Hippodamus of Miletus: The shield of the city and the fabric of history

Abstract

One of the most widespread urban planning systems in European culture is named after Hippodamus of Miletus. The philosophical and religious meanings that were attached to the rectangular grid of streets and geometrically regular neighbourhoods changed over time. In antiquity, this grid was similar to the ancient Greeks’ and Romans’ ideas of the structure of the universe. In the Classical era the meanings were shaped by the philosophy of rationalism. In the early twentieth century the Hippodamean system was seen as rational, functional and democratic, which corresponded to the philosophy of life of that time. The meaning of the Hippodamean system can be revealed by means of the metaphor of weaving and the archetypes of shield and fabric.

Keywords

• Hippodamus of Miletus
• religious and philosophical meanings of the rectangular grid
• fabric
• network
• lattice
• shield in the urban semantics