Search Results (3)

Roman cities represent the Empire’s broader approach to urban planning, characterized by geometric precision and a strategic layout. Their spatial organization reflects the underlying military and administrative objectives, which can be better understood through new analytical tools. This research investigates the Roman military strategy behind the establishment of Timgad, a Roman archeology in Algeria, using Space Syntax Analysis (SSA) to examine its spatial and urban structure. This study highpoints how its spatial configuration was intricately linked to military tactics aimed at asserting control and dominance by analyzing the city’s grid-like layout and applying SSA indicators, such as Connectivity, Integration, Entropy, Control, Controllability and Through Vision (via Axial Map and Visibility Graph Analysis). The results show high value in these indicators, especially in areas where military structures were strategically located along main roads and key urban nodes, demonstrating a careful exertion to maintain surveillance and authority over space. This spatial configuration reveals a deep synergy connecting military logic and urban design, sustaining the idea that Roman town planning supported both functional and symbolic roles in establishing imperial authority. This study concludes that Roman military strategy was not only central to their territorial expansion but also instrumental in shaping long-lasting urban models, influencing the structure of colonial cities far beyond their time. Timgad thus serves as an influential case of how military requirements shaped the built environment in the Roman Empire. Full article

The Roman public library of Timgad (Algeria) constituted the study object of several extensive research works, particularly during the French colonial era. Following a virtual restitution-focused research work, this investigation aims to quantitatively characterize the daylighting conditions inside Timgad Public Library. Here, it must be remembered that the luminous environment inside libraries is a main design parameter and a main environmentalfactor. In addition, it must be highlighted that the Timgad region’s luminous climate differs from where Rome’s designers and builders practiced. Hence, at a first step, a comparison is carried out between the precepts of Vitruvius, the pioneer of ancient Roman architecture, and the outcomes of previous studies related to Roman libraries. Then, as a second step, a double approach combining both 3D geometric modeling and numerical simulation using Radiance (2.0Beta) software. These simulations are mainly elaborated for the case of the large reading room, including most of the building’s main activities—consulting, reading, and storing books. Finally, this inner luminous environment’s characterization highlights that the Timgad Roman antic library was not uniformly daylit and suggests that its use varied spatially and temporally with respect to this environmental parameter. Full article

As ancient cities are spaces that represent the development of civilization, it is worth exploring and studying their characteristics and conceptions of land use. In this regard, the focus has turned to the issue of how to achieve the efficient mining of massive urban remote sensing data through human–computer collaboration. In this paper, a new intelligent method of analyzing urban land use characteristics and their cultural significance is proposed; it is feasible, effective, accurate, manageable, and portable. The method is based on a geographic information system (GIS) and a specific algorithm. The city plan was calibrated with the help of satellite remote sensing images and sites. By constructing the “urban element area acquisition and analysis model”, various operations for areas in the city plan were realized, including an area value calculation, land use structure calculation, area modulus analysis, area ratio analysis between areas, and determination of the cultural significance of numbers and ratios. Taking the Sui and Tang dynasties capital city of Chang’an as an example, we found the existence of a set of urban planning techniques through area modulus (standard area units) for the first time; it took the market area as the modulus A and the area of Daxing Palace as the expanded modulus 2A, made the area of important areas in the city an integer multiplied by the modulus value (for example, the overall scope of the city is 100A, the rectangular urban area is 90A, and the small city area is 10A), and made the key values and numerical ratios have a cultural significance (such as 4.5, 5.5, 10, 25, 30, 100, 12:10, 1.618:1, 9:5, 45:1, 2:1), reflecting the planning and design concept of the capital city, into which the ancient Chinese deliberately integrated “number, shape and meaning”. In addition, we carried out supplementary verification with the Roman city of Timgad and the Japanese city of Heijo-kyo, discovering that they also have design methods for area planning. We believe that land use planning can better meet the practical needs of urban resource distribution. Compared with urban form design, it might have chronological precedence. By setting the area modulus and the modulus value of each area, the grid-shaped city achieves the rational distribution of land and the establishment of order in an efficient way, and this thought and operation method greatly contributed to the advancement of ancient civilizations. Full article