the result of the ruler doing beneficial work, so therefore the public would look upon him fondly. Regardless of whether or not this view was accurate, historically it succeeded. Pope Sixtus V depleted the church's funds in order to spread this political and religious propaganda by building up the city of Rome to prove the abilities of his power. Filled with classical architecture, some of which still stands, and an extensive history, Rome was an infamous city. Home to the Forum Romanum, various notorious emperors and countless historic events, the city never had the problem of being the center of attention. However, as time passed, Rome deteriorated somewhat. Some of the things, which it had been so famous for, were no longer in existence. The great aqueducts that had carried vast amounts of water into the city were no longer functioning, and the once prosperous city was no longer as affluent as it once was. However, after Pope Sixtus V gained control, the city of Rome increased in wealth and was restored to a state of luxury. Isfahan was already established, and instead of building additions to the city as Sixtus V did, Shah 'Abbas began construction of a New Isfahan off to the side.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1865
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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