Baroque City

The baroque city plan appeared simultaneously with the emergence of strong states.  The strength and importance of the state dictates the need for walls or military gracis around baroque cities to protect them from other strong enemies.  Strict zoning is present and land use is divided into several functions.  Public versus private and residential versus industrial are common trends in the spatial layout.  The purpose of a baroque layout is to display the city’s power and strength, resulting in the construction of monuments.  It was also designed to put people in their place utilizing hierarchy of space and separation of the classes.  The center, usually public and commercial, is the largest and most important section.  A radial street network extends from the center and as a section of the city’s distance from the focus increases, its importance decreases.  This decrease in importance is illustrated by the decreasing accessibility to the center and its important functions.  As a result, the government district is usually in the center square or attached to it; elite neighborhoods spring up along the wide avenues, while the poorest residential sections are forced to the edge of the city.  Green space and open space are found throughout the city and each section is built around its own square.  Squares and parks also display a hierarchy of space: as sections are pushed farther from the center, the size of the public space decreases.

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